A shudder ran down Killian's spine as he felt the chiseled, muscular chest of his friend pressed up against him, and Jasper's hand around his mouth. The other man's breath was soft, warm, tickling the nape of his neck. Goosebumps raised the hairs on his arms, making him feel even colder. With his heart beating hard in his chest and the blood roaring in his ears, Killian closed his eyes tight. He could feel his breathing growing heavier, faster by the second. It was almost like he couldn't breathe, like something was choking him from the inside out. A bullet shell clinked against the old wooden floorboards, and the iron scent of blood filled his nostrils.
Fear. That was a familiar emotion Killian had felt for his whole entire life. Almost every waking moment as a child was fear, fear around other people and fear of what they'd do to him. His new security around Jasper was new, something he never knew he needed until that very moment. Out of the corner of his eye, Killian could see Jasper reaching for his gun. He grabbed his friend's wrist and shook his head. If Jasper were to start shooting, that could end very badly for the both of them. The indecisiveness in Jasper's blue eyes wasn't exactly comforting, but he eventually relented to Killian's relief.
After the body had been dropped, the stranger whistled for their dog to follow them as they pushed out of the barn doors. Killian could hear heavy footsteps leaving them from outside. He remained as still as a rock, trying desperately to calm his erratic heartbeat. After what felt like forever, Jasper carefully uncovered Killian's mouth and stepped out from behind their hiding place, still holding his gun. The absence of his friend's presence left Killian with an empty feeling of disappointment, but he pushed that confusing thought away for later.
Walking over to the body, Killian's stomach dropped. A familiar mop of blonde hair was splayed across the ground. Jasper's brows knit together, a frown tugging downwards at his lips. "Wasn't this girl in Renier's gang?" Jasper said quietly.
With a lump in his throat and his mouth dry Killian croaked, "Nora. She..." His voice shook, and he hated it. These people had hurt Killian, had hurt Jasper and the rest of his group. Why did he still care about what happened to them? Jasper set a gentle hand on Killian's shoulder, his blue eyes soft and understanding. How Jasper could just accept that Killian had emotional ties to another group and hadn't followed the others in believing he was a traitor was a mystery to him.
A snarl curled at Killian's lips, his hands clenching into fists. That inner resentment for every other person he felt was beginning to resurface. How could somebody do such a thing? Just kill another person like this? "We have to tell Tom immediately." Jasper said firmly, breaking Killian out of his seething anger. Gritting his teeth together, Killian shot a glare towards Jasper. Did his friend really think that the group would believe them if they went back to the farmhouse with no proof? He then eyed the body. If they brought it with them, then there had to be at least some sort of believability to their encounter with the stranger. The only question Killian had was; why would this stranger leave the body in the barn?
Knitting his brows together, Killian glanced up at Jasper when his friend answered the very question he'd been wondering. "Either they don't know we're here, or it's a warning." Jasper's voice had dulled down to a deeper, more serious and somber tone. It wasn't one Killian had heard often, but when he did, it made his belly twist uneasily. When Jasper wasn't exactly positive, there was a good chance that nobody should be. The other man was easily the most infuriatingly optimistic person Killian had ever met in his entire life.
"Come on," Killian said, swallowing back the shakiness in his voice. "They won't believe a word I say, but they'll believe you." Jasper was going to say something, but Killian turned away before he could. Much as he cared about his friend, he knew that whatever reassurances Jasper was planning to give him probably weren't going to be true. The group--majority of them anyways--hated him. That wasn't going to change any time soon. Not even anybody as popular as Jasper could change that.
❖ ❖ ❖
Pushing through the front door of the farmhouse, Killian couldn't help but notice the rumbling of his stomach whenever he smelled somebody cooking up an early dinner for the group. He wasn't sure what they were having for dinner or even who was cooking, but he did know there was a likely chance he wouldn't be eating a lot of it. That thought alone was enough to make him sick. Renier's crew had been bad, but never this bad, and yet Tom's group believed they were so much better than them. Maybe they were less violent, but their internal petty squabbles were enough to break somebody faster than Renier's gang ever could.
Thumping up the stairs to the second floor, Killian looked back to see Jasper following close behind. He had to move hastily to the side as Harley and Chris ran downstairs, laughing about some idiotic prank they had pulled on Keagan, who was right on their heels, yelling a stream of curses after them as she passed by. As he reached the top of the stairs, Killian stole a glance over his shoulder once again, just to make sure Jasper was following close behind before he made his way down the main hallway and to the last door. He knocked on it, then took a step back to move behind his friend. Jasper crossed his arms patiently.
Answering the door, Tom's brows immediately narrowed with concern when he saw the expression on Killian and Jasper's faces. He opened the door to silently let them in. Darren was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Cohen. Where the other two men had gone was beyond Killian. Maybe they had gone to help out elsewhere. Over the time he'd spent here, Killian had become increasingly aware of all the chores and tasks that had to be done each day to keep the group running smoothly.
Nobody in the room sat down again, so Killian didn't either. Tom had propped up one of his boots against the wall and was tying it, eyeing the two impatiently. "It's about time you got back here with the patrol report. I was just about to go out looking on the other border with Wilson and Casimir."
Exchanging an anxious glance with Jasper, Killian was relieved when his friend spoke up for him. "The biters are getting pretty restless up near the woods, right across the field from the farmhouse. I think they're coming down from the slopes. There might be a hoard somewhere up there, so I think we should send some people to have a look." Jasper then ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to relieve some stress. Killian realized his friend did that a lot. "But...there's something else. Something...big."
Raising a brow, Tom stood up and faced Jasper, nodding for the other man to continue. "Killian overheard Wilson, Keagan and...Chris, was it? Talking about some possible wolf tracks by the barn, so we went to check it out. Well, it wasn't a wolf. It was a dog, and a big one too." Jasper let out a stressed huff, "We were nearly caught by the barn by a strange man with a shotgun, I think. He dropped the body of--I can't remember her name, but she was one of Renier's crew--in the barn and left."
"Her name was Nora," Killian mumbled under his breath. When Tom turned his attention to him, Killian refused to meet the larger man's gaze, "And from what he said, it sounds like she isn't the last he plans to kill."
The group leader's brows narrowed, a serious frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Well," He rumbled, stroking a hand through his beard, "That certainly changes some things. First of all, is the body still there?" The dismissive tone in Tom's voice made Killian's blood boil. How dare he? This man didn't even process the thought that somebody had been killed. A life had been taken away, presumably for no reason, unprovoked. But because this woman had been following the orders of a rival group leader, she was to be tossed away and disregarded as ever being thought of anything other than just another corpse?
With a snarl curling at his lips Killian bristled and snapped, "She isn't just a body, Tom! She was one of my friends. Somebody I knew. Somebody I spent time with. Don't just treat her like another one of those undead bastards you kill without a second thought." Not another thought went through Killian's mind as he shoved past Jasper and towards the door again. He ignored his friend when Jasper tried calling him back.
People aren't just bodies. Killian raged to himself, storming down the hallway and slamming the door to his room shut as hard as he could to try and relieve some of his pent-up frustrations, but it didn't help at all. Killian hated the heat behind his eyes, the way his emotions boiled beneath his skin. It felt like a fire raging inside of him, threatening to burn him from the inside out. A white-hot buildup of pressure just below his chest, one that made his nails dig into his palms and his jaw clench. Was that all people were?
Better yet, if Killian ever turned up dead, was that the only thing people would ever think of him?