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“The hounds aren’t like anything we’ve ever seen before.Glowing red eyes, long legs, dark.One of them decimated a whole Company and a ton of people before running off like it wasn’t carrying its weight in metal inside of it.”
Molev shifted his attention from the men to me, and I waited for him to decide if he wanted to keep talking.I’d repeated some of what he’d said to pacify Patrick so he would let me continue and so Molev would understand that I would be relaying everything he said.
“They die when their heart is removed and crushed to black dust.”
“That’s disappointing,” I said.“How many people died to figure that out?”
I couldn’t imagine getting close enough to one of those things to dig out its heart.
“None,” Molev said.“But a few were injured.”
“Your kind can go toe-to-toe with the hounds?”I asked, just to be sure I was understanding.
“Explain what you mean,” Molev said.
“I mean you can fight them and only get hurt.Not dead?”
“Yes.We aren’t as fragile as humans.”His gaze swept over me when he said it, but it didn’t feel like a dismissive glance.More like one measuring exactly how fragile I was.
Rather than sit there under his scrutiny, I stood and collected the blankets from Brandon.
Molev watched me spread them out next to him and waited for me to approach with another bottle of water.He drank it down and didn’t refuse the food I offered next.I glanced at Patrick, and he gave a minute shake of his head, answering my unspoken question to release Molev.
Feeling awkward but hiding it as I did with everything else I felt, I sat knee to knee with Molev and looked at the packs in my lap.
“All right.Our options tonight are beef in barbecue or beef tacos.Any preference?”
“You choose,” he said.
I opened one at random.He asked a few questions about the flameless ration heater and the drinks but otherwise watched me closely.When I had the first taco made, I held it up to him.He looked down at the folded, filled tortilla for so long that I knew I was showing him something completely new to him.
“Like this,” I said, turning the taco to me and taking a small bite.
The corner of his mouth moved again, and I was starting to get the feeling that half of what I did or said amused him.That rubbed me the wrong way.I was stuck in the bum-fuck nowhere of the central Midwest, fighting to survive and get the answers we needed to help our loved ones survive, and he was entertained by me?
Hell no.
I lowered my hand as I chewed instead of offering it to him again.
“Either you understand exactly what’s happening and are indifferent to it, or you’re clueless.Which one is it?”I asked.
The flicker of humor I could have sworn I’d seen vanished.
“Explain.”
“I’m here because people are dying.Our world is dying.You have the ability to stop it, or you have answers that will enable us to stop it.Either way, our fate…the fate of our world rests in your hands, and you’re sitting there, entertained by my efforts to learn what your role might be in saving us.And frankly, it’s making me angry.”
He took a slow, deep breath.
“I apologize, Andie.Finish your meal, and I will continue answering your questions.”
“It’s not my meal.It’s yours.I was just showing you how to eat it because you were looking like you’ve never seen a taco before.”
“I haven’t.”
He leaned forward, a show of willingness.I didn’t understand him, but when I’d let my frustration show, he hadn’t reacted in kind.That meant something.
Lifting the food, I almost yipped in surprise when he moved forward quickly and took a bite so large his lips brushed my fingertips.My heart gave a stuttering beat at the shock of it.
