Page 43 of Blood We Steal

I continued down the hall, the stapler in my grip. I was thankful for it because it kept at least one hand from shaking and gave me something to squeeze whenever the urge to scream hit me.

It had only been a few days, but I should have been used to this by now. I pretended I was, but each step felt like an eternity, the spooky shadows cast by the emergency lighting precursors to whatever terror hid in the darkness. The inhumanity of it all hit me with each step. There were no windows in this part of the hallway—probably a safety hazard—but that meant no sunlight. That didn’t matter now, either. I continued down.

I made it to the end of the administrative hallway. There was a heavy metal door that had been propped open. But Rubin had come this way, so he must have approved that. After what Veronica and Kane had shared, Rubin was on high alert, and the men were spread thin.

We all were.

I passed the rec room, and remembered Rubin’s reaction to Davis. The man had called me a whore. That wasn’t even worth an extra heartbeat, let alone a beating.

But then again, I was dealing with Rubin. If nothing else, the insult was a challenge to his authority, and Rubin took those quite poorly. Still, it was excessive, ridiculous that a man had to lose his life over something so small.

I’d never tell Rubin, though. And it wouldn’t matter if I did.

I found another propped door that led to another hallway. This was where Kane and Veronica had come from. There shouldn’t have been anyone down there, but my instinct told me to go. I ignored my discomfort and started to creep down it, feeling uncannily like a rat in a maze. Except this maze was filled with monsters, any of whom could be lurking around the next corner⁠—

“Simone!”

I shrieked and then whirled. The stapler and the walkie-talkie clattered to the ground as I grabbed Aaron in a giant hug. It hadn’t even been a day, but I’d missed him.

“So good to see you,” I said.

He squeezed me back, then pulled away, the platinum chain at his throat catching the thin emergency light. He’d started wearing the chain the year we lost Nana, said he liked to keep the people he loved close enough to feel. I’d told him she would have thought it was gaudy. He’d just laughed and said I should be glad he hadn’t gotten diamond charms in the shape of our initials.

“You all right?” he asked, his brow furrowed as he watched me.

“Of course!” I said. I was anything but, but I’d never admit that to Aaron. He didn’t need to worry about me.

“Won’t lie, Moni. I’ve seen better. I’d been holding onto hope that this was a temporary thing. It’s not.” He scrubbed his hand over his head. He shaved it religiously, but the shadow of hair had started to emerge.

How could I argue with that? I didn’t even try. “We’ll be okay, Aaron.”

He squeezed my hand and gave me a sad smile. Then he reached into his pocket. “We’ll be more than fine. I found a fresh pack of cards, so all is well.”

I laughed and he smiled back at me, as grateful for him now as I had been back in elementary school when Aaron had made sure I had dinner at least three nights a week. No matter how bad things got, Aaron always lifted me up, and that hadn’t changed.

He studied me. “Thought you were supposed to be on lockdown. Rubin let you go?”

“Did he tell you that?” I asked.

“Of course not. Just heard him telling Arben you were in the warden’s office. So he told you you could leave?”

“Well…” I tilted my head.

Aaron frowned. “Well what?”

“Well, no, but Rubin’s not the boss of me, and I needed to find you.”

“You don’t need to worry about me. It’s my job to look after you,” he said.

“No, Aaron, it’s our job to look after each other,” I corrected him.

He nodded and patted my shoulder. “I was doing just that. Figured I could try to get across to the other side, see what’s going on there. Rubin’s got this shit locked down.”

“Is that good or bad?”

“Good, I say from what I hear from upstairs. Don’t know if it’s inmates, COs, or…”

“Zombies,” I supplied.