Apocalypse: After Reanimation, I Became The Queen-Chapter 50: _ The Kid and The Cannibals

I exhale. "Alright, Lucas. What the hell are you doing out here?"

Lucas doesn’t answer. He just looks at the corpses around him; the zombies, the blood, the mess. His lips press together and his shoulders curl in.

He’s scared.

Trish sighs, rubbing her temples. "This is a lot, huh?"

Lucas nods very slowly.

I sigh. "We need to get back to the cave."

Trish frowns. "And bring him?"

I glance at the kid. He looks like a light breeze could take him out.

"Yeah," I mutter. "We bring him."

Lucas’s eyes widen, his hands tightening into fists. "I—I can’t..."

I hold up a hand. "Look, we’re not gonna eat you."

He doesn’t look reassured.

Trish pinches the bridge of her nose. "Garth, stop talking."

I throw up my hands. "What? I’m being honest!"

Trish sighs. "Lucas. You can walk?"

He nods hesitantly.

"Good. Because we don’t have time to sit here." She looks at me. "Let’s go."

I huff. "Fine."

With that, we turn back toward the cave with one more person than we came with. And something tells me we just made things a whole lot more complicated.

I just happen to have... a feeling.

.

The walk back to the cave is tense.

Lucas stays a step behind me, moving like a half-starved stray that’s waiting for us to turn around and kick him. He’s still gulping air like he can’t believe he’s not dead yet.

His hands remain still, but his fingers quiver. Every little sound... either a rustling leaf, or a distant moan makes him flinch.

Can’t blame him. If I were his size and had just spent the night in a hole, I’d probably be jumpy too.

Trish keeps throwing me looks, the kind that says; what the hell are we supposed to do with him? And this was your idea, dumbass.

I pointedly ignore her.

The cave entrance is ahead of us, dark and gaping. Our so-called refuge is funny. As soon as we step inside, the air changes. The scent of old sweat, damp earth, and burnt food mix together.

A little better than the reek of rotting flesh outside, but not by much. The others are scattered inside, some sitting, some lying down, all pretending they weren’t just straining to listen for trouble.

We don’t even get two steps in before someone notices Lucas.

"The hell is this?" a voice snaps.

I glance up. A man with a missing ear and a scowl who is one of the cannibals, great... glares at us. His body tenses, and I already know this isn’t going to be a warm welcome.

Another woman, sitting near the fire, squints at Lucas. "He from the base?"

Trish nudges Lucas forward. "Answer them."

Lucas looks like he wants the ground to swallow him, but after a shaky breath, he croaks out, "No."

The woman’s gaze sharpens. "Then where are you from?"

Lucas swallows. "I—I was with a group. We got separated when we were running from a horde."

The moment he says it, a shift moves through the room.

Bad answer.

The cannibal leader stands up. His voice is gravelly. "Even the kids from our base aren’t here with us." His eyes bore into me. "Return him to where you found him."

Lucas stiffens beside me.

I cross my arms. "Not happening."

Scowl-Ear scoffs. "We don’t need some kid messing things up for us."

"He won’t."

Another man sneers. "How do you know? He’s a liability. What if he slows us down? What if he brings more trouble?"

Lucas shrinks back, his hands wiggling nervously in front of him.

The leader steps forward. "Garth, you don’t even want him. I see it in your face. He’s not your problem. So why are you making him ours?"

I don’t say anything. Because, technically, they’re right.

I don’t want a kid. He isn’t my problem. But I know what’ll happen if I turn him away. He won’t last a day on his own, and I’m not in the mood to let some half-rotted corpse chew on him just because these assholes want an easier night.

One of the cannibals moves like he’s going to grab Lucas.

Bastard!

I step between them and Lucas, raise my knife, and flash it. "Touch him and see what happens."

The man pauses, eyeing my blade. "You wouldn’t..."

I would.

Trish moves to my side, knife raised. Dom stands just behind her, cracking his knuckles like he’s been waiting for an excuse to hit someone.

The air grows heavy.

There’s a long silence before the leader exhales sharply through his nose, like a bull deciding not to charge... for now. "Fine. You deal with him. But don’t expect us to clean up your mess."

Like we haven’t been the ones cleaning up messes since we got unlucky enough to be stuck with them.

I keep my knife up a second longer before I step back. The tension is still there, but no one tries to reach for Lucas again.

The kid is silent, but I can feel his eyes on me.

I don’t look at him. I don’t want gratitude. I just want to get this mission over with and return home to Maggie.

The conversation is over, and everyone eventually settles down. One by one, they drift into uneasy sleep.

Everyone except me.

...

I stay by the cave entrance, knife in hand, watching the outside. The night is quiet, but not in a good way. It’s the kind of quiet that means something is out there... waiting.

I hear the sound of someone moving behind me. When I turn, I see Lucas sitting down beside me, hugging his knees.

I glance at him. "Not sleeping?"

He shakes his head. His face is not very visible in the low light, but he looks exhausted. "I have nightmares when I sleep."

Well, who doesn’t?

I snort. "Yeah? Join the club."

Lucas doesn’t laugh. He stares at the dirt, fingers picking at the edge of his sleeve.

Okay, the kid is seriously disturbed by whatever his nightmares are. I can’t imagine how tough it is on him. Spending the day and night surviving and running from the undead and the living.

And then, when you get the little chance to sleep, you can’t.

I sigh. "What kind of nightmares?"

He hesitates, then whispers, "There was a zombie. A talking one."

A talking zombie? Okay, what is this kid on? Cannabis?