Page 15 of Marked for Execution

“You’re welcome. Let’s get a handle on your hunger, then we can talk calmly.”

“Iamcalm!”

Her reddening face told me she would have punched me again if it wasn’t for all the food she held.Small blessings. She hit like a freight train, but I wouldn’t tell her that. Instead, I gave her a smirk and gently got her back on her feet.

She shouldered me and went up the steps with me right behind her.

“Go home, Eliseo. You’re still not invited.”

“Let me help you with that.”

She turned with a blazing inferno in her eyes; the veins on her neck popped out from how hard she ground her teeth together.

When she closed her eyes and exhaled, I grabbed the food from her arm and caged her in.

“Listen,Sili. Let’s get this straight. I don’t have to do shit for you, but I want to. There’s a difference. Let’s get you inside and curb that hunger before you bite my head off, yeah?”

Her face blushed a different way as she turned to her door, pulling pins out of her hair. I watched in fascination, listening to her grumble about not being hangry.

She picked the lock with ease, and I shuffled us both inside before she could kick me out again. I slammed the door with my boot and walked towards her kitchen.

“What are you doing?” she screeched.

I poked around in her fridge and pulled out a single container and spread the mayonnaise on her bread. I searched her cabinets for a plate and found none. There was one dented pan, so I grabbed it and placed it over the hole on her stove. She shoved me away, and I lifted my hands in mock surrender.

“Alright, alright. Just trying to do something nice.”

She grumbled some more, and I leaned against her counter, watching her nimble little hands start a flame in the coals left over inside the empty burner.

She grabbed a knife from beneath her shirt and I glimpsed her smooth flesh before the glint of the blade stole my focus. The sizzle was background noise, but the smell made my stomach grumble. I ignored it in favor of watching her hand-eye coordination. She was graceful, quick, and nimble. The way she flipped her blade and wiped it against her cargo pants had me wondering what her past was like to make her this way—not that it was a bad thing.Not for us.Not for what we have to face out there when we scavenge for the town.

I was lost in thoughts of venturing further north to the midway point before Clan Shaye territory. Rumor had it, there was a community there that may benefit us with trade.

Fitri shoved a sandwich at my chest, and I frowned.Wasn’t she making one for herself?“Where’s yours?”

“I already ate it while you were staring off into space. Shove it in your mouth and leave.”

She was precious, really.

I stuffed my mouth and thought about how we would organize this outing. I wasn’t sure I liked the crew we had today. We would have to take another walk around this town and observe the able-bodied again, take another mental census.

Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I swallowed the last bite and burped. Fitri wrinkled her nose, and I laughed. “Meet me at the furthest house on the southwest corner of town tomorrow at sunrise. We train.”

“What?”

I didn’t listen to her response as I left out her front door and slammed it shut. A stranger walked by, jumping at the noise. I scowled at him, and he scampered down the street.This was the problem.We brought in too much fresh meat—too young, too inexperienced. The men I fought with had fallen one at a time with the rise of bloodsuckers around us.

The porch creaked with my weight as I made my way down. I didn’t think she realized it, and I’d use it to my advantage for now, to keep an eye on her and make sure none of the boys in this place caused trouble. Walking north towards Reed’s house, my mind swirled with thoughts of trade, when someone called my name.

“Eliseo.”

It was a voice I didn’t hear often, but when I did, it made my hackles rise.

“Doc. Did you need something?”

The crazy fool had a wild look in his eyes, his dark leather apron wet with something I didn’t want to know about. The goggles on top of his head left a crimson streak in one of his wrinkles. He smelled of chemicals I was both familiar with and not.

“I need you to come to my quarters for a moment.”