8. Emily

8

Islam the knife into the ground. “Well, I was aiming for the dirt, but your foot got in the way.”

The doctor probably can’t hear me through his screaming. What a baby. Sure, I stabbed my knife straight through the middle of his foot and now it’s leaking blood, but this seems a little excessive.

William appears from behind him and presses the palm of his hand against the doctor’s mouth. “Careful. You’re going to draw rotters with all this racket.”

“Tell him that. He’s the one making all the noise, not me.”

“I’m sure he’s also the one who stabbed his own foot.”

I shrug. “Could’ve been.”

He shakes his head and removes his hand when the doctor’s screams turn into whimpers. “There’s a stream nearby if you want to take a break to grab a drink and get cleaned up.”

“I’ll do that after I break this man.”

“Breaking men is your specialty, little girl?” The doctor spits out blood and a tooth. Ew, how unsanitary? I mean, I know his foot is bleeding, and that’s my fault, but come on, have some class.

“Only the ones who do me wrong.”

“What did I ever do to you?”

“You’re withholding information that could save a friend of mine. That’s why you’re here. Have you not been listening to anything I’ve been saying?” I hold my arms out to either side in exasperation, the knife dangling between my fingertips. Blood drips down the blade since I yanked it out of him. The nerve of this man.

“Even if I tell you the location, there’s no way you’ll even make it to the front door. There are a lot of us and they’ll kill you on sight. Hate to break it to you, but your friend’s a goner.”

I stab the knife straight through his thigh and to the other side, scraping the blade against the dirt he sits on. William slaps his hand over his mouth again to quell his screams. Pressing the knife down until the hilt is bruising his thigh, I dig my fingernails into the bruised flesh of his other thigh, and lean in. “That’s the thing about you and me, doc. You see, I’ll do whatever it takes to save one of my people. But you? You were taken from the middle of your people and not one of them cared enough to stop us, or even follow. They let you go because they only cared about themselves. I’ll make it back to my friend, but nobody is coming for you, dead man.” I twist the knife and he arches his back so his body is practically hovering. He can’t go too far with his hands tied behind his back, but I swear he’s practically levitating.

William watches me the whole time, and when the man’s screams get too loud to shut off by covering his mouth, he places his other hand over the man’s throat, basically strangling him in order to silence him.

Max walks over, and I worry he’s going to ruin my fun. Either that, or turn it up a notch. There’s never telling with him. “Get anything out of him yet?”

“Nope.” I apply more of my weight onto the knife and I think he blacks out for a moment. He needs to stay awake. “William, stop strangling him.”

“I did. This is all you, Emily.”

“Oh, come on.” I pull the knife from his leg, but I slip in the spilled blood at my feet. When I regain my balance, I realize that I’ve sliced open half of his thigh. “Whoops.”

The doctor is unconscious, so William wraps an old cloth around his leg to quell the bleeding.

“Jesus fuck, you’re going to kill the guy before you even get anything of value out of him.” Max kneels down in front of the man and inspects him. “I’m impressed. I’m also disappointed I missed the show. Was she amazing, Willie?”

“William,” William says in a bored tone.

“Not on purpose,” I protest. “He’s just…he’s too easy to kill. It’s not fair.”

Max chuckles and runs his tongue along his top row of teeth. “I love your determination, but if you’re going to kill a man, you need to do it with intent. You’re the worst with torture I’ve ever seen. Take a break and let me take over. I’ll even give you lessons on the next one.”

“But I’m getting so close.”

“No, she’s not,” William says, betraying me. I’ll make him pay for that. I don’t know how. Maybe I’ll feed his food to Buddy.

“Traitor.”

“Awful torturer,” William says with a smirk.

Max inspects the hostage, lifting his eyelids and feeling his pulse before sitting back on his heels in front of him. “Have you ever tortured anyone before?”

I shrug. “Can’t say that I have.”

“That’s extra impressive, then. Most people in your position would’ve run away at the first accidental blood spilled. I’m going to have to bring in more hostages for you to practice on. It’s an art that I believe you could master.”

“Unless it’s for a good reason, I’ll have to say no thank you.” I scrunch up my nose at the thought of hurting someone for practice like that. However, if they deserved it, then it would be a different story.

Max shrugs. “Suit yourself. But for this time, let me take care of it for you.”

“Why?” I ask, curious why someone would go through so much trouble for me. I’ve only known him for a day, but this seems out of character for him. There must be something I’m missing.

He unhooks a dagger from his belt and the morning star from his back. “Because this might be business for you, but it’s playtime for me, and Debbie wants to taste fresh blood.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Debbie?”

He kisses the morning star, which is oddly clean and shiny after the brutal battle we just went through. “She’s a beaut. Now get out of here and let me play. I promise I won’t let you down, pet.”

“I’m not—you know what, fine. I’m not getting anywhere with him anyway, and I could use some puppy love. Where’s Buddy?”

“Sitting by the fire watching your every move,” Max says, turning to face the still-unconscious doctor with a growing smirk. “Although I think that dog’s blind in one eye.”

My anger and frustration diminish when I sit down with Buddy. His eyes are the first I inspect, and Max is right. Buddy’s right eye is missing the actual eye. It’s scarred over, but he doesn’t let it stop him from turning his head around and seeing everything he can. I hope that dreg didn’t do this to him. If so, then I want to go back there and stab his body a few more times until it’s mush.

Putting my anger at the assumption out of my mind, I rub my hands down his body and pause when my fingers run over a bandage on his front leg.

“I looked him over for wounds as best as I could. He has a sore on his leg and a bruise on his side that’s probably from being kicked, otherwise he’s healthy as can be.” William crouches to the ground beside us and gently pats Buddy’s side. “I also cleaned him up for her. It’s how we found out about his eyes.”

“You poor thing.” Rubbing Buddy’s ears, I kiss the top of his head and then his nose, then laugh when he licks my nose in response. I look down at the bowls of beans and water that are still untouched. “You’re not hungry? Did they feed you before we took you?”

“Doubt it. He’s likely too stressed to eat right now. A new environment, new people, and he has no idea what’s going on,” William says.

I grab a bean from the bowl and pop it in my mouth, making sounds of enjoyment while I chew and swallow it. “Delicious.”

Buddy lowers his head to sniff at the food and then takes a bite himself. And then another. Then he chows down faster than a horde of rotters demolishing a human.

“Maybe he just wanted some dinner company. It’s more fun eating with other people, isn’t it, Buddy?” When he’s done, I rub his ears and kiss his head while he licks every last taste from his mouth. His tail wags in agreement. “Five star dining for you.”

“We’ll need to make another food run soon,” William says. Then he shakes his head. “I’m not complaining about the dog eating. We’d need more food anyway, and we can always hunt, but with any luck, we’ll come across some real dog food.”

“Have you found any before?” I ask.

“Once. Max tried some and said it was delicious. We also hadn’t eaten in four days. Griffin and I ate the cans of stew we’d found instead.”

“That Max is a strange one,” I say.

“He’s been through a lot. We all have, but his experience broke him a little more than ours did.”

“He wasn’t always like this?”

William shakes his head. “We were best friends before this all happened. He was always outgoing, but not quite like this. When the virus swept the earth and the dead rose, it took a couple of weeks before we all found each other. By the time we had, we were pretty broken and only had one another to rely on. His story isn’t mine to tell, but we give him a break. Even if we act like we want to kill each other.”

I laugh. “Yeah, I can see that.”

“He’s a good one to have around. If you’re lucky enough for him to consider you worth protecting, then you’re stuck with him for life. He’s one of the two most loyal men I’ve ever met.”

“Griffin is the second,” I guess.

“Yup. They’ll do anything to protect each other. Max just has more fun.”

Leaves crunch under footsteps and I look behind me to see Max walking toward us, twirling the dagger between his fingers in one hand and holding his bloodied morning star over his shoulder with the other. His face is splashed with streaks of blood, but it’s the grin that has me excited. The pride and confidence he exudes has me giving him my full attention.

“Good news, pet. I’ve got the location.”

Shooting to my feet, I gather my belongings. Then I realize I don’t have any belongings other than the dirty clothes on my back and the weapons attached to me—which aren’t even mine to begin with—so I run my hand over Buddy’s head and look around. “Griffin has the car keys. We can leave right now. Don’t need to worry about camp. We can be there and back in no time.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow your roll. We’re not going anywhere yet.” Max hooks the morning star to his back. There’s even blood on his clothes, which only stands out on his all-black attire due to how wet and slick it still is.

“The more stand around doing nothing, the more time that gets wasted.”

“You’re worried about wasting time? I can think of a few ways to make sure that doesn’t happen.” He waggles his eyebrows at me and I roll my eyes. This isn’t the time for fun and games.

Griffin returns to the campsite, freshly clean from the stream, with water dripping from the ends of his short, dark brown hair. His six-foot two-inch muscular build nearly blocks out the sun when he walks up, eyes zeroing in on Max with a sigh. “You killed him.”

Max grins with pride. “Got what I needed, so I had a little extra fun.”

“Thought you said you had to take over so I wouldn’t kill him.”

“Because you were going to kill him by accident before getting anything useful. This way, I got everything we’d need, and there was no reason to keep him around. He would’ve been a nuisance, eating our food and bleeding out everywhere. He even had the gall to pee on my shoe. Dregs have no manners, I swear.”

“Great. Now tell me where the hideout is and I’ll get going.”

Griffin raises an eyebrow. “You’re not going anywhere on your own.”

“Why? Because I’m still your hostage?”

“No, because we stick together so that no one ends up hurt. Or dead.”

“Why does my life matter to you? I’m your captive. I never wanted to be part of your little group.”

Griffin’s empty gray eyes somehow look even more empty. “I won’t be responsible for your death.”

“Great. I can be responsible for my own death then.”

“We’re not going in without a plan, Emily. Now sit back down while I figure something out.” Griffin doesn’t wait for a response before storming to his tent, and I, being the stubborn asshole that I love to be, can’t drop this. Maybe this is why I have so few friends.

“My friend’s life doesn’t work on your timeline.”

“And our lives don’t work on yours,” Griffin says without turning around. “We can’t just waltz into a dreg’s hideout and ask for their stuff over a cup of tea. They’ll kill us on the spot and they’ll take you, like they already tried to do. We’ll get there, but I won’t risk our lives, and that includes yours.”

“My life isn’t yours to risk. I will not sit around while my friend gets even sicker, when I’m able to do something about it. You might not care about another human life, but I do.”

He whirls around, his empty gray eyes now full of anger. I must’ve hit a tough spot. Good, then I’ll keep punching him there. “If that’s what you really think, then that’s fine. You can go out there on your own. Fight an entire hideout full of dregs on your own. You can wind up tortured and murdered or worse, if that’s what you really want. Might as well just feed yourself to rotters instead. It’ll be a more pleasant way to go.”

“Fighting a thousand rotters is easier than trying to reason anything with you. Fighting a thousand dregs is easier than getting through your thick skull and dull personality.”

His hand raises into the air and I ready my stance and lift my chin, preparing for a fight. He has brute strength, but I’m a biter if it comes down to it. But instead of swinging like I expect, his fingers curl into a fist and he snarls. He actually snarls. I didn’t know men could snarl in real life. Then he spins around and punches the tree that was rudely rooted in the ground too close to him.

I don’t speak. Not because I’m speechless; I can brighten up this argument with a colorful vocabulary. But because I’m too angry. Zoey is counting on me and I’m letting her down because of this overgrown baby with control issues.

Griffin turns around and disappears into the tent without another word, pulling the tent flap closed with so much force that it rips about an inch. Max does a long, slow whistle before walking away to what I’m assuming is cleaning up what’s left of the doctor.

William throws another log on the fire and then rummages through the measly supply of food that we have left. “Don’t take it too personally, Em. He gets like that sometimes.”

“That’s not normal. Are we even safe here with him?”

William’s head pops up from the bag, his blue eyes pale and warm. “I know things aren’t the easiest for you right now, and this isn’t the most ideal situation. But there aren’t many people out there who care about your safety and your mission as much as him.”

I scoff. “He’s a menace.”

“William!” Griffin calls from inside the tent.

I jump at the outburst, wondering if he heard me talking. My lips curl up into a smile. Good, I hope so.

“Be right back.” William gives me one last longing look before disappearing into the tent that Griffin tore through. I’m about to see if I can sweet talk Max into giving me some sort of information, but then he walks over looking more bloodied up than ever. He gives me a wink before disappearing into the tent next.

Even when they lower their voices, but I can still make out the growl that belongs to Griffin. I tiptoe to the tent as quiet as I can be and listen in. I can’t make out everything they’re saying, but I can make out one thing. “West.”

I hold in a gasp. The location is somewhere to the west.

As if on instinct, my fingers curl around the compass hanging from my neck and beneath my shirt, and I walk backward until I’m standing next to Buddy. If I’m going to do this, it needs to be now. Griffin doesn’t have Zoey’s best interest in mind, despite what William said. After that outburst, I don’t trust Griffin enough to wait around for him to get his head out of his ass and formulate a plan. Especially if he’s not going to let me in on the plan.

With none of them paying any attention to me, I motion for Buddy to follow. We start walking with my compass as our guide.

The sun is high in the sky. It’s bright, and it’s hot. Sweat rolls down my back and I regret not taking some water. We haven’t gotten very far, still pretty much in the broad area where we set up the campground, but this is going to be miserable. It wasn’t nearly this hot sitting beside the fire with water and tree coverage.

Movement in the trees has me stopping in my tracks, and Buddy presses against my leg with a low growl. I grab my knife and hold it ready, waiting for a rotter to appear. When the figure emerges from the treeline, I groan with disappointment. I’d much rather it be a rotter.

“What do you want?” I whisper-shout.

“You won’t make it far on foot, especially since you don’t even know where you’re going. What plan do you have?”

“I know it’s to the west. You didn’t keep your voices down like you thought. I’ll find it faster on my own than I will by waiting for you guys to tell me where it’s at.” I wait for him to argue, to talk me out of it, but his response surprises me more than his appearance.

“What about when you get there?”

“I think best on my feet.”

“No plan?”

“You mean other than sneaking in, getting it, and then sneaking out? We already kill them all, anyway.”

“Yeah, I better go with you. But,” he holds up a finger that’s still bloody, “I won’t tell you where it’s at. I’ll merely keep you company.”

“Did you at least bring water?”

His lips curve into a grin, and he holds out a bottle of water. I take it and gulp down two-thirds of the bottle before I kneel and drip a thin stream in front of Buddy. He laps at it until the bottle is empty.

“Looks like you’re stuck with me then.” Max takes the bottle back with pride. I shouldn’t have emptied it so soon. Maybe Griffin is right and I won’t survive out here on my own. That’s something I’ll never confess.

Feeling like I have no choice but to accept the offer, I continue walking with him by my side. I’m following my compass west, but I’d like to believe that if I head off course that he’ll correct it. Though that’s probably nothing more than wishful thinking. Maybe I could sweeten the deal by telling him I’ll let him kill every single dreg all on his own. He’d like that.

After about another thirty feet, Max stops, grabs me, and spins me around to face him. Buddy growls and Max smiles down at him. “What an excellent guard dog he is to you already.”

I struggle against his grasp, but he holds me in place. “Why are you here?”

“Griffin would kill me if he knew I saw you walk away and didn’t go after you. Well, I might wind up killing him instead, but he’d sure as hell put up a good fight. He’s a little trooper.”

“Not like he’d care. He yelled at me to go on my own and get myself killed, if you recall. Not the words of someone who would worry about my safety.”

“He might surprise you.”

He’s basically repeating what William had said. I can’t believe it until I see it and I’m tired of all the dancing-around-the-subject that they’re doing. I can’t hang onto hope that these strangers will go to such great lengths to help save someone they’ll never meet. I’ve already been let down by people I trusted. I can’t go around relying on people I’ve met only a day ago.

“Why did you grab me?”

He shrugs. “Idunno. Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

His green eyes are almost vibrant as they roam across my face, taking in every detail. I shiver under his gaze and his grin widens. “If you’re trying to stop me from finding that place, then it’s not going to work. I’ll even let you kill every single dreg all on your own.”

“You will?” His eyes sparkle. I knew he’d like that. But when I try to pull away again, he still holds on.

“Max.” Buddy growls and butts his head against Max’s leg until he finally lets go of me with a laugh.

That was weird, even for Max. Every time I wonder what he’s thinking, I remind myself that the inside of his mind is likely more scary than the physical world right now. But it’s not enough to stop me from being curious.

We continue on in silence. This is a waste of time and energy. He has the information I need. He can’t be perfectly content watching me go in the wrong direction. Or maybe he is. These guys have been messing with my head since I met them. “Why won’t you let me walk away? Why won’t you guys just let me go home?”

His head tilts to the side. “You really want to know?”

“Yes,” I say with exasperation. “I know you like the chase, but this is getting ridiculous.”

He grabs me again, turning me to face him, his eyes turning fierce even when his ink black hair falls into his face. I don’t understand why he needs to do this in order to talk to me right now. We don’t need to be in each other’s arms every time we have a damn conversation. “The chase is one thing, but actually leaving is entirely different. Because the last time someone walked away from me, it was to leave me for dead, and I don’t quite favor that feeling. Not back then, and not now.”

Tension melts out of me, and my heart hurts for him. Being abandoned is an internal wound that isn’t easy to heal. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

His normally bright, playful eyes turn haunted. “I’m not, because it shows the real people in my life, so if you want to leave, then you can leave, but don’t pretend to care. Because leaving after you convince me you care is the worst thing you could do.”

His words catch me off guard, and I’m not sure if we’re talking about the same thing. He doesn’t understand. My problem is that I care too much. That’s what put everyone at risk back in the colony. Because I cared about someone I shouldn’t have. “Max, it’s not that I don’t care. In case you missed it, I’m not walking away from you; I’m walking with you. Sure, you didn’t give me a choice, and you keep stopping us on this walk, but I’m not leaving you; I’m only trying to help my friend, because I’m the only one who will.” I pull myself from his grasp and before I can think too much on this random weird conversation, I trip over something in the grass and fall face forward. A cold, clammy hand wraps around my ankle. Oh, hell no.

Sitting up, I slice the hand straight off at the same time Max slams the morning star into the skull and Buddy sinks his teeth into the rotter’s calf and tugs until it tears in two. I shake the hand free from my ankle and when it falls to the ground, lifeless; I laugh. I can’t help it. A big belly laugh that I haven’t had in a long time rolls through me and I have to really work to clench my teeth together to keep from making too much noise.

Max grabs my hand and pulls me to my feet before wrapping me in his arms. I bury my face against his chest while I try to stop laughing so much. Only now do I realize how broad his chest is on his lithe form. I almost fit perfectly against him, with his arms wrapping around me. When my laughter dies down, he lifts one arm and twirls me around in the sunlight streaming through the trees like something ethereal.

“You’re a puzzle more complicated than a Rubik’s cube. You’re not nearly as normal as you try to be. You’re a bit fucked up.” He stops twirling me and holds me close, his striking and intense, vibrant green eyes burning into mine with every word. “Maybe not as much as I am, but you’re not like any other girl before or after this apocalypse. You care about your people as much as I care about mine.”

“Zoey means as much to me and Griffin and William mean to you.”

His hand raises up, and he rubs my cheek with his knuckles. “That’s exactly why we’re going to do everything in our power to help you both.”

Griffin’s voice carries out to us, calling our names. Max looks in the direction we came from before looking back at me with a smirk.

“Well, pet, what do you think? Stumble around and cross your fingers that you can find what you need, or wait for a safer plan, then go in there with three guys who’d rather fight their way into a dreg’s hideout than see you get hurt trying on your own?”

“I have a feeling you enjoy the fight more than you should.”

“You’re not wrong. Nothing makes me more giddy than a good bloodbath. If you’re a good girl, I might even let you play with Debbie someday.”

“To be clear, that’s your morning star, right? Not someone else you have locked in the trunk?”

His grin widens, and he laughs as though I’ve said something hysterical. “Nah, pet, the trunk is only for you.”

Griffin’s call comes out again, more worried this time, and I make my choice. I pull away from Max and the intensity in his gaze. Grabbing his hand, I smile back at him when his fingers clasp around mine and then I lead us back toward camp, my head swimming with confusion.