Part 4 (1/2)

And the closer he listened, he thought he could hear the cries of the undead echoing, getting gradually closer.

Was this his punishment?

Was this what he deserved for what he'd done?

He was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard a different kind of cry.

Right beside him.

”Oh, darling,” he said, walking over to the cot right by the window.

He lifted Kesha out of her cot, patted her back. She was crying.

”Ssh, now,” he said. ”Ssh. I'm here. I've got you. You don't have to worry about a thing.”

He held on to Kesha-precious Kesha, who meant the world to him-and her crying eased.

He'd do anything to hold on to her.

He'd do anything to protect her.

And Riley wasn't going to stop that.

Because she was his now.

Chapter Five.

When Kane heard the door sliding open and saw the light peeking through, he couldn't help smiling.

Today was going to be a beautiful day.

He saw the figure walking towards him and gosh did she look beautiful. Melissa, she was called. She was young, probably early twenties. And despite all the trials and tribulations of this awful world, she still maintained that beauty about her, that grace.

He would very much love to stick his knife into her body and see what she looked like inside out.

Alas, Kane had bigger, bolder ideas.

Melissa walked up to him and crouched opposite him. She didn't look into his eyes. She didn't interact with him. She never did. ”Open up.”

Kane chuckled, his back sore from all this time tied up in here, all this time propped up against this G.o.dforsaken wall in this G.o.dforsaken cell. ”Now, now. Don't you think we should at least go on a date first?”

Melissa didn't look impressed.

Kane sighed. ”Don't you trust me to feed myself by now?”

”I won't ask you again,” Melissa said, swirling the bowl of awful porridge around with a rusty metal spoon. ”Open up, or I'll force it down you.”

”A girl with fight. I like that.”

She slapped Kane across the face then stuffed the porridge into his mouth, almost touching his tonsils with the spoon.

He coughed, choking up a little of that porridge, but did his best to keep it down him. After all, they treated him even worse when he didn't eat his food. They said it was wasteful, and that they'd leave him to starve.

And Kane didn't want to starve. In the early days of being captive here, he'd thought about starving. Dying seemed like a good option.

And when the agony of his right hand, which was nothing more than a stump now after Riley had sliced half of it away after it'd been bitten... when the agony of his hand got too much after the hours of cauterisation, of disinfecting, of st.i.tching, he'd wanted to die then, too.

At least he was still here. At least he hadn't turned at the mercy of the infection after all.

Not yet.

In a sense, Riley had saved his life.

p.r.i.c.k.

That said, the more time that pa.s.sed, the more certain Kane was that there were better options than dying.

Much better options.

”Melissa, a question, if you'll allow me that much.”

She didn't show any reaction. That was a start.

”Before all this. Before you started firing arrows and fending off the deceased. What did you do?”

Melissa glanced into Kane's eyes and in that instant-in that beautiful instant-Kane knew he had her.

”I'm not supposed to talk with you,” she said.

”But we're not talking. I'm just eating my porridge. You're just feeding me. n.o.body has to know.”

Melissa sighed then lowered the bowl to her right, holding the spoon a fair distance from Kane's mouth now.

”I've seen the look on your face,” Kane said.

Melissa narrowed her eyes. Rule number one: do not engage. She'd engaged. He had her. ”What look?”

”The look like you don't belong.”

”I do belong. I-”

”Don't fool yourself, Melissa. You're an intelligent young woman. There's no reason to play games here. I've seen the way you sigh when you're out of their company. The way you change. And hey. You visit me on a daily basis, feed me. You must enjoy a little time away from all that bow and arrow fantasy nonsense out there. Right?”

Melissa looked over her shoulder and she let out a breath. ”It's good. What we've got. But it's-”