Underland(27)

The zeke boy stood there wearing only a pair of denim jeans, his muscular torso bare. Kira felt her cheeks begin to burn bright red, and she stammered and tried to look elsewhere, to look anywhere except for his sculpted body. Why, oh, why couldn’t he have had an ugly body? Isn’t that how zombies should look? Ugly, gaunt and thin. No, his skin was smooth and heavily muscled. Kira’s mouth actually went dry, but Zeke pretended to not see her. Either that or he really didn’t care.

He turned his back to her as he grabbed a blue t-shirt draped across a nearby chair. Deep gashes, angry welts, purple bruises marred his entire back. From protecting her. The realization stole her breath.

***

Zeke heard her enter. He actually smelled her when she was out in the hall, and the scent, the aroma of her skin alone was enough to drive him wild. He had to get control of himself, of his hunger. She stepped around the curtain when she saw him and stared at his muscular chest. Her face flushed red in embarrassment. He liked that he could affect her like that.

Proof that he affected her as much as she affected him. He pretended to ignore her as he reached for his shirt. He heard her intake of breath at seeing his back.

He turned on her, livid, at the gasp. Pity. Did she pity him? His anger rushed to the surface, and he began to lose grip on his control. He tossed the shirt onto the bed and stepped towards her.

She shook under his furious and hungry gaze. Good. Because he should be feared and not pitied.

Zeke crossed to her in two quick paces, and his large hands reached for her throat. As his thumbs brushed her collarbone, an electric warning sent a shock through his blood. She jumped. Had she felt it too? With his hands around her throat he could feel her pulse against his thumbs. He wanted to press his lips against the same spot and feel her heartbeat with his mouth.

“Wait!” She thrust up the leather pouch between their bodies, using it as a shield. “Here, it’s for you.” She pushed the pouch directly into his face and he backed off. His hands brushed her forearms as he moved away. The tingling sensation stopped, and he felt himself begin to calm.

He looked at the pouch quizzically, and his gaze swayed back to Kira’s. She was tense, but not fearful. He glanced at the mirror in the room. His eyes were still white, but they no longer held a dangerous gleam to them. So, she wasn’t forgetting what she’d seen mere seconds ago, but she was still wary.

Maybe she had felt the same thing when they touched. Interesting. But he couldn’t let it happen again. He almost lost himself. He almost bit her. He needed to scare her. To keep her away.

When he didn’t move to take the pouch, she tossed it onto his bed and moved towards the door. The farther away she moved, the braver she became. Almost to the door, she turned, head high. Her hair swung in its long ponytail as she looked back over her shoulder. “You shouldn’t have done what you did the other day. But for what it’s worth, thanks.”

***

The zeke boy didn’t move. His hands were clenched by his sides. His chest heaved with deep breaths.

Was that for show? Did zekes actually breathe? There were so many things she had yet to learn.

“You’re not welcome.” She didn’t need an education to read the bitterness in his voice. He looked at her through heavy lidded eyes, challenging her, daring her to come near him again.

Kira’s eyes widened for only a second, but she recovered in record time. “Good!” she retorted snidely. “Then I won’t feel obligated to return the favor. Ever!” Kira slammed the door and entered the hallway. Her heart raced with adrenaline. Her hands were still shaking, but she wasn’t sure if it was from fear, hate, or the sight of his bare chest. Kira caught the sound of laughter coming from behind the door.

Kira’s rage returned, and she had to catch herself from screaming back a retort that would make her mother cringe. She was about to push the door open and punch him in the mouth when she noticed Warrick’s silhouette down the hall, waiting for her.

Grinding her teeth, she met him halfway.

“Done?” he asked.

“Yeah, sure,” she quipped.

“Did you give it to him? Did he like it?”

“Uh yeah, it was awesome! Best gift e-v-e-r.” Kira answered uncomfortably. She was now too embarrassed to ask about what was in the pouch, for fear of being caught in a lie. Maybe it was better if she didn’t know anyway.

Warrick looked at her slyly; he could sense her lie. But instead of confronting her about it, he ignored it.





Chapter 11

After leaving Warrick and Zeke everything had been a bit of a blur. Since then, Kira’d simply sat and rocked herself in silence. It was the only thing that seemed to calm her nerves. When she let everything that happened soak in, when she really pondered it all, it hit her. She was a goner; she knew the odds of surviving.

She had absolutely zero chance.

Kira sat paralyzed with fear in her room for two days.

She ignored anyone who knocked and pushed a chair in front of the door, but it offered zero protection. If a monster wanted into her room bad enough, it would break down the door. Still, the chair gave her at least the illusion of safety. But that’s all this was, an illusion.

She had deluded herself into thinking she could survive among the monsters. She had seen the tapes. She wished that she had never followed Warrick, and she wished she had never sat and watched the race, but she had. There was no turning back. She couldn’t erase what she had seen.