The Frenzy Series (Book 2): Frantic (18 page)

Saul shook his head. “It wasn’t close. Maybe they were moving away.”

“Maybe,” I said, nodding my head quickly.

“We need to keep going.”

“Where’s the night-walker?”

From the ridge above us came our answer. “Here.” Dara, the blonde with an attitude, had been put in charge of the pair of us. Victor and Tim were on the other side of the forest with Julian, and Roman was on his own somewhere.

Dara turned her back to us, looking beyond for signs of the Infected. “What’s her problem?” I whispered to Saul.

“She hates Porschia.”

“Yep,” Dara agreed. “And since you are her brother, it’s hate by association.”

“Awesome,” I deadpanned.

Another scream, this time much closer. Dara jumped from the ridge and positioned herself in front of us. “Run! Back toward the others. I’ll be right behind you.”

Saul and I locked eyes right before the Infected screamed again. I turned to look at Dara and found my sister staring at me. “Mercedes?”

Her hair hung in thin strings, every part of her body hollow. She was a shell of what she was only weeks ago. I lowered my crossbow, the arrow pointing at the ground. “What happened to you?” My voice wobbled.

Mercedes opened her mouth, but only scratchy noises came from her throat. A tear carved a narrow track down her sallow skin. She reached a hand toward me.

Saul’s grasp on my shoulder pulled me back. “Don’t. She’s dangerous.”

“She’s my sister.” I shrugged Saul’s hand off of me. Mercedes gave a faulty smile, clutching her side.

“Your sisters are losers. Both of them,” Dara said, looking back toward me. When we looked back toward Mercedes, she was already limping away. Dara sprang forward.

“NO! She’s leaving. She didn’t hurt anyone!”

I scuttled to the edge of the hill and saw Dara closing in on Mercedes, fast as lightning. Raising my crossbow, I fired before I could consider the consequences. The arrow missed them both but did its job. It got Dara’s attention. She slid to a stop. “What was
that
?”

“An arrow, dumbass! Leave my sister alone. She wouldn’t hurt me!”

Wheeling around on me, Dara was in my face in a second. “She wouldn’t hurt you, huh? What about how she bit Porschia, or how she tricked your mom into feeding her? Do you think that all she wanted was lamb? She was luring her over so she could feed from her, Ford. It’s what they do. And if I hadn’t been here, she would have hurt you. She would have bitten you, infected you, and ultimately killed you. You stupid little boy,” she spat.

“She showed no hostility!”

“She
embodies
hostility!” Dara screamed. “Holy shit, you people are thick. We’ve probably scared all of the game away.”

Dara paced while Saul and I watched the forest for more Infected. Mercedes didn’t try to harm us, but Dara was right. She did manipulate Mother into helping her, and she did bite Porschia.

I twisted the silver ring on my finger, filled with Julian’s blood.

A whoosh of air blew past us, followed by a hiss. Porschia, her hair swirling in the wake she made, positioned herself between us and Dara. “Why is my brother in the woods?” I didn’t recognize her voice. It was low and lethal, like she was now.

She and Dara slowly danced in a circle.

Saul cupped his hands to his mouth. “Roman!”

“You shut your mouth!” Dara warned him with a flick of her eyes, and then bared her fangs at Porschia. “You think you can tell everyone in this Colony what to do. ‘Roman do this.’ ‘Tage do this.’ ‘Saul do that.’ ‘Ford can’t go on the hunt.’ But you know what? You are
nothing
. You were nothing as a human; an unwanted piece of trash so easily discarded by those who should have loved you. You were unlovable then, but you are unwanted now. If Roman wants Ford on the hunt or in the rotation, that’s
his
choice. You don’t get a say.”

Porschia’s eyes darkened. Her fangs may have been tiny, but they were sharp as needles and almost glowed in the bright moonlight. “You think you have any influence on Roman just because you spread your legs for him? He could have any woman he wanted in this settlement. He doesn’t need you. You are expendable, Dara. Have you ever considered that? And I may get no say in anything, but I will protect my brother—in and outside of the Colony.”

“You’re too late! Your rotting sister just strolled up here to have a sisterly chat.”

“You lie.” Porschia looked back to me for confirmation, then to Saul, and that was all the lapse Dara needed. Dara tackled Porschia to the ground, the entire earth shaking from the impact. Cackling, Dara held Porschia to the ground with one hand on her neck.

“Only one of us has fed tonight. I think it’s time to end this,” Dara bent down low with her fangs out.

I stepped forward, crossbow poised, and only then realized there was no arrow. The string was loose and it would take me ten minutes to get another one ready to fire, but I could damn sure knock the bitch off my sister with it.

Or I could have, if Saul didn’t beat me to it. Wham!

Dara never saw him.
I
didn’t even see him. His bow landed hard across Dara’s cheek and she released her hand from around Porschia’s throat and fell over, rolling to a crouching position. She growled at Saul.

“Dara,” Roman said, appearing at the top of the hill above us. “Stand down.”

“Fuck you, Roman,” she spat.

His eyes focused on her until she let out a whimper and fell to the forest floor, her blonde hair splayed over the damp leaves. “I said,” Roman enunciated as he stepped down the hill, “Stand down.”

Tears of blood fell from her eyes, staining the hair beyond her temples. “Let me up. I won’t hurt her.”

“You won’t hurt anyone unless I say so. Now go home.”

Dara nodded and sniffled, sitting up and then slowly standing, her entire body shaking. The look she gave Porschia and Saul was murderous, but in the end, she left us there in the darkness.

Roman clapped his hands once. “Now that we’ve frightened away every living thing within twenty miles, we’ll need to go in further. Tage, find Porschia something to eat. If she’s guarding the hunt, she needs strength.”

I turned to find Tage standing behind me. Holy shit, these people were stealthy. “Got it,” he answered, sprinting into the forest.

Roman stayed with us until Tage returned with a gutted, skinned squirrel. “Din-din, love.” He held the animal out for Porschia, who wasted no time stripping its flesh from the bone and devouring every ounce.

I could see her transformation with each bite. Her skin brightened and her hair became glossy, shining almost black in the moonlight. Her movements were no longer sloppy, but purposeful and sharp.

When nothing remained of her meal but a scattering of tiny bones at her feet, she smiled. “Thank you, Tage.”

He gave a deep, courtly bow. If Saul had been a vampire, he would have growled. I could feel him tense at the familiarity of the exchange. “We should get going,” Saul interrupted. “We have a Colony to feed.”

Porschia nodded, turning her head from side to side. “This way,” she said, pointing to the North. “Deer.”

“Can she really do that?” I asked Saul as we ran after her.

“She just did,” was all he could answer. And she was right. It took us a lot of running up hill, sliding and flopping downhill and trudging back up, sneaking around trees and rocks, but with screaming muscles and pounding hearts, we found them near a stream. They sipped on the water as Saul easily pulled back the string to my bow, engaging the arrow. His was ready. “On three,” he whispered. “One…two…three.”

We fired, both striking a deer. The animals tumbled to the ground as the younger deer sprang away into the cover of darkness. His buck had at least twenty points on the rack, and my doe was healthy and strong. Tage gave a slow clap as Porschia gave me a quick hug. “I’ll get it for you, Ford.”

The pair of night-walkers easily lifted the deer as if they were kittens and carried them up to us. “We should get them across the river,” Tage said. “I’ll take the deer; you lead the humans back.”

Porschia smiled. “Sounds great.”

“How’s your throat?” Ford asked as we strolled up the hill, back to the Colony. The hard work was done. I didn’t hear anything else nearby, and two deer was a phenomenal result. The Elders would be pleased, as would the colonists.

“My throat?”

“Yeah, where Dara had you…”

I waved him off. “She didn’t hurt me.” She did at the time, but food was healing to a night-walker. It was regenerative.

Saul grumbled something about Dara, making me happy. I hated that they seemed close somehow.

Ford grinned. “At least Tage is gone and we can talk to you for a while.”

“Tage?”

“Yeah, he’s always around you now.” Ford shrugged, repositioning the crossbow on his shoulder.

“I can carry that.”

“Nah. I’ve got it.”

A shrill scream from far away caught our attention. “It’s close to the city,” I commented. “Sometimes things echo out here.”

“Your hearing is amazing, Porschia! And you’re so fast and strong.” Ford chattered on, like me being a vampire was the best thing in the world. “I bet you could take her now that you’ve eaten.”

Ugh. My brother and Saul almost saw me get beaten down by vampire Barbie. And that was exactly what Dara looked like: beautiful danger in a pretty package. Mercedes and Dara actually looked a little alike. They were both blonde, curvy, and had attitude. Mercedes had never turned that weapon on me until recently, though. When we were children, Mercedes found a box with a Barbie doll in it. I teased her and said that someone thought she was so beautiful, they must have made a plastic miniature of her and shoved her into their closet for safe-keeping. Mother found the doll and took it away.

“She wouldn’t have killed me,” I told the guys, puffing up my shoulders. “I was just a little slow. I hadn’t fed yet.”

Saul’s eyes watched me. “Why squirrel? Why meat?”

“I don’t know. I... Roman doesn’t even understand it. But I can hold it down, whereas any time I take blood it comes back up. I get so sick on the thing that I crave. It makes absolutely no sense.”

“You crave blood?” he asked.

My mouth began to water. “I do.”

“All the time?”

“Not
all
the time,” I replied, curling my fingers into balls. “Can we talk about something else?”

“Your eyes.” His voice was a whisper.

“Yeah. They’re weird too. Everything about me is wrong.”

Saul shook his head. “Just different. Not wrong, Porsch.”

I wanted to kiss him, throw my arms around his neck and rake my fingers through his hair. I wanted to run my palms up the ridges of his stomach and make him moan. Make him mine.

But Ford was here. “How did you get involved in the rotation?”

“Simple. I volunteered.”

“Why?”

“Mary sprained her ankle. It may be broken, so the Elders asked for more volunteers. And, because I wanted to.”

“Ford, that’s crazy. You see what happened to Mercedes and me.”

He nodded. “I want to help the Colony, and I’m of no help to anyone sitting at home listening to Mother.”