Page 63 of Blood We Steal

As I shivered from the aftereffects, he drew his fingers out of me slowly and dragged them across my bottom lip. Then he followed with his tongue, a glint in his eyes.

He adjusted my clothes, tugged my shirt straight. I looked down and saw the hard line of his cock straining against his slacks. He didn’t touch it. Didn’t do anything about it at all. He just stood up straight and said, “Tomorrow we try with the knife.”

TWENTY-NINE

Rubin

“You know this is crazy, right?” Simone said.

“Does that word have any meaning?” I responded.

She licked her lips and then let out a little shrug, like she was actually considering the question. “I suppose not,” she finally said, “but this…”

“They reinforced the barricade,” I said, looking at the door that led to the units on the first floor.

Simone shivered but quickly brought herself under control. “That’s great. They put up the barricade. So we should go back upstairs and leave the barricade alone.”

“We are going to leave the barricade alone.” Her face brightened, and I had to keep myself from smiling when I deflated her. “We’re going outside.”

“What?” She blinked, looking at me like she misheard. “Outside? Outside, outside like where there are dozens, if not hundreds, of corpses walking around. That outside? Or a different outside?”

“That outside.” I handed her the Bowie knife, pressed it against her palm, and held it there until she circled her fingers around the grip.

“And why would we do a thing like that?” she asked.

“Because I need to see what’s out there.”

“I don’t,” she responded.

“Grab the knife, Simone,” I said.

She tightened her grip and then nodded.

I took the handgun Kane had given me, along with my own knife, and slid the baton into my belt loop. “Kill anything that tries to attack me,” I said.

“Rubin, this is so fucking⁠—”

She cut off when I pushed the door open. It let out a creak that may as well have been a dinner bell. I stayed still a moment, watching to see if my calculation would hold. I waited a beat, then another, and when none of the things I could see in the distance stirred, I started to walk.

Air, an actual breeze, hit my face. Yes, it smelled of smoke and decay, but it moved. And the sun hit my skin like it always had, the hot rays reminding me that some things were constant. Reminded me that I had to be too.

I kept my eyes forward and kept her in the corner of my vision. This had probably been a mistake. I should have brought Besnik or Arben, even Damian, or no one at all. But not Simone.

The thought lingered, but I refused to second guess myself. This was necessary. We were down to six days’ worth of food—maybe—and still had no idea what was out there. Simone was best positioned to tell me how long whatever I found, if I found anything at all, would last.

Taking Simone had been the right choice.

I glanced back and saw that she had noticed the fence running along the edge of the building. It was how I had gotten her inside, and so far my guess that it might work as a route out was holding. I turned the corner, and other than a few empty laundry bags strewn across the grass, there was no sign of disturbance.

So far, so good. I stopped at the fence and saw the chain.

“Damn it,” I muttered.

But Simone tapped my arm, then pointed. The chain was in place, but it wasn’t locked. I lifted the heavy padlock as gingerly as I could and eased the gate open, moving it increment by increment so it wouldn’t be too loud.

Soon the gate swung wide, and I stepped through. Simone stepped in behind me and looked back at me, her eyes wide. I nodded ahead, toward the small shed at the far edge of the employee parking lot.

Unfortunately, it sat a little over quarter mile from the main building, through another set of fences. It left us exposed, but I had to trust that quick thinking and the network of chain-link would carry us. Simone shook her head, no. I nodded again, then tightened my grip on the gun and turned, certain she would follow even if she hated it.