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I scowl at him. “Is that supposed to be flattering?”
“It’s supposed to be honest. And it is. I’m not stroking your ego, I’m being real. You’d hardly have to work. You’d be a trophy piece more than anything else. You’d be warm and dry, better fed.”
“Why is everyone trying to save me lately? Ryan, the Colonists, you. I can take care of myself just fine.”
“Who’s Ryan?”
“No one.” I grumble.
Vin grins wickedly. He nudges my shoulder as we walk. “You got yourself a guy, Kitten?”
“No.”
He watches me and waits.
“Maybe.” I admit grudgingly. “I don’t know. Kind of.”
He shakes his head sadly. “Giving it away for free.”
“You’re warped.”
“Is he an independent too?”
“No, he’s got a crew.”
“And they don’t know about you, do they?”
I shake my head fiercely.
“What crew does he run with?”
“I don’t actually know their name. I just know where they are.”
“Really? Where are they?”
I give him a long, blank stare. What am I? New? Ryan didn’t sell me out, I won’t sell him out. I owe him that much.
Vin chuckles. I nearly stumble forward when he suddenly slings his arm around my shoulders, pulling me in close beside him.
“Good girl.” he murmurs, giving me a squeeze.
Chapter Twelve
They keep us fat and happy for another two weeks. Every meal is delicious, hot and filling, every night is spent in a soft bed with a warm blanket, and we’re allowed a hot shower once per week. It is Heaven and it is Hell.
I’m not doing well with all these people. I’m barely sleeping and Vin is sometimes all the company I can handle at meals. They tried to make it easier for me initially by putting me in outdoor jobs. First it was the greenhouse and the gardens where I learned to pull weeds and water plants. Not much is growing right now but they say we have to make sure we have seeds to plant for next year and prep the soil for the spring. There is still broccoli, kale and even a few hearty pumpkins that have outlasted the drop in temperature that are growing and need tending. Other than that, though, gardening is as boring as I’ve always imagined it. I “accidentally” break two clay pots in the greenhouse and I’m promptly kicked out.
Now I’m on guard duty which is a good change but a total joke. I’m tied to a guy named Phil up here on top of the wall of shipping containers with no weapon and no real purpose. We start walking back and forth, he and I starting at one end, another guy at another end. I can see three more people walking the chain link fences surrounding the rest of the property, dutifully keeping the Kraken out. I asked why we needed fences against the water. Phil’s response was priceless.
“For safety.”
They never acknowledge that we’re captives here. It’s always ‘Thank goodness we found you!’ and ‘You’ll get used to it. You’ve been away too long.” Away where? Out living my life on my own terms? They act like they’re CPS and we’re runaways or victims of Stockholm’s Syndrome. They will heal us! It’s unreal.
“Joss, you’re looking the wrong way.” Phil barks.
I look at him, confused. “How? I’m looking out there. I’m watching for… stuff.”
“What stuff? What are you talking about?”
“Well, I assume I’m not watching for Risen because,” I throw my arms wide across the city. This area is absolutely swarming with Risen. It’s far worse out here than it is in my part of town. Their moaning is a constant hum in my ears up here. “There they are, pretty much everywhere. And we’re not killing them, which is weird, but ok. So I’m watching for whatever else. Gangs, I guess?”
Phil shakes his head, ignoring my sarcasm. “No, you’re watching the i
“Why? What’s the threat there?”
“Look, the outside is fine. Just worry about what’s going on inside.”
I stop following him. “You mean we’re not watching to keep anything out, we’re making sure everyone stays in?”
“The people need to be kept safe.”
“From what? The cows?”
“Themselves.” he says firmly. “Now walk.”
I follow him but I want to shove him off the structure. I daydream about it for the rest of my shift. Getting out of here was going to be tough but now that I’ve seen all of this, the Risen outside and the guards watching every corner, it feels impossible.
“That’s why they showed it to you.” Vin tells me.
We’re standing in the back of the common room after di
“Well, it worked. I’m worried.”
“Don’t be. I’m working on something.”
“Oh yeah? What?”
“That.”
He nods in the direction of a group of women sitting on the floor across the room. They’re watching a movie playing on the television, some bubble gum 90s romance monstrosity that makes me ache for the brilliance that is John Hughes, and I can see Barbie sitting in the center of it. Brea
“Brea
I can’t believe it could be true. Brea
“No, I am. On her.” He points to my nemesis.
“Barbie?”
“Caroline.”
“Whatever. How are you working an inside job on her?”
He looks at me pointedly but doesn’t say a word. I stare back at him, not getting it, not until—
“Oh, God, gross.”
He grins. “There it is.”
“But you hate her.”
“Violently, yeah. Girl’s dead inside. But when a woman offers to get naked for you, you don’t pass that up. Not in this economy.”
“I would think in your line of work that you’d be at the point where a naked woman is not that exciting.”
He snorts. “If I ever get to that point, I better be dead.”
“So are you just sleeping with her or are you getting something out of her?”
“Oh, I get something out of her. Every time. I’m very thorough.”
“Again, gross. Are you getting anything useful to the rest of us?”
“Not yet, but give me time. Right now she’s slumming but once she starts falling in love with me she’ll start spilling her secrets. Pillow talk is very important.”
“Once she’s in love with you? So this is a long con. The kind of plan that has no hope of getting off the ground before I’m old and gray like you.”
“Ouch.” he chuckles. “Do you have so little faith in my charms?”
I shrug, not looking at him. I have no doubt about his charms. In fact, if I was a ten years older…
“Not your type, huh? Not like your boy Ryan?”
“Don’t talk about him.” I say quietly.
“Why not?”
“I don’t like to talk about him.”
I don’t like to think about him. Not in here. My memories of whatever it was we had, whatever was starting between us, are starting to fade and distort. He’s on the outside living free and wild with the Lost Boys and the part of me that I imagined with him feels far and faint right now. As though it’s ceasing to exist. As though maybe it never did.
“Will he look for you?” Vin asks softly, his usual careless bravado shelved for a brief moment.
I shrug, watching the screen fixedly. There’s a guy talking to a girl on the busy streets of a large city. He reaches up to push a lock of her hair behind her ear. She beams up at him like an idiot, like that small, simple gesture means the world to her.
“I doubt it.”
“If he went missing would you look for him?”
Rain begins to fall. The guy pulls out an umbrella to cover her but she pushes it aside. They’re drenched in an instant, both of them a mess. They kiss.
I feel the pang in my chest again.
I nod. “Yeah. Yeah, I would.”