37. Juliet

The rasping laughter follows me,and for someone who sounds like they've been smoking their whole life, they catch up to me fast. I'm yanked backwards as their grip descends on the backpack, and I'm spun around to come face to face with a sallow face and yellowed teeth.

"Hey sweet thing." The voice is carried on a breath that makes me gag, his eyes are red-rimmed and his lips are dry. "And what do you think you're doing out here all on your own?"

"Get your fucking hands off me!" I fight his grip, driving a booted foot into his shin, but he just laughs some more. God, he smells so bad, the sharp, sour scent of his body odor assaulting my senses. "Let me go!"

"Hey now, it's alright, just calm down." He whistles over his shoulder, before leering back down at me. "We're not gonna hurt you."

"You're gonna regret this," I growl. "My husband, he's just gone hunting, and when he finds you touching me-"

His hacking laugh sends another disgusting wave of his breath over my face, and I gag so hard I bring up the water I just drank.

"Your husband, huh?" His voice is drowned out by the approach of a roaring engine, much louder than the electric trucks from the compound. An ancient pickup emerges from the trees, the hood long gone, exposing a whining spinning engine. Three men hang from the sides of the truck, and two more sit in the cab.

They all look as mangy as the one who won't let go of me now, and my mouth goes dry with panic. I can't overpower this guy, let alone six of them. Shit, this was so stupid. I'm so fucking stupid.

"What you find there for us, Earl?" One of the men jumps down off the side of the truck, ambling towards me with a limp, his clothes hanging from his malnourished frame.

"Sweet thing says her husband's huntin' out here," the one holding me, Earl I guess, says with a scoff.

The one walking towards us runs a hand over his mouth, looking me up and down as I dangle helplessly in Earl's grip. "Ooh, I don't know about you, but if this pretty girl was my wife I wouldn't let her out of my sight." He digs his hands into his pockets, narrowing his eyes. "Now tell us the truth, honey. Your husband, he's not really here, is he?"

"He is." I stick my chin out, determined not to show even a hint of fear. "He's here, and he's big and strong, and he'll fuck you up if he sees you touching me."

He raises his eyebrows. "Is that so?" He lifts one hand from his pocket and looks around him, eyes wide. "Hey husband!" Now that the engine has gone quiet, his voice bounces off the trees around us. He looks back at me, raising his finger, and poking it gently into my shoulder. "Oh husband! I'm touching your wife!" He cocks an eyebrow, his thin pale lips turning up into a grin. "Is he gonna come out and fuck me up now?"

I glare at him, shrugging him off and writhing again in Earl's iron grip. "Get your fucking hands off me, you smell like shit."

"Well maybe we just need a woman like you to come and clean us up, huh?" Earl chuckles, then lowers his nose to the side of my face, sucking in a whistling breath. "Oh, you smell good." I shriek as his tongue darts out and runs up the side of my face, leaving a trail of saliva on my skin. "Mmmm, taste good too."

I jerk my knee up into his groin, and he yelps, his grip loosening for just long enough for me to slip out of it. He stumbles backwards into the skinny guy, distracting them as I pull the pack from my back and fumble with the zip.

"Fucking bitch." Earl clutches his groin. "Stupid fucking bitch."

I pull open the backpack just as the skinny guy advances on me. I bring the gun up, pointing it right at his face.

"Don't fucking move!" The gun's heavy, and I have to drop the pack to hold it with both hands. But both of them have stopped with their hands up, and the men that are still with the truck are frozen where they stand. "Anyone moves, and I'll blow your fucking brains out!"

The skinny guy attempts to swagger a little, putting his hands back in the pockets of his worn out grey pants. "Now, a little girl like you doesn't know how to use that does she?"

"Try me, asshole." I cock the gun, and his face drops. "My dad was a cop who made sure his little girl knew how to deal with creepy fucks who might try and jump her on the street."

"Come on now." He holds his hands up, palms facing me. "We just want to be friends, honey. You don't have to be scared."

"I don't need friends, now fuck off and leave me alone."

Earl seems to recover from the kick to his manhood, and his face goes red, veins popping out from his temple. "Fucking little bitch."

The skinny one puts his hand on Earl's shoulder. "Hey man, she's got-"

But Earl is as dumb as he is big, and lunges at me. "I'm gonna fucking kill you!"

The gun goes off, and Earl howls, his hands flying up. The bullet has torn open the side of his face, blood spraying over the skinny one, who jumps aside with a shout. His eyes are wild as he looks back at me.

"You crazy little bitch!" He moves towards me, the shock of being showered with blood clearly making his brain short circuit because I'm still very much armed.

I squeeze the trigger, and he jerks backwards as the gun clicks - and nothing happens. I pull the trigger again, and again, but all that meets my finger is resistance. The gun's jammed. The skinny guy hesitates, but on the third click, his lips pull back in a grin that reveals his mouthful of browned teeth.

"Oh no," he tuts. "Guess you're just shit out of luck, huh?"

He rushes at me, and I raise my hands to defend myself, but he's got surprising strength, and slams his first into my cheekbone. White stars explode in my vision, and I cough as I'm thrown onto my stomach, the gun wrenched from my hands.

"Now, you little shit," the skinny guy drawls into my ear, "you're gonna listen to me or-"

He cuts off with a cry, and his weight is lifted off me.

"You touching my wife, you fucking cunt?" A voice roars. "Which hand did you hit her with?"

There's a scream of pain.

"I asked you which hand you touched my wife with, you disgusting decrepit fuck."

I roll on to my back, and through the fog I see Silas with the skinny guy dangling by the collar of his shirt. Silas looks down at me, his eyes blazing red.

"Which hand did he hit you with, angel?"

"H-his right." My vision clears but my face is on fucking fire. "It was his right hand."

Silas bares his fangs at the skinny guy. "You hit my wife with your right hand. Guess you won't be needing it anymore." He drops the guy to his feet, seizing his right arm in his hands, wrenching it from the guy's body with a loud crunch.

The guy screams, a fountain of blood shooting into the air. Beyond the scene in front of me, I can see the bloody bodies of the other men draped over the truck. Earl is still stumbling around clutching his face, shrieking and gurgling.

The skinny guy has collapsed to the ground, his body convulsing as he bleeds out. Silas walks over to Earl, who holds up a hand, garbling thickly through the wound. Without a word, Silas tears his head straight from his body. Earl's enormous frame collapses, spilling blood across the road.

I try to get to my feet, and Silas turns on me.

"You stay down until I say." He points a bloody hand at me. "Stay right there."

I'm so relieved to see him I burst into tears. I curl my arms around my knees as he stalks over to the skinny guy, who's about to die if the fluttering rise and fall of his chest is anything to go by.

"You dared touch what's mine."

"P-please." The guy weakly lifts his remaining hand. "Please-"

"I don't negotiate with anyone who hurts my wife."

Silas lifts his foot and smashes his boot down into the guy's head. His skull gives way with a loud crack and the sound of wet flesh. Silas takes two steps away from the inert corpse, spitting on the ground, his shoulders heaving.

He turns to look down at me, his face splattered with blood. He shakes his head, his face crumpling into an expression of tortured relief. He rushes to me and drops to his knees, pulling me into his arms. I don't care that he's covered in blood and carnage, I wrap myself around him and sob.

"What the fuck are you doing?" He cradles my head against his chest. "You absolute fucking idiot, what the fuck are you doing out here all on your own?"

"Looking for you." I gaze up at him, my lips trembling. "I came to find you."

"You're meant to be safe, angel." He strokes my cheeks. "You're meant to be safe, not out here."

"I don't want to be safe, I want to be with you."

He clenches his eyes closed before clutching my face in his hands and bringing his mouth down on mine. His kiss is hard and punishing, punctuated with sweetness and desperation as I feel him quivering with barely restrained rage. Or maybe it's love? Maybe it's both?

He pulls back from me, his eyes still glowing red, and he places one soft kiss against my forehead before hauling me to my feet. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"Are there more of them?" I ask, averting my eyes from the bodies strewn over the rickety old truck.

"I don't know, but we're not sticking around to find out." His fingers entwine with mine as he pulls me along after him, a sign of tenderness even as I can feel his anger rolling off him. I don't even care, he can be angry with me if he wants to be. I'm so glad to be back with him that I can't focus on anything but the warmth of his hand.

The truck is parked on a narrow dirt path that leads off between the trees. I squeeze past overgrown shrubs and climb up into the seat, Silas slamming the door shut behind me. He climbs into the driver's seat, putting the keys in the ignition but not starting the engine yet.

He looks over at me, his eyes finally dimming back to the usual rusty brown. His face is twisted with emotion, his jaw set as though he's biting back words.

"You OK?" I ask after a moment, and he shakes his head.

Without another word, he tears his gaze from my face and onto the road ahead, gunning the engine and turning right onto the overgrown remnants of the old highway.