Page 102

“I need medication. I was traveling with Maddie, and she mentioned that maybe I could trade something for it.”
That was basically the truth, maybe just slightly altered. And that seemed to be the right call because the woman's face changed to something just slightly less suspicious—less guarded.
“How long have you been traveling with Maddie?” she asked.
“A couple of weeks.”
“You seem to have a lot of weapons,” the woman continued, not missing a beat. “How did you get them?”
Again, Saff figured some altered truth would be the best. “I had them before the outbreak.”
The woman stared at her long and hard, some of the former suspicion returning. Maybe the truth hadn’t been the right call on that one.
“You didn't steal them from anyone?” the woman asked slowly.
Saff stared back at her, gritting her teeth. “Like I said, I had them before.”
The woman crossed her arms and loosed a tight breath. “Military?”
“Sort of,” Saff answered.
The woman glared at her, and Saff waited, wondering if she would question her further on that answer. She expected her to.
“What exactly is it you want?” she asked.
Saff paused, trying to reign in her annoyance as she repeated, “to trade for medication.”
“Right,” the woman said, uncrossing her arms and resting them on her hips. “I got that part. What else?”
Saff stared at her. “Well, it would be nice to get out of these zip ties,” she muttered, lifting her wrists a few inches in front of her.
The woman watched her, utterly unamused.
She remained quiet, and Saff knew that she was probably waiting for her to give a different, more serious answer. But she didn't have one, and she didn't know how else to get that message across.
Finally, the woman seemed to lose interest. She looked up and nodded behind her to the two amateurs that had dragged her down there.
They immediately grabbed her by the arms, jerking her up onto her feet again.
“You’ll stay the night in our lockup cell.”
Saff grimaced.
“We'll talk again in the morning.”
And with that, the woman immediately made her way to the door. Before Saff could say anything, she was gone. Then, before she had a moment to react, the black hood was thrown back over her head, and she was lurched up again by both arms.
She winced in pain as she felt the newly healed skin on her side tear.
They quickly led her out and back down the stairs.
Then they walked for a minute or so before ascending a new small flight of stairs. And when they finally pulled the hood off of her head, she blinked a few times, adjusting to the new surroundings. It looked like they were in a house that had been converted into some type of storage area. Shelves that held an assortment of different home items and tools lined every wall.
“What are you guys doing?”
Saff’s gaze snapped to the side. A girl who looked to be about her age, maybe a few years younger, stared back at her with a curious look.
“Got one for the cell,” the woman on her right replied.