Page 102 of Hollow Valley

Despite the disappointing game, I headed back to town with Ripley right after the sunrise.I wanted to get back and share my good mood with Jordy.

The busy streets strangely didn’t feel as grating to me as they had last night, but people also usually gave me a wide berth when I had Ripley on a leash at my side.

I slipped through the side door ofGlacier’s Edge, which Jordy always left unlocked when he was working, and I was immediately hit with the scent of potent vinegar and acrid burning.I dropped Ripley’s leash, allowing her to peruse the kitchen for any errant rats or other pests.

Sunlight filtered through the frosted windows and cast long shadows across battered counters and shelves lined with mismatched pots.There, hunched over a cluttered countertop, Jordy was alone.

“Morning, Jordy,” I said as I came up behind him.

He whirled around, his eyes wide.“Remy!I didn’t know you’d be coming back so early!”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to surprise you,” I said, but then I realize it wasn’t surprise in his eyes.It was fear, and it was lingering long after he saw that it was only me.

“No, I just, like I said.I wasn’t expecting you so early,” he replied, stretching his arms out along the counter.

“It’s not that early, is it?”I asked, and then I craned my neck to look over his shoulder.

He tried to move and block me, but it was too late.I had already seen the green brain oozing liquid all over the cheesecloth.

“Remy – ”

“You lying asshole!”

He let out a frustrated groan.“Dammit, Remy, it’s not like I was lying when I told you that I wouldn’t make more to trade around here.I meant that then, but the situation changed.You’re why the situation changed!”

“Don’t blame this on me!If you had to go digging around in zombies’ brains to stay here with me, then you should’ve fucking left!”

“That’s absurd.You’re being absurd!”he yelled.“This helps people, Remy!It helpsus!Why do you have to keep acting like it’s some evil thing?”

“The virus that creates those euphoric highs is also the same virus that nearly destroyedeverything!It killed nearly every man, woman, and child on this planet!Forgive me if I don’t want to get my jollies playing around in that apocalyptic sandbox.”

“Remy, you know how good can come out of something bad,” Jordy persisted, trying a gentler, more imploring tactic.“Like what’s happened with me and you.”

“I honestly don’t care how you justify it, Jordy,” I said.“I told you my line in the sand, and youpromisedthat you wouldn’t cross it.And now that you have, you can’t walk it back.”

“Fucking hell.”He muttered under his breath and put his back to me.“Don’t do this, Remy.”

“It’s already done.”

He slammed his fist down on the counter, hard enough that it made everything on it clatter, and I heard Ripley’s claws skitter on the flooring in surprise.

“No,” he said in a firm voice.“You can’t do that.”He turned back to face me with tears swimming in his eyes, and I swear the hazel irises looked more green than normal.

I took a step back from him, until I bumped into the counter behind me.“I’ll go back to the inn first, and I’ll get my stuff and talk to Anoona.I’m sure I’ll be able to figure something out.And you can stay, or you can go.”

“Remy, please.I love you.”He moved closer to me and put his hands on my arms, hands I had once trusted almost as much as my own.“We’re good for each other.Please don’t throw this away.”

“It was never going to last, Jordy.You know that.”I searched his eyes, begging him to understand, but his grip tightened on my arms.“Let go of me.You’re hurting me.”

“I’d never hurt you,” he insisted, oblivious to how painful his grip had gotten.

“Let go of me!”I tried to pull my arms free of him, and when one managed to slip out, Jordy suddenly slapped me, hard across the face.

“Oh, fuck, I’m so sorry!”Jordy said, realizing too late what he’d done, but I slumped over the counter for a moment.

I’d been hit and kicked and bit and all kinds of shit happened to me in fights with zombies, with marauders, with the butchers back at the Blaine County Quarantine Zone.But this was the first time that somebody I cared about, somebody I truly trusted put their hands on me like that.

It short-circuited something in my brain, and I didn’t know how to react.