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“As riveting as this is to watch,” Max interrupts. “We get you to a place where you can help your friend. A place where you won’t tell us. Will you come back to us after?”
I give him a sad smile and can see the wall behind his eyes rise before hearing what I say next. “I can’t guarantee anything. The only thing I know is that I need to help my friend and each day that goes by is more time that’s running out. I have nothing planned past that.”
The wall behind his eyes hardens. “I see. Well, then, that’s fine. You can leave, and don’t worry about ever coming back.”
“Max—”
“I’m going to go get some more firewood.” Turning his back to us, he leaves the clearing. My eyes drift over to the already large pile of firewood next to all the little fires surrounding our little campsite.
“It’s not you. Well, not entirely. Something triggered him today that he needs to deal with, so he’s not handling it well. We should probably leave him be for the meantime.”
“Something those dregs said before he killed them?” I ask.
Griffin nods. “He’s been through some shit since the dead rose. It’s not my story to tell.”
“We’ve all been through some shit since the dead rose. Doesn’t give us an automatic pass to being a dick,” William says. He’s sitting so quietly by the fire that I don’t realize he’s still there until he speaks. He watches the place where Max disappeared into the trees, with a frown on his otherwise beautiful face.
“Tell me about this medicine,” Griffin says, bringing my attention back to him.
“My friend Zoey, she’s diabetic. She can do stuff to prolong her time in between needing insulin, but it’s only a temporary bandage. Especially with not always being able to choose what she eats each day. She needs it, and with the world the way it is right now…well, life-saving things like that are getting harder and harder to come by.” I look away and swallow the sob that threatens to erupt at the thought of what will happen if we can no longer find the insulin she needs.
“Doesn’t insulin need to stay cold? How are you going to travel with it?” Griffin asks.
“It’s fine if you take it out for a day. But with traveling, I’ll either need to keep it cold or travel fast.” I explain what Zoey told me when I first found out.
“She means a lot to you,” William says, his focus now on me.
“Yeah, she saved my life.” I can’t tell them about how she’s the reason I belong to a colony. We’re forbidden to talk about it. I would love to bring these guys there, to show them a better and safer place than a tent in the middle of dreg hideouts and rotter lands. But after the last time the colony allowed an outsider…I shake that thought away with a shudder. “We’ve been each other’s rocks ever since.”
“And the friend she has there with her while you’re gone? Are they the reason you can’t tell us the location?” Griffin asks, practically reading my thoughts.
“Yes. The last time we trusted an outsider, he turned on us. Stole all our supplies, including all the insulin in storage, and left the gate open for rotters to stumble in. Nearly got us killed. We only survived by pure luck. We don’t want to risk that ever happening again. It’s not only my life on the line. Otherwise, I wouldn’t care as much.”
I don’t know when William stood up, but he’s watching me intently with his pale blue eyes with their usual sorrow. “The last guy you let into your life?” His jaw clenches when I nod. “I’m really glad you’re alive, Emily.”
The sun is nearing the horizon, and Max still isn’t back. I look around, but neither Griffin nor William seem worried. Even Buddy doesn’t seem to care, napping by my feet with a full belly, his little doggy snores filling the silence.
My worry grows until I finally stand up, deciding to do something about it. William stands, too. “What are you up to?”
He’s going to follow me, I know it. They’ve both told me not to go after Max, that they’ll find him if they need to, that he needs this time to himself. But I can’t stand the nagging feeling that something could be wrong, and I don’t want them to keep me from checking to make sure. I’ve already lost friends and family. I’m not in the mood to lose any of them, too.
“I’m going to the bathroom. Give a lady some privacy?”
William nods and sits back on the ground in front of the fire, watching me over the flames. “Don’t wander off too far.”
I don’t need to walk far before I find him. I don’t know what I expected to find, but beating into the corpse of a dismembered rotter wasn’t on the list, though it’s not surprising. He still has so much energy, the way he swings around his morning star like it weighs less than paper, bloody entrails coating the ground. I take another step forward and my foot snaps a twig. Max looks up, his green eyes dark and no longer full of life.
He sees me at once and drags the morning star through the grass to wipe off the blood. “Like what you see, pet?”
“I don’t like seeing you this way.”
He stalks toward me, his movements slow and predatory, the look on his face sending a chill down my spine. I take a step back, and he takes two more. We repeat that dance until my back is against a tree, his chest pressing against mine, pinning me to the bark. “Care to elaborate?”
“You’re reckless.”
“Just having some fun. No one else will get hurt.” He raises a hand and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers lingering when they slide down my jaw.
“You’re hurting your friends, putting them at risk. Especially with the stunt you pulled earlier when leaving the hideout. They won’t let you get yourself killed, but you might end up getting them killed.”
