Page 43 of Loved to Death

Shen trudged across the snow behind Polly, wondering what the hell they were doing but not bothering to ask because he knew Polly wouldn’t answer.

Five months ago, they’d been in Boise when Polly let him know they were going to make their way toward the southern states for the winter as usual. Even though they didn’t experience the sensation of cold, walking through deep snow made traveling slow, and digging up frozen ground was difficult if not impossible. They’d kept to their usual meandering pace from Boise to Salt Lake City, Utah. But then the evening after they’d made it into Salt Lake City, she’d announced that they were going to head east instead.

Shen had already made arrangements to get his next letter in Provo, Utah and asked if they could go there first, but Polly had refused. When he asked why, Polly had become angry and stated that she didn’t have to explain herself to him. He’d deferred to her authority and wrote a new letter to the doctor to let him know their new destination.

For the first couple of weeks after Salt Lake City, things had returned to normal. They seemed to spend more time traveling each night, but Shen assumed that was because the nights were getting longer instead of shorter with summer coming to an end.

But once they’d made it into Wyoming, Shen noticed a distinct difference in Polly. She was short with him, refused to stay in any one place other than to sleep, and they started feeding on humans every week and a half instead of every two weeks. Because of the shift in traveling, Shen hadn’t been able to send or receive a letter from the doctor for the past four months. After traversing across Wyoming, she’d surprised him again by turning northeast and moving into the Montana Territory and eventually into the Dakota Territory.

Shen quickly decided he hated traveling in the north during the winter. More than once, they’d spent the night lying on top of the frozen solid ground with nothing more than several large animal hides protecting them from the sun. If any human happened by and lifted the hides, they’d be dead, but thankfully the areas they were traveling in were sparsely populated.

Days ago, they’d ditched their horse and gone off the little dirt path they’d been following and instead started pushing their way through a thickly wooded forest. They were somewhere in the wilderness of the Dakota Territory close to the Canadian border with snow up to their knees.

There was a little shack in a clearing with smoke coming out of the chimney, and Polly pointed to it. “We’ll feed on whoever’s there.”

Shen frowned. “We just fed five nights ago.”

“And now we feed again,” she answered, looking back over her shoulder at their trail in the snow.

He pressed his lips together to keep himself from disagreeing. There was no telling when they’d come across another human, so he understood why she wanted to feed early, but it was a lot more like murder when he wasn’t starving.

The little shack wasn’t locked, and when they went in, they found a middle-aged man sitting by the fire half asleep. Polly rushed to him and bit his neck before the man had gotten over his shock. Shen hurried over and bit the other side of his neck before Polly drained him. The usual overpowering lust hit Shen as he drank. When the blood ran out, he reached for Polly, and she pulled him to the floor on top of her. They both frantically undid their clothing and within seconds, Shen was pumping into her until they both found their release.

Seconds after they were satiated, Polly shoved him off her and said urgently, “Get dressed and look for a weapon to protect yourself.”

“A weapon?” he asked, buttoning his pants. Usually they searched for money or things of value to sell but not weapons to use in defense.

Instead of answering, she got up, fixed her own clothing, crossed her arms, and faced the door with an angry scowl.

“What’s going on?” he asked as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. When she didn’t answer, he scanned the little shack, spotted a rifle leaning against the wall by the fireplace, and picked it up. He faced the door as well and held the rifle at the ready. As the minutes ticked by, Shen became more and more nervous.

A tall man kicked the door open and stepped inside the shack.

Shen’s forehead creased as memories danced across his mind. “Thomas?”

Chapter Sixteen

Thomas’ eyes darted back and forth between Shen and Polly. It was surreal to be in front of them after so much time had passed. Polly looked exactly the same as he remembered, but Shen looked quite different. He’d cut off his long queue and let the hair on his forehead grow in, and he’d given up his Chinese clothing in favor of standard American clothes. Most likely clothing from someone they’d killed during their travels.

Thomas had been slowly gaining on them over the last three months, but confronted by the reality of them, all the things he’d imagined saying got stuck in his throat. He could feel Shen’s confusion and had to push aside his impulse to start explaining. Instead, Thomas focused on Polly.

Polly’s frown and defensive stance made him wary. Back when he’d first decided to rescue Shen, he’d assumed Polly would turn toward him when she figured out he was following them. He’d had nightmares of the potential confrontations that would end with him reduced to a bloody mess of broken bones. But the nightmares stopped once he realized she was runningawayfrom him, not toward him.

Keeping his eyes on her, he said, “You’re wrong.” He pointed to the dead man on the floor near the fireplace. “You don’t need to kill to survive. I haven’t killed anyone while feeding for two years now.”

“Lies,” Polly hissed. “You feed every day and feel no guilt!”

“Yes, I feed daily, but I fill up on animal blood first, and then I bite a willing human on the wrist. I’m able to stop after a few swallows, and the human has no ill effects. I have no guilt because I haven’t murdered anyone.”

“Really?” Shen asked, lowering the rifle he was holding.

Thomas sensed Shen’s rising hope and focused on him. “I swear it.”

Shen put the rifle on the floor while Polly shouted, “So you’ve left a trail of humans who can identify you? Idiot!”

Thomas clenched his jaw. “I’m not an idiot, and I didn’t chase you down to listen to insults. I came for him.” He pointed at Shen.

“You abandoned Zhang over two years ago!I’mthe one who made sure he survived those first few weeks. What makes you think I’ll let you have him?” Polly’s eyes narrowed.

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