“This is as far as the trucks go,” he said. “We’ll go on foot to clear out a few neighborhoods and get a feel for the infected population.”
I looked at the buildings in the distance. As my first time outside of Tolerance in weeks, scavenging those homes for supplies felt intimidating. Yet, I knew what to expect. A random infected lingering where they once lived. A few groups wandering the streets. A trap or two to avoid. All of that would have been daunting when it had been just my family. However, in a group this size, with this many fey, we’d be fine.
“Ready?” Garrett asked.
“Yep.”
The door creaked as I pushed it open and jumped lightly to the ground. The fey were milling about, waiting for the humans to congregate.
“Okay,” Ryan said, addressing the group. “Most of us know this drill. Humans stay with the fey at all times. Same room. Close proximity. Stay quiet. Stay alert. The first pass is to clear infected. The second is for supplies. Don’t assume a house is clear. Ever. Any questions?”
Zach and I shook our heads.
“Let’s go.”
I started to follow, and a hand closed over my shoulder. Rolling my eyes, I looked back at Thallirin.
“Are we going to do this every step of the way? There’s a roast in a working freezer out there somewhere with my name on it.”
A momentary frown flickered over his expression.
“A group always guards the trucks.”
“That’s bullshit. I came for supplies, not guard duty.”
“We split everything,” Ryan said, and I saw he wasn’t the only one watching the Thallirin-Brenna spectacle. “And he is right. We usually leave three or four behind to guard the trucks so we don’t come back to a dead engine or a truck full of infected.”
I was determined, maybe a little stubborn, but not stupid. When Dad had been alive, we would leave Mom to guard the vehicle while we went in for supplies. It made sense to leave the person with the most limitations behind. Mom, despite all of her independence, just couldn’t make it into some houses because of her chair. Likewise, although I could shoot as accurately as most of the fey, I couldn’t run as fast or carry as much. And, apparently, a vagina really was a disability.
Barely refraining from rolling my eyes, I conceded.
“Fine.”
Zach gave me a questioning look.
“Go. You know what to look for. Just make sure someone’s watching your back.”
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Ryan said.
“You better.”
He nodded, and Zach and the others left in the arms of the fey. I wondered how Zach really felt about all the rides he was getting. I needed to ask him if he minded all the manhandling.
“You’ll have a better view from the roof,” Thallirin said. “It will hold your weight.”
With an audibly aggrieved sigh, I scrambled up to the roof and used my scarf to secure my hood to my head. The wind battered at me as I carefully watched our surroundings. With the trees set further back from the road on both sides, I had a clear view of any immediate danger. Not that there was any. The fields and trees here remained just as quiet as they had back home.
I felt myself getting cold despite my layers. When I guarded the wall, I moved. A lot. On the narrow platform of the truck’s roof, there wasn’t room to take more than a step or two.
“We need to guard the truck, he says,” I mumbled under my breath. “More like uselessly freeze my ass off.” I bounced lightly in place and blew on my hands.
“If you’re cold, sit inside the truck,” Thallirin said.
“Your common sense is useless on me. I’m just a child, remember?”
A grunt came from the other side of the truck, and I turned to glare at the other fey.
“You have some sage wisdom to add to this conversation?”
The fey shook his head and continued his walk along the trucks.
I stubbornly remained on the roof. I honestly didn’t mind guard duty so long as Zach and I got a fair share of the supplies. And, despite Zach’s teen boy weirdness about Mom wanting birth control, I knew that he would come through for her if there was any to be found. What I minded was being managed.
The bracing wind didn’t let up for a second the entire time the group was gone. When a few of the fey started returning with supplies and left again with stacks of empty totes, I called it good and climbed into the truck and locked the doors.
Thallirin and the other fey left me alone for a while. The amount of time I stared at the keys in the ignition bordered on insane. Did I really care if letting the truck idle would draw infected? They wouldn’t be my problem. They would be Thallirin’s; and in my state of glacial rage, I thought he’d earned himself a few well-placed bites for putting me in this position in the first place.
However, no matter how much the idea of warm hands and feet tempted me, I didn’t reach for the keys. I pulled my arms from my sleeves and stuck them under my armpits while drawing my knees to my chest.
Thallirin knocked on my window, interrupting my daydream of sipping warm, dog food-free, soup.
“Are you hungry?” he asked through the glass.
“No. I’m cold because you made me stay here instead of letting me run for my life in the streets of Hasenpfeffer or wherever the fuck we are. Go away so I can succumb to hypothermia quietly.”
I stuck my tongue out at him like the child he believed me to be then ducked further into my hoodie.
“Open the door, or I will break the window.” He said it so annoyingly calmly that I had no doubt he would do it to get to me.
“I can’t. My hands are in my armpits. And if you break the window, glass is going to come flying in here and cut me. That’s not a very good way to show you care. Plus, no windows will make me even colder. If you’d told me I would have been standing still outside for hours, I would have dressed differently. More layers. Instead, I dressed as if I was going to move.”
I pushed back the hood to scowl at him.
“You do realize I survived this shit storm before you showed up. I’m not some helpless female who just lucked out. I fought for my life. I went into houses, killed infected with a knife, and took supplies, just like they’re doing in town now. How else do you think I ate?”
“You no longer need to fight. I will fight for you.”
Angry, I shoved my hand back through the sleeve and slapped my palm on the window, right over his face. He didn’t even flinch.
“You’re frustrating the hell out of me. Please go away before I break the window myself.”
He looked at my hand and lifted his own to cover mine through the glass. That I could immediately feel his heat, surprised me. As did the way he slowly curled his hand into a fist, then left me to shiver in silence.
Miserable didn’t describe how I felt when I finally heard a voice call out. Like a turtle emerging from her shell, I peeked out of my jacket and saw the majority of the group jogging our way. The fey carried laden totes, and the humans carried whatever they could. Thallirin stepped up to relieve Garrett of his burden. Garrett nodded his thanks and made a beeline for the truck.
“Your lips are blue,” he said when he climbed into his seat and shut the door.
“And my ass is thoroughly chapped.”
He chuckled and started the engine.