Page 39 of Blood We Steal

“Then he can show you things you don’t know.”

“Simone, I’ve been here for almost two years. You think there are places⁠—”

“Maybe not you, but we should all know. And there might be areas that you didn’t have access to.”

“You trying to protect him?” I looked at her then, wondering what game she was playing at.

“Whatever you want to call it, Rubin. I’m just trying to be smart. And they’re obviously here for a reason.” Simone looked toward Veronica and the guard.

“Why are you here? Have you been sent to spy?”

“Like we’d admit it if we had been,” Veronica said.

“Veronica…” Simone said.

Veronica folded her arms under her ample breasts and rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything else.

“Truth is,” the guard said, “we left. It was better to take our chances than stay with them.”

“Were you trying to get out?” I asked.

“That was the plan. We made it down from six and that took hours. Had to take out a bunch of those things. A couple of inmates too. A guard…”

“And now you’ve come to make yourself my problem?” I said.

“Like I said, I don’t want to be a problem. And as a sign of good faith, I’d like to show you something,” he said.

“What’s your name?”

“Kane. Kane Williams,” he said.

He was young, but not so young that he was reckless. “Fine. Can I assume that you’re going to be on your best behavior, Miss Shaw?”

Veronica looked practically riotous and as impressed as I was by her fearlessness, of the two, she was going to be a problem. Then finally, after slanting her eyes at Arben, she nodded. “Yeah.”

“Lead the way,” I said to Kane, deciding his death would be quick but very, very painful if this was a trap.

I followed the man, Simone still by my side. It was almost comical, this motley crew making our way through the halls of a jail.

Finally, we reached a long hallway.

“What’s back there?” I said.

Kane said, “Open the door.”

I approached carefully, Arben right next to me. When Arben opened the door, the heavy metal creaked, and then came that awful, inhuman moan. A figure stumbled out, a CO with a hole in the shirt at his side, one coated with red-black goo that had once been blood.

“Hmm,” I muttered. “The coward hid here, and died.”

I pulled out my knife and dropped the zombie, barely giving it a second glance.

“There are regulations about keeping weapons inside the block, but we always like to be prepared in case something happened,” Kane said, stepping inside of the closet.

It had what looked like a lifetime supply of cheap, one-ply toilet paper and paper towels. No chemicals. But Kane pulled two large pallets of paper down, reached inside and pulled out a handgun and two magazines.

“Probably would have ended up in here myself if the warden had known about this.”

I didn’t respond and instead took the gun. “Good. That’s a good gesture. Keep it up and you might survive this.”