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Finally, Maddie choked out a bitter laugh. “Somewhere far away from people? I’m not going to run and hide like you.” She couldn’t help the anger that spat out with the words.
It wasn’t fair. How dare she come into her life and make her feel—everything—the way she did, then just decide to leave like it was nothing.
Silence, again. And this time the silence sent white hot streaks of rage shooting through her.
“You have no right to pretend to care about what happens to me—to us—when you’re just going to leave like it’s nothing.”
Saff let out another cough, and Maddie hated that worry instantly crept into her chest. She forced it away, but the words still spilled out of her like vomit.
“How could you just—“ she paused, the words catching in her throat. “After last night—“ She felt the burn of wetness creeping into her eyes, and it took everything in her to keep her jaw from quivering. “Did that mean anything to you?” Her voice cracked as the words left her mouth.
How could she have been so stupid? Of course Saff didn’t care. She never did. It was so painfully obvious now.
A tear fell from her eye, and she quickly swiped it away with her palm.
“If this is because of what happened,” she paused, her head dropping slightly. “If this is because of Sarah—If this is because of Sarah and the baby—“
“Don’t,” Saff growled, her voice sounding as dangerous as it did in the first moments they’d met.
But Maddie pushed on. “You had no control over that—over what happened to them. You’re a good person. You deserve to be happy no matter what happened—“
“Agoodperson?” Saff let out a bitter laugh, and something in it made Maddie's blood run cold. “Did you ever wonder why I was in such a rush to leave the city that day?”
Maddie paused, her brain replaying the events of that day. “I—“
“Did you ever really wonder why I never joined a settlement? Why I knew they’d all be attacked eventually?”
Maddie shook her head slightly. “You said..” She trailed off, something in Saff’s words setting off a string of alarms in her head.
“It’s becauseIwas the one attacking them.”
Maddie flinched backwards.
“What?”
“I was—Iamone of the raiders you’re all so afraid of.”
Maddie’s brain stopped working entirely.
She took an involuntary step backwards, her instincts pulling her away—away from Saff.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “You’re not—you’re—“
“Good?” Saff mocked, her voice icy in a way it had never been before. Not even on the first day they'd met. “You’re lying to yourself if you think that. I would’ve killed you just as easily as I killed Tyler.”
Maddie’s mind was reeling, saliva filling the back of her mouth as vomit pressed up into her throat.
“You..”
She couldn’t talk. Couldn’t think.
Saff went quiet in front of her, and when she finally spoke, her voice sounded different. It didn’t sound like the voice of a killer, but it also didn’t sound like Saff.
“You need to leave here,” she said. “You and your family. You need to leave before they get in. Because theywillget in. And they will kill you.”
Maddie took another step back. “You—you lied to me?” Her voice sounded distant, like it wasn’t even her own, like she was listening to the words leave someone else’s mouth.
“You need to—“