Thicker Than Blood (Thicker Than Blood #1)(36)

“I don’t like this,” I whispered nervously, sensing my anxiety rising. Several more seconds had passed silently, and yet no whistle had sounded. What-ifs began racing through my thoughts, the endless possibilities of what awful things could be happening behind that cabin, and me unable to help.

The sound of crunching leaves echoed in the stillness as Evelyn inched her way closer to me. Her hand slipped into mine and together, like we always had, we gripped each other tightly.

“You know how he saved you, don’t you?” she whispered. “Back in Covey, from those freaks?”

Turning to look at her, I shook my head slowly. “No,” I said. “I didn’t really think about it.” I paused as a memory struck me. Alex and the dead man he’d been dragging into the room, the one with the human bone jutting from his eye socket.

“I asked him,” Evelyn said. “He was locked in a room just like you were, chained up and given to an infected. He used his chains to strangle the thing, and ripped its head clear off. Then he tore open the body, dug out a leg bone, snapped it off, and waited until someone came looking.”

I gasped at the image that intruded on my thoughts, the ugly memory of that moment pushing forward.

“Are you listening to me, Lei?” she continued. “That man took the head off an infected and used its bones to kill an armed guard. And he did this all while still chained up.”

I stared at her, not blinking, a little light-headed at the thought of it all.

“My point is, Lei, you don’t need to worry about him,” she said matter-of-factly.

Feeling both bewildered and proud, I turned away from her and back to the cabin. No, I really didn’t have to worry about him, did I? At least, not when it came to protecting himself.

In the distance, a low piercing whistle sounded and my breath caught. I waited to hear another, two whistles to signify that danger was afoot and it was time to flee or fight. But it never came. Instead, I watched as Alex appeared from around the side of the cabin, looking entirely well.

With a sigh of relief, I dropped Evelyn’s hand, got to my feet, and together we started for the clearing.

? ? ?

According to Alex, all the windows were still intact, yet had been boarded over on the outside as well as the inside, something that would require making a mess and a whole lot of noise if we tried to enter that way. In the end, it was the front door that seemed to be the safest and most logical way inside, but first we’d have to get past the two large padlocks sealing us out.

“This is a good thing,” Alex murmured, using his knife to fiddle with the top lock. “Means ten to one there’s something useful inside, and most likely no nasty surprises.”

I still wasn’t convinced that we were safe here. Something about this place felt off to me. Unlike everywhere else we’d seen, it didn’t seem dead; in fact, it was teeming with life. Of course, that could have been all the burgeoning forest surrounding me, the animals and insects within, all who’d been untouched by the infection. Still, my worry didn’t lessen, and I found myself constantly scanning the tree line for any sign of movement.

“Got it,” Alex said, releasing the first lock from its loop and pocketing it. As he started on the second, Evelyn grinned at me, excitedly shifting from foot to foot as she eagerly waited to see what was inside. She reminded me of the old Evelyn, before the infection, always eager to do and try new things, clapping excitedly when she was happy, bouncing around like a ten-year-old girl who’d just gotten the thing she’d always wanted for her birthday.

With a happy smile on my face, I turned away, again scanning the tree line for any sign of threats. There was nothing, just the various shades of greens and browns of a forest, the low hum of insects, and turned leaves dropping from their branches and fluttering slowly to the ground. I followed one leaf in particular as it snagged on the breeze, turning in a circle to watch as it floated and spun through the clearing. I followed it on its happy journey, until I had nearly turned in a complete circle when something caught my eye and I froze in place.

“Eve!” I whispered, reaching out blindly for her. “Alex!”

A man stood at the edge of the clearing, not yet breaching the tree line but still discernible to the naked eye. He was dirty and bloody, his long hair disheveled and his clothes torn. His eyes were wild, and in his arms…

“Oh God,” Evelyn breathed. “Oh no.”

My gaze traveled down his body, my heart skipping a beat in my chest.

In his arms, hanging limply and covered in blood, was the tiny body of a little girl.





Chapter Sixteen



Evelyn

“Hands up!” Alex yelled, dropping his knife in favor of his rifle. Quickly, he slung the weapon around himself and raised it, showing the man that we were armed.

The man’s eyes narrowed, his mouth pressing into a tight line as he lifted the little girl in his arms higher, closer to his chest. It was a protective maneuver, and seeing this, I placed a hand on Alex’s arm.

“He can’t,” I said simply, my eyes trained on the little girl in his arms, her hair bloody and draped across her face.

The man still hadn’t moved. His face, partly hidden behind a long, scruffy beard, was frozen in some emotion that I couldn’t place. Not anger, though he did seem angry, and not sadness, though considering the condition of the child in his arms, he should have been sad. Shifting from foot to foot, in obvious indecision as to how to proceed, he wrinkled his brow in consternation, as if trying to decide if we were yet another threat to him and the girl, who was probably his daughter.