Page 101 of After the Burn

He sat Harper gently on the grass.

She was panting heavily. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine!” Finley grabbed her arm and started unraveling her bandage.

I sucked in a breath.

The bite looked worse than I remembered. Swollen, rigid skin surrounded the teeth marks, an angry red fading to bruised purple. Thin veins crawled up Harper’s arm as if the infection was searching for her heart.

“It looks worse than it feels,” Harper insisted.

“I can’t imagine that’s true,” Wren mumbled, her nose wrinkled in disgust. “But it definitely smells worse than it looks.”

“Wren!” I gaped at her insensitivity.

She shrugged and pulled a piece of beef jerky from her pack, handing it to Max.

I hadn’t known Harper for long, but it was clear she was a fighter. Still, I wasn’t sure that would matter in this situation.

After inspecting the wound, Finley looked up. “We need that vet's office now!”

“The town is just around that curve.” Wren squinted in that direction.

Finley hurriedly re-wrapped Harper’s arm, then lifted her back into his arms. “Let’s get going.”

“Is my mommy going to turn into one of the monsters?” Rory asked Beck, her eyes filling with tears.

He looked at me in desperation. None of us wanted to lie to the little girl, and making any promises would be doing just that.

“We’re going to do everything in our power to help her.” I leaned down and looked her in the eye. “But no matter what happens, we’ll keep you safe.”

She wiped her nose on her sleeve, tears streaming down her face. “Okay.”

Beck picked her up. “Now let’s get your mom some help.”

After a few minutes, the town came into sight. Infected ambled around, but luckily not many. Most of them were probably back at Gideon’s, drawn by all the gunfire.

“Where’s the veterinarian’s office?” Adrian asked, walking toward the infected. He drew the knife from his waistband and stabbed each one through the head before I could blink.

Wren leaned in close to me. “I can see the attraction.” She let out a whistle.

“Enough! Where’s the office?” Finley barked.

“It’s on Elm Street, the last building on the left,” Wren said around a piece of beef jerky she’d pulled from her bag.

Lucas stared at her suspiciously. “Are you sure you didn’t just put together two horror-movie titles?”

Wren glanced back at me. “I can see why you’re not attracted to this one.”

Lucas gave her the finger. “I’m not attracted to her; she’s plenty attracted to me.”

Rolling my eyes, I moved in the same direction as everyone else. I was attracted to him, but his holier-than-thou attitude would keep him from being with someone as flawed as I was.

And I was okay with that. Beck and Adrian loved me for who I was, flaws and all.

I let out a breath. One little false claim of sexual harassment and he couldn’t get over it.

What a douche.