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“Well, yeah, but we don’t need to go around trampling them.”
“So you’re going to spend time out here tending to them, then?”
She shrugs and works on propping up the lavender rose again. “Might as well. You’re no longer dying in my arms, so I can give some of my attention to something else now.”
“I wasn’t dying in your arms.”
“However you want to phrase it. But yes, you were.” She looks at me with wide eyes. “That means I’m your hero. You practically owe me your life.”
“So I’ll repay you by helping with this flower. What do you want me to do?”
She recoils as though I suggested we set it on fire. “What do you mean, you? You’re big and clunky and might end up crushing it more.”
“Big and clunky? You think I’m big and clunky?” I grab her wrist, making her squeal. She leaps up to get away from me, but her foot catches on a raised root and she trips, sailing straight back to the ground.
I tighten my hold and spin us around so that I’m hovering overtop of her with her back on the ground. Well, sort of. I have one hand behind her back, holding her up over the flowers with my other hand pressing against the dirt.
Her chest rises and falls with each breath, and my face is close to hers with a smirk. “Say I’m big and clunky again, princess.”
“You’re big and clunky.”
I frown. “You weren’t supposed to actually say it.”
“Thanks for saving the lavender roses.”
“You’re welcome, princess. I guess this means we’re even now.” Lifting myself up, I pull her up and away from the flowers, and it gives me an idea. A surprise for her.
I smile at her, and this time it’s a genuine smile. Not joking, not laughing at her, but impressed. She’s impressing me. And that’s a first for anyone.
Emily told me to go lie down and rest, so of course I’m looking through the other buildings in this small abandoned town instead. There’s a bakery and a diner, but the stench of rotting food made me close the door and keep walking. The stench of rotting people is already more than enough to deal with.
The next building I see looks to be an old dentist’s office. That could be promising. I draw my knife and step inside.
Everything is calm. Eerie, even. Almost as though time has stood still, frozen in its tracks. Nothing overturned or broken, and no stains that I can see. I’m not used to finding a place so preserved. Every place I’ve stepped inside of for two-hundred and seventy-three days has looked like the aftermath of a massacre. I was told that Max and William cleaned up the area a little while Emily was working on keeping me alive, but this place is still unlike anything I’ve seen. It’s almost livable.
In one corner is a large pot with a dead tree, the only sign that no one has been here to take care of it for a long time. The pot is too big, and probably too heavy, to transport. There’s a smaller pot on the receptionist’s desk, but that one is far too small. I turn in a circle and survey the area before spotting one that could be the right size.
Walking over to the pot I picked out, I reach down and grasp the edges with both hands. The plant inside is clearly dead. I’m sure Emily won’t mind that I vacate it’s home to help her new flowers.
The moment I tip it over, I bend in half from the pain in my side, my hand shooting out to cover the stitched wound. I’m gasping for breath, waiting for my vision to clear, when I hear the click of the door opening.
Soft footsteps reach me. “I knew you wouldn’t listen to me. You’ve burst open your stitches again, haven’t you?”
I pull my hand away and lift the bottom of my shirt to expose the stitch job. No blood. “They’re still in place,” I pant out.
“For now. We’re eventually going to run out of thread. How much am I going to need to baby you before you finally take care of yourself?”
I stand up straight, towering over her small frame. She lifts her chin, tilting her head back as she keeps eye contact. It’s something I’m getting used to, having someone around who doesn’t cower around me regardless of size difference. She puts up with my looks, my personality, and gives me shit at every turn. Truth is, I would have let her go free long ago after realizing my initial assumption of her was wrong, but I’ve been greedy. “I don’t need you to baby me.”
“You don’t know what you need. You’re so busy trying to take care of everyone else that you can’t even take a single moment to take care of yourself.” Her words catch me off guard, and I nearly stumble back at the blow from them.
“So you’re a shrink now?”
“No. I’m your prisoner and I would very much like to get back on the road, as I still have a mission to complete, but I can’t do that until you’re better.” Another blow.
“Well, princess, I’m up and moving around. I don’t need you or anyone on my ass day and night. If you want to leave, then let’s get to the car and leave.”
“We can’t.”
