The Lair

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Lily

“That’s the fourth church you’ve driven past,” Lily said, leaning forward toward the front of the Cayenne as they drove through some town in the Midwest.

Ticks didn’t always avoid churches, but it worked more often than not.

Ely smiled at her over his shoulder. “You don’t honestly think I’ve survived this long on my own by relying on faith in God, do you?”

“So, what, you drive straight through?”

“When I have to.”

No wonder he needed so many energy drinks. And no wonder he was such an ass. Apparently the guy hadn’t slept in seven months.

“Well, you don’t have to tonight. If we’re driving straight through, pull over and I’ll take a shift.”

“Nah. We don’t have enough gas for tonight. We’ll find some to siphon in the morning. And I just found what I need.” He nodded out the direction of the windshield.

Just ahead of them, on their right, a huge building hunkered down beside a mostly empty parking lot. A familiar blue-and-yellow sign hung crookedly from the front of the building. The sign in the parking lot had crashed to the ground.

“You can’t be serious,” Lily said. “A Wal-Mart?” she asked.

“Yep. There’s one in almost every town in America.”

“A Wal-Mart?” she repeated dumbly.

Ely pulled the Cayenne up to the front of the store and stopped in the fire lane. Not that it mattered. In case of an emergency, the EMS would not be coming to their rescue.

The Wal-Mart had obviously been looted. All of the front windows, however, had plywood installed over them. One of the panels had been ripped off. Another hung crooked. The glass behind both was broken. Still, someone—some employee or manager—had cared enough to try to preserve the store before it had finally fallen.

She looked out in the parking lot, where there were maybe a dozen cars parked. Some neatly in spots, others at angles as if they’d just been abandoned. On the far end was a dark smear of something that she didn’t want to look at too closely. And she was thankful the dusk obscured the view.

Ely pushed his door open and she did the same, cringing when an icy wind cut right through her clothes. Wrapping her arms gingerly around her and hopping a little to generate body heat, she scanned the area, ignoring the pain radiating from her shoulder. Almost directly across the road was a small airport, its landing strip clearly visible from where she stood. “There’s an airport. Lots of cars in that parking lot,” she pointed out.

“Good catch.” He winked at her. “We’ll get some gas there in the morning.”

She frowned, eyeing the Wal-Mart. McKenna’s door swung open, and she levered herself out of the front seat. She arched her back, moaning faintly as she stretched. It was an achy sound, not a good one.

Lily rounded the back of the Cayenne and stepped close to Ely, hoping that McKenna wouldn’t be able to hear her. “I don’t like this. McKenna doesn’t look good. And it’s almost dark. What are we doing here, really?”

He met her gaze then and for the first time since she’d met him, she felt like he wasn’t secretly laughing at her. “This is the best sanctuary I’ve found. Trust me.”

She didn’t want to trust him. But right now, he was all she had. “Okay. What do I do?”

He reached into the back of the Cayenne, moved aside a palm frond, and pulled out a shotgun. “First, we secure the building. Then we settle in for the night.” He pulled out a pistol and handed it to her, butt first. “I assume you know how to use this?”

“And I assume you know that won’t do shit against a Tick?” She pulled her bow out of the backseat. She didn’t tell him she wasn’t even sure she could notch an arrow with her arm like this. Why give him the satisfaction?

“Great. I’m bunking tonight with Katniss Everdeen. I’ll let you know if we need that.”

“She’s really good with the bow,” McKenna said from the other side of the car. Ely and Lily both looked over at her. “She can really shoot and it’s more effective against Ticks than any gun, even a shotgun. That bow saved my life.”

That might have been a stretch, but Lily appreciated her taking her side.

Ely gave her bow a suspicious look and added, “Just try not to shoot me.”

“Yeah, I’ll try,” Lily said dryly. It would be easier if he didn’t make it so damn tempting.

To McKenna, he said, “You can wait in the car until we’re sure the building is clear. Keep it running; she’s a bitch to start if she gets too cold and the last thing we want is to have to start her again. We’ll be out in ten minutes to get you. Don’t go anywhere.”

Lily slung her quiver of arrows across her back and followed Ely up to the storefront, where one of the plywood panels hung lopsided. He swung the shotgun up to his shoulder and pulled a flashlight from the waistband of his jeans.

His flashlight wasn’t a crank-powered lantern like hers but a Maglite with a bright beam, so that when he aimed it through the broken plate-glass window into the building the light panned across the front of the store. Things scurried away from the beam of light, but nothing looked sinister.

Ely took a step back then kicked the heel of his boot through the glass. Five quick kicks later, he’d expanded the opening enough to climb into the store.

She followed him in, stepping gingerly over the jagged shards of glass. What little merchandise that hadn’t been sold or stolen lay in ruins on the ground. Even the shelves and racks had been knocked over. As they walked through the dry goods aisle, she paused by a pile of debris. She nudged the tip of her bow through the mound.

“Keep up.”

She glanced up to see Ely ten steps ahead and scowling.

“I was just looking—”

“There’s no point. There’s nothing left here worth finding.”

“But—”

“That’s not why we’re here. Keep moving.”

Ely held his Maglite in his left hand, with his shotgun up, pressed to his shoulder with the barrel resting on his left wrist. He constantly panned the light over the floor, scanning for danger. He moved quickly and quietly through the store, straight toward the back.

He pushed through the door into the back storeroom. For a moment, she simply gaped. The storeroom hadn’t been hit as hard. Apparently most people didn’t think about all the stuff at the back of a Wal-Mart. All the things still in boxes that were waiting to be unpacked.

He glanced over his shoulder. “If we make it through the night, we’ll search through here in the morning.”

“If?” she asked.

But Ely had already reached a pair of massive metal doors.

“Are you kidding me?”

He flashed her a roguish smile. “What’d you expect?”

“This is where you seek sanctuary? In a freezer in Wal-Mart? You can’t be serious.”

“Serious as airtight, reinforced steel doors.”

“Airtight, reinforced steel doors—” She paused to grab the handle and swing the door open. “That open from the outside.”

He smirked. “Yeah. Handles on the inside, too. Besides, I haven’t met a Tick yet who actually thinks to try that. They lose interest in what they can’t see or smell. They’re animals. Once you disappear into that box, you no longer exist to them.”

She took a step closer to the door. A scent that was one part rotten meat and two parts mold assaulted her nose. “Holy crap, it stinks in there.”

“Exactly.” He nudged the door open with the nose of his rifle and stepped inside. He panned the beam of light from his flashlight around the interior of the room.

He didn’t seem to notice the stench. Either he was used to doing this or his sense of smell had been obliterated already, because her nostrils were twitching in rebellion and she hadn’t even walked inside.

A moment later, he walked out, his rifle slung up against his shoulder, his Maglite dangling from his hand. “Looks clear.”

“Yippee.”

“Here’s the drill,” he said, ignoring her sarcasm. “You stay here and clear out whatever’s stinking up the inside of the box. If it still smells, leave it near the outside door. It’ll cover our scent. Once we lock ourselves in, we’ll be airtight. Any Ticks who come out after dusk will probably follow our scent to the store, but they won’t be able to find us or get in. They’ll lose interest before dawn and move on to other prey. Easy as pie.”

“This is your big plan? Lock ourselves into an airtight room for the night? Doesn’t that seem a bit . . . stifling?” Then it hit her. “That’s what the plants are for, isn’t it?”

“Bingo. Carter was right: you are smart.”

“Smart enough to question the sanity of this plan. How do you know you have enough to generate enough oxygen for the three of us?”

He shrugged. “I don’t. But I’ve been doing this for six months now, sometimes with more than five people. We haven’t died yet.”

“That’s not super reassuring.”

“Hey, if you want to be the one who sits outside the fridge and waits for the Ticks to come, that’s fine by me.”

“I just don’t want to be the one who dies in the middle of the night from oxygen deprivation.”

He ignored her. “I’ll go get McKenna and start hauling stuff in. You clear out the fridge.”

“Fine.”

She glared at Ely’s back as he stalked off through the store. She didn’t bother to remind him that she was wounded and she couldn’t really lift any of those boxes. She would kick the boxes out if she had to. He’d obviously given her the worst of the jobs. No big surprise there. Ely was so not her favorite person.

She set her bow and quiver down beside the open door and stepped into the room. Even breathing through her mouth, she could feel the mold spores invading her body.

She worked quickly, wanting to get all the stinky stuff out before McKenna came back. Moving the meat and other rotted food was a nightmare of squishy disgustingness. By the time she’d moved most of the big stuff, McKenna and Ely were back. He had most of the bags. She was carrying a potted plant. She smiled wanly but even that seemed forced as she rubbed her palm along the bottom of her belly.

Lily found a ratty desk chair from the staff room and moved it in for McKenna to sit on. It was the kind of thing no one would have bothered stealing when they were looting the store.

McKenna sat down awkwardly, still rubbing the side of her belly.

“It still stinks in here, but Ely says we’ll be safe.”

“It’s fine.” The corners of McKenna’s mouth twitched, like she was trying to stifle her gag reflex.

Ely had disappeared back out to the car for another load of plants. Lily set the first one close to McKenna’s chair, figuring she needed the fresh air more. Then she went out into the back room to look for anything else useful. By the time they were ready to lock themselves in, the air was better. She’d found some tattered blankets for McKenna to curl up on. The girl must have been exhausted, because once she stretched out, she fell asleep almost immediately. Lily situated herself on the opposite wall, her bow at her side. She wouldn’t sleep, so she didn’t bother to lie down.

Ely pulled off his jacket, rolled it up, and stretched out with his hands linked over his belly and his head on the jacket. A moment later, he was asleep.

She’d almost drifted off herself, when she heard a noise from outside: a long, slow scratch, like something running a claw over the floor.

The sound was distant and muffled, coming from somewhere either behind the back of the store or maybe out in the store itself. Her breath caught in her chest. For a long moment, she heard only the quiet snuffling of McKenna’s snores. Then came a sound that chilled her to the bone—a sound she hadn’t heard since the night her sister had been lost to her forever. The low, keening howl of a Tick.

One of them had caught their scent. Probably outside in the store. He—or she—had called the others. They traveled in packs, like wolves. They would tear the store apart looking for them. If Ely was right, they wouldn’t find them.

In the absolute dark, Lily reached a hand out to the spot by her side where she’d put her bow.

“Don’t bother,” Ely said in the darkness.

Her heart about jumped out of her chest.

Crap.

She hadn’t even realized he was awake. Past her thundering heart, she managed to ask, “What?”

“Don’t even bother with the bow and arrow.” His voice was soft without being a whisper.

“So, what? I shouldn’t even bother to fight? If one of those things breaks in here—”

“None of them will. But if they do, we should have plenty of warning. A Tick couldn’t get through quietly. It would make a ton of noise. We’ll hear.”

“Well, that makes me feel so much better.”

“Anything comes through that door and I’ll have the Maglite on it as soon as the door opens. The light will blind it. That should buy us twenty, thirty seconds to blow it away.”

The brutal blood thirst in his voice should have terrified her. Instead she found it oddly reassuring. He had a plan. That was a good thing.

So she dropped her hand back into her lap, content knowing that her bow was nearby, if not actually in her hand, and that Ely had her back, at least for the night.

She fidgeted, trying to find a comfortable spot, but every way she twisted her body, it was all hard surfaces and cold seeping through her clothes. Plus, her shoulder ached, an angry throb that radiated across her chest and down her arm, as though she could feel every cell that had been torn apart by that bullet.

She wondered how the Ticks could do it. How they could take a hit and just keep coming. They must not feel any pain at all. Or maybe their hunger overpowered every other sensation.

Feeling even more uncomfortable, she eased away from the wall and rotated her shoulder, trying to work out the pain.

“Did you forget to take your painkillers?” Ely asked in the darkness.

“I—” Sitting in the dark, she wrinkled her nose. She wasn’t a good liar, so she didn’t answer directly. “It’s no biggie. I’m fine.”

“You’re flopping around over there like a fish on land. You’re in pain. If you need to take the meds, then take the meds.”

“I’m all right.”

“You’re obviously in pain. Take something.”

“I don’t . . . I don’t have anything.”

“What?” She heard Ely shifting to sit up.

“I don’t have any meds.”

“Carter said that Mormon chick gave you meds.”

“She did.”

“If she gave you antibiotics but not painkillers, you should have said so back at Base Camp. They have pharmaceuticals, right?”

“Yeah, but . . .”

“But what? Why didn’t you bring them with you?”

Suddenly, his tone of voice irritated her. Lily didn’t need him talking to her like she was some idiot who didn’t know jack and who needed a keeper to make sure she took her meds on time. She crossed her legs and sat up straighter, talking in a low hiss so as not to wake McKenna. “I’m not taking the meds because I gave them to Justin to give to one of the Greens before we left Base Camp.”

Ely cursed softly then asked, “All your meds or just your painkillers?”

In for a penny, in for a pound. “All of them.”

“Even your antibiotics?”

“Yeah.”

He cursed again, and this time, not softly. “Of all the boneheaded, dumbass stunts—”

“Hey, those Greens needed them more than I did. There was a girl with a broken arm.” There was so much disapproval in his voice, she automatically argued her case. “My injury was a clean shot. One bullet, in and out. I was stitched up by someone with actual medical training. And she gave me a shot of antibiotics before I left. I’ll be fine. That girl—”

“That girl had an ugly gash and an arm broken in at least two places.”

She sat back, surprised he knew which girl she’d meant. In the day and a half Ely had been at Base Camp, she’d gotten the impression he didn’t mingle much with Greens, but apparently he’d at least checked out the medical ward. “Yeah. If you saw her, then you know she really needed those meds.”

“No.” Ely’s voice was cold and hard. “That girl didn’t need meds. She needed a bullet.”

She flinched away from his words. “You can’t mean—”

“Anyone with injuries like that is a drain on resources we don’t have and is a liability the next time we get hit. Plus, she’s in pain. She probably won’t make it. And if she shows signs of the Tick virus, someone will have to take her out anyway. You should have kept the meds for yourself and gone for the pity kill.”

“The pity—” She choked on her own words. “You don’t really mean that.”

“The hell I don’t. What favors do you think you did for her?”

“I saved her life.”

“You prolonged her death. That’s all.”

“Every life is precious.”

“No,” he cut her off. “Every able-bodied fighter is precious. Anyone else is just in our way.”

“You don’t believe that,” she whispered, horrified. But the truth was, she didn’t know Ely. She didn’t know what he believed. All she knew about him was that Carter trusted him. She trusted Carter with her life. And she knew—she knew—that Carter would never suggest a pity kill. Not over something like a broken arm.

Ely didn’t say anything else and she didn’t, either. Instead, they just sat there in silence. She could still hear the noise of the Tick outside in the store. In her mind, she could picture him: his long arms would nearly drag along the ground. His sheer bulk would make him look stocky, no matter how tall or thin he used to be in real life. His jaw would be thick and powerful enough to snap bones. His brain would be small, maybe too small to operate a door handle.

She tried not to imagine him as he moved through the store, snuffling at the ground to follow their scent. Drool pouring from his mouth, which would already be watering. For her. The Tick could just as easily be a female. Male or female, it would be strong enough to kill her with a single blow. And then—

Another howl rent the air. The Tick was closer. So much for the freezer being soundproof. Another Tick joined the first. And then another. At least three then. More than enough to kill the three of them. If Ely was wrong about the door holding, they were dead.

Lily crawled closer to where Ely had laid down. “Hand me the flashlight,” she whispered.

“Afraid of the dark?” he quipped.

“No.” Geesh, couldn’t he try to be less of a jerk, for even a few minutes? “I’m guessing you’re a better shot than I am. If they get the door open—”

“They won’t.”

“If they do, I’ll hold the light. That way you’ll have both hands to fire and reload.”

She expected Ely to argue, but an ominous thud came from the other side of the door, like something had thrown itself against the metal.

The Maglite flicked on, illuminating the cramped space. McKenna had rolled over so her back was facing them. Her chest moved in long inhalations. Somehow, she was sleeping through this. Lily felt like she was ready to squirm right out of her skin, she was so nervous. Ely slapped the Maglite into her outstretched palm. He may have seemed calm, but when he raised the shotgun to brace it against his shoulder, she noticed he already had five new shells lined up on the ground beside him.

“You sure this works?” She breathed out the words, terrified to make more noise than that.

“It has in the past.” A few seconds later he added, “But usually, if there are Ticks in the area, I keep driving.”

There was another screech of claws on metal. “So, you somehow magically know if there are Ticks around.”

“Normally I have my dog with me.”

“Your dog?”

“Yeah, I used to have a dog. Chuy. He’d let me know if there’d been Ticks in the area.”

Terror clutched at her heart. “So basically, you have no idea if this will really work.”

“It’ll work,” he muttered.

It sounded more like a prayer than a statement, but there wasn’t much she could do about it now. Anger wouldn’t help here. It was too late for that. It was too late to do anything except trust that Ely knew what he was doing.

All she could do was sit there, aiming the light at the door and pray. The flashlight shook in her hand, making the bright yellow circle dance across the door. She braced it with her other hand, breathing out slowly to steady her nerves.

Another howl tore through the night, followed by an answering howl, farther away. The scratch of nails against the door made her heart race with panic. Sitting here, opposite the door, was stupid. They should have braced something against it. Even their backs would be better than nothing. She lowered the light, ready to do it even if Ely wouldn’t, but he stopped her with a hand on her arm before she could move. He gave a sharp shake of his head and made a shushing motion.

Her heart seemed to pause in her chest. This was it. Either the Tick would open that door and Ely would get the shot or . . . not.

But a moment later, the sounds from the hall outside the freezer faded. A series of howls echoed in the distance and then silence fell.

She didn’t know how long she sat there in silence, holding her breath and the Maglite, waiting for the Tick to make it through, waiting for death to come. She didn’t lower the Maglite until Ely pulled it from her hand and flipped it off.

Even then, she couldn’t move. Adrenaline pumped through her blood, making her shaky and weak, but she couldn’t move from her spot beside Ely, just opposite the door.

McKenna shifted in her sleep and made a snuffling noise. How the hell had she slept through that?. Ely stretched out beside her, not far from where he’d first sat down. His breathing evened out and Lily wondered if he was asleep.

“Ely?” she whispered.

“Yeah?” he asked, his voice sleepy.

“Did Carter tell you about my sister?” She had tried not to think about Mel and that damn gene, but this was her reality now. She couldn’t hide from it anymore.

“Mel? The autistic one?”

Back in the Before, it had annoyed her when people narrowed their description of Mel to that one adjective. Now, hearing her described as autistic seemed better than what she was now: a vampire. “Yes.”

“Yeah, sure.” Ely sounded more alert now. Almost cautious. “He mentioned her.”

“He told you what happened? With Sebastian?”

She heard the nearby rustling of Ely stretching and sitting up again. “Yeah. Sebastian turned her.”

“Right.” She swallowed, because it felt like her heart was going to pound its way up through her throat. And that pounding heart hid something other than fear. Shame, maybe. Dread, certainly. She spoke fast while she had the courage to. “The fact that he exposed her and she turned, it means she has the regenerative gene. She and I are twins. Identical. So I have it, too. That means if—”

“I thought you didn’t believe in the pity kill.”

“This is different,” she said.

“Got it.”

“If I get bit by a—”

“That’s not gonna happen,” he said, but there was no conviction in his voice. Only resignation. He knew as well as she did that he was making groundless reassurances.

“But—”

“If it does, you don’t have to worry.” She heard him sigh. When he spoke, his voice was serious and for the first time, she felt like she could actually trust him. “I’ll do the right thing. I’ll go for the pity kill.”