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“What do you want me to do?”Tamra asked softly.
“Do not fire your weapon, female,” the big one called, his voice filled with warning.
“Hold fire,” Patrick said.
The grey creatures came to a stop almost fifty feet away.My palms started to sweat even as I kept my breathing steady.
The big one’s gaze swept over us.
“Came back to steal more from us?”Patrick asked with attitude.
“We need three of your trucks.Those.”He pointed at the three we would have left behind.
“Why?”Patrick asked.“Building a fence?”
“No.You can keep what’s within them.We only want the trucks.”
“Is this a negotiation?”Patrick asked.
“Where’s the woman?”The question was out of my mouth before I could stop myself.The big one’s gaze shifted my way, pinning me with its weight.
“Safe.”
“Did you find the baby?”
He blinked at me.That was it.Yet, it was enough.I wanted to curse myself for giving away that I cared about the woman they’d taken.Caring was a sign of weakness in this new world.Caring got you killed.
And I’d been good about not caring.About the people we’d already lost.About the undead we killed every day.About exhaustion and hunger.But when it came to kids, it was a lot harder.
“Take the trucks,” Patrick said.“We keep the supplies.”
He kept his same pissy tone, but I knew what he was doing.Trying to save my ass.At least, he was smart enough to stay in role while doing it.
The big one glanced at Patrick and nodded.But while the five other grey creatures went to toss the supplies from the backs of the trucks, the big one gave me a long, considering look and slowly closed the distance between us.
My sweeping gaze made up for my complete stillness as he approached.He had scars.A lot of them.His face.His neck.His arms.He had a neat length of stitches on his forearm.The injury looked fairly fresh.
Blood spattered his shirt and his pants, but his hands and arms were clean.He kept his hands loose at his sides, but he didn’t come across as relaxed.Tension radiated from him.It was in the set of his shoulders and the way he held himself.
His black hair was pulled back from his face in a series of braids that hung down his back.And he didn’t look away from my face.Not once.
I tried to see everything without staring at anything.Details mattered.Details could save lives.
He stopped within arm’s reach of me.His, not mine.
“The woman’s name is Cassie,” he said, his voice a low rumble.“We found her baby.”
He didn’t say anything else, and I could feel the question bubbling up.I knew I shouldn’t.It was probably some kind of test.But I had to know.
“Alive?”
“Yes.Alive.”
Relief rushed through me.A baby.Alive.
“How?”I asked before I could stop myself.
“Another female hid with the baby.Both were without food for two days.”
