Thicker Than Blood (Thicker Than Blood #1)(49)
“That’s disgusting,” Leisel said, coming to stand by my side. “I call dibs on the backseat.”
With a snort, I started to laugh. “Be my guest,” I said, gesturing to the small backseat where what was left of a human carcass lay in an abnormally contorted heap. It was only a skeleton, having been picked clean of most of its organs and entrails, though the slimy gunk that remained was smeared and dried all over the seat and floor.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, taking a step backward. “Never mind.”
Grunting in irritation, Alex stepped between us and shook his head. He pulled open the half door to the backseat, then grabbed the feet of the skeleton and dragged it out. There was a loud sucking sound and then an audible crack, and suddenly Alex went staggering backward, tripping over the body still lying on the ground, and promptly landed flat on his backside.
Leisel clapped a hand over her mouth, while I burst out laughing at the sight of him flat on his ass, holding a skeletal foot in each hand. Raising his eyes toward us, he scowled, which only made me laugh harder.
“Oh my God!” Leisel exclaimed, wiping away tears from underneath her eyes. “Do you need a hand up?” she asked, offering him her hand.
“Are you being funny, Leisel?” Alex retorted, one eyebrow raised. Before she could answer, Alex had tossed away the feet and grabbed hold of her hand, yanking her down. Pulling her over top of him, he rolled them, reversing their positions and covering Leisel’s body with his. And then he kissed her.
Left standing there, entirely forgotten, I stared openmouthed at them as my face grew warm. This was so unlike Leisel, the way she kissed him with such wild abandon, full of passion, and right beside the body of a recently deceased infected, no less. Even with Thomas, a man she’d been so very much in love with, she’d never been one for public displays of affection, and this…
Feeling awkward, I coughed and backed away just as they pulled apart. Alex jumped to his feet, pulling Leisel up with him. Although her cheeks were red and flushed with embarrassment, she smiled at him, a genuinely happy smile, the kind I hadn’t seen grace her pretty face in far too long. Alex wasn’t smiling—not that he ever did—though he was staring down at her, his usually hard features relaxed with a sort of contentment I found myself jealous of.
I’d known how Alex felt about her, but Leisel, despite her proximity to him all these years, barely knew him. And yet, here she was, allowing herself to live in the moment for the first time in her life. Which left me feeling confused, my thoughts and emotions running amok, but worst of all, feeling alone and entirely without the luxury to live in the moment with anyone.
I should have been happy for her, and for the most part I was glad for her. Glad that she was finally experiencing the sort of freedom she’d been long deprived of, but at the same time I was left wondering where I fit in. Who I had become in this equation, and was I even needed any longer?
“If you two are done playing footsie,” I said, attempting to keep my tone light, “we need to see if this thing still runs.”
They both looked up and over at me. Alex looked surprised and Leisel somewhat embarrassed, as if they only now remembered that I was still there. Jerking my thumb toward the truck, I quirked a brow.
With his hard exterior back in place, Alex rubbed a hand across the back of his neck while sighing heavily, then headed for the truck. Ignoring the gore covering the seat, he slid inside. His first attempt at starting it produced nothing, only a desperate-sounding whirring noise on the truck’s part as it attempted to turn over. He tried again, pumping the gas pedal several times until eventually the truck roared to life, an expulsion of black smoke pouring from the exhaust.
Cutting his eyes toward us, he jerked his chin. “Get in.”
Leisel and I exchanged a look, neither of us wanting to make a move toward the truck. Pointing to the body still in the backseat, I shook my head. “No way, not until that’s gone.”
“What?” he asked. “You expect me to clean it? Take it to a car wash? Maybe get it detailed while I’m at it?”
“Maybe just take the body out of the back?” Leisel suggested softly, her nose wrinkled with disgust.
Sighing angrily, Alex jumped out of the cab and flipped forward the front seat. Leaning into the back, showcasing the fact that the bottom and back of his pants were smeared with gore, he forcefully pried the remaining skeleton off the seat and swung it out of the truck. It broke apart in midair, bones scattering about as it came crashing to the ground.
“All good now?” he asked, rolling his eyes.
? ? ?
The roads were bumpy and uncomfortable, and obviously hadn’t been driven on for some time. Debris covered them—everything from trees to broken-down cars. As we passed through the outskirts of another town, a trail of dust flew up in our wake, the only movement we’d seen for hours.
The day was scorching. Sweat trickled down between my breasts, making me even more uncomfortable in my pink nightshirt, leaving me hot and sticky, hungry and thirsty, and with the urge to pee all at the same time.
Seated behind me, Leisel had taken to staring out of her open window in a daze. She’d wound up her long brown hair into somewhat of a ponytail, reminding me of the time she’d cut it all off into a sharp chin-length bob and had cried for weeks. It had grown out since then, taking the four long years since the start of this nightmare to get back to the length she’d always loved.