Page 48 of Creepy
“All of them.Troy, too.”
“Sure, for now.”
“And you’ll leave me alone.No more blackmail.”
Dillon’s lips flattened.He didn’t respond.
My hands mopped at my wet face.“Dillon, are you going to leave me alone after this?”
While he refused to answer, I analyzed his face, all emotion removed from it again.The look scared me.
Nevertheless, I went on, “Are you finally going to leave me alone after almost killing me and killing my brother?Killing someone else too, maybe a baby?”
“No, Sissy.”He grabbed ahold of my knees as I tried to kick him.Securing my legs, he growled out, “I will not leave you alone.You can go home for now.You have until your brother dies or recovers, then I expect you back here with me.For good.”
“Oh, hell no.I will not...”
Dillon clamped his hand over my mouth.“I don’t have to let you leave here today.I don’t have to let them live.I’d be real careful of the next words that come out of your mouth.”He let go of me and stood up.
“But you promised.”
“I didn’t have to.I don’t have to keep my word.I didn’t promise anyone would live, you included.Like you’ve said, I’ve broken promises before.”
“You’re back to wanting to kill me?”
He glared down at me, menacing eyes squinting.“Sissy, I am King around here.I’ll be damned if I let you be with another man.I’ll see you in a week.”Dillon walked out.I didn’t see him again before we left.
An older woman with a pregnant belly brought me a bucket of water, some clean clothes, and a breakfast of homemade turkey jerky and tomatoes from my own damned garden.She was nice enough, and I thanked her, but when she left, I wondered if she was carrying Dillon’s child.Once I changed, a Stayer named Hugo came to the door to let me know my brother was downstairs.They were already ready to leave to take us back to Creepy.It seemed Dillon was keeping his word about that, at least.The three flights of steps weren’t easy, but seeing only Wade and Arlo once I reached the bottom was the hardest.That meant one of the girls had died.The Stayers had their guns drawn, directing us so we silently climbed into the back of a van.My hand flew over my mouth as I saw my brother on a makeshift stretcher with Mabel’s dead body beside him on the floor.
“She insisted on coming,” Arlo whispered to me.“None of us wanted her to.Thankfully, Lucy stayed behind.”He reached for my hand, but I dodged it.It’d been a sweet gesture, but I didn’t want comfort.And I didn’t want to deal with Arlo and whatever had happened between us.I tried not to look at Mabel.We’d only just met, but I’d gotten her killed.
Joey’s eyes were shut, so his chest barely rising and falling relieved me.He looked okay, a little red, no welts yet.However, when I touched him, his skin sizzled.Shredded from a struggle, the clothes he wore yesterday were unrecognizable.Someone had dressed the wound on his shoulder, so I couldn’t tell how bad it was, but the wound wouldn’t be what killed him, anyway.He coughed in his sleep, sounding like a wounded seal.I scowled.That’s how it started, with a high fever and a nasty cough.It ended with having no choice but to kill them before they killed you.
Feeling nauseous, I wobbled, and Arlo put his arm around me.“It’s going to be okay,” he cooed.I rested my head on his shoulder and let his calm words soothe me.“Positive thoughts in, negative thoughts out.”I breathed with him and for a moment I found a second of peace, all thanks to Arlo’s magic.More men loaded bags behind us.Dillon was sending provisions to nurse Joey back to health, Pedialyte, medicine, and the like.Maybe it would be okay for Joey.I tried to think about all the talk of immunity running in the family.
When a Stayer didn’t shut the back door.Wade broke my tranquility, shouting at them, “What are we waiting for”.
“I think Troy,” I answered for them before any trouble started.
Wade gave me a sarcastic smile as he remarked, “So, your plan worked.You strolled in and convinced Dillon to let Troy go.To let us all go.Wonder how you did that.”
Wade was accusing me of fucking Dillon when I’d been about killed by a dozen zombies.Exhaling hard, I pouted.Sitting up from Arlo, I didn’t have to explain anything to Wade.He had no idea what I’d been through, but he could damned well see my brother laid in front of me near death.
Biting his bottom lip, like he wanted to say even more to me, Wade got up to check on Joey.I immediately grasped I wasn’t the only one who would miss Joey.Taking the sheet off my brother’s warming body, he completely covered Mabel’s corpse.Wade had known Mabel well, too, her being practically family to him.He’d been wanting to keep them all safe when we made our plans last night.I couldn’t help but feel I had blood on my hands.
Soon, Kyle showed up with Troy, who was bloodied and bruised.I knew he’d most likely been tortured.One look at his hands confirmed it.They’d torn off his fingernails.That’d probably been the least of it.Our eyes met briefly before he glanced away.After everything that had happened, I couldn’t care less if he told Dillon about us.However, our evening of passion felt like it was a million years ago.It wasn’t my memory of our wonderful encounter, which zipped through my mind and body, that made it feel so far away, but his cold greeting, his even colder silence.I also remembered that he’d left my house mad at me before the Stayers had even captured him.
“Great,” Wade said once Troy was in the van.“We’ve got who we risked our lives for.”He beat on the side of the van.“Can we be off now?”
For the whole ride, you could hear a pin drop.
