Page 48 of Afflicted

A door scrapes on concrete, and slams shut heavily behind us. Then I’m flat on the floor, and there’s concrete against my ass. My shorts are gone. I can’t coordinate my limbs. They’re made of stone, they belong to someone else. I open my eyes, pain shooting through my temple.

Through the haze, I can see the feeder undoing his belt.

“Oh, you and I are going to have a great fucking time,” he says.

I can’t scream.

He lunges at me.

I black out.

CHAPTER16

SILAS

The night is cool,but not unpleasant. I amble along the path, in the direction of my cabin. The past few days have been a nightmare. Sam’s execution-style scare tactics caused a massive uproar with the higher-ups, but she didn’t get the discipline I expected. I think they’re secretly glad she did what she did. The humans rising up against us is the last thing they want, and they sure as hell don’t want any more of them to die.

I think back on my conversation with Braun, about living versus existing, gazing around the compound. I wonder how Margot would have handled all of this, had she survived. She was a free spirit, wandering the world whenever she got bored. She’d be in one place for a few months and then decide somewhere else was more enticing.

I was the only constant in her life at the end. I was the only one she wanted around all the time. I never thought I’d feel the way I did about her ever again.

And yet I do. Do I fucking ever.

Juliet’s face as she laughed in the clinic, the raise of her eyebrows as she - yes, she was. She wasflirting with me.I try to keep reminding myself that she doesn’t want me, that she’s with someone else, that she’s in love. But some tiny voice at the back of my head won’t let me believe that.

Holding her face in my hands, checking her over after the riot, I was so flooded with relief that I couldn’t think. Seeing her eyes fixed on me, not afraid but grateful I was there. GratefulI’dprotected her. The brush of her fingertips against my jaw, telling me I made her feel safe.

Mine. Mine. Mine. The word keeps humming through my blood, hit after hit of need for something more.

Last night I nearly went to see Sam, hoping that fucking would get my mind off it all. It’s a plan Margot would certainly approve of. Sex was always her answer to a downward mood, to those days when the grief for my humanity became too much.

“On your knees,mon cher,” she’d say, and by the time I’d eaten her through several orgasms, I was so filled with desire I’d forgotten all my sadness. But I’m a fool. I know there’s no way fucking Sam will abate my need for Juliet.

Not one iota.

Movement catches my attention up ahead, and I see a human standing by one of the storage buildings. He’s pacing back and forth in a slow gait, arms crossed over his chest. He looks almost bored. He lifts his head to gaze at the sky, and jumps a little as he notices me. As I get closer, I realize it’s Juliet’s useless boyfriend. I look over towards the dorm, and see the lights on, streaming from the windows.

“Hey,” I call out, and he takes two stumbling steps backwards before giving his shoulders a shake. “What are you doing out here?”

He shrugs, the exaggerated nonchalance making me grind my teeth together.

“Nothing, man. Just hanging out.”

“You should be in the dorm,” I say, drawing closer.

“You should chill out, I’m not hurting anyone.” He gives me a smarmy smile that makes me want to put a fist through his face. “Just enjoying the nice weather.”

“Get yourself back to the dorm, right now.”

He sneers at me. “What are you gonna do, huh? You want another fight?”

“Get fucking over yourself,” I snap, and then I smell it. I smellher. Is it just her scent on him? I step closer to him. “Where’s Juliet?”

“What’s it to you?”

I seize him by the collar and slam him against the wall. “Where the fuck is she?”

He slaps at my hands. “Get your fucking hands off me!”

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