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“I got it,” she said without turning and facing him. The sound of the metal scraping against the concrete was loud, and he knew the infected would be able to hear it. But she stopped after a second and pulled out a ladder.
When Rebecca placed it against the wall, he looked up and saw there was a narrow loft above them. It was pretty well hidden because of the rafters crisscrossing in front of it and the thick layer of shadows blocking it from view.
There weren’t any holes in the ceiling right above it to shed light on it and reveal its location, and although he knew there was a small window somewhere up there from when she pointed it out to him, he couldn’t see any light.
After adjusting her backpack and tote over her shoulders, she started climbing the ladder then stopped and glanced at him over her shoulder. Collin had to admit he was damn impressed by her ingenuity and that she was smart enough to find this place to stay in.
He adjusted his own bags, nodded, and started after her, knowing this woman might very well give him a run for his money when it came to her stubbornness and strength. But she’d realize Collin never gave up, and he wanted her pretty fucking badly.
8
Rebecca pulled the ladder up and onto the loft once Collin cleared it. She moved it out of the way and stared at him. Although the loft was small, it was big enough to have been used as storage when this place was up and running.
There were a few bales of hay that had been up here when she first found it, and although she thought about tossing them because they stank from mold and dust, she kept them as a kind of wall for half the loft.
“You’ve been staying here long?” he asked and looked around.
“A couple weeks. It’s served its purpose, and even when a few of the infected managed to find their way in here, they couldn’t reach me and didn’t know where I was.”
He nodded, walked over to the small window, and looked outside. “It’s not safe here,” he said almost absently.
“It works for me. You’re free to go though.” She hated saying that, because even if it was stupid to have brought him here, shown him where she stayed, the simple fact was he saved her life. Sure, those men may not have killed her, at least not right off the bat, but they would have raped her to the point she would have gladly welcomed death.
He turned around and faced her. The ceiling was high and arched enough that they could both stand fully straight, but this man was immensely taller than she was, well over six feet. She was not tiny in any sense of the word, or she hadn’t been before the contamination hit.
Before all this had gone down, she had been full and thick, a healthy size sixteen even. At five-foot-seven she wasn’t short either, but with the lack of proper nutrition, she felt thin, almost frail. Now she was trying to keep a size twelve on her without them falling off.
But this man still looked so powerful and strong, like he took care of himself despite the lack of… everything in the world.
“It’s not safe here,” he stated again. She didn’t care what he thought. She found this place, lived here for the last couple weeks, and no one found her yet. It was safe, elevated, and she left when she needed things.
Rebecca was familiar with the area, and although she knew that maybe she couldn’t live here forever, because the town would only provide so many supplies, she was afraid to go anywhere else.
“Maybe not, but it’s worked for me so far, and what’s left for me out there?” she asked the genuine question, knowing that unless there was some kind of safe haven where people banded together, she had nowhere to go.
He didn’t respond right away. She watched as he picked up his backpack and sat down a few feet from her. He took out a small battery-operated lantern-style flashlight and turned it on. It was daylight, and although there was a good amount of light coming through the holes in the ceiling across from them and the small window behind Collin, it was still dark in the loft.
The glow from the lantern washed the small area in a yellow light. She stared at his face and noticed his dark hair was on the longer side, brushing the tops of his ear, with a disheveled look to it. Despite the fact that he clearly cut his own hair, it looked good on him. He didn’t look very old, maybe a decade or so older than her own twenty-seven years.
“You hungry?” His deep voice had her coming out of her thoughts. Rebecca nodded and turned to grab the tote she shoved a few bags of chips into. The bottle of water she snagged was next to come out, but when he made a noise, stopping her, she glanced up at him.
