Thicker than Blood (38 page)

Shutting off the water with a sigh, I reached
for a nearby towel, wrapped it firmly around my body, and stepped
out of the small shower cubicle. Although a metal tub with a pulley
system attached to a garden hose could hardly be called a shower,
it was the best damn shower I’d had in weeks.

There were a few other women with me, one
with two small children, but no one paid anyone else any attention.
I stepped around a pile of someone else’s clothing and headed for
the counter where I’d left my own. After finger combing through my
wet, but clean, hair, I donned one of the new outfits Alex had
managed to get for Leisel and me—a pair of faded black cargo pants
and a dark blue T-shirt that actually fit me surprisingly well.

Once dressed, I stared at my reflection in
one of the many broken mirrors that lined the wall. I looked pale,
maybe even sickly, and far skinnier than I’d ever been before.
There was something else too, a hollow look to my eyes that I’d
never noticed, maybe because it hadn’t been there the last time I’d
taken a good look at myself. I tried to remember the last time I
stared in a mirror, and couldn’t. Though I’d taken care of my
appearance while in Fredericksville, I’d never just stared at
myself. I’d never wanted to, and maybe it was because of this very
reason. From the fear of what I’d find.

There had been many times, over the course of
the last four years, when I’d felt worthless, useless, little
better than something to be used and easily discarded. But I’d
refused to admit it out loud, refused to look at myself while I
thought those horrible words. But after E, after the way he’d
treated me and my body… Forget the brand on my wrist, I actually
felt branded now. Branded by E, and branded a whore.

And today was going to be the first time that
I would see him since…

He hadn’t raped me. I had agreed to it all,
and I had no one to blame but myself—not even him. He was
purposefully vicious with me, purposefully aggressive and cruel,
but I had known he would be. I swallowed thickly, feeling bile
creeping up my throat. I shouldn’t have been thinking about E, not
with my upcoming fight.

“It’s just sex,” I whispered to my
reflection. “It’s just sex,” I repeated louder, willing myself to
feel stronger, glaring at my sad, pathetic reflection.

We’ll be out of here soon, I told myself.
With a truck, weapons, and food. We’ll continue traveling south,
continue surviving. Together. As a family.

“Fuck this place,” I murmured, and forced
myself to smile. I refused to be ashamed of what E had done, of
what I’d done. I had a plan, a way to get us out of here, a way to
protect Leisel and myself from the madness of this place. And that
was all that mattered.

“I’m not a fucking wildcat,” I whispered,
chuckling darkly. “I’m a goddamn lioness.”

I laughed again, a sickly sweet laugh that
did nothing but make me feel less like myself and more like a
stranger.

“Eve? You in here?” Leisel’s soft voice
carried across the room, echoing off the cold ceramic tile.

“I’m here,” I replied, still staring at my
reflection.

As she came up behind me, my eyes flitted to
her reflection, watching her gaze graze across the visible bruising
on my neck and arms. She hid her reaction well, quickly meeting my
eyes with a kind smile. I wanted to laugh, thinking back to how
many times I’d done the same to her, hiding the disgust I was
feeling for the man who’d hurt her, hiding the pity I felt for her.
How quickly our roles had been reversed. Now I was the one who
needed the comforting, and Leisel the one offering it.

Leaning in, she wrapped her arms around my
middle, resting her chin on my shoulder, still smiling at me.
Covering her hands with my own, I returned her smile. She looked so
happy, so at peace, and it was a beautiful thing to see. My
pain—any pain—was worth it to see that contented flush in her
cheeks.

“You know I’m sorry, right?” she said softly.
“I didn’t mean any of it, not even a little bit.”

“I know, you’ve told me.” My eyes again met
hers. “A lot.” I smiled.

She nodded once and looked away, apparently
not wholly convinced that I believed her. She wore her guilt like a
badge, visible for all to see, as if she believed that she owed it
to me to feel bad. When in truth, it only made me feel worse.

“You ready?” she asked carefully.

She was worried about me, about the fight,
about what happened with E, but she was being strong for me, trying
to help shoulder my burdens. I appreciated that more than she’d
ever know.

“
Almost,” I said, nodding. Tying my hair up
into a tight bun on top of my head, I turned to face Leisel. “Are
you sure you want to be there?” I asked her. “I have a feeling it’s
going to get ugly.”
And I don’t want you getting upset
, I added silently.

Leisel’s lips pulled back in a surprising
snarl. “Don’t you ever ask me something so stupid again,
Evelyn.”

I started to smile, a genuine smile, as I
reached for her. “I love you, Lei,” I whispered, crushing her to
me, ignoring the pain it caused my body.

Hugging me back, she squeezed me tighter than
she ever had before. “I love you too, Eve.”

“Promise?” I asked, choking on my own
emotion.

“Promise,” she said. “Always.”

• • •

The makeshift arena was located outside, at the far
end of Purgatory’s south side, and situated only a couple of dozen
yards away from the gate. It was a simple setup, several thin metal
poles jutting up from the ground with rope fashioned around them to
create a ring of sorts, encircling a small beaten-down stretch of
lawn.

Cages of infected, like the ones at the Drunk
Tank, were here as well, at least four that I could see as I
quickly scanned the area, trying to take in as much as possible as
quickly as I could. The infected were wild, riled up and crazy for
blood, making the ones at the bar seemed almost subdued. I tried
not to look at them, their rotted sallow skin, balding heads, and
snapping mouths—even without teeth, all of it only making my
churning stomach worse. But I could hear them, above all the yells
and catcalls as I entered the arena, their groans of hunger
standing out above the rest.

Alex was there among the gathered crowd of
spectators, waiting for us. Leisel went to him, slipping her hand
in his and smiling up at him while I scanned the large crowd, my
nerves kicking into overdrive when my gaze found E. He stuck out,
even in a crowd this size, his large frame and thick Mohawk
overshadowing nearly everyone else. His face was a mask of
calmness, though his dark gaze spoke of death and violence.

Tearing my gaze away from him, I glanced back
to Leisel and Alex.

“Don’t spill too much blood,” Alex said,
trying to smile. “Don’t want to be slipping all over the place
during my fight.”

I tried to smile as well, but we both only
ended up grimacing at each other, neither of us liking what we had
to do.

“Just a few more days,” Leisel said, her eyes
darting between us. “And we’re out of here. Right?”

“Right,” Alex said, nodding down at her.

I nodded as well, pulling Leisel in for a
quick hug. “Definitely,” I said, but I didn’t share their optimism.
I was still at the mercy of E’s generosity, and who knew when he’d
come through for me.

As I headed toward the makeshift ring, I
found E easily among the crowd again. His eyes were still on me,
his hard, unwavering gaze seeming to suck the energy straight from
my bones, making my arms and legs feel like jelly. Attempting to
avert my eyes, I found it difficult, feeling myself unwittingly
looking at him over and over again.

The crowd grew more agitated. People shouted
as I made my way through them, their arms held high, hands full of
food, clothing, or bottles of homemade liquor. A chalkboard had
been set up near the fence, where a scruffy-looking man was taking
bets, writing down names, odds, and amounts. A caged infected had
been placed near him, yet he was oblivious as it growled, rattling
its cage as it reached desperately for him.

I reached the ring at the same time Liv did,
her pink hair shining even brighter beneath the sun. Her hands were
wrapped possessively around another woman’s bicep as she dragged
her under the rope and shoved her into the ring. She was a bony
little thing, my opponent, with a lithe ebony body and raven-black
hair. From her mannerisms, I guessed that she was a dirty fighter,
probably lacking any real skill. She looked at me, her eyes
flashing cold and empty, while Liv smiled a cruel, knowing sort of
smile that suggested to me this was going to be anything but a fair
fight.

Behind Liv, Jeffers stepped into the ring,
his arms spread wide in welcome. He appeared older in the daylight,
tougher and meaner as well, his age more apparent in the daylight.
The strip of gray in his hair looked almost white, a stark and
menacing contrast to his black locks.

“Fighters ready?” he shouted loudly,
beckoning us both forward with his fingers.

My opponent and I moved forward until we were
toe-to-toe. This close to her, I could see the scars covering her
body, hundreds of them crisscrossing her face, neck, and arms, and
I began to wonder if I’d misjudged her. She’d quite clearly had her
share of fights, and yet here she stood.

“
Today for your gambling pleasure we have a
new challenger for our reigning champion,
Miiiiiis-ty
!”

At the mention of her name, Misty thrust her
clenched fist up into the air. The crowd answered with an unholy
roar, chanting her name over and over as well as screaming for my
blood.

Misty wasn’t paying them any attention,
almost as if she couldn’t hear them. Her eyes were fixed on nothing
in particular; she looked toward the sky, the ground, anywhere but
at me or the crowds. Liv, however, was staring at me. Grinning at
me, actually.

“Straight from the wild, we have Eve!”
Jeffers turned to me with a grin. “Some might even call her a
wildcat!”

The crowd roared again, and my stomach turned
somersaults at the mention of my nickname. Chancing a glance to
where I’d last seen E, I found him still there, his tattooed arms
crossed over his chest as he stared at me.

“Fighters!” Jeffers continued. “To your
corners!”

As Misty retreated to where Liv was waiting
for her, I returned to my corner, ignoring the small stool that had
been placed there in favor of searching the crowd behind me for
Leisel and Alex. I found them easily, noticing Alex first, pushing
his way through the crowd as Leisel hurried after him.

I turned back to the ring, still sensing E’s
intense gaze on me as the crowd fell silent. It was a deathly sort
of silence, like a dark shadow that swallowed up the light,
shrouding everything in blackness.

“Ding, ding!” Jeffers bellowed, his deep
voice thick with amusement.

The crowd erupted with another ferocious
roar, still chanting Misty’s name as Misty herself leaped into
action and raced across the ring, headed straight for me.

I stepped to the side, just a hairbreadth out
of reach from her bony fist, only to come face-to-face with another
punch. Her fist caught my left ear and my world went instantly
quiet, quickly giving way to a loud ringing that made me cringe and
stumble backward. She swung again, this time connecting with my
stomach, causing me to fly backward, my body sprawling across the
ropes. She joined me there, her fist connecting with my face, then
my stomach, her punches relentless, one after the other after the
other…

In an attempt to block her, I lifted my arms,
managing to thwart merely a few of her punches. I had misread this
woman entirely; she was quick and powerful, and brutally
efficient.

The pummeling stopped rather abruptly. As I
chanced a peek between my raised forearms, I found Misty heading
back to her corner to where Liv was waiting for her. Still smiling,
Liv winked in my direction, letting me know that she’d won and that
I’d lost, making sure I saw the sick satisfaction she gleaned from
all this.

As my arms dropped from my face, I watched
Liv turn to the crowd, seeking out E, who was now standing directly
next to the rope. A silky smile graced Liv’s face as she watched
him, even though he didn’t look her way. She followed his gaze back
across the ring to me, her smile gone now, her nostrils flaring
angrily, and I realized then that she knew. She knew about E and
me; she knew, and she was goddamn jealous.

Staggering back to my corner, I found Leisel
and Alex waiting for me. I shook my head slightly, annoyed that my
hearing was still spotty; I was only catching a dull hum of the
commotion around me.

Gripping my arm, Alex dragged me down onto
the stool and began wiping my face with his sleeve. His mouth was
moving but I couldn’t hear his words, and my vision blurred in and
out of focus. Between that and the several dozen punches I’d taken
to the gut, I was positive I was going to throw up all over myself
at any moment.

But then Leisel was there, pushing Alex out
of her way and kneeling down beside me. Taking my face in her
hands, she blocked the world out, leaving only her and me. Her
mouth, both hard and soft, found mine, pressing a kiss to my
lips.

“You promised me, Eve!” she yelled, her voice
nearly lost among the shouting. “You promised me we’d always be
okay! Don’t break your promise!”

Blinking through the blood that trickled down
my forehead and into my eyes, I nodded. She was right; I had
promised her. I’d promised her that we would always be okay, and I
wasn’t going to break that promise.

Leisel helped me back to my feet and then she
was gone, tugged away by Alex.

I turned to see Jeffers once again standing
in the center of the ring. “Ding-ding!” he shouted again with a
wicked grin, and my stomach plummeted.