Lost Highway(12)

In the room, the blood left behind doesn’t smell human. The pungent odor reminds me of rotting flesh. The creature explored every inch of the room. I even spot goop on the ceiling. Did it crawl up there?

“It smells like my grandmother’s stew,” Odessa says from the doorway.

I like how she won’t enter. Timid is preferable to blind courage. Mary became fearless before she finally snapped. I recall how she stood in the fading light and dared the wolves to take her.

Odessa watches me move around the room. Every time I glance back, I find her studying me rather than the mess. Her expression is relaxed until I hold her gaze. I can’t read the new emotion in her eyes. I only know it puts me on edge.

“What?” I ask when she won’t look away.

“I was thinking that of all the faces I could be looking at while stuck in hell, yours ain’t so bad.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You’re an attractive man, Quill. Did they not tell you that during your robot training?”

“Stop calling me a robot.”

“Stop acting like one.”

I storm toward the door, sensing Odessa might consider locking me inside. She only hurries away until her back is against the wall.

“You don’t understand what awaits you if my hospitality ends.”

“Suffering, torture, death. Am I close?”

When she doesn't look away, I wrap my hand around her throat. “You should never make extended eye contact with a predator,” I say, pressing my body against hers. “Most won’t allow you to live the way I do.”

Odessa stares up at me, and I relish the fear in her eyes. From the corner of my vision, I notice her hand moving upward. Once again, she prepares to break the one rule I’ve set down since the very beginning.

Her fingers slide over my cheekbone before returning to her side. “Eyelash,” she casually says.

Grunting at her inability to keep her hands to herself, I shut and lock the door. “I need to fix the hole before the sun goes down.”

Odessa says nothing while following me into the kitchen. I know the tools I need are in the basement, and I also know she might lock me inside. Unlike with the bedroom, I don’t know of a secret exit.

I consider having her join me in the basement so she can’t pull any tricks. Her expression makes me think she wants to start trouble. Possibly, the change is beginning, and she hopes to force me to kill her.

If that’s her plan, I figure we best get it over with, so I leave her alone upstairs. I know I can break through the door, but she doesn’t lock it. Odessa stands at the top of the stairs and watches me the entire time. Rather than attempt to lock me inside, she looks relieved when I return.

Or maybe she’s thinking something completely different. While I’m not a robot, I do lack the skills to read her well. I’d never needed more than a cursory understanding of human emotions. My feelings remained stifled while the needs of others never interested me. Now I have Odessa trailing me, and I can’t figure her out.





Chapter Thirteen


Odessa




Quill uses the plank from my bedroom window to block the exit. I stand nearby and watch his back. He doesn’t ask me to help. I don’t think he even wants me at his side. Quill says nothing when I follow him outside. He rarely says anything, so I don’t take his silence as a slight.

“Have you ever tried getting the attention of the people in the sky?” I ask while he works.

“No doubt when they look up, they see the real sky. Their world has the real sun while ours only has the reflection of their sun. We don’t have the moon or stars to light our sky, so our nights are pitch dark.”

“We could still try to contact them.”

“What would be the point?”

“They could help us.”

“How?” he asks, setting the plank against the house. “If you saw people in the sky, waving for help, how exactly would you help them?”

“I don’t know. They could get us help.”

“From who?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you know what your problem is, Odessa?”

“No, please share, Quill.”

Hearing my annoyed tone, he frowns at me. “You react without thinking things through, and your instincts are poor.”

“So I should do what instead?”

“Examine a situation carefully before reacting. Your logic seems stronger than your instincts. Also, don’t allow your emotions to control your decision-making.”

Crossing my arms, I’m irritated by his arrogance. He might be smarter and stronger… Well, I guess, he gets to be arrogant, but his words still sting.

“You said the highway ends in darkness. What about going through the woods?”

“I tried that on the other side of the highway. There’s no exit if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“What’s it like on the other side of the highway?”

Quill stops working and glances back at me. “More Death Dealers. They’ve created family units. Packs, I guess, from a predator’s standpoint.”

“Why don’t they come to this side of the highway?”

“They do. That’s why I set the traps.”