Infected (Releasing the Magic Book 1)

by Maya Riley

  It wasn’t until I was about three quarters of the way up that I heard my name being called from below and I looked down. Big mistake. Roughly twenty feet up was not the best place to get vertigo. I turned my head upward and closed my eyes, attempting to clear my head and focus once more. Mateo was determined not to let me shut him out though. The muffled cursing didn’t stop. It only increased, if anything, until I finally called back. “Stop it! You’re not helping and you’re going to attract every rotter in the area. Just let me focus so I don’t fall, will ya?” And with that, the angry curses stopped, but I was sure I’d have to face them once my feet were on the ground again.

  Opening my eyes, I continued on. I focused on my destination, getting there one foot at a time. Finally, I was within reaching distance of the top. Just a couple more pushes up and I grasped both ends of the belt in one hand and reached the other one toward the nearest nest. After some grabbing and pulling, I was able to scoop them up and secure them in my pants pockets and sports bra. I really hoped I didn’t break any on the way down—that would make for a bit of a mess to clean up.

  Once I freed all the eggs I could reach, I realized my predicament. Shit, how was I going to get down?

  I took a few deep breaths to keep myself calm. Think. I just had to think. Okay, I probably wouldn’t be able to get down with the same technique that got me up here. The best solution might be to hug the tree and gently slide down. Taking a deep breath, I yelled, “Heads up,” and used the belt to pull me toward the tree, then released the belt and wrapped both of my arms and legs around the trunk.

  Nothing seemed to be wrong. I stuck in place, wrapped around the tree, the ground staying the same distance away as before. This was great… now, if only I could just shimmy down.

  I began to carefully slide down the trunk, alternating my arms and legs back and forth. The rough bark scraped at my arms and tugged at the fabric of my cargo pants, so I slowed down even more so I wouldn’t break any of the eggs. What were a few scrapes if it meant we got to eat? The couple cans of beans between the six of us wouldn’t be enough.

  With gravity’s help, I was slowly making it down. A sudden tug on my pants kept me from progressing, and I looked down and saw that a chunk of bark from the pine tree had gotten stuck in a belt loop. Great. I wasn’t quite as careful as I’d thought.

  I leaned to the right, attempting to dislodge the offending piece of nature, when I overcompensated and found myself tumbling toward the earth. My eyes were open in terror as I watched, in slow motion, as the ground slowly came rushing up to meet my face. Shit.

  I closed my eyes, waiting for the pain that never came. Instead, my body hit two hard objects, catching me before the ground did, one under my upper chest and the other under my thighs. Very uncomfortable. With a quick movement, I was flipped and facing skyward again. I opened my eyes to meet the single, angry eye of Mateo, glowering down at me. Disapproval and anger seeped off of him like a volcano that was on the brink of eruption.

  “And what, exactly, did you think you were doing?” he growled at me.

  For some reason I wasn’t sure he would like the answer to that.

  “I told you I would get them down after I got the fire going. Why didn’t you wait?” He didn’t even bother to hold back the anger that was radiating off of him, and for some reason I didn’t think it was directed entirely at me.

  “I got the eggs. As long as you didn’t squish any when you caught me, we should have twelve of them to eat.” I reached into my shirt and pulled out the ones from my sports bra. Of course my boobs kept them nestled in place. Luckily, Mateo’s arm had caught me right above the spot where they were. Handing the eggs over to Jonah, I reached for the ones in my pocket, the movements were as awkward as could be since Mateo refused to let me down. Only one egg had broken, one that was in a pocket and against my thigh, which must have smashed when I was caught. Since that was the only casualty, I considered it a pretty good turnout.

  I struggled against my knight in grumpy armor to get down, but he only held onto me tighter. “Since I can’t trust you not to run off and find yourself in danger—this is the second time now, by the way—you’re staying with me.” He carried me over to the budding fire and sat down in front of it with me still in his lap. I continued to struggle, but he held on tight, not saying a word. The more I squirmed, the tighter he held me, and the more I could feel something harden beneath me. Unsure if I should acknowledge it, I stilled with a huff of defeat and waited for whatever would come next.

  Giving up on my attempts at escape, I finally relaxed in Mateo’s arms, but not without grumbling. I looked up to notice the stern look on his face as he watched the fire. The blood drying on the side of his face made my heart clench. We’d really come close to not making it out of there. I didn’t know what would have happened if it wasn’t for that spontaneous fire.

  Not wanting to be caught staring, I alternated between watching the fire and looking over at Adam. Seeing the steady rise and fall of his chest helped put me at ease. I really wished he would wake up soon.

  Jonah occupied himself by counting eggs and rearranging them, mostly for some busywork. Not long after, Lincoln strolled back into camp carrying a battered tin can. His clothes were ripped and his hair was a mess, yet he still walked with the same air of confidence that he had that first day I met him.

  His eyes narrowed when he saw me trapped in Mateo’s lap. “Did I miss something?”

  “Trouble decided to jump to her death.” Mateo’s eye was unmoving while he watched the fire, but Lincoln’s eyes widened with worry.

  “I didn’t—no, I didn’t. I climbed that tree,” I pointed to the pine tree a few feet away, “to get the eggs down so we could have something to eat. We left all of our supplies behind, so we need to improvise now. I saw an opportunity and I took it.”

  “You should’ve waited for m—”

  “I don’t have to wait for no—”

  “Why are you like thi—”

  “Why are you like this?”

  Our bickering continued until Lincoln held up a hand, and yelled, “Guys, guys, guys!” He looked at us, eyeing us one at a time. “B first.”

  “Okay.” I reached my arms up for Lincoln to grab my hands and pull me to my feet. Once free of Mr. Moody’s lap, I told my side of the story. The truth, actually, about how I selflessly climbed a tree for birds’ eggs so we could have enough to eat.

  I glanced over at Mr. Moody to see him fuming even more. He really needed to lighten up a bit. A lot, actually.

  “I told her to wait until I got the fire going and I’d help. I see she left out the part where she fell trying to get back down.” Mateo took a blade and his sharpening tool out of his pants pocket and got to work. Is it possible to sharpen a blade too much? I wouldn’t be surprised if they started to break.

  I touched my fingers to the top of Jonah’s arm and guided him over to check on Adam with me. His pulse and breathing seemed normal, but he was still out cold. Help me move him closer to the water. I want to clean him up some. Jonah bent down, picked him up, and carried him over, before setting him down near the water. I wanted my Goldilocks to wake up.

  “Found this half buried in the ground,” Lincoln announced. I turned back to see him holding up the tin can he came back with before dipping it into the water. “Figured we could use it to boil some water.” He carried it back over and set it down next to the fire. Mateo used some sticks to pick up a small, heated rock and drop it into the can, and we all watched as it slowly began to boil.

  Right then, groans escaped Adam’s mouth and I knelt at his side. His face was scrunched in pain as I lifted his head into my lap. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes tight. “How ya feeling?”

  “Like something heavy slammed into my skull. What happened?” He dropped his hand and squinted up at me as the others spread out around us. Then, noticing the bright sunlight overhead, looked around. “Or… where are we?”

  “There was a… uh�
�� situation,” I stuttered.

  “What kind of a… situation,” he asked slowly.

  “Scavers. Scavers happened,” Mateo answered simply.

  Adam’s eyes grew wide and I took over. “They came in, attacked us, then the station caught on fire and we ran. We’re currently somewhere southeast of where we were before.”

  “Are you telling me that a fire station caught fire and went down in flames?” he inquired in humorous disbelief. “So does that mean all of our stuff is gone too?”

  I nodded. We were lucky to have escaped with our lives.

  “Here, let’s get you cleaned up.” I motioned to the water and Adam obliged. After grabbing one of the cleaner shirts from the backpack Jonah had grabbed, we made our way to the water. The others moved back over to the fire to focus on the flames.

  I helped Adam clean himself up at the water’s edge, washing him free of the blood that coated his hair and skin. He had a cut along his hairline that worried me. I handled it with care, gently brushing away any dirt. “What did they do to you?” I asked.

  “They took us by surprise. It all happened so fast. I think I was knocked out before it even began,” he answered. I nodded. The only thing that really mattered right now was getting him cleaned up. Blood trailed along his hairline, down his face and neck, then pooled underneath the top of his shirt. The blood was dried now, but still needed to be taken care of.

  Once his face was clean, he pulled his blood- and sweat-soaked shirt off. I took a moment to marvel at the sculpted man in front of me. Making sure my mouth was closed, I nabbed his shirt and wadded it up, then turned my attention to the water before he could catch me staring. Submerging the shirt in the water, I did my best to get it as clean as I could get it, before lifting it out and using it as a wash cloth.

  Pressing the wadded up, wet shirt to his chest, I watched the water droplets run down his body and zig zag along his abdominal muscles. A light pressure on my hand startled me, and I realized he’d wrapped his own hand around mine. Looking up, I saw him grinning at me. I blushed. So much for not getting caught staring. Plastering an innocent smile across my face, I let him take over the rest of his washing while I placed my hands on the ground behind me and leaned back, looking up at the sky.

  It was already bad enough that I found myself attracted to more than one of them. Hell, if I was honest with myself, I was attracted to all of them. I knew dating would be a bit more difficult in the rotter-pocalypse, especially with multiple men, if that would be possible. I still had no idea how that would work.

  As the last of his dried blood from the day before was washed away, he reached into a pocket and pulled out a little red package. My eyes lit up once I realized what it was.

  “Thought you could use a little something to cheer you up. It’s the only one I have, so enjoy.” A stupid grin was plastered across my face as I grasped the little bag and ripped a corner off. Freeing a skittle, I popped it into my mouth and savored the strawberry flavor. Remembering my manners, I held it out to Adam to share, but he just shook his head and grinned. “Nah, I’m good. Those are for you, Skittle.”

  My mood suddenly lightened, and I carefully rolled the open side down and slid it into my back pocket to save for later. When I looked back up, he had my favorite stupid grin on his face and his eyes even glistened. “What?” My hands flew up to my head. “Do I have something on my face? Because, you know, it’s kind of hard to keep up with regular showers out here.”

  He laughed and reached for my hands, pulling them back down to my lap. “No, there’s nothing on your face. You’re perfect.”

  My breath hitched and his eyes didn’t leave mine. The world around us slowly faded away as we began to lean in closer, lost in each other’s gazes. His eyes shone so impossibly blue that I’d believe he had his own sky inside of them. His warm breath fanned my lips, and all I needed to do was tilt my head to close the distance.

  “We’ve got water to drink and eggs to eat.” Lincoln’s voice carried over to us, and we jumped apart as the world crashed back into place. Adam began coughing, and I didn’t know how to handle the awkward moment, so I responded with the typical, “Aye aye, captain.” Yeah, that should be enough to make me sound completely normal.

  “Coming,” Adam called out, much more normal than my immediate reaction. He stood up and held his hands down to me, helped me to my feet, and we headed back over to the others, and toward food.

  The sun was getting low in the sky and it would get pretty dark before long. We’d continued to boil water, each taking turns sipping it once it started to cool down. Soon enough, the last of the sun dipped under the horizon. We decided to sleep in shifts, and tomorrow we would figure out a new course of action.

  Mateo set up the tent. It was big enough to fit all six of us snugly, but we’d have three or four sleeping at a time.

  We sat, watching the sunset, lost in thought with minimal conversation. Lincoln was silent. He kept his eyes on either Adam or on the fire the entire time. A hint of guilt riddled his features and I couldn’t place the reason. Surely, he wasn’t blaming himself for what happened to Adam, or to any of us, right? “Hey.” I place a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. “Where are you at?”

  His gaze remained latched on to the fire, as reflections of the flames danced in his dark, coffee eyes. “I have no idea.”

  I shimmied a hand underneath his arm and wrapped myself around his bicep, leaning my head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of my head and we sat there in silence for a long time, watching the fire as it burned through the night. Whatever was going through his head was his to share if he wanted to, regardless, I’d still sit with him in the dark.

  Blyss

  Today was supposed to be a happy day. I was getting adopted by a nice lady full of smiles and promises. I had no idea what lay in wait when I stepped inside her house. As soon as she stepped over the threshold behind me, she was a whole different person than the facade she’d put on at the group home.

  Not even an hour into the adoption, I’d received the first slap from her. The rough skin of her hand against the soft flesh of my upper arm yielded a loud smack in the large house, which would echo in my ears for years to come, leaving a large red handprint in its wake.

  It was only the first, but it certainly wouldn’t be the last. After the third slap I snapped out of the confusion and fisted my hands in anger. I landed a punch to her abdomen and static electricity rippled along my knuckles with the impact. The static was so strong that it was nearly visible, and a cruel smile lifted her lips at the sight.

  Then the scene shifted. Suddenly, Mama G disappeared and I was running. The air was cool on my face as I ran, pulled along by my hand behind someone I couldn’t recognize. Stars smiled down on me as we fled the only place I’d ever known. I’d never been outside until now, having only ever seen the stars through a skylight. I knew what the sun was and what birds were, but the strange brown and green shapes surrounding us were foreign to me.

  I awoke in a sweat, wrapped up in someone else’s arms, with Puppy pressed up against my front. Groaning, I untangled myself and turned my head to see Jonah snuggled up behind me with his face in my neck.

  I continued to roll over until I was facing the slightly ajar flap of the tent. Lincoln was staring into the fire from the same position I had seen him in last night. Did the man even go to sleep at all? Nobody had woken me for my shift to stand guard.

  “Hey, Linc…” I pushed myself up onto my hands and knees, and crawled out of the tent and over toward him, careful not to disturb the others who were all still sleeping peacefully. I reached him and sat down next to him, looping one of my arms through his. “Talk to me.”

  “I did it.” His voice was barely a whisper and I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right.

  “Did what? What did you do?”

  “The fire,” he choked out. “It was me.”

  Right as my mouth opened to respond, a rotter stumbled toward us. It was only one this time, at l
east right now. Hopefully there wouldn’t be any more right away, since I wasn’t in the mood to deal with a ton of them at once. Sighing, I stood up and reached for my pants pocket, only to realize I had nothing on me. The backpack was right inside the tent flap, with the knives still secured inside. Lincoln didn’t even miss a beat. He immediately stepped forward with his own dagger and took care of it. Puppy bounded back to my side, not being needed for any action. By that time, low groans alerted us that the other guys were waking up.

  “Rise and shine sleeping beauties,” I greeted them with a grin. “Get ready to kick some decomposed ass and flail around rotter territory.”

  Even if we went back to the fire station now, there’s no way we’d be able to find anything still of use. Maybe some of the knives though... “You know, if we went back, we might be able to find some of the knives if they survived the fire.”

  “No,” Mateo declared, leaving no room for argument.

  “Excuse me?” I asked as I turned my eyes on him.

  “I said no,” he repeated, further deepening his resting scowl face.

  Mateo’s immediate dismissal of my idea was like a slap in the face. I’d been trying to have patience with him, but he was constantly making that difficult and testing my limits.

  “Well, I wasn’t asking for your permission, so if you don’t want to go then that’s fine. I’ll catch up with you guys later.” I stood up and began to storm off when a hand tightened around my arm. I eyed the hand and trailed it all the way up to a muscular arm, before settling on Mateo’s hard stare. “You’re not going alone. We stick together.”

  I raised an eyebrow at that. I didn’t think I would ever be able to figure him out, but I wouldn’t stop trying. “Well, if no one else is going then I guess that means I’m on my own, right?”