Page 19

MARS

A utumn shivers. It’s not dramatic, more of a small twitch of her shoulders where she sleeps with her knees drawn up and arms wrapped tight around them.

My old flannel swallows her frame with the sleeves stretching past her fingertips.

I love seeing her wrapped up in something that’s mine.

Years of wear and tear and neglected holes leave it almost useless against the night chill, but seeing her in my clothes makes me wish I had more to give her. A whole wardrobe to wrap her in.

Caspian’s slumped against the crumbling wall with his hands disappeared inside his hoodie and his head drooping. He fell asleep on watch, with his eyes having never left Autumn until exhaustion claimed him.

Jace remains in the car with his legs dangling out the side and his arms locked across his chest. His eyes might be closed, but I know better. He never truly sleeps. He’s that same coiled spring, always ready to snap.

I should feel guilty for pushing Jace earlier, but I don’t. His walls are reinforced steel and self-inflected. While he barricades his pain behind sharp glares and muttered warnings, Autumn’s the one shivering, and I’m the only one noticing.

So I do what I always do. I fix it.

I toss another log into the fire and slip away from our makeshift camp, picking my way across asphalt and rubble in search of anything remotely blanket-shaped.

Most of the buildings on this street have collapsed into piles of concrete and twisted metal, leaving plenty of wreckage we haven’t had time to search through properly.

I start with the remains of what looks like it used to be a clothing store. The sign is long gone, but I can make out remnants of display cases buried under debris. I’m digging through a pile of broken glass and fabric scraps when I hear the telltale shuffle behind me.

The rotter emerges from behind a collapsed wall section, its jaw hanging at an unnatural angle and one arm completely missing.

It’s fresh enough to still be wearing the tattered remains of a business suit, which is a shame because I would have loved to meet whoever thought it was a good idea to wear a business suit in this day and age.

When it lunges at me, I sidestep and grab a metal pole from the rubble.

“Sorry, buddy. Wrong place, wrong time.” I drive the pole straight up through its chin and into its brain. The metal scrapes against bone when it punches through, and the rotter drops like a stone. The metal pole clangs when I toss it aside and the sound echoes off the empty walls around me.

Damn.

I pause and listen, scanning the shadows for any sign the noise attracted company. The street remains silent except for the distant crackle of our fire in the distance.

Good. This area really is as deserted as it looks, and I’d like to keep it that way.

I move deeper into the wreckage and continue my search.

Beneath a collapsed stairwell buried under chunks of concrete and debris, I spot something promising.

I have to move several pieces of weathered objects and garbage, but eventually I pull out a rolled-up blanket.

It’s a little dirty and weatherworn, but it’s intact.

“Perfect,” I whisper with a grin. It’s not the prettiest, but I can clean it up tomorrow. For now, it’ll work until I find something better for Autumn.

I roll it back up and place it under my arm. I whistle a mindless tune as I head back.

When I return, the fire smolders low, flickering red against the ash. I should add another log, but I want to check on my favorite season first.

Autumn hasn’t moved. Her lashes tremble like she’s dreaming, and her fingers twitch against her chest where her bandaged wrist rests.

I kneel beside her and drape the blanket over her shoulders, then tuck it around her. I make sure it covers her fully, from her shoulders all the way down to her toes, where I’m reminded we both still need new socks. Maybe that’ll be my next personal scavenging mission.

She murmurs something soft in her sleep, but doesn’t wake.

The shivering stops. I brush a stray lock of purple hair from her forehead, and my fingers linger longer than they should.

I can’t stop watching her, noticing every little detail down to the single strand of brown hair she missed when she colored it.

Her bandaged wrist rests against her chest with her fingers curled, like she’s bracing herself even in her sleep.

She looks so small like this. Breakable, even. Not weak, because she’s anything but. She’s exhausted and worn thin. It’s going to take a lot more than a blanket to fix that, but at least it’s a start.

I think about kissing her again, stealing one like she stole from me while I was asleep. It would be poetic to wake her with a kiss as well. As an experienced sleep-kisser, I can confirm it’s a hell of a way to wake up. Too bad I don’t get the chance.

A scrape. The crunch of gravel. A wet gurgling groan.

I shoot to my feet and spin around in the direction I came from.

Figures shamble out of the dark. Three—no, four—rotters, pale and caked with blood, stumble into the firelight.

Then more join them. I can’t count how many there are for certain.

They keep coming out of the shadows. Their eyes are glazed over and their teeth snap at the air.

Their movements are slow and staggered, but they’re a threat, and they’re here in our campsite.

“Shit.” I think the single curse word is more than enough to convey the situation.

The car door slams and Jace bursts out. He swipes the wrench off the ground and jams it into the nearest rotter’s eye socket without hesitation.

“Wake up!” I shout and widen my stance, positioning myself between the rotters and Autumn. She bolts upright, and the blanket slips to her waist. Caspian’s already moving with his blade drawn.

Jace reaches for his knife, then pauses. “Shit, I left my knife back at the train station.” He slams his boot against another rotter’s chest, but it only sinks into brittle ribs. He pulls back, grabs a rock, and smashes it into the skull. “Where did they come from?”

Caspian throws more wood onto the fire, but the flames don’t rise fast enough.

“They must’ve followed me back when I grabbed the blanket.” I shove my knife into a rotter’s skull, all the way to the hilt, then yank it free.

“You brought them back here?” Jace snarls, but he’s already moving, smashing in another rotter’s skull with a sickening crunch .

“I mean, you know, things were getting a little dull here with all your brooding. So I figured, why not throw a little party in the middle of the night?” I send a rotter flying with a roundhouse kick.

“No, I didn’t send out invitations, you ass.

” I duck and spin around to shove the knife into the back of the rotter’s neck, severing the spinal cord.

“So, yeah. I didn’t know I brought them,” I yell back at Jace before moving to retake my place between the rotters and Autumn while she scrambles to her feet, still dazed.

Fuck, I should have noticed all these rotters following me back.

The next rotter lunges, and I slash across its throat, pivot, then drive the blade through its temple. It collapses into a twitching mess on the ground.

Caspian dives left and takes down another rotter in a smooth, clean motion.

“No. No. Shit. I don’t have a weapon.” Autumn pats down her pockets and feels around on the ground.

“I’ve got you.” I shift to block her from a rotter, shoving my knife through the eye socket. The rotter falls. I stay close to Autumn. She won’t need to worry about a weapon with me here. I am her weapon.

More rotters tumble into the camp area, and Jace pulls out his pistol, then hesitates. It’s just long enough for me to notice, and that tells me plenty.

“If I fire, the sound will only draw more,” Jace says before shoving the gun back into his holster.

“Great options,” I growl out. “Let’s keep brainstorming, shall we?”

“There are too many,” Caspian pants, ducking away from one rotter only to take another down with a well-placed kick to the head before shoving his knife through the skull.

A rotter gets close to Autumn from the opposite side, but before I can throw myself between them, a blur of fur leaps into the air and takes the rotter down. A German Shepherd sinks her teeth into the rotter’s neck until it stops moving .

What the hell?

When the dog emerges from the shadows, she’s carrying something in her mouth.

I do a double-take. It’s a rotter leg, and she’s prancing around with it like it’s the world’s best chew toy.

She shakes it once, twice, then drops it with a wet thud when another rotter stumbles too close.

Without hesitation, she lunges at this new threat and latches onto its leg, tearing flesh from bone with savage bites.

I can’t help but grin. “Damn. That’s a good dog.”

“Shit. Everyone in the car.” Jace turns toward the car, but it’s already surrounded by rotters. “Never mind.”

Autumn’s voice slices through the chaos. “Cover me.”

She rips a strip of fabric from her shirt, wraps it around the end of a stick, and plunges it into the fire. The torch ignites with a whoosh. She turns and waves it toward the rotters, forcing them to flinch back from the flames.

“Smart girl,” Jace mutters.

“Good girls,” I say, to both the mystery dog and to Autumn.

The flames give us enough edge, and together, we push forward, swinging blades and using fire to drive them back.

Autumn lights one rotter on fire, and it tumbles into two more. One by one, they fall, until we’re surrounded by a massacre of the dead.

When the last rotter collapses, the only sound is our ragged breathing. I glance down. The blanket I’d found for her is soaked in black, rotted blood. “Son of a bitch.”

I crouch to pick it up and try to shake it out, but it’s useless, smells like death, and is completely ruined. I toss it into the fire with a muttered curse. The flames rise to devour it in seconds.

Autumn stares at me with concern etched into her beautiful face. Concern aimed at me. “You okay?”

I wipe blood from my face with the back of my arm. “I was gonna ask you that. ”

“That’s the second time you’ve brought rotters with you, although I’m not sure if the ones in the city count.”

“And both times I took care of it,” I shoot back with a grin. “We can count this as part of your danger tour.”

She laughs, and damn if the sound doesn’t do something to me. A breeze blows through and she shivers, reminding me how I took one problem and multiplied it. I went out in search of a blanket, and instead she had to burn part of what little clothing she has left in order to keep us safe.

“I’m starting to think I’m cursed. Although, don’t go jumping off any roofs this time,” I say.

She laughs again, and damn if it doesn’t slice straight through me. Sharp and warm and way too dangerous. God, she’s fucking gorgeous when she laughs.

A low growl echoes nearby, and my smile drops. I spin around with my knife still in hand.

The German Shepherd steps into the circle of firelight. Her fur is rough and patchy in places, and her ribs are faintly visible beneath her coat. She walks low, staying near the edge of the shadows, and her nose twitches when she sniffs the blood-stained dirt.

Where the hell did this dog come from? And why did she help us? Whatever the answer, she deserves the best meal we can muster for her.

“Luna,” Autumn breathes. “I thought it was you.”

The dog’s ears perk up.

Okay, the girl who blows up train stations and tames stray dogs—I’m screwed.

Autumn crouches low and pats her thigh. “Luna, come here, girl.”

The dog doesn’t come forward, but she doesn’t bolt, either.

After a long pause, Luna walks over with cautious steps, and stops a few feet away.

She sniffs the air again. Then, in a moment that’s almost reverent, she settles down beside Autumn.

Not close enough to touch, but closer than I’d expect from a wild dog.

Jace stares from the other side of the fire, his jaw working. Caspian merely blinks. I guess we’re all afraid to move and risk scaring her away.

“I was hoping to see her again. I think she lost her family, like me,” Autumn says.

Again? When did she meet this dog before?

Autumn answers my questions as though she could read my mind. “She’s been following me for a few weeks now. It started a couple days after I lost Summer. She’s never gotten this close until now.”

Luna lays her head on her paws and closes her eyes. I sit down beside Autumn and watch then flames from the fire lick higher into the dark. Jace mutters something and disappears into the tree where the rotters came from. Caspian watches him go, then looks over at me.

I shrug. The blanket was a failure, but at least it resulted in Luna coming out of the shadows. “Worth it.”

Caspian shakes his head and settles into a seated position with his back against the wall.

I grab a bag of beef jerky from my pack, one of the things Caspian and I managed to scavenge from the old gas station, and toss a piece to Luna, who catches it in her mouth.

I grin. “Welcome to our pack, Luna.”