26. Silas

Watchinga woman you've fucked performing her mundane daily chores is torture.

I stand at the edge of the garden as Juliet digs in the vegetable patch with the others, as they plant in preparation for harvest, and all I can focus on is the curve of her thighs, remembering what they felt like pressed around my hips. What her cunt felt like as I drove my cock into it. What her blood tasted like as it ran down my throat.

She was perfect. I'd known she would be, but she was even more than I thought. She was begging to be overpowered, to be fucked and worshipped. She's addictive in the most dangerous way possible. That one encounter has me needing more, I need to fill all of her, I need to mark all of her as mine.

Instead I have to stand here and watch as she works away, tending plants and tossing that blonde hair over her shoulder. It's tied up in a ponytail right now, and I imagine wrapping it around my fist, sinking into her.

Having her once didn't sate anything. It made everything even more acute.

Every now and then she looks up and catches my eye. She gives me that slow smile, the freckles around her mouth dancing as she does. I have to clench my fists to stop myself charging across the yard and seizing her in my arms.

I can still feel the heat of her blood as it poured down my throat. The sweetest taste I've ever experienced. I want to wrap her up, hide her away, spend our days fucking and tasting each other.

I chew the inside of my cheek as I think of her crying. Hating this life. Wanting to be away from here. Wanting to be with me, just me.

How do I keep her safe?

"Silas!" Sam's voice rings across the garden, and I turn to see her waving me up towards her.

"What's up?" I haven't really spoken to her since she accosted me in her office, but if she feels awkward she doesn't let it show. Her face is neutral, almost friendly.

"Hey, a few of the sensors on the grid aren't showing up," she says, gesturing towards the front gate. "There's a major storm warning, and the last thing we need is an outage in the system."

"Uh, yeah of course, I'll drive out and check on them."

"How is she?" Her gaze remains level as my head snaps in her direction.

"What?"

She jerks her head down towards the garden. "The girl, is she doing better?"

"She's fine, why?"

Sam cocks an eyebrow. "You're acting weird, everything OK?"

Everything's fine, I just broke every rule we're meant to adhere to and not only did I bite a human, I fucked her and made her come a handful of times, no big deal.

"I'm fine, just worried about this storm, you know?" As if on cue, thunder rumbles in the distance.

"Yeah, well go on out and check these sensors, hopefully the grid holds up." She takes a step closer to me. "If the power goes out, maybe we can keep each other entertained."

I jam my hands in my pockets and back away from her. "I better go."

She lets out a little grunt as I turn away from her. I head straight for the office to get the truck keys and my laptop, my head swimming with thoughts of Juliet. Those filthy thoughts are mingled with the weight of the consequences of what I've done.

I should feel bad for violating my position. I'm her captor. She has no power here.

But I can't bring myself to sully what I feel for her. I haven't violated her. I haven't abused her. If anything she made it more than clear that she wants me. Fuck me til I'm sore. Fucking christ. My girl is filth and sin, just like I thought. She wants to be mine, she wants me to possess her.

I can't feel bad about that.

But if we get found out…

I hiss in a breath through gritted teeth as I turn back down towards the gardens instead of heading for the truck like I should. The horizon is thick with threatening black clouds, the air oppressive and thick.

You're an idiot, Silas. Turn around. Go back to the truck.

Like a true addict, I tell the voice to go fuck itself.

Juliet is emerging from a shed, brushing hay from her clothes, when I seize her around the waist, one hand clapped over her mouth. I drag her behind the building, out of sight of the others.

"Shhh, it's me." I nip at her earlobe, feeling the thump of her racing pulse a mere inch from my lips. "I need to head out before the storm, come with me."

She shakes her head, her mouth still covered, a mumbled protest against my palm.

"I'm not taking no for an answer." I brush my hand over her breast, and she whimpers. "Come on."

I release her, taking her hand and pulling her along behind me.

"Silas, you're crazy," she hisses behind me, but she doesn't resist.

I pause at each corner, checking that the coast is clear before I pull her along. The compound is busy but everyone seems preoccupied, worried about the impending storm. They don"t even notice us.

We reach the truck and I open the back door for Juliet.

"No sex blankets this time?" She giggles as I shove her in.

"Just keep your head down," I tell her, and slam the door shut. I climb into the driver's seat, and take a deep breath, looking over my shoulder at her curled up behind the passenger seat. She grins up at me, and I smile back. "Stay quiet, we'll be out of here in just a minute."

The guards at the gate are similarly preoccupied as the others in the compound, waving me out impatiently. The sun is still beating down, but the black clouds beckon in the rear view mirror as the storm draws closer. We clear the compound by a mile before I slow down and turn back to look at her.

"You can come out now."

She climbs over the back seat, but shocks the shit out of me by getting on her knees on the passenger seat and unzipping my trousers.

"How did I know you'd already be hard?" She says with a grin. She pushes my arm out of the way so she can put her face in my lap.

"Fuck!" I hiss out, spearing my fingers into her hair as her mouth descends on my cock. My head slams back against the headrest. "Such a dirty little slut, aren't you? Fuck, angel. So fucking greedy for my cock."

She moans, the sound vibrating through me and making me clench my molars together so I don't tear the steering wheel clean from the dash. The girl that was worried about not being able to take all of my cock yesterday is now taking me so deep, hollowing her cheeks as she bobs up and down. I shove her down onto me, and she moans again.

"You love having your mouth fucked, don't you?"

Her tongue swirls over my head, flicking at my piercing, and I don't know how I'm still managing to drive. I look down to watch that pretty head bobbing furiously, her hot wet mouth dragging me closer to the edge. I grip her hair and tilt her head so I can see those pink lips wrapped around me. Fuck, she's perfect. My dirty fuckdoll.

I stop the truck, pressing my foot down on the brake. I watch as she moves, as she sucks me hard. Tears pearl at the corners of her eyes, but she doesn"t stop. I'm hitting the back of her throat, and she chokes a little but keeps going.

"Fuck, yeah, that's it. Don't stop. Don't fucking stop." I groan as my climax stabs through me, my stomach tensing before I exhale heavily and pump the hot streams of my release into her mouth. She bobs gently, swallowing and licking up everything I give her.

When she lifts her head, she's beaming, positively triumphant. I shake my head, smiling, and reach out to stroke her lips.

"You're full of surprises, aren't you?"

She nips at my thumb with a grin. "I couldn't stop thinking about you. I spent all night in that fucking bed all on my own, thinking of all the things I wanted to do with you."

I want to ask her what she did, how many times she made herself come thinking of me, but my foot is still on the brake and the truck is idling. I put my foot on the gas, the truck lurching forward towards the perimeter sensors.

"What are we doing out here?" She asks as we bounce across the field.

"There's a storm coming and the sensors are out," I reply, driving the short distance and bringing the truck to a stop. Without a word I jump down from the truck and round it, tearing her door open. The look on her face tells me she's ready for exactly what"s coming.

I pull her down from her seat, spinning her around as I yank down her pants. I rut into her hard, and she squeals, scrambling against the seats of the truck.

"So wet and ready for me, aren't you?" I dig my fingers into her hips as she moans. "Dirty fuckdoll, this cunt is always desperate for me, isn't it?"

"Yeah," she gasps. "Fuck, yeah."

The sun beats down on us, sweat beading between us as I continue the relentless rhythm of my hips against hers. She's so wet and tight, and she cries out and moans, clawing into the truck seat.

"Stroke that clit, angel," I say, and she obeys immediately. "That's it, just like when you think of me at night."

"Oh fuck," she breathes, her back arching. I brace a hand against the frame of the truck, slamming into her, so wet she's dripping down my fucking balls. I want to bite her, I want the violent buzz of her blood flowing down my throat, but I hold back, wanting to be in the moment and feel her come on my dick.

And fuck, when she does, she's so tight I tumble right down after her, spilling and spilling inside her until I'm running right out of her. She slumps on the truck seat, sweaty and trembling. I pull out to look at her glistening pussy, swollen and pink, and so fucking beautiful. An aftershock of her orgasm rushes through her, her hips jerking, and a rope of my cum drips out of her.

"Fucking perfect," I murmur, stroking her ass.

"Is this how you fix the sensors?" She grins over her shoulder at me.

"If it is, I hope they go out every single day."

With a heavy breath she pushes herself up, turning around as she pulls her pants up. "Me too." She wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me. I clutch her to me, tasting her perfect mouth. When she pulls back from me, she's giving me that slow smile again, the sun illuminating those big grey eyes, and she's the most perfect thing I've ever seen.

"If I'm ever too much, you tell me," I say, running my hands up her back.

She frowns. "Too much? You mean, like, during sex?"

"Yeah. I, uh, have some proclivities, and I don't want to hurt you. Mentally or physically."

She cocks an eyebrow and drapes her arms over my shoulders. "Proclivities? That sounds ominous."

"I like… things I probably shouldn't. Like, the word no."

Her face betrays the tiniest hint of shock.

"I don't mean like that," I say quickly. "I mean, I'd never do anything you didn't want. But I like the pleading. And the names."

"I happen to like being called your dirty slut." She nips at my lips. "Makes me feel special."

"Mmmm, I noticed." I curl my arms around her waist, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I mean it though. We don"t do anything you don't want to do."

She nuzzles into me with a happy sigh. "I love how sweet you are to me."

My lungs contract painfully at her words. I thought she was about to say something else. The leap my heart just took, fuck.

She seems to notice the tension in my body, and gazes up at me. "Are you OK?"

I smile and nod, stroking her hair back behind her ears. "Sure am, angel. I should get this done before the storm hits." I pull up my trousers, tucking myself away, her eyes still on my face. "Feels almost like tornado weather."

"Yeah it does." She watches as I pull the laptop from the truck, flipping it open on the seat. She wraps her arms around herself as she takes a few sidling steps away from the truck, and inhales deeply through her nose. "It smells so good out here."

"You smell better."

She giggles. "What was your maker like?"

My fingers pause on the keyboard for a moment. "Margot? What do you mean?"

"Like, what was she like? I mean, you loved her right?"

Love. There's that word again. "Yeah. Of course I did."

"So what did you love most about her?"

I keep typing for a moment as I think about Margot. I bring up the sensors that are out, testing the grid, remembering Margot's fingers running down my back. Her hands tangled in my hair. The sweet smell of gardenias that clung to her clothes. The clothes I buried my face in just to hold on to her scent as I lay in our apartment, howling after she'd begged me to kill her.

"Is this hard to talk about?" Juliet's voice is soft and hesitant.

"Sometimes." I reboot the system, the countdown timer telling me it will take five minutes. I turn to Juliet, who's leaning against the truck, regarding me sadly. "Margot was extraordinary. Strong, brutal, intelligent. She saw the world in a way, I don't know. I've never seen someone see the world with so much passion. She saw opportunity everywhere, discovery in everything, you know?"

"Was she beautiful?"

The question makes me wince. "She was so beautiful it hurt. Long black hair, this white skin, it was like ivory. And for some reason, her eyes never went red. They were blue, like a sapphire. She was amazing."

Juliet's head drops, and she clasps her arms tighter around her. "And you had to kill her?"

I clench my eyes shut for a moment. "Yeah. One of the other vamps, he came stumbling in, said he'd been ambushed. I didn't see the bite on his arm, I wasn't paying attention. And he fell on Margot, just attacked her. By the time I got him off her, it was too late. He'd bitten her."

"I'm so sorry," she murmurs.

"She begged me to kill her immediately. She didn't want to suffer." I clench my hands into fists, leaning back against the truck, staring at the ground. "But I refused. Said that maybe she was strong enough, that maybe she could survive it. I was selfish. I couldn't bring myself to do it."

"You're not selfish," Juliet says, looking over at me. "Killing someone you love, I mean, that would be a nightmare."

"I let her suffer though, for days." I swallow hard, misery clawing at the base of my throat. "I just… I couldn't do it. Then her eyes started bleeding, blood pouring out of her. She was so thin, her cheeks were hollow. Her eyes were dull black." The memory makes me shiver, sending icy rivulets down my spine. "She begged me, one last time. Said she couldn't do it. Couldn't live like that anymore. Told me to kill her, and be safe. That she loved me. And if I loved her, I'd do it."

Juliet watches me silently, waiting for the rest of the story.

"So I… I killed her." I can't verbalize how I did it. I can't talk about holding that beautiful head in my lap after I'd torn it from Margot's body. How I hadn't even been able to kiss her one last time, in case I became infected. How I'd sat with her, saying I'm sorry, I'm sorry, over and over.

Juliet shuffles closer and leans her head against my shoulder. "I'm so sorry, baby."

The word baby sends me reeling. I put my arm around Juliet's shoulder and tug her close to me. She's too good for you. She's too good for you. I try to shut that voice up, the dark specter that fights its way to the base of my skull. I'm not going to hurt her. I'm not going to ruin her.

I know I'm lying to myself.

The laptop blips as the timer ends, and the system alert pops up on the screen. I reluctantly release Juliet, who wanders across the field, gazing at the approaching storm. A breeze springs up as I check the system, finding two sensors that are still out.

"Fuck's sake," I mutter, slamming the laptop shut. "Come on, get in the truck, we need to drive."

"Where to?" She pads back to the truck, her long legs flexing as she climbs in.

"There's two sensors out and I need to see if they're damaged, maybe something dug them up." I gun the engine as the trees around us start to bend and sway in the wind. The sky is darkening, the sun beaming on the clouds making them appear almost black.

"That's one helluva of a storm," Juliet says. "Do you think we'll make it back before it hits?"

"Of course." I hope we do. Last thing I need is for this whole thing to be blown open because I was a fucking idiot and headed out with Juliet right in the middle of a superstorm. If we get locked out of the compound and they discover she's missing, we're fucked. I'm fucked.

As though she can sense what I'm thinking, Juliet reaches over and puts her hand over mine on the gear shift.

"You said that you'd get in trouble if they ever found out about us," she says slowly, her fingers grazing over my skin. "What will they do to you?"

"You don't need to know." I raise her hand to my lips, keeping my eyes on the field ahead. "I don't want you to worry about that."

"I'll worry anyway." She fidgets with her fingers. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"It won't." It fucking might. I don't say that part out loud.

We pull up just shy of the tree line, and I kill the engine. The wind is rushing through the trees as we climb down out of the truck, and Juliet hugs her arms around herself. The temperature has dropped, clouds rushing across the sun, and the air is so sticky with humidity it feels like it's clinging to my face.

Thunder growls loudly as I flip the laptop open again, checking for the position of the first sensor.

"Silas!" Juliet is standing a few feet away from me, looking down at the ground. "Come and look at this."

I walk to her side, and there's a hole in the ground. Something has dug up the sensor. But the dig is clean, not the clawed scrabbling of an animal. The dirt taken from the hole lies nearby in a neat pile.

The wind roars above us, and my head snaps up.

"Juliet, get back in the truck," I growl.

"What's wrong?"

"Get back in the truck. We're not alone." There's a scent on the breeze, sharp like gunpowder. I can sense someone breathing nearby.

Juliet hurries back to the truck, but before she makes it a bullet whirs past me and hits the side door. She yelps and throws herself down on the ground. I back towards her, keeping my eyes on the forest.

"What's happening?" She cries as another bullet smacks into the black metal.

I don't answer, pushing her under the truck. "Stay down!" Another bullet crashes into the truck as I commando crawl around the other side, opening the door and pulling out the gun from under the dash. Juliet is shivering under the truck, hands clasped over her head.

I lift my head, looking over the hood back toward the forest, and a bullet pings off the bull bar of the truck. Who the fuck is this? I drop back down, leaning against the truck.

"Silas?" Juliet cries out as another bullet smashes one of the windows.

"Stay down, it's OK. It's OK." I scoot forward and lean around the front of the truck. I aim into the forest and fire. I don't like wasting bullets, but the way they're firing, they're either scared or well-armed. No one fires back.

The seconds tick by agonizingly, and I peer back around the truck. No movement.

"Stay here," I whisper to Juliet.

"Don't go out there," she replies urgently.

"I'll be right back. Stay down." I get to my feet slowly, peering over the hood of the truck. Still no movement, no more bullets.

I cross the open expanse between the truck and the forest, waiting for the bite of a bullet into my flesh. They can't kill me, but I wouldn't welcome the pain either way. But none come, and as I get closer to the trees, I can smell someone out here.

Sweat and fear, mixed with gunpowder and leather.

"Who's there?" I call, raising the gun. "Come out!"

There's a snap of twigs, shuffling footsteps.

"I said come out! I can hear you! I can fucking smell you!" My eyes scan for movement, and then it comes, just inside the tree line.

A man rises to his feet, his hands raised. His skin is pale, his hands shaking. He's wearing a navy blue uniform and a bullet proof vest with the words, National Guard emblazoned across it.

"Don't shoot!" He calls. "Don't shoot!"

"Funny request from someone who just shot up my truck," I reply, keeping the gun trained on him. "What the fuck are you doing out here?"

"I was out here taking out your sensors." His honesty catches me a little off guard.

"How did you know where to look?"

He chuckles, spreading his hands. "Got the same tech you do. It wasn't hard to guess where you'd lay the lines."

"So why shoot at us?"

"You're a feeder, my friend." He shrugs. "It's not personal. Though she's human isn't she?"

"Juliet, you better still be under that truck!"

The man chuckles. "She's not."

"You could have killed her." I keep my eyes on him. "She's a human."

"Yeah, that would have been too bad, huh?"

Rage prickles at the back of my throat. "So, you're disrupting our alarms and trying to kill us, what else?"

The man seems to relax, confident I won't shoot him. He lowers his hands and still keeping them where I can see them, taking a few steps past the tree line.

"You feeders have gotta know it's all over now."

"Over?"

He sidles a little closer. " For you and your little human whores." His poisonous gaze lands on Juliet. "I'd hardly call her human anymore. Not when she's been sullied by a dirty fucking feeder like y-"

Juliet yelps as the gunshot rings echoes over the wind that continues to tear through the trees above us. The man's head snaps back as the bullet hits his forehead, skull and brain matter flying as his body crumples to the ground. I try desperately to blink away the red at the edges of my vision, breathing rapidly.

Juliet is at my back, fingers clawing into my shoulders. "Oh my god, Silas, what did you do?"

I don't answer, because the bloodlust flares again as I hear her thundering pulse, as I scent all her delicious fear. I snarl, and her eyes widen as I leer down at her.

"Silas?" She shrieks as I seize her in my arms. "Silas, what are you doing?"

I can feel that caged animal, that intrinsic dark shadow, clawing at my skull, trying to tear free. "Are you afraid of me?"

She twists herself out of my grasp, but we both know I've let her go. The scent of her fear becomes stronger and stronger as she backs away from me, sweet and bitter on the tip of my tongue. It makes my mouth water.

"Have you ever played catch and kiss, little rabbit?" I stalk after her slowly, matching each one of her stumbling footsteps.

"Silas, what's wrong with you?" She brushes the hair out of her face as the wind flings it about. "Silas?"

I bare my fangs at her. "Run," I command in a voice that isn't mine. "And believe me, when I catch you, I won't just kiss you." She shudders as I growl, echoing the thunder ringing through the clouds above us. "Run. I want to see if I can taste the fear in your blood."

Like a flash, she darts into the forest, long hair flailing out behind her. She has speed, certainly, but nothing compared to me. I match her every move as she weaves in and out of the trees. Rain begins to dot the ground, crashing down in heavy drops.

The darkness within me shrieks and snaps, tearing free of its cage as Juliet's fear becomes more and more potent. I gain on her easily, falling back to keep the game going, until her panting is so loud I can't stand it. I'm so fucking hard, if I don't have her now, I'm going to lose my mind.

I lunge at her, my arms locking around her waist, and shove her against the trunk of a towering tree. She's whimpering and panting, her head slamming back against my shoulder as she says my name and pleads with me.

"Not fast enough, little rabbit." I chuckle into her ear. "Now, what am I going to do with you?" I twist her arms behind her back, holding her to me with one hand as the other wraps around her throat. She sucks in a breath as I squeeze, her ribs contracting against my chest. "I could snap this pretty neck in half, you know."

Her answering moan sets the beast inside me feral. I release her neck as I nick her earlobe, eliciting a small shriek of surprise.

"You like that do you, filthy little whore?" I tear her shirt from her shoulder, scraping my fangs along her bare skin, and she cries out. "How bad do you want it to hurt?"

"M-more," she stutters.

"More?" I bite her shoulder, not releasing enough venom to make her come, but enough to send a wave of pleasure through her body.

I push down her pants, ripping her panties from her body and casting the scrap of fabric to the ground. I shove her against the tree, kick her legs apart, spearing two fingers inside her roughly. She tosses her head back, fighting the pressure of my hand on her arms.

"So wet, does my dirty little fuckdoll like being chased?"

"Oh, oh god." She quivers. Her scent is overwhelming, her blood thundering louder than the roaring wind.

"Are you afraid of me?" I breathe against her ear.

And my girl shakes her fucking head, turning her mouth towards me as she moans.

"N-no." She clenches her eyes shut as my fingers move from her pussy to her clit. "Let me touch you, I want to - Ah, oh Silas, fuck." She trembles against me. "I want to touch you too."

The feral beast inside me is so thrilled I almost let her go. She's not afraid. Filth and sin. But she slumps against me, letting out a low Ohhh, telling me she's almost there.

"You going to come for me, angel?"

"Silas, please." She lets out a strangled moan as I move my fingers away from her.

I spin her around, sinking to my knees and not caring that the ground is sodden with mud, that the rain is pelting down on us both or that the storm is well and truly setting in now. She yelps in surprise as I hoist her legs over my shoulders, burying my mouth in her swollen, needy pussy.

"Silas," she moans. "Fuck, fuck. Ohhh god."

The dark thing inside me bares its teeth, cackling with feral delight because no man has ever tasted this. No man has ever sucked this clit between his lips and heard those beautiful fucking moans echoing in his ears. Fools, all of them.

But thank fuck, because now this belongs to me. This sweet cunt is mine. I spear my tongue inside her, dragging it back over her clit, and she hisses out my name. Her hands rake through my hair, trembling, that orgasm she so desperately needs so close I can taste it. She's so goddamn wet. She needs to come, all over my face.

But I need something else. I need my filthy little fuckdoll to come harder than she ever has in her life, and she needs to do that with my cock buried inside her. The red haze is so strong now I can barely see, tasting her as she begins to shiver and moan. Just as she's about to tip over that edge, as her arousal begins to run down my chin, I stop, and she claws at the back of my head, trying to force my mouth back to her pussy.

"Don't stop, don't stop!" She almost sobs.

I hold her against the tree, rising to my feet and pushing down my trousers just enough to free my cock. I plunge inside her, and strike at the same time. Her cries are choked as she comes, shaking and moaning loudly as thunder growls overhead. She tastes like fear and love and sex and sin, hot and sweet, warming my throat and my veins as she crashes through me.

I keep drinking her down as I fuck her, as the white heat flaring at the base of my spine shoots through me, and her nails dig into my back as I fill her pussy up with my release. As her blood runs down my throat. The beast inside me falls silent, sated and full.

Through my heavy breath, through the rain cooling the back of my neck and the long sweeps of my tongue as I lick up her blood, the haze lifts.

And I panic.

I pull back instantly, and she slumps against me. Fuck. I lost control. I bit her, right as I came.

What the fuck have I done?

"Juliet?" I grasp her jaw in my hands, tipping back her head, expecting to see blood, expecting to see eyes blank with death. You hurt her. You ruined her. You"re a monster. You destroy everything. The voice whispers poison in my ear.

But the panic dissipates, the whirring black blurring my vision clearing. I'm looking into a pair of grey eyes, a face of freckles that dance and shift around her pink lips as she pants and smiles at me. Her hand reaches up to stroke my cheek.

"Are you OK?" She asks.

I stare at her incredulously. "Am I OK?"

She nods. "You shot that guy, and then you kind of went, I don't know, crazy?"

I put her on her feet, and she wobbles, bracing her hands against my chest.

"That was bloodlust, killing can do that sometimes."

She sighs lightly. "So like, you want to chase someone?"

"Something like that. I'm - I'm sorry. I didn't want to scare you."

"Oh, you didn't scare me," she says, gazing up at me. "You just surprised me a little, that's all."

This girl. I regard her slack-jawed for a moment, before sweeping her into my arms. I clasp her to me, drinking in her scent, the taste of her blood as it buzzes on my tongue. I can't help but laugh. Accosted by a vamp in the middle of an episode of bloodlust, and my sinful, dirty girl is just surprised. I tip her head back and kiss her.

My girl. Mine. Mine. Mine.

She giggles against my lips, and licks her own as she pulls back from me. "I can taste myself," she says, her eyes sparkling with all that filth her angelic appearance keeps so well hidden.

The wind begins to howl above us, and a loud clap of thunder reminds me that we need to get back to the compound as quickly as possible.

"Come on, the storm's setting in. Let's go."

"What about the guy?" Juliet asks as she adjusts her clothes. "Do we just leave the body?"

I consider for a moment. "Yeah, no point dragging him back with us."

Juliet shivers on the way back to the truck, thoroughly soaked through. As I hold her trembling frame under my arm, as I remember the bullets flying past her, another burden of reality weighs down on me. Danger is coming at us from more and more corners. How much longer would the compound be safe?

How much longer would I be able to keep her safe from all of this?

As the truck bounces back towards the compound, as rain bursts against the windshield and through the shot-out window, it crashes down on me, as it has a million times before - I have no idea how to stop any of this.