Love and Decay (5 page)

I wouldn’t answer them even if they
asked.

The trucks pulled up in front of the house
and the drivers killed the engines. The sudden silence should have
soothed my nerves, but it had the opposite effect. Miller’s arm
dropped from my waist and I focused on my breathing to keep from
panicking.

My family and the Mexicans and everybody that
made up our huge traveling party jumped down from the beds of the
trucks and started to make their way inside. I trailed behind,
trying not to let my fears rule my life.

It was one thing to feel fear in the middle
of a battle, to use it to fuel my instincts and urge to survive,
but it was an entirely different thing to be crippled by memories
of the past.

Arturo was dead.

The things that happened to me in this house
would never happen again.

I wasn’t a little girl anymore.

I was a strong, capable, kickass Zombie
slayer that killed anything that got in my way.

And yet my hands trembled and my stomach
churned with unease. I felt the pressure against the back of my
neck and the looming threat of death.

I hadn’t been terrorized here in the
traditional sense. But Arturo had been a master at mental and
emotional torture. He had also been into experimenting.

With Feeders.

And humans.

And Feeders and humans together.

Miller slipped his hand into mine and my
entire world shifted on its axis. Such a massive sense of relief
washed over me that I tipped back on my heels and almost fell
over.

“Tell me what’s wrong, Page,” he demanded
with a low growl.

“Nothing,” I whispered. “Nothing’s
wrong.”

“Not true.” He stopped moving and spun me to
face him. People moved around us, uncaring of our issues or
conversation. There was light inside. Food. Warmth. We had a lot to
talk about. I shouldn’t be holding us up because I couldn’t get
over the past. Miller leaned in and insisted, “You’ve been acting
weird all day. Just tell me what’s bothering you and I’ll make it
better.”

I almost smiled. “I wish it was that
simple.”

His voice dropped to a rasping whisper. “It
is that simple. Trust me.”

I shook my head and stared down at my feet. I
needed new boots. Mine had been beaten to hell and back. I’d been
on the lookout for a pair since Mexico City, but I hadn’t found
anything yet. I hoped America would hold more options.

But what if it didn’t?

What if these were the last pair of boots I
ever owned?

Miller’s fingers slid under my chin and he
lifted my face so he could hold my gaze once more. “Page, I’ve
never seen you like this. You’re scaring me.”

“You told me I couldn’t trust you.”

His lips quirked in a half smile. “When have
you ever listened to me before?”

“I don’t get you, Miller. When we were in
Colombia you didn’t want anything to do with me. Now you’re always
by my side. What changed?”

His eyes darkened. I shouldn’t have been able
to tell because it was already dark and the torches on the front
door cast shadows over his face. But I did see it happen. I watched
his gaze shift and evolve and turn into something entirely
different.

Entirely… more.

“I never wanted
nothing
to do with
you,” he all but growled. “I never kept my distance because I
wanted to.”

“What?” A fire lit low and searing in my
belly and anger burned through me faster than any pyre I’d built
before. It mingled with the fear and the pain of my past, it fueled
my already erratic emotions. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“It does,” he argued.

“No. It doesn’t.” I glanced at the house.
“Unless… did my brothers say something to you? Did they tell you to
stay away from me?”

“It wasn’t your brothers.”

“My sisters then?”

“Page, you wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.” I took a step back from him. I
didn’t want to be around him right now. He was pissing me off and
instinct told me to run, told me these were secrets better left
hidden. But I couldn’t help it. I had to know. I had to know why he
abandoned me… why he left me all alone with no one to talk to or
grow up with. Sure, I had my family, but he was my friend. He was
the only person in my life that just… that just… got me.

I’d been heartbroken when he stopped spending
time with me. I hadn’t understood what I did wrong or why he didn’t
want to be around me anymore. I had blamed myself for years. I
probably still blamed myself! And he didn’t want to give me an
answer? Or explain his behavior?

He let out an aggravated sigh and ran his
hand through his tousled hair. “Page.”

“Don’t,” I snapped. “Either give me an answer
or don’t. But don’t patronize me.”

His eyes narrowed, insulted by my words. “I’m
not patronizing you.”

I snorted a derisive sound. “You’re just as
bad as my brothers when you want to be, you know that? Oh, don’t
tell Page, she’s too young to know. Oh, don’t let her do the things
she wants to do, she can’t think clearly… or make decisions… or
know what’s best for her.”

His hand shot up, squeezing my chin in his
thumb and forefinger. “We’re here aren’t we? Looks like they
listened to you after all.”

I closed my mouth because he was right and I
hated that he was right.

His hand dropped and I took another step
back. His eyes burned as hot as the blaze inside me and I realized
how angry I’d made him.

“I don’t want to argue with you,” he stated
firmly. “Stop picking fights with me.”

“Then tell me the truth! Be honest with
me!”

He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t even pause.
“Never,” he growled. “I’ll never be completely honest with
you.”

My mouth dried out and my heart thumped in my
chest. I should have asked a hundred different questions. I should
have stormed inside and left him to watch me walk away. Instead, I
whispered, “Why?”

His gaze trapped mine, holding me captive.
“Because it would terrify you.”

Before I could answer or respond or run away,
a truck sped down the driveway. We had to jump out of the way to
keep from getting hit. When the engine shut off, two soldiers
jumped down from the cab and sprinted into the house.

We watched with morbid fascination as they
shouted in Spanish and the house turned into a whirlwind of
activity. More soldiers poured out of the house and ran for the
trucks again. Diego stormed through the doors, striding with
purpose and caged fury.

“What’s going on?” I asked him when he made
for the closest truck.

“Colony spies,” he explained. “My men have
spotted them near the old border.”

“What are you going to do to them if you
catch them?” Miller asked.

“
When
we catch them,” Diego modified.
“Then we’ll teach them the consequences of trespassing.”

Diego put his foot on the floor of the
passenger side, pausing with one eyebrow lifted. “Would you like to
watch?”

Refusing to look at or acknowledge Miller, I
stepped forward. “Absolutely.”

Diego jerked his chin toward the truck bed
that I’d just left. “You’re armed?”

“Always.”

“Then get in, little Parker.”

I followed orders, jumping into the back of
the truck and taking a seat. Not two seconds later, Miller sat down
next to me. He radiated aggression and frustration and I could tell
he was biting back all manner of things to say.

“I’m coming, too,” he declared.

Unnecessarily.

“I see that.”

“Your brothers are going to kill you.”

I rolled my eyes because… because that
sentence deserved an eye roll. “I’ll just tell them you made me do
it.”

“That would be a lie,” he growled.

I turned to him and let him see the full
force of my fury. “That’s the point.”

The truck engines roared to life and we
lurched forward as we took off into the night. I faced forward
again and finally used my fear and anger and all of this emotional
drama for something worthwhile.

Besides I wasn’t going to let Miller ruin
this for me. This was a big night. A night I had been waiting a
very long time for.

Finally, after ten years, I was
finally
on my way to fight the Colony.

Chapter Three

We rode forever. I didn’t know if the actual
distance or if my excitement stretched each mile into eternity. By
the time the caravan of trucks pulled over to the side of the road
my legs bounced with barely contained energy and my fingers itched
to hold my blades.

I blamed Matthias Allen for the majority of
the sins I planned to commit. But he would be nothing without
willing followers to carry out his bidding.

The Colony as a whole contributed to the poor
conditions its people suffered. Matthias took away their weapons so
they couldn’t defend themselves. He took away their freedom,
leaving them to depend on him for food, water, supplies and
protection. He took away their dignity as human beings, stripping
them of privacy, honor and integrity.

He used force and fear to cow them into
perfect little subjects that thanked him for his dictatorship. And
when they didn’t obey him, he made them an example so the rest of
the community could witness the consequences of their behavior.

I had witnessed his reign of terror
throughout my childhood and none of the reports I’d heard since
then had changed.

He was a tyrant then.

And he was a tyrant now.

We followed Diego’s men out of the truck to a
dirt road that wound through a hilly territory. We’d parked on a
rise that overlooked the valley below. I spotted Diego’s settlement
in the distance, glowing like a firefly in the darkness.
Occasionally voices would carry on the wind, breaking up the
stillness.

“They think that is all I have,” Diego’s
voice intruded my thoughts. He stood on the other side of Miller.
“Your father thinks it will be easy to take my land.”

“Are there more settlements?” Miller
asked.

Diego shrugged. “There is more of
everything.”

He turned around and followed his men down
the winding road. Miller and I had no choice but to hurry after
them.

I wanted to ask Miller questions, I wanted to
bombard him with my thoughts until he answered every single thing
in my head. But I kept silent.

I was nothing if not determined. And the
silent treatment was my favorite method of torture.

It usually worked on my chatty brothers in no
time. They couldn’t stand my quiet, even if they complained about
my talking the majority of the time.

But like usual, Miller proved just how
dissimilar to my brothers he was. He didn’t comment on my silence
once. He didn’t even seem irritated by me. He just kept his eyes
forward and his shoulders straight.

Walking in the dark was difficult. I stumbled
over rocks and divots and my own feet. I tried to split my time
between watching Diego’s men and the ground, but the ground won out
after a while.

At the top of the next hill, we slowed down.
Diego’s men pulled out their weapons and scanned the area with
obvious vigilance.

Miller and I followed their example, pulling
dual blades from our harnesses. The night seemed quiet to me. I
couldn’t hear anything out of the ordinary, but I wasn’t exactly
sure what I was looking for.

As many memories as I had, I was in
unfamiliar territory. I hated that I didn’t know my surroundings or
where people could be hiding. I hated that everything felt
different and strange.

The only thing I could rely on was instinct
and skill.

Good thing I had plenty of both of those.

The soldiers crouched down quickly; Miller
and I didn’t have a choice but to follow their lead. “What do you
think is going on?” I whispered to him.

He leaned forward and scanned the horizon.
“There.” I followed his pointed finger and saw what had caught
their attention. “It looks like an empty cage,” Miller
finished.

It was an empty cage. I could barely make out
the opened door swinging in the breeze. Now that I could see it, I
heard the gentle creaking noise that accompanied it.

“It’s probably not supposed to be empty,” I
noted.

Miller nodded, “But where are they?”

I shook my head. I had no idea. And I had no
idea how many Zombies had “escaped.” I tried to ask the guy next to
me, but he ignored me. When I tried again in Spanish he waved me
off with his armed hand.

I turned back to Miller. “I have no
idea.”

A minute later we had our answer. A Zombie
screech pierced the quiet night as the sound ripped through the
air. Tension had been tightening the oxygen in my lungs while I
waited for something to happen and with the announcement of the
Feeder, breath left my lungs in a gush of air.

Miller and I stood up, ready for battle.
Feeders suddenly appeared on the road on either side of us. We had
the advantage of being higher, but they had appeared in the dark
unnoticed.

What if they hadn’t started screaming?

Would they have ever made a sound as they
crept up on us?

I hated the idea that Feeders had evolved
enough that they could be silent. Their guttural groans and
two-toned screams were the one thing that kept us on our toes. We
always knew they were coming and could track them down.

It didn’t matter now, though. I had a battle
to fight.

I jumped into action, ignoring the aches and
pains in my bones from earlier tonight when the cannibals pelted me
with rocks. It wasn’t until I started moving around that I realized
I was still woozy from the rock that hit me on the back of the
head.

A Feeder popped up on my right; I stopped
worrying about a possible concussion and got to work. Shoes had
been scarce since Bogotá, but weapons had been everywhere. We had
stocked up along the way and the blades in my hands were very
sharp.