Sweat drips from my brow as I work the shaky needle through my flesh. I’m half afraid I’ll pass out, which could lead to my death now that I’ve outlived my usefulness to the woman.
But something tells me she just wants me out of her hair. She didn’t kill Blake when she had the chance to, and she did drag me to safety, though that could have been to help her kid out.
When I’m finally done, I turn to the three, trying to figure out how the hell to communicate with them. I place my hand to my chest and say, “Trennnt,” ever so slowly.
The woman blinks back at me.
I tap my chest again.“Treeeeent.”
Blink.
“Me, Trent. You,” I tap her chest—
SLAP!
Jesus Christ—
SLAM!
A small, feral toddler crashes into me, lashing its pudgy limbs chaotically.
I almost laugh, until he presses his knee to my wounded leg.
“Mother fucker!” I hop from the bed, mistakenly putting my weight down on my injured appendage.
“Shit!”
I try to catch myself with my other leg, but I’m too unstable to halt my descent to the floor. Luckily, I land on my rear, and after a biting stab, the pain goes from nuclear to a more manageable level.
I look over to see the woman holding the gun, leveling it at me. I smile back and pull the bullets out of my pocket.
A look of panic crosses her face.
I tap my chest again. “Trent.” Then, I gesture to her.
She frowns, slowly setting the gun down as she looks guiltily at me.
Fuck me, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a prettier pair of eyes before. Blacker than charcoal, with a slight dip in the arcs of her lids close to her nose.
But you know what isn’t so hot, the two snot-nosed brats on either side of her.
I gesture to her again, brow raised.
She taps her chest. “Suki.”
I exhale, relieved. Knowing her name isn’t much, but I’ll take it as a win.
I look around the room, noticing there’s electricity, which means we’re connected to a grid that the government had set up in case of emergencies.
Which means there’s hot water.
The room itself is shoddy, which doesn’t surprise me. The few buildings that have power are run down. Cole believes it’s because there might be defense research labs hidden somewhere in them, but we haven’t looked too hard.
I rub my arms like I’m applying soap. “Bath? Shower?”
She nods slowly, then rises from the bed and says something to the two boys as she walks over to a closed door. She opens it, revealing a bathroom.
I let out a long sigh of relief, pull myself up from the floor, and hobble across the small room, hoping like hell to put the worst of the day behind me.