Thicker Than Blood (Thicker Than Blood #1)(114)

Not bothering to shut the door behind me, I quickly stripped out of my ruined clothing and inspected myself in the mirror. The cuts on my face looked even worse than they had this morning, swollen and red, fluid leaking from between the stitches.

Grimacing, I closed the stopper in the sink and poured half of the jug of water into the basin. Grabbing a small hand towel from the rack, I shook it free of dust, then dipped it in the water and began the painstaking task of cleaning my wounds.

? ? ?

Hand in hand, we stood by the lone window, watching as the sun began to set on another day. Our bellies were full of peaches, dried rat meat, and complimentary chocolates from the bed and breakfast’s office, and the scent of wildflowers blew in through the open window, breezing through my damp hair.

It was a truly perfect moment, and I couldn’t help but envision us staying here, maybe even living out the rest of our lives here.

“I’m going to go to bed,” Leisel said, pulling away from me with a yawn. She smiled. “If that’s okay with you?”

I nodded. I hadn’t felt this safe, this secure in our surroundings since we’d left Fredericksville. “While you were cleaning up,” I said, “I moved some more of the furniture downstairs. The doors are blocked. If anyone, anything, tries to get in, we’ll hear it.”

As she padded softly over the hardwood floor and slipped into bed, I turned back to the window, wishing the eagle would have followed us here, hoping that, like Leisel and me, it was someplace safe. It was almost surreal, the view of the deep ravine, the dimming sky full of muted shades of pinks and blues. And so peaceful.

This was all we’d wanted. After leaving Fredericksville, this was what we’d hoped for, what we had aimed for. So many people had died just for us to get to this point, so many sacrifices had been made, that it was hard not to be a little morbid about it. But Alex and Jami, Shawn and Thomas, they would have wanted this for us. They’d given their lives to keep us safe, and now we were. And I felt like I’d finally kept good on my promise to Thomas.

I had kept Leisel safe.

A wave of exhaustion tumbled through me, causing me to reach out and grip the windowsill. I blinked several times, my vision doubling and clouding over, yet I didn’t want to close my eyes just yet. I wanted to let it all soak in for a little while longer.

“Thank you,” I whispered to the sky. “Thank you.”





Chapter Forty-Three



Leisel

I was dreaming of screaming. Shrill, high-pitched, blood-curdling screaming that was so very familiar to me, it sounded as if it were my own. I searched wildly for it, running through the darkness, tripping over shadows of arms and legs all reaching for me, yet couldn’t seem to find anything. Only more darkness and constant screaming.

“Lei! Lei! Wake up!”

More arms grabbed at me, a hand wrapping around my wrist, nails biting into my skin, shaking me furiously.

“Leisel!”

I jolted upright, blinking with confusion at Evelyn’s distorted features.

“What?” I cried. “What’s wrong?”

“You tell me!” she said. “You woke me up screaming!”

My mouth fell open as I looked around the room, taking in our surroundings. “I…uh…” I managed a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry, I was dreaming.”

Shaking her head, her red curls bouncing, she smiled. “It’s fine, it was just loud. Are you okay?”

I nodded, then reached up to gingerly touch the angry red wounds on her face. “Are you? These look better than yesterday. They seem to have finally started scabbing.”

She made a face. “They hurt like a bitch. The scars are going to be awful.”

Lying back down in bed, she pulled the musty bedcovers up to her chin and grinned. “But what good is surviving an apocalypse without the battle scars to prove it?”

“I always thought you were too pretty,” I said, laughing as I lay down beside her. Wrapping my arm around her middle, I pulled myself closer.

“Thanks,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes even as she turned her face against my chest.

Snuggled against Evelyn’s warm body, my eyes began to close. It was astounding how relaxed I was, given everything that had happened. Considering our run of bad luck, it was unreal to find a place such as this one—entirely overlooked. I couldn’t imagine that it was going to stay that way forever, but for now this was exactly what we needed. And it was the little things, like finding a slice of safety in a world gone mad, that made the rest of it not seem quite as horrible as it had.

Nearly asleep once again with a silly smile on my face, I heard it, the telltale groaning growl of an infected. My eyes popped open, and I turned my head to find Evelyn looking back at me, her eyes wide.

“Fuck,” she mumbled, untangling herself from me. “I knew this was too good to be true.”

Yanking the covers off us in a huff, she swung her legs out of bed and strode quickly across the floor toward the window. Pushing open the haphazardly hanging shutters, she peered down below.

“There’s two,” she whispered, glancing back at me. “They’re by the Jeep. Probably heard you screaming, and now they smell the blood.”

“If it’s only two,” I said, feeling guilty for drawing them here, “we can handle two easily.”