274 (Complex Series, #4)

Chapter Fifteen

I doubt I can trust them, not after I’ve seen what two complete strangers did to Tooth. It’s safer to simply trust no one. Besides, it seems that everyone I meet in the Unknown seem to vanish almost immediately. There’s no point in trying to form a relationship with someone only to have it ripped away.

The girl speaks again, “My name is Lucy, and this is Leah.”

She points at the girl next to her. As far as I can tell, there’s no way of telling them apart. There’s no reason for me to learn the differences anyway, I won’t allow myself to form a relationship with anyone.

I’ll simply distance myself, minimize the pain.

I lean my back against the wall, trying to appear stronger than I feel. Maybe they are simply worried about my health. Once they realize that I’m ‘better’ they might leave me alone with my pain.

Lucy, or maybe it’s Leah, asks, “Are you sure you are okay?”

I nod, my voice coming out scratchy, “I’m fine, yeah. I was just tired that’s all. I thought I would sleep a little…”

Even as the words come out, I know how unbelievable it sounds. I wouldn’t believe it. There’s no doubt that blood and bruises are splattered across my skin. I’m sure the glow of the floor makes everything look worse than it actually is.

Maybe it actually hides the damage.

It doesn’t matter anyway. This is the Unknown. Blood, bruises, pain, that’s all normal here. That’s what’s expected here. This can’t be the first time they’ve seen someone in pain.

The girl I’ve decided to call Lucy says, “I don’t believe it for a second, but I won’t push you. Do you have any food?”

I consider pretending I do have supplies so they will go away faster, but then I remember the ache in my stomach. I whisper, “No…I don’t have any food.”

Leah hands me a couple crackers. I accept them with wide eyes. My eyes scan them, three and a half crackers. Here, that’s practically a feast. How could they give that much to me?

I scarf the crackers down without a shred of politeness. Each bite sends pain blasting through my teeth, but the hunger beats the pain. I swallow, the crumbs scratching down my throat all the way. I mumble my thanks to the girls.

Leah also hands me a halfway full vial of water. I sip it slowly, relishing each second. I’m not sure how much they can spare, so I hand it back to Leah after I’ve drank about an eight of the vial.

Leah fiercely shakes her head, “Oh no, you drink it all. You need to more than us for healing.”

I half-heartedly try to resist. Just because I want them to leave doesn’t mean that I’m going to use up all their supplies. This could be the line of survival for them. I can’t steal that from them.

 “You need that water. Stop refusing, just take it.”

I drink the rest of the water. It washes away a tiny bit of my pounding headache. Some of the ache has left, but I doubt I could walk right now, let alone run from a Thing.

Leah asks, “So, what happened to you?”

Lucy nudges her and murmurs, “We weren’t going to bother her about that, remember?”

 “Just curious. Was it a Thing?”

I answer, “No, it was someone by the ‘Toilets.’ They attacked my friend and me.”

 “Where’s your friend?”

It hits me when I realize that I referred to Tooth as my friend. I’m not sure whether we were friends or not. He helped me escape from the Things and the people attacking us. I never helped him, not really. I had a chance when we were being attacked, but I failed. He’s dead because I wasn’t good enough.

I’d like to consider we were friends, but we’d only known each other for a few days. I didn’t even know his real name. Maybe we were just using each other for protection.

I respond, my voice wavering slightly, “They killed him.”

Leah says, “I’m very sorry. Don’t worry about it, it’ll be over soon.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

Leah bites her lip, sharing a glance with Lucy.

I ask again, “What do you mean that ‘it’ll be over soon’?”

Lucy mutters something that I can’t make out. Leah seems to be embarrassed, but doesn’t say anything.

I repeat, as forcefully as my strained voice can, “What do you mean?”

Leah sighs, “Well…normally when someone is in as bad of state as yours…they usually disappear pretty quickly.”