Thicker Than Blood (Thicker Than Blood #1)(53)
“No truck,” Leisel snapped. “We need to clear the barn.”
Alex’s narrowed gaze landed on her. “You killed one infected, and now you’re ready to take on an entire group of them?”
Leisel’s delicate nostrils flared in response. “I’m so pissed off right now,” she shouted, “that I’m ready to take you on!” She shoved him hard in the chest, but he barely flinched at the contact.
With his arms folded across his chest, Alex didn’t respond, only glowered down at her. Gritting her teeth, Leisel gave him the same hard stare, neither of them willing to back down. I glanced back and forth between them, realizing that neither of them were going to willingly give up their ridiculous battle of wills, then I stomped forward, stepped directly into their line of sight, and threw my hands up in the air.
“Can we save your lover’s quarrel for after we’ve cleared the barn?” I said witheringly. “As in, after it’s safe here and I can be as far away from you both as possible?”
Leisel lifted her lip in an ugly snarl that looked so out of place on her innocent-looking features that I nearly laughed out loud.
Alex, unlike Leisel, seemed grateful for my distraction. Sighing, he glanced toward the barn. “I’m not sure we should risk it.”
I realized then that he was anxious, if not downright nervous at the idea of us taking on so many infected. I’d become accustomed to his gruff and usually no-nonsense demeanor, that hearing him sound so apprehensive made me suddenly feel unsure about attempting to clear this place.
“Maybe we could draw them away somehow?” Leisel suggested with a sigh, though she still looked annoyed and more than a little put out.
“There’s too many now,” Alex said, shaking his head. “Way more than there were earlier.”
I raised an eyebrow but didn’t voice my annoyance. After all, I had suggested we stop earlier when we’d first passed by. “They aren’t fresh,” I offered instead. “They won’t be quick. I think we can clear them.”
Dragging a hand through his short beard, Alex pressed his lips into a thin line. His eyes were darker than normal, his uncertainty spilling over into his features.
“Anything goes wrong, you run,” he said, his gaze landing on Leisel. “Got it? You goddamn run.” He looked at me than, and I found myself grateful that I hadn’t been overlooked, that he’d wanted me safe as well, even if it was merely because he knew Leisel wouldn’t survive on her own. It gave me back some sense of purpose.
Leisel’s eyes narrowed in response, but instead of coming back at him with another smartass remark, she simply nodded her head in acceptance. Glancing at me, she gave a slight shake of her head, and I knew there was no chance in hell she’d run, not without me, at least. I was her best friend, her only family left, and she’d never leave me anywhere, just as I wouldn’t leave her.
Alex had somehow gotten absorbed into our family as well, though his place in it was still somewhat uncertain to me. I trusted him, I respected him even, as well as Leisel’s feelings toward him, but if it came down to it, I would choose Leisel over him. And I hoped she would do the same for me.
“Then let’s do this,” Alex said, pulling a tire iron from his belt loop. Though he still carried his rifle, there were no bullets, the weapon more for show than anything else.
As I gripped my blade and Leisel her hammer, the three of us started forward. The closer we drew to the barn, the more aware the infected became of us, and slowly they began to stumble in our direction. A rush of adrenaline burned low in my belly, making my entire body quiver with nerves. I glanced at Leisel, wondering at her well-being, but found her looking far more determined than I felt.
“Split up!” Alex shouted, and jogged off to the side as the first infected closed in. It was an ugly-looking thing, its gender no longer distinguishable in the mass of rotting skin and jutting bones. Alex, having circled it, sent the sharp end of his iron into the back of its skull, killing it before it had the chance to turn fully around and face him. Yanking the weapon out quickly, Alex sent the infected crumpling to the ground, and then he swung left, sending the iron straight into the face of another approaching infected, tearing off its cheek and causing it to stumble to the side.
That was the last I saw of him, as I was suddenly faced with my own battle. Two infected rapidly approached me, and as I shouted a warning to Leisel, I found that she was no longer beside me but running in a wide arc around the two coming at me, headed straight for a third that was gaining on us. My heartbeat spiked with worry for her, but there was nothing I could do, not with the two still coming at me.
Avoiding its gnashing teeth, I shoved the first of them, pushing it backward. It staggered, bumping into the second, though it didn’t fall like I’d hoped. I was forced to run a circle around it, slamming my blade into the skull of the second, leaving me very little time to pull my weapon free before the first managed to bring itself fully around.
Shouting, I ripped my blade free from its head, shoving the prone body of the second infected into the first, thankfully with enough force that I managed to topple it over. About to bend down and put it out of its misery, I paused as something sharp grazed my arm, and I whipped around to come face-to-face with yet another one. I slashed out wildly, the tip of my blade shredding the remaining skin on its throat into ribbons of leathery flesh, causing thick black gunk to well out from within. The wounds I created did nothing to divert its attention from me.