Love Among The Ruins-Chapter 98

NADINE’S P.O.V

"Jennifer?"

She grinned wider. "In the flesh."

She hadn’t changed much since I last saw her except that her hair was now much shorter. It barely even grazed her collarbones. She was more lithe than the last time I saw her and she twirled a small sharp object between her fingers. It was too small to be a knife, it was triangle shaped, but I could tell it was sharp from the way she avoided grazing her fingers with it.

She seemed better, happier than I last saw her, but then again, she’d just lost her friend and she hated me enough to drug Rowan and I so she could escape and run away with our supplies.

She turned to the man- her new partner maybe? "Put it down, they’re safe."

"We don’t know that for sure," he tried to argue. "They could be hurt. We need to be sure."

"He would never let an infected go with him," she said, gesturing to Rowan. "And he loves her too much to let her get infected. They’re safe."

The strange man hesitated for a moment before sighing and returning the arrow back into its quiver. Jennifer smiled at him, gave his shoulder a condescending pat and turned to us.

"I thought you’d have found a bunker by now," she crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned against a tree.

She was dressed similarly to the man. She wore dark pants and a dark shirt. A scarf almost identical to the one he tied around his face was hanging from the waistband of her trousers.

"I thought you were dead."

She snorted. "I bet you hoped I was."

"Considering you drugged us and left with half our supplies. We could’ve died, Jennifer."

She at least had the decency to look ashamed. "I had to leave. I didn’t think you’d understand."

"That’s bullshit and you know it," Rowan cut in. "You were too much of a coward to leave when we were awake. We’d have given you the supplies if you just asked, Jennifer."

"I know." She grimaced. "I’d love to talk about this more but we have to go. There was a fire nearby and I don’t know who set it but they might be near. We came here because of it. We thought something had happened."

"Something did happen." I crossed my arms over my chest. "We set the fire."

Her brows rose in shock. "That was the most stupid thing I have ever heard. Were you trying to draw attention to yourself? You could’ve gotten us killed!"

"Us?"

She went silent. She shared a wary glance with her friend before turning to us. "Forget I said anything and forget you saw us. We’re leaving."

"Wait!"

She’d only taken two steps when I called out to her. She stilled, barely glancing over her shoulder at me. I headed for her but Rowan grabbed my arm, preventing me from going the entire way.

"We don’t know her anymore," he whispered softly. "Keep your distance."

I wanted to protest but the truth was, he was right. She’d changed since I last saw her and until I knew if it was for the better or the worst, I couldn’t get close.

"How have you survived all this time?" I asked and she just shrugged.

"I’ve been smart."

"It’s more than that. You look healthy... as healthy as any of us can be considering the circumstances. Where have you been?"

"I’m not answering that."

"Did you find a bunker?"

That had her partner snorting. "We don’t do bunker life. Did you know that they put tracking devices in you through-"

"Our implants?" Amy asked, cutting him off. His brows rose and even though I couldn’t see his full face, he looked impressed. She rolled up her sleeve, revealing the stained bandage. "I took mine out yesterday."

That seemed to be enough to pique their curiosity because they both turned to face us and the man finally took off his scarf. He had a full beard, one that covered his entire lower face. He had deep tawny skin and full lips.

"What else do you know?"

Amy started to speak but I held up a hand to stop her.

"You tell us," I bargained. "How have you survived out here on your own?"

He hesitated for a moment. "We have a community. We live together, we grow our own food. We stay hidden and we stay quiet. It works for us."

"The monsters?"

He snorted. "If they come looking, we kill them. It’s our life’s mission to eradicate them. The smell of our food hides us-"

"They can’t smell you at all. They’re not the monsters you think they are."

"How do you know that?" Jennifer asked. "What are you really doing out here?"

"Take us to your community."

"Not a chance," the man began but Jennifer stopped him.

"Why? I thought you didn’t want to kill the monsters?"

"I didn’t."

"What changed?"

"Information I guess." I shrugged. "You may find it useful. Take us to your community. Amy needs her hand properly taken care of."

Jennifer stared at me for a long moment before smiling. "You’ve grown balls, Nadine."

"It’s called growing up." I turned to the others. "Let’s go."

"One moment.’

Jennifer walked slowly, making her way over to me. She’d only gotten a few steps before Rowan stepped up to my side. He didn’t try to hide me from her, but he stayed close, letting her know that if she tried anything, he’d kill her.

She noticed his movements, and wisely decided to stop in her tracks. "I see you’re still protecting her, not a lot has changed."

It was obviously bait. She was trying to rile Rowan up, trying to see if she could push his buttons. I’d be grossly inexperienced the last time we met, Rowan felt the need to defend me then.

"I am sure you’ll find that Nadine is more than capable of defending herself," he drawled. "Even against you."

She turned to me, sizing me up and down. She scoffed, clearly not seeing what he said, but I didn’t find it offensive. It only made me smile. I loved when people underestimated me.

"Our community is home," she began slowly. "I have a lot of respect for you, Caine, and weirdly enough, you too, Nadine. If you do anything to jeopardize our home, I’ll kill you and I will make it slow and painful."

I smiled tightly. "I’ll hand you the fucking knife."

She stared at me and I didn’t avert my gaze. I had no intention of hurting her community. In fact, they were exactly what I needed.

It would be a miracle if all the monsters died in that fire. A part of me hoped they all did, but I knew better. I saw the ones that started to run and I noted some empty containers when we were in the basement.

There were still a few of them on the run and I couldn’t kill them on my own.

"Don’t make me regret this, Nadine. I’m sticking out my neck for all of you."

"I know, thank you."

"Don’t thank me. Consider it payment for leaving you out there. You could’ve been seriously hurt." She paused for a moment before speaking again. "Also for Dan. We’re even now. I don’t owe you any more favors."