Love and Decay, Volume Eight (Episodes 9-12, Season Three) (3 page)

“You think he’ll fall for it?” I didn’t share
the same confidence. My voice wavered with fear.

“If anyone can get him to, it’s you, Reagan.
I’ve never seen anyone get so insane with rage. Force him to open
that cell door and we’ll make our move.”

I licked my dry lips and tried to think of a
better plan, a plan that wouldn’t line us up in front of a firing
squad.

But weren’t we already there?

“Okay,” I agreed. “I’ll piss him off.”

He smiled a soft smile at me. “Shouldn’t be
too hard.”

The lantern light flickered over his handsome
face, spotlighting the sharp bones of his cheeks. His beard covered
the bottom half of his face attractively. His eyes glittered at me,
hiding secrets that belonged only with us, meant only for us.

I breathed in slowly and savored this moment
with him. I tried to memorize every piece of him, committing it to
an eternal place inside of me. I wanted to keep this picture of him
forever. I wanted to always remember how much he loved me, how much
he would sacrifice to be with me and stay with me.

This love we shared tied us together with an
unbreakable bond. I had never felt so connected to something
before, so bound to anything else. And I was utterly amazed that it
would not go away, that I could possibly feel like this for the
rest of my life.

What I had with Hendrix would only grow
stronger, only become more intense. I couldn’t even understand how
that was possible. I already felt as much for him as I could feel,
as much as I was capable of.

My hands started to tremble and my tongue
felt clumsy. Hot tears pricked at my eyes, but not because I was
still afraid. Not even because I was insecure. No, it was the force
of my love for this man that wanted to swallow me whole. This love
remained too powerful for me to contain, and too consuming for me
to hold in the delicate cage of my body. “I love you,” I swore to
him.

He brushed wayward hair off my forehead
before dropping his to meet mine. He rested there for a few silent
moments, as if absorbing my words, as if he felt them as strongly
as I did. “I love you too.” His low murmur did nothing to hide the
emotion in his voice.

My heart and soul swelled with his matching
feeling. I felt some metaphysical part of me bend and expand so
that I could hold this happiness, this… confidence… this
greatness.

The door pushed open and our moment was
shattered by cold reality.

Matthias started barking out orders and
shouting furiously as his men jumped to attention. The wind howled
through the open door, making the lanterns quiver and the papers
rustle. Dust and rocks crackled through the room as they invaded
our storm sanctuary. The scent of burning flesh and Zombie rot
drifted toward me.

What was going on out there?

The last man inside struggled to yank the
door closed, flailing wildly as the wind threatened to overpower
him. His eyes were wild when he turned around, but Matthias didn’t
acknowledge the weather or what smelled like a fire.

Finally the door slammed shut and a hush fell
over us. Matthias’s attention turned to me and I knew, even without
looking at him, this was my perfect opportunity to rile him up. I
could feel the tension that rolled off him and permeated the room.
He was worked up and prime for pissing off.

Before I could pull away, Hendrix’s mouth
moved to my ear and he whispered words that made my heart ache with
something lovely. “By me?”

“Always,” I vowed.

With that promise between us, Hendrix let me
go and I spun to face the man I was going to kill today.

“I know she’s not dead,” Matthias shouted.
“Where is she?”

Page.

I could have told him that she wasn’t alive
anymore. I could have kept up the lie that I knew he almost
believed.

But then again, I really needed him to open
this cell. I took a step forward and pushed back my shoulders.
“Somewhere you will
never
find her.”

The air sparked around him as his fury shot
through the roof. “I’ll find her,” he snarled. “And when I do, I’m
going to
kill her
. When I find her, I’m going to gut her
from throat to stomach and let the Feeders feast on her useless
body. I’m going to throw her body to the animals and let you watch
her disappear piece by fleshy piece. Mark my words.”

Hot fear surged through my system and I felt
like crying. Not Page.
That would never happen to Page.
I
gathered my courage and held his steady gaze. “Just as long as she
doesn’t kill you first.”

He spit out a bitter laugh. “Right.” More
insane laughter cackled through the room. “That child isn’t strong
enough to lift a weapon to kill me.”

Adrenaline spiked through my blood as I
sucked in a quick breath and pushed words out I had kept locked up.
I knew Matthias wanted Page, but I didn’t think even he knew for
sure how Linley died. I saw the suspicion flicker through him; I
watched it drive the desire to find her. But he couldn’t be sure.
Not until I gave him confirmation.

“Does your wife feel the same way? Is she as
confident that Page is as harmless as you think she is?”

Matthias’s face flooded purple and for a
second I thought he might choke on his tongue. “
What did you
say
?”

“I was just wondering if Linley felt the same
way about Page? Does
Linley
have an opinion on what Page may
or may not be able to kill?”

“Get the keys!” Matthias shouted. “Hand me
the goddamn keys!”

Someone complied and in seconds Matthias had
the cell door ripped open. He stared at me, his eyes black holes of
evil. I suppressed my victorious smile, even as every man in the
room trained their guns on us.

“Bring him to me,” Matthias ordered.

I took a step forward before his words truly
registered. Him.
Bring him to me.

I lifted my gaze to meet Matthias’s enraged
glare. “I blame you for her death too,” he told me in a rumbling
growl. “You’re just as responsible.” He paused to breathe and I
could see that it took great effort for him to calm his choking
anger long enough to inhale and exhale something worthwhile. “So
you will suffer like I did.
Like I do
. I will put you
through what I have been through and then I will let you live long
enough to feel this pain every day forward.” He stared at me,
letting his words sink in and making sure that I understood his
intention. “Bring me Hendrix,” he ordered again. “So that I can put
a bullet through his brain.”

Chapter Two

“
No
.” The word made no sound as it
slipped from my lips. It was a cry from my heart, a ragged plea
from my soul.

I stood there in shock as men shoved through
the narrow door to grab Hendrix from behind me. He kicked at them
and threw a punch, fighting off their hold.

I couldn’t move or think. My brain refused to
accept that this was happening.

That I had made it happen.

Someone knocked into me and I tripped off
balance. The harsh movement snapped my senses back in place. My
heart pounded painfully against my chest and my body became a
weapon that had been molded through three years of near death
experiences.

I grabbed Hendrix’s hand as it flew by me.
Our gazes met for a brief second and I could have sworn the
bastard, the bastard that I loved, winked at me.

I launched myself at one of the assholes
trying to take Hendrix away. My fingernails clawed at whatever skin
I could reach, drawing blood and coming away packed with skin. The
man shouted out his pain and backhanded me across the face. The
impact landed on my jaw, punching pain through my face.

I landed on my feet and jumped back into the
fray. I attacked the guy a second time, yanking his hair from his
scalp and clawing at his eyes.

Tyler, Vaughan and Javi joined the fight.
Fists flew with purpose, smacking against skin and bone.

Matthias shouted for nobody to shoot. The men
that had grabbed Hendrix hadn’t been holding their guns; they
needed both hands to restrain him.

More men tried to push into the cell, but we
dominated this cell and gained ground with every passing
minute.

Hendrix managed to twist around and drop his
elbow directly on the top of the head of the guy to his left. The
guard collapsed unconscious to the ground. His body landed in the
doorframe, blocking the path to the swinging door. They couldn’t
get it closed with the guy in the way and that seemed to be their
plan now that we had revolted.

With one guard down, more shoved through to
subdue us. Heavy hands clamped around my arms and picked me up off
the ground as if I weighed nothing. I was too blind with fury to
make out the man’s face, but I knew that he was huge. He acted like
it was no bother at all to carry me in front of him.

I shouted foul curses at him. I heard his
low, amused chuckle and my vision blurred red.

Somewhere in my chaotic mind, I registered
that he might be strong, but he still had to use both hands to
carry me. That left the rest of him unprotected. My foot sprung
forward with every ounce of capable strength and I connected with
his crotch.

He dropped me at the same time he sucked in a
breath as loud as a vacuum. His eyes nearly popped out of his head
when he bent forward to cup his broken man parts. Somehow in the
last minute, Hendrix had broken free from his other guard and when
the man that held me dropped, he turned to seamlessly pick up the
wheezing guard and smash his face into his knee. The sickening
crack of bone resounded through the jail, cheering on our
efforts.

He looked back at me for a second, nodding
once, before turning back around to fend off the next wave of
attackers.

I dropped to the ground and nicked the loaded
handgun from the back of the bleeding man’s pants. My hands deftly
went to the safety and I flicked it off before sweeping up and
pointing it straight at Matthias.

Tyler swooped down to grab the gun from the
clump of man lodged in the doorway. She tossed it to Vaughan, who
caught it, pointed it at the attacker trying to pummel him to death
and pulled the trigger.

The body dropped to the floor in a newly
silent room. I kept my weapon trained on Matthias and waited.

He glared at me through the flickering, dim
light, knowing I would shoot him with my next breath.

My chest heaved with the effort to breath. I
felt bruises bloom over my entire body. It hurt to stand. It hurt
to breathe. It hurt to just be alive. I wanted to curl into a ball
and whimper, but I had to ignore all of that and deal with the pain
later. Much, much later.

“I have more guns than you,” Matthias
declared. He ducked to the right and my gun followed him. “You’ll
be dead in seconds.”

“I just have to get one shot off first,” I
told him.

“You don’t have the stomach,” he sneered.

I hated his arrogance. I hated how sure he
sounded, how delusional he was. I hated him more than I hated
anything in my entire life and I truly hoped I never hated anything
as much as him again.

I shuddered at the idea that there was
something out there worth more hatred than this.

I ran my finger over the trigger and focused
more intently on Matthias and his giant head that would look
fantastic with a big hole right in the center of his forehead. The
only thing that kept me from pulling the trigger,
I mean the
only thing
, was that he was right about one thing. They did
have more guns than us and I wouldn’t risk all of those guns going
off and killing my friends. “Let’s find out,” I suggested.

He remained silent, knowing there was not a
bluff to call. I couldn’t wait to kill him. I practically buzzed
with the nearness of his death.

“I suppose you’d like a truce now.”
Matthias’s cold tone betrayed the fear I could sense on his skin.
For as tough as he pretended to be, for as dangerous and inhumane
that he was, he had one fatal flaw that would always be his
downfall.

He valued his life more than anything.
Matthias did not want to die. He would do anything to avoid
dying.

Even if that meant he had to let me live.

Sure, he had an army of men and an unlimited
supply of weapons. Sure, he had managed to unite a sinking country
and turn an entire people group into his minions. Sure, he had
hunted me down from miles and miles and miles away and imprisoned
the toughest guys I knew.

Not to mention me.

But I had something he didn’t.

He lived for himself.

And I lived for everyone else.

I didn’t have to hold onto my life as long as
I could use it to protect those I cared about.

As long as I could save those that I
loved.

“Reagan,
by me
. That’s our deal,”
Hendrix said under his breath, just loud enough for me to hear.
“That means nothing crazy. Yeah?”

I loved that man, but there was no way I
could play this safe. “I don’t want a truce, Matthias.”

“Then what do you want?” He took a step back
and I took a step forward. With just three feet separating us, I
watched the rapid rise and fall of his chest. I saw the single bead
of sweat drip down his temple. I watched the fear ripple in his
soulless eyes.

I took another step forward; he stepped back
and bumped into a desk. “You’re head,” I told him.

He jerked backwards at the same time I pulled
the trigger. I missed his head by half an inch. I tried to adjust
my position and shoot again but I was knocked out of the way from
behind.

Strong arms went around my waist; a body
twisted beneath me to break my fall as bullets assaulted the air
where I had just been standing.

The desk Matthias bumped into slammed into
another desk. They screeched across the floor, battling the
gunshots for airtime. Both of the lanterns perched on either of the
desks tipped over in the commotion. The thin glass casing shattered
on impact and the kerosene from them splattered on useless papers
and folders. The flames spread over the desks, covering the area
with deep orange fire and thick smoke in just seconds.