Twenty-Two

“No,” Drav said.

“Drav?  What’s going on?”

“Phusty wasn’t there to see the infected female.  He doesn’t believe you have no penis and wants to see your breasts and pussy.”

I choked, hearing that last word.  Drav was never getting that iPod back.

“Yes,” the one who I assumed was Phusty said.  “Show no penis.”

“No, she doesn’t want to,” Drav said, answering for me.  “We are not here to look at women.  We are here to search and learn.”

Phusty scowled. With a low, angry voice, he spoke to Drav in their language.

“I lost their trail on one of the many roads that crosses this land.  I was searching when I found Mya, and I continued searching while learning about this place,” Drav answered in English.

I wasn’t sure what was going on, but some of my worries about Drav learning our language started to resurface.  What had he been searching for?

Phusty snorted, said several more incomprehensible words, then gestured in Drav’s direction.

Drav began to speak in his language, and a pang of hurt stabbed at me along with my doubt. He knew English and knew I wouldn’t understand that language, just as I knew they could easily understand mine.  Drav was purposely hiding something from me.

Before I could ask what they were talking about, Drav said Ghua’s name then mine. Ghua stepped forward in a flash and wrapped his arms around me.  Pissed didn’t begin to cover how I felt about this betrayal.

“We are not doing this again.  Dammit, Drav!”

Since my arms were pinned to my sides because of Ghua’s hold, I kicked out with both legs at the man who’d slowly won my trust.  Drav, however, missed my awesome display of vengeful fury.  The shithead was too busy snarling at Phusty.

“Let me go!”

Ghua’s steely grip didn’t waver as I kicked and thrashed. It wasn’t like before when he’d groped me.  This time, his hands stayed clear of my breasts.  It didn’t matter.

“I swear to God I will bite off your precious man-stick if you don’t let me go now, Ghua.”

Ghua made a disturbed noise.

“Stay, Mya.  Ghua good.  Drav friend.”

His attempt to communicate penetrated my anger, and I stopped struggling long enough to blow some loose hair out of my face.  With a cooler head and a clearer view, I saw why Ghua still held me.  Two of the shadow men faced off in the center of their loose circle.  Phusty crouched before Drav, his lips peeled back over his canines in a fierce snarl. Drav didn’t react but remained tense and ready. What were they doing?

Dread filled me as Phusty lunged toward Drav.  Like when Ghua had faced Drav, their movements were almost too fast to track. But, I saw enough to know this was no friendship match like back at the house.

Phusty slammed his fist into Drav’s side.  The thud made me wince, but it didn’t slow Drav.  He snaked an arm around Phusty’s neck before he could pull back and held him in a chokehold. No one moved to interfere.  The only sounds came from the two struggling.

A red hue crept into Phusty’s face as Drav exerted a scary amount of force around his neck.  The man didn’t give up, though.  He landed several rapid, brutal blows to Drav’s ribs. Drav grunted and stumbled backwards, releasing his hold.  Free, Phusty sprang back and crouched low, ready to attack again even while he coughed and sucked in several breaths.

I tapped Ghua’s forearm, and he loosened his hold but didn’t let go.  I didn’t mind so much anymore.  Gaze fixed on the pair, I watched like the rest of the group.

Phusty stopped coughing, grinned, and said something that caused a low, warning growl to rumble through Drav’s chest.  Before the sound stopped, Phusty rushed forward again. Drav twisted out of the way at the last second, and Phusty stumbled without a target.  As the man flew past, Drav brought his fist down with a meaty thunk onto Phusty’s back.  The demon spun around quickly and clocked Drav in the face.

The sound of his teeth clacking together had me wincing again, and I almost missed him catch Phusty’s arm.  Drav gave the appendage a sharp twist, wrenching it behind the other man’s back.  Phusty’s angry gaze met mine, and his lips upturned into a mean smile. In a flash, he flung his head backward, connecting with Drav’s face.

I hissed in an empathizing breath and saw Drav’s nose start to bleed and his eyes water.  The watering could be from the hit to the face or the rising sun.

Phusty tried and failed to pull out of Drav’s hold.

“How long are they going to do this?” I asked, Ghua.

“Drav not share Mya.  I don’t know…talk.”

“You don’t know the words to tell me?”

“Yes.”

I frowned.

Drav drove his knee into the back of the other man’s.  Phusty buckled, landing hard on his knees before Drav.  He yelled something in his language as Drav heaved back on his arm.

One minute I watched Phusty’s face contort in pain, the next I was staring at a spatter of blood and gore as Drav pulled Phusty’s head clear off.

Bile rose in my throat.  I gagged, and Ghua released me.  None of the others seemed even mildly upset by what they’d just witnessed.  They watched dispassionately as the body fell forward onto the ground.  Drav dropped the head near the body, his gaze on me.

My throat felt tight as I tried to wheeze in a breath.

I didn’t like Phusty. Hell, from the moment he arrived, he’d freaked me out. Why, then, couldn’t I breathe?  Why did I feel sick?  Why was I shaking?  Shock.  I’d just watched a fight to the death.  It could have been Drav.

Drav moved toward me, covered in Phusty’s blood.  I reached for him, grabbing his bicep with shaking fingers.  His hand cupped the back of my head, and he leaned down and pulled me forward to press his forehead against mine.  Blood slicked my skin at the contact.  It didn’t matter.  His comforting green gaze held mine, and slowly the panic began to ebb. He was here.  He was alive.  I was alive.  We were okay.  I took one breath then another. My grip on his forearms tightened as I exhaled shakily.

“Mya.”

His lips formed my name quietly as if reassuring himself that I was still here. Safe.

“It will be okay. He will not try to claim you again.”

“No kidding.  You killed him.”

“Yes.  But, when he awakens he will not try again,” he said calmly. He gave my forehead one last press then took a step back, breaking the spell around us.

The others stood near Phusty’s body. Ghua nudged it with his foot.

“What are you doing?”

Ghua stopped and looked at me.

“He’s dead. Leave him be.”

The men around Phusty stopped what they were doing and looked back at me. Drav stepped into their line of view.

“What did you say?”

“He’s dead.”

Drav’s gaze flicked to Phusty then back to me.

“Dead?”

Drav hadn’t questioned words before.  I didn’t understand why he seemed confused by the word now.

“Drav?”

He didn’t say anything. Instead he left me to go to the others, who had been listening to our conversation. They started to speak in their language again. Based on the rise in their voices and their gesturing, they were arguing about something.

Oranges and pinks painted the sky with the rising sun.  I shook my head at them and picked up the bag that Drav had dropped at my feet, a reminder of why we were even at the base.

“Do you really have time for this?” I asked, rather loudly.

They didn’t seem to hear me.  I shouldered the bag and started walking toward the airstrip.  I wasn’t going to miss another chance to find out if my family was still alive.

“Mya.”

I stopped and turned back to see Drav coming toward me. Worry pinched his features.  Behind him, the others were picking up Phusty’s body and head.

“What’s going on?”

“Ghua and the others have decided to take Phusty back,” he said, joining me.

I guess it made sense that they would want to bury him or something.

“Okay. You should go with them, Drav.”

He reached for my hand and threaded his fingers through mine.

“I’m not leaving you, Mya.”

He tugged on my hand lightly and started leading me toward the airstrip.  His words and company warmed me, but I knew he couldn’t stay.  I waited until we were beside the fence with all the pictures.

“I would never have made it this far without you.  Thank you,” I said.  I rose to my toes and pressed a kiss to his clean cheek then wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He hesitated a moment before hugging me in return.  My chest felt tight, and I struggled not to cry.  This world was scary because of the shadow men, but it would be scarier without Drav, too.

He held me close until I leaned back.

“Now hurry up, I don’t want you having to return home all alone.” And that was the truth. I didn’t want him to feel lonely again.

“I will wait until the plane arrives.”

“Drav, you can’t. I won’t risk your life because you’re stubborn.”

“I promised to get you to your family.”

He had promised to bring me home.  And that had changed along the way.  I knew he wanted me safe before he left me.  But that meant staying until the plane arrived, something that would put him in too much danger.  I couldn’t allow that.

“You have gotten me to them.”

“No.  We found your picture, not them.  I need to know they are not infected, too, before I leave you.”

The note had given me hope they’d made it to safety, uninfected.  But I had no way to prove it.  That thought set off a tiny explosion in my mind.  The phones.  With the phones ringing, maybe that meant my cell would work now, too.

“Here.  Let me check my phone,” I said, quickly digging in my bag. “If I can get a message to them and they answer, will you leave then?”

Drav didn’t comment but watched me power on the phone.  My heart beat hard in my chest, and my hands shook as I sent a quick message to Ryan’s number.

At Tinker base waiting for pickup.

Hope tormented me with a new kind of agony as I stared at the display, waiting.

The sun broke over the horizon, and I looked up at Drav, who squinted painfully.  He needed to find shelter now.

I opened my mouth to say so, but the blare of sirens cut me off. Clapping my hands over my ears, I looked up the pole at the nearby speaker that emanated the deafening sound. My eyes widen as I glanced around the empty army base.  Why were the sirens going off with no one here?

Drav shoved the bag into my arms, picked me up, and sprinted away from the base and the noise. When he stopped, the alarms still blared in my ears, but the sound was bearable.

“What is that noise?” he asked.

“Sirens.  I don’t understand why they’re going off though.  There’s no one here but—”

Oh my god.

The phone calls…the evacuation.  They wouldn’t.  Would they?

I lifted the phone that I still clutched and saw Ryan’s name. My gaze dropped to the single word he had texted.

Run.

My head snapped up, and I met Drav’s unwavering gaze.  Above us, something moved in the sky.  Several planes.  He must have seen the panic and fear in me.

“We need to get out.  Now!”

He lifted me in his arms and took off running, heading south.  His speed robbed me of air.  I looked over his shoulder and watched the base and the city fall behind us.

In the distance, I saw the first bomb fall.

A single word remained burned in my mind.

Run.

The deafening boom and shockwave from the bomb slammed into us, knocking Drav forward.  My ears rang, disorienting me further as he stumbled.  Heart hammering, I forced myself to look over his shoulder and saw an old tree slowly topple behind us.  Beyond it, a giant, misshaped smoke plume rose like a mushroom in the sky.  A second bomb erupted not far from that cloud.  High over the city, a plane zipped in, and I watched another silent explosion mushroom upward.

My family was still alive and safe somewhere to the north.  But a warzone now lay between us, adding to the obstacles I would need to face in order to reach them.

How was I ever going to find them?