Four crimson pools stained the gravel. Bullets littered the ground at my feet. I kept my eyes up to avoid the signs of death around me, and watched as Nathan climbed into the back of the Jeep. He tossed out my book bag, the sleeping bags, tent, water bottles, a few boxes of ammunition, and jumped down, wearing his baseball cap again.
He left me in the middle of the road, with the contents of the Jeep, to check out the other vehicles. I assumed for keys, but he returned with a map, a flash light, and a large camouflage sac big enough to carry all our stuff, with room to spare.
He spread the map out on the hood of one of the trucks and studied it with the flashlight. I was about to offer to load our things, but I had one of those feelings again.
“Are we walking?” I asked hesitantly.
He kept his face buried in the map. “Yep.”
I hesitated. It was almost too obvious. “You realize there are two perfectly suitable vehicles here, including the one you’re currently using?”
The Jeep and the truck that had rammed it were beyond drivable. The other two, aside from a few bullet holes, were fine.
“We can’t use them.”
I hated that tone he used with me. It kicked my attitude into high gear. “Why not?”
He glared at me. “If we use one of their trucks, they can track us. We won’t get far.”
Oh. I hadn’t thought about that. Instead of admitting to that oversight, I folded my arms and made a face at his back when he turned away to study the map again.
Suddenly, he stepped back with his face tipped up to the sky and turned in a half circle. When he started to look between the map, the sky, and the woods around us, I realized he was using the stars as a guide. I’d heard it was possible, but had never actually witnessed it before. It was pretty cool—and a little funny—to watch. When he seemed to have it figured out, he glanced at me, and I didn’t hide the amusement on my face.
“Let’s go.” He stuffed the map and flashlight into the camouflage bag along with the rest of our gear, and flung it over his shoulder.
“Wait,” I said. “Did you just use the stars as a guide?”
“Uh-huh.” He sounded bored as he started for the edge of the woods, opposite the direction I had run earlier.
“You learn that in the boy scouts?” I was impressed, though he couldn’t tell through all the sarcasm.
“I wasn’t a boy scout.”
No kidding. I was pretty sure they taught manners. “So, how did you learn to do that?”
He turned to me as I trotted across the road after him. His face carried a blend of reluctantly amused annoyance, but when his eyes flicked to mine briefly, and then snapped back a second later, all traces of humor were gone. I didn’t know what I had done to piss him off that fast, but the look on his face brought me up short, and I cowered as he closed the distance between us. He dropped the sac to the ground and tipped my face up to his. As he tilted it from side to side, I realized this was the first he had seen whatever damage that man-beast had done. Standing in the road, under a gap in the tree canopy, the moonlight showed him what he had previously overlooked.
If the blue storm clouds I was looking into were any indication, I was sure he wished he could bring that guy back just so he could kill him again. After slowly peeling off every one of his toenails.
Or maybe that was what I wanted.
“Did this happen from the accident?” His voice was tight.
I shook my head.
“In the woods?”
I nodded, and his jaw twitched.
“Did you hear me yell for you?” I saw the barely discernible nod of his head; saw that he wasn’t going to like what I had to say next. “He smacked me around to shut me up.”
Nathan’s eyes narrowed, hardened. Wordlessly, he lifted the hem of his sweatshirt, moistened a section with his tongue, and dabbed at the corners of my mouth and chin.
“I don’t see where this came from,” he murmured to himself as he worked. He lifted his eyes to mine. “Is this your blood?”
I shook my head. “He tried to suffocate me.” Nathan’s hand stopped as he waited for me to continue. “So I bit him.”
He nodded and I thought maybe, just maybe, he nearly smiled.
“I drew blood.” I paused to consider something I hadn’t thought about until then. My voice rose in a panic. “Wait a minute. I got his blood in my mouth.”
Nathan eyed me curiously, like he wasn’t sure he wanted to know where I was going with that. Did I want to go there? Too late now. I had to go there.
My voice trembled. “Am I going to become whatever he was?”
Nathan dropped his hand, and his sweatshirt fell back into place. He looked at me and, this time, I knew he was trying to keep a straight face. “Whatever he was?” he repeated slowly.
“He wasn’t normal. He wasn’t...” I shrugged. Did I really want to finish that thought?
“What?”
“I don’t know. It’s not like a vampire or zombie kind of thing, is it? Because I don’t believe in that stuff.”
“Then why did you ask if you would turn into whatever he was?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Just answer the question.”
“No, you won’t turn into whatever he was. Not because you got his blood in your mouth. Not ever.”
I stared at Nathan warily. “So what was he anyway?”
Nathan looked over my head and took a deep breath. “We have to keep moving, and get off the road.”
My voice rose again, this time in anger. “Are you ever going to tell me what’s going on?”
He glanced at his watch like he planned to set up an appointment to talk to me. “We have a few hours of walking ahead of us. They’re coming, now, as we’re standing here, wasting time. Once we put some distance between us and them, I’ll explain what I can.”
A few hours of walking? I made a face, which he ignored.
“Come on.” He nodded his head at the woods that loomed ahead of us.
“We’re walking through the woods? What’s wrong with the road?”
He looked at me like he really hoped I wasn’t that stupid. I wasn’t. I was in shock, and not thinking straight. Obviously, they would look for us on the road.
I cleared my throat and rallied up some attitude. “We’re going in there with nothing but a map and your star reading skills to guide us?” He walked off without an answer, and I called after him, “You never did say how it is that you know how to do that.”
He glanced over his shoulder. “All masochistic assholes can.”
I faltered briefly, and a reluctant smile spread across my face, but he wasn’t around to see it. He was way ahead of me, already trudging into the woods. I scurried after him, secretly impressed.
So, it seemed he had a soft side and a sense of humor. Throw in his killer good looks, and I was afraid I had a dangerous combination on my hands.
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