Thicker than Blood (28 page)

“Where are you going?” Alex said sharply,
making me jump from the sudden sound.

I froze in place, my hand barely touching the
doorknob. Glancing over my shoulder, I found him glaring at me, his
deep-rooted scowl still in place.

“It’s dangerous out there,” he growled, his
frown and fury all melding into one menacing expression.

“You don’t actually have a claim on me,” I
told him, my tone matter-of-fact. “So if it’s all right with you,
I’m going to check this place out. Besides, I need to find us some
food.” Glancing down at myself, I wrinkled my nose. “Maybe even
some clothes that fit. And I definitely need a bath, and I don’t
need a chaperone, not with your initials forever branded into my
skin.” My last words were said with the intonation of bitterness I
was feeling. Lifting my arm, I flashed Alex his initials that were
now forever marked on my wrist.

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.

“We should get back to the room,” he said,
already turning to leave and pulling Leisel along with him.

“Alex,” she protested, digging her heels into
the ground.

“Really?” I snapped. “You’re going to leave?
Just like that?”

He turned back, his shoulders already sagging
in defeat as he glanced at Leisel and saw the disappointment
creasing her features.

“It’s noisy in there,” he said, to which I
rolled my eyes. “It could be dangerous. We don’t know these
people.”

Snorting, I gestured toward the sky as I held
my arms wide open. “Alex, look at where we are. This whole place is
dangerous, this whole fucking world is dangerous!”

His mouth pressed into a thin, hard line.
“This is different,” he said flatly. He was a man of so very little
words, always using simple straightforward sentences, very rarely
showing any sort of emotion, though right now I could tell I was
pissing him off.

He looked down at Leisel, at her pleading
expression, the one that had always gotten her exactly what she’d
wanted when she’d been with Thomas. I held back a smile, waiting
and watching as Alex’s willpower began to crumble.

“Please, Alex?” she whispered sweetly, too
sweetly, even for Leisel. “We can just take a look around. We’ll
leave if you don’t like it. I promise.”

Alex glanced between Leisel and me, and a
frustrated noise erupted from the back of his throat. Frustrated,
yet defeated.

“Fine,” he conceded unhappily, “but you stay
next to me at all times.”

“Deal,” I answered. Even as much as I hated
having to answer to anyone, I would do it if it meant I got to
listen to music, for the first time in what seemed like
forever.

Frowning at me, Alex shook his head and
started for the door. Inside, it wasn’t dark like I had expected it
to be. In fact, it was lit all along the hallway, as if the
lighting was meant to lead us to an underground den. We followed
the path down a flight of stairs, passing by other people, couples
who barely gave us a second glance. Their eyes were glazed over,
and their hands far too busy with each other to notice, or care,
about our little trio.

At the end of a second hallway, the narrow
space abruptly opened into a large, yet infinitely darker room, my
eyes struggling to adjust to the dimmer, drearier lighting. Despite
the size of the room, it was cramped, chokingly so in places,
filled with bodies pressed against one another in a strange macabre
dance, moving together in a perfect yet chaotic mayhem. Heat poured
off the dancing crowd in waves, thick and stifling, yet the beat
chilled me, the sounds of an earlier lifetime dancing eerily over
my skin like a ghost, raising the hairs on my arms and the back of
my neck.

When we reached the edge of the throbbing
crowd, Alex grabbed hold of my hand as he edged closer to Leisel,
pulling her tightly against him. I understood his fear. This place,
it was strangely intoxicating. I could already sense it—the
ambience—making us forget, pulling us apart. Suddenly, I was
lonelier than ever in a room full of people.

“Can we dance?” Leisel shouted. Her eyes were
round; she was obviously electrified by the sight. She’d always
loved to dance, yet never in public. This would be a first for
her…if Alex allowed it.

Before Alex could answer, the crowd surged
against us, knocking us backward and separating my hand from
Alex’s. Grabbing a nearby arm, I was easily able to regain my
footing, yet I had lost sight of Alex and Leisel entirely.

I continued searching, pushing and shoving my
way through the mass of people, sweaty bodies pressing up against
me as sweat trailed down my back.

A warm breath danced against my ear. “You
shouldn’t be here.”

Startled, I turned, shocked at the sight
of pitch-black eyes meeting my own, eyes that seemed to suck the
air straight from my lungs. He was a large man, twice my size, even
taller than Alex.
His
arms were heavily tattooed with dark images that ran up and down
the length of them. His neck was thicker than my thigh, his dark
hair shaved into a short Mohawk that began at his widow’s peak,
ending at his neck. A beard as dark as his hair framed a squared
and hard jawline. All in all, he was an intimidating man, but it
was his eyes that terrified me. They were an angry, dark,
coal-burning black, with a deep-rooted intensity that made my
stomach start to ache.

I glanced around, searching for Alex and
Leisel but finding neither. Glancing back at the man, his features
almost lost in the darkness, I swallowed hard.

“I can handle myself.”

A slow grin arose on his mouth. “Didn’t doubt
it.”

Something like pride sparked to life inside
me. Maybe it was what he’d said—believing that I could actually
handle myself—or maybe it was the way he’d said it. Either way, I
found myself smiling at the compliment, and my cheeks flushed.

Tilting his head, he gestured for me to
follow him, and for some reason I did. Though I knew it was
ridiculous to follow this man—a complete stranger, and an
intimidating one at that—I couldn’t seem to stop myself.

Trailing after him, I watched his large frame
move through the crowd as people everywhere hurriedly moved from
his path. Who was he that they regarded him in such a way? Was it
fear? Or was it respect?

We came to stop at a table, one of many set
up in the far end of the room. He sat first, watching me as I
emerged from the thick throng of people. Hot and sweaty, I wiped a
hand across my forehead, feeling somewhat nervous, but infinitely
more reckless. This place was a drug, an aphrodisiac tempting me on
to a path that I knew was wrong.

Taking the seat opposite him, I watched as he
laid his forearms on the table, enabling me to clearly see his many
tattoos. Numerous skulls trailed up both his arms, disappearing
under the sleeves of his T-shirt.

He seemed even bigger now that he was seated,
his imposing stature engulfing both his chair and the small table
between us. My eyes darted up to meet his, and I found him watching
me intently with a strange expression on his face, a mixture of
longing and anger.

“Lots of skulls,” I said lamely, my gaze
dropping to his arms.

“One for every kill,” he said
matter-of-factly, as if this was something every person did when
they killed an infected.

My thoughts trailed off as my eyebrows rose.
“Infected?” I asked. “Or people?”

His lips curved into a
grin
, yet he didn’t
bother to respond. A scantily dressed woman appeared at our table,
diverting his attention as she set down a drink in front of him. He
picked up the glass and took a long swallow, then offered it to
me.

I could smell it from where I sat, the bitter
tang that emanated from all liquor, knowing that this was not the
sort of man you simply took a drink from. He was dangerous; I knew
that much just from looking at him. But as I continued to study
him, I realized he wasn’t just dangerous, he literally radiated
danger. Violence. From every pore on his skin, every taut, bulky
muscle in his body.

And yet, I found myself reaching across the
table, taking what he offered, then brought it to my lips and
swallowed the burning, foul-smelling liquid. Feeling oddly like
Alice in Wonderland, I licked a spilled drop from my bottom lip as
the rest of the swallow burned a hot path down my throat.