Raven's Hell (6 page)

The
glow from the lantern washed the small area in a yellow light. She stared at
his face, and noticed the fact his blond hair was on the longer side, brushing
the tops of his ear, with a disheveled look to it. Despite the fact he had
clearly cut his own hair, it looked good on him. He didn’t look very old, maybe
a decade or so older than her own twenty-seven years.

“You
hungry?”
His deep voice had her coming out of her thoughts. Rebecca nodded, and turned
to grab the tote that she had shoved a few bags of chips into. The bottle of
water she had snagged was next to come out, but when he made a noise, stopping
her, she glanced up at him.

“We
can eat some of my stash.” He took out a can of baked beans, a package of
turkey jerky, and a small box of crackers. It wasn’t five
star
dining, but it looked damn good to her.

She
handed him the bottle of water, and the smile he gave her totally changed his
hard exterior. She noticed it did seem kind of
forced
,
though, as if he wasn’t quite comfortable with the gesture. This man was
dangerous, and not because he had killed three people right in front of her
with little to no effort. He was dangerous in the way he looked at her, and in
the way he scanned his surroundings and took every little detail in. The air
around him was charged with violence. This man was used to this world, used to
killing without even blinking, and knew how to survive on his own without
fearing anything. Rebecca could tell that just by looking at him and by the way
he moved, as if he were this wild animal stalking his prey.

They
started eating in silence, and then when she was growing comfortable sitting
here not saying anything, he spoke.

“This
place isn’t safe for a permanent home, Rebecca.” He stared at her, and then
took a chunk out of his jerky. He pointed behind him at the window. “There are
thirty plus infected out there, and if they realize that the sound you make
every time you move that ladder is coming from in here, and that coming in here
would be easy…” He paused in speaking, maybe for effect, but it had her
straightening and thinking of what he just said.

She
stared down at her lap, thinking about the times those few infected had come
into the warehouse. She had stayed down, tried to be as quiet as possible,
because even if they couldn’t see her any kind of noise this close to them
would have sent them into
a frenzy
. After what seemed
like forever one of them had finally wandered off. Rebecca had taken out the
other one with her knife. Yes, she knew she needed to find a place that was
safe and protected from not only the elements, but these sick assholes, too.

Lifting
her gaze back to his, she licked her lips, stared at this ruggedly handsome man
that seemed to be able to read her as easily as if he had known her forever,
and hated going down this road. She didn’t want to have to air her dirty
laundry, didn’t want him thinking that she was weak and couldn’t handle
herself, because she had, for the last seventeen months in fact. “Even after
all of this time, after everything … this is still the safest place for me.”
She licked her lips, watched him hold his composure, and wondered what he
thought. Was it wrong that during all of this, after everything that had
happened in the last year and a half, and the last twelve hours that just
looking at Collin had this warmth consuming her? She shouldn’t want him,
shouldn’t want any man for that matter, but the fact was he had saved her life,
acted as though he cared about her safety, and up until this point hadn’t been
anything but a gentleman. Well, as much as a gentleman as the end of the world
allowed.

“You
seem pretty young, but have survived being out here alone for over a year and
half now. What did you do before all of this went down?” he asked her, and took
another bite out of his jerky. He was changing the
subject,
that
was obvious. But Rebecca felt herself start to grow relieved and
blew out a breath.

“Nothing
that is of much use now.”
She stared at him for a second before
continuing. “I’m not really that young. I’m twenty-seven, turned it this past
summer, although I couldn’t tell you what day.” She thought about how her
birthday had come and gone, yet she had lost track of time and didn’t even know
what day it was. “I was an accountant for a small laundry service.”

He
still didn’t respond, but nodded.

“I
managed their books for the last three years, and then my boss was the first in
the company to get the new flu vaccine. He had made it mandatory for all
employees to receive it, but before I got my shot the news was coming out with
the symptoms, the concern, and then the outbreak.” She remembered that day that
it seemed the world had crashed in around them. “My boss started acting funny
at first like he had gotten the flu, as ironic as that is. But as time went on
he started acting more crazed, manic even.” She pictured that day, the one
where she had killed her boss. She zoned out as she remembered him coming after
her in his office. “He was a pervert anyway, so even though he had gotten
infected I couldn’t feel bad for him.” Gritting her teeth she thought about all
the times he had hit on her, threatened to fire her if she reported him. “I
could have slapped him with a sexual harassment suit so many times,” she said
almost to herself. He had known she needed that job more than she needed
anything else. “I was supporting my brother at the time.” She looked up at
Collin again, coming back into the present. “It was just the two of us after my
dad passed away, and our mom ditched us when we were little.”

God,
why was she telling him all of this? It was like a dam had just been opened and
all of these things came from her without her being able to stop it.

“Go
on, Rebecca.”

She
stared at him, and loved how he said her name so softly that it seemed to go
against the way he held himself, the way he had acted and reacted back at the
store. “I don’t know why I am telling you all of this. I don’t even know you.”
She gave this awkward little laugh.

“Sometimes
we just need to get it out.” His voice was deep, coarse even, but his words
made sense.

She
nodded and continued. “I killed him, my boss I mean.” Rebecca focused on the
wall behind Collin. “I stabbed him right in the eye with his letter opener.”
She closed her eyes, picturing that day when she had heard about the infected
turning into these crazed cannibals that attacked without thought. They had
been told to run from them, tell the authorities so they could handle it, and
to not engage because of how dangerous they were. But others had been saying
they were already dead, and damaging their brains would bring them down for
good. So, Rebecca had taken out the asshole, and not thought twice about it.

“I
killed him, and when his blood covered me, and his lifeless eyes stared up at
me as he lay there bleeding out all over his cheap carpet, I felt … nothing.”
She was still focused on the wall, thinking about that day, picturing the way
it had felt to stab him through the eye, to see the life drain from his rotting
face. “He had already started decomposing,” she said, still picturing George’s
face. “I think he had died in his office, and when I went in there to bring him
a stack of reports, he had already changed to one of those infected sick
assholes.” She stared at Collin, seeing how his eyes seemed hard as he watched
her, and how he didn’t move a muscle.

“We
have to do what we need to in order to survive,” he said slowly, confidently.

She
nodded. “I know, but we don’t have to be heathens about it.” Swallowing
roughly, she reached for her water, took a long drink, and thought about
Andrew, her sweet, young brother.

“You
lost someone very close,” he stated without phrasing it as a question.

Rebecca
nodded. “Didn’t we all?”

He
looked down, breaking their intense stare. “I was estranged from my parents for
years before the outbreak occurred. I don’t even know if they are still alive.”
He looked up at her. “Chances are they are infected, but I hope they are dead,
because that would be a hell of a lot more humane than walking around like
those fuckers out there.” As if on cue an infected groaned out.

“I
killed my brother a month after all of this went down. We had been driving away
from the city, trying to get to the country because we heard the infection
hadn’t hit there yet.” She had been wrong. Everyone had been wrong. “But
Andrew, my brother—” She stared at Collin. “Andrew had been scratched and
didn’t tell me. He thought it would be okay because he wasn’t bitten.” She
closed her eyes and breathed out. It had been a long time since Andrew’s death,
and it still felt like yesterday. “But I found out soon enough that a scratch
was just as deadly as a bite.”

“I’m
sorry.” Collin sounded genuine, and she offered him a smile, even though it didn’t
feel real.

“That’s
the world we live in now.
Having to kill your flesh and blood
before they turn on you and want to destroy everything that you are.”
She didn’t want to think about Andrew, how she had killed him right after he
had turned, because that wound hadn’t healed within her yet. Rebecca knew that
it would never heal. Since then she had killed enough infected that she was
comfortable with it. Rebecca only ate half of the jerky Collin had given her
and set it aside. Even if she was still hungry food was scarce enough that she
couldn’t be greedy. “What about you?”

“What
about me?” he asked without malice in his voice.

“What
did you used to do before all of this?”

He
was silent for a few seconds, brought his water bottle to his mouth, and took a
long sip from it while watching her over the rim. He lowered the bottle and
wiped his mouth with the back of his arm. “I wasn’t a bookkeeper,” he said
without any emotion in his voice.

Was
he some kind of criminal, murderer,
extortionist
? Did
it matter anymore? He could have been a criminal in the world before, but what
happened then didn’t really matter now. He hadn’t hurt her, had saved her life
even, and was sharing his food. As far as she was concerned he was a good man.
“It doesn’t matter anymore what someone did in their previous life, well, not
unless they were a doctor or something and could have a useful talent.” She
shrugged. “But if you’re in need of your finances checked over, I’m your girl.”

“My
finances were the last things that needed to be looked at, believe me.” He
started chuckling, and she liked the sound. It was manly, masculine, and had
this little tingle moving through her. Sex was the last thing she should have
on her mind, especially with her almost rape situation, and maybe she was suffering
from some kind of “been saved from a near death experience syndrome”. But
whatever she was feeling it felt good and real, and for the first time in her
life, and living in this new, shitty world, Rebecca wanted this moment to last.
But it was clear Collin wasn’t feeling this “moment” because all he did was
stare
at her with this unreadable expression.

The
moaning and groaning from outside grew louder, and she moved to the back of the
loft and rested against the wall. Collin stayed where he was, finished his
food, and then leaned against the wall diagonal to her. They were silent for
several seconds, and then she decided to speak again, trying to ease the sudden
awkward tension in the air.

“How
old are you, and where are you originally from?” Small talk seemed like the
safest route right now, and besides, she didn’t want to sit here, neither
speaking. She lived in silence, and having someone
to
actually converse with was nice.

He
brought his legs up, rested his forearms on his knees, and looked at her. The
light from the lantern didn’t quite reach him, and the shadows covered half of
his body. “I’m thirty-seven, and originally from New York. I stayed at my place
for about six months, safe because of where I was located, but eventually ran
out of supplies. I knew staying there any longer would be my death.” He stared
right at her. “New York was consumed by the infection in a matter of weeks, as
were most of the larger cities.”

She
had heard that major cities around the world had gotten hit the hardest, and
then it had moved outward, sucking up the health and life of every state in the
United States. The vaccine had already made it across the ocean to Europe,
Asia, and the rest of the continents, and soon the entire world was one giant
infected cesspool of walking corpses.

“So,
I grabbed what I could and left it all.” He rested his head on the wall,
breathed out, and closed his eyes. “It is what it is, and there is no going
back. We can only focus on the here and now.” He turned just his head and
stared at her. “I never looked back, never wanted to either. My life back
there…” He looked away from her and stared at the holes in the roof. “My life
back in New York was filled with drugs, embezzlement, illegal activity, and a
lot of fucking violence and death.”

Rebecca’s
heart started pounding fast and hard at his words. They were cold, deep, and
held a lot of darkness to them. It was obvious that whatever Collin had done
before all of this, it hadn’t been anything good.

“But
even though I wasn’t a good man back then, and honestly still am not, you and I
are the same, Rebecca.” He looked at her again. “We are survivors.”