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“You’re okay?” he asked.
She nodded, breathed out roughly, and then put her own knife back in the little loop of her pants. They stared at each other for a moment, and then she turned behind her, scanning their surroundings, making sure she was safe. When she faced Collin again, there was hesitation in her eyes.
“What’s your name?” he asked her, hoping to prove to her that if he intended on harming her, he could have done so already. When she didn’t answer, he spoke again. “I’m Collin Suthers.” He held his filthy, bloody hand out to her. She looked at it for a second before grabbing it and shaking it lightly.
“Rebecca Shaw.”
Rebecca.
He rolled the name around in his head, loving the way it sounded, how it made him feel, and had this proprietary sensation moving through him.
“So…” She looked at him, stopping what she was about to say. “If you want to come back to where I have been staying, maybe to rest or eat something, you can.” She licked her lips, glanced around again, and then looked at the ground. She was nervous, really fucking nervous.
He could hear it in her voice and see it in the way she held herself. It was the same reaction he’d seen on hundreds of people when they’d been around him and feared the situation.
She shrugged. “If you want, that is. I owe you my life.” She rubbed her hands over her dirty jeans and breathed out. “Thank you, by the way.” She looked at him with just her eyes, and Collin was struck by the vivid green color of them. “I figured if you wanted to hurt me, you could have done so already. But you saved me, and a little post-apocalyptic hospitality is the least I can show you.”
She was even more attractive up close, even though dirt covered her face. Her skin was this pale, luminescent shade, her eyebrows as dark as her hair, and he could tell by her slender-shaped face that underneath her bulky clothes she would be tiny.
Most likely starved, because in this day and age, there wasn’t enough food to keep someone a healthy weight, let alone overweight.
Before he could respond, she turned and started moving through the forest. He followed, keeping his ears open for any sound or movement from the infected or rogue humans like they encountered back in town. He scanned left and right, keeping his eyes trained on everything around them.
After about half an hour of hiking through the thick foliage of the woods, the trees parted, and a rundown and deserted warehouse came into view.
It was strange seeing this building out in the middle of nowhere, but the broken and hanging sign on its side said it once manufactured farm equipment. It made sense because of the small Colorado town they were currently in and the land that surrounded them.
The dirt ground gave way to cracked and uneven pavement. There was a large gap in the fence that surrounded the ten or so acres of property that the warehouse sat on. It wasn’t an overly large building, certainly nothing that would have been seen in New York, but for this town, it was probably very substantial.
“I stay up there.” She pointed to the highest level of the three-story building where a broken-out window was. She moved through the opening in the fence, and he followed closely behind. He didn’t see any infected on this side of the property, but he could hear their moaning and groaning echo off the pavement and the building.
She might think this place was safe, but it wasn’t, not with the amount of sound he heard and the access anyone had to the building. It wasn’t secure and certainly not safe. She might not know this yet, but he wasn’t just coming here to rest and eat. He was coming here to make her see she was his and that he’d be taking her away from this place.
They made their way into the building without coming in contact with any infected, but Collin knew that was just luck. He stopped at one of the windows that showed him the other side of the property, saw at least thirty infected walking around aimlessly, and cursed low.
“Are you coming?” she asked softly.
He turned away from the horde of infected corpses only separated from them by the dilapidated warehouse. He followed her toward the back of the building, around one corner, and stopped when she came to a halt.
There were a few pieces of machinery that were rusted and aged from time and the weather that came through the various holes in the ceiling. Collin watched as she moved over to the corner. It was darkened from the shadows, and when she started pulling a piece of machinery out from it, he moved forward.
