Thicker Than Blood (Thicker Than Blood #1)(66)
Alex’s eyes darkened with something close to guilt, and I could tell he felt bad about the branding. I wasn’t upset with him because it wasn’t his fault, but I remained silent, letting him steep in his guilt.
“Fine,” he eventually spat, snarling. Then he looked at Leisel, and his scowl deepened.
“You should go too,” he told her, his tone harsher than I’d ever heard it before. “You need to wash up for tonight, right?” He laughed once, a sharp, humorless bark, then turned away from her, his eyes once again trained on the ground below.
Rolling my eyes, I sighed loudly. Alex’s moods were giving me whiplash. Which was probably fitting, considering how annoying it must have been for him to have dealt with Leisel and me, and our constant ups and down during the last few weeks.
Still, Leisel looked as if she might cry; her chin was trembling, and her hands beginning to shake. I was about to say something snarky in return, something to lighten the mood, until I noticed the fire in her eyes. It was a small one, but it was there, hidden amongst all her tears and fears. That fire created a warm sensation deep down in my belly, causing me to smile with pride.
“What about your claim on us—on me?” she said, her tone surprisingly snarky. “Are you sure you want me wandering around without you and your leash?”
She was trying for angry, but she’d never pulled off angry very well, coming across instead as a stubborn, headstrong child. Alex turned, staring down at her, his eyes softening the longer he watched her attempt to keep up this silly angry charade. Eventually her features gentled, and then she gazed up at him in that beseeching way I remembered from before. When she’d want something new for the house, something expensive that Thomas believed was frivolous or too extravagant. He’d always caved. Always. And Alex was no different. Only a moment passed before Alex’s shoulders slumped in defeat.
She reached for him again, and this time he didn’t flinch away from her. This time he wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her against his chest. Her face lifted and his lowered, and they gazed into each other’s eyes in a way that suddenly made me feel as if I was a Peeping Tom, intruding on a private, intimate moment.
Smirking to myself, I started to leave the room when Alex’s sudden shout of protest sounded behind me.
“Eve! Stop! If you’re dead set on going, then let’s all go take a look around.”
I turned back to look at him, a little stunned that he was relenting so easily. Though, I knew firsthand the effect Leisel had on those who loved her.
“Until we all know what type of people they are,” he continued. “I think we need to stick together.” He frowned at me, and I frowned right back.
“You mean you want me to stick with you,” I said pointedly.
Folding his arms across his chest, he glared at me. “If it means that you’re safer, then yeah, that’s exactly what I mean.”
I had opened my mouth to protest when Leisel stepped forward, interrupting our argument before it could even begin. “I think he has a point, Eve. I’d feel safer if we were all together.”
Huffing in annoyance, I rolled my eyes to the ceiling, pissed off that she had chosen to play that card on me. She knew I would never turn her down, that I would never dismiss how she felt. I always wanted her to feel safe; in fact, I needed her to.
“Fine,” I snapped. “Fine.”
? ? ?
The air was cooler outside, daytime giving way to early evening, abandoning the stifling heat of the sun in favor of the moon. It was quieter now, lights shining from inside several of the buildings.
This place was creepier now that nightfall was approaching, now that it was quieter and almost deserted, apart from the odd person scampering from one building to another. Shadows, big and black, cast on us as we traveled through what suddenly seemed eerily like a deserted town, tall structures towering over us from either side.
It somewhat freaked me out, feeling all too similar to when the outbreak had first begun. Our hometown had been busy, always bustling with life, until the infection had hit. Then all too soon it had grown quiet, each street seeming darker than the last.
This place—Purgatory—had not so long ago been teeming with life, yet with the setting of the sun had gone nearly silent. The only sound I could easily discern was a low beat, a mixture of bass and loud whispered words, coming from somewhere within one of the structures. I looked up at Alex to find his features creased with irritation, as if the music provoked him somehow, and with each step toward it, he seemed to grow even more standoffish.
Yet we continued to follow the beat, making our way through the winding paths between the buildings, hunting out the source of the noise until we found ourselves in front of a smaller building nestled between two of the larger ones.
I stared up at it in wonderment. I hadn’t heard music in such a long time, even in Fredericksville, for fear it would attract the infected. But these people were almost brazen with their noise levels. It scared me, yet at the same time, I couldn’t deny the excitement that welled inside me.
I turned to Alex and Leisel, finding the same wonder-filled, excited expression on her face, though Alex looked more pissed off than anything else, irritation still rolling off him in waves.
His hand was latched onto Leisel’s, their fingers interlocked. He surveyed the building warily, swallowing slowly, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat.