Page 8 of Afflicted

The feeder glares at him, then shakes his head and leaves quickly. The man looks back at me and shakes his head, grinning.

“I’m Matt.”

“I’m Juliet.” I extend my hand. He takes it and smiles, revealing a mouth full of white teeth that glow against his tanned skin.

God, he’s fucking gorgeous. His shoulders are broad and his hand is strong and warm. He looks to be about 30 or so.

And he’s going to be sleeping next to me. Jesus shitting christ.

“You been here long?” Matt asks, releasing my hand to slouch back on his bed.

I sigh, nodding. “Yeah, almost 5 years now.”

Matt raises his eyebrows. “Holy shit.”

“Where did you come from?”

“Breeding farm, over near Charleston.”

My jaw drops. “A breeding farm?” I've never met anyone from one of those places. The feeders’ barbaric program to keep a steady supply of humans. I’ve spent many nights thanking my lucky stars that I didn’t end up in one of those places.

Matt nods, rising to his feet to unzip his sports bag. “Yeah, it was fucking weird. I have like 25 kids and don’t know any of them.”

My skin crawls. “That’s awful, I’m so sorry.”

He shrugs as he starts unpacking his things. “I’m out of there now. If I never see another viagra in my lifetime I’ll be happy.” He grins at me. “And now I get to sleep next to you every night, so, everyone wins, right?”

I give a little awkward laugh. “I don’t snore from what I’m told, so lucky you.”

“If you tell me you sleep naked my life will be complete.” He laughs, then looks at me sheepishly. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be creepy. I’ll stop.”

I shake my head and smile. I’m enjoying the flirting, because Matt is so handsome and I’m also feeling lonely as fuck all of a sudden. “No, it’s fine. We have to do what we have to do to get along, right?”

“I guess so.” He dumps his things into the locker and sends it back under the bed with a kick. “Are you sick? Is that why you’re in here alone during the day?”

I pull my knees up to my chest and wrap my arms around them. “I collapsed after draining yesterday, so I got written off for the week.”

“Did they take too much?”

I shrug. “They dragged off the guy whose bed you have now, took him out back and shot him like he was an old horse or something. It got me a little worked up.”

Matt scoffs. “Jesus, that’s fucked up. I’m sorry.” He leans forward and rubs my arm. “That’s awful.”

“I guess it’s just part of life around here, huh?”

“Still fucked up.” Matt replies, rubbing the back of his neck and tipping his head back. “It’s so hot here.”

“Yeah get used to it, this dorm is like an oven during the night.”

Matt looks around the room and shakes his head. “Breeding farm is like a five star hotel compared to this.”

I give a cynical laugh. “Think I’d take this over being forced to do… that.”

“Yeah that's for damn sure,” he replies, and his expression darkens for a second. He gives himself a shake and rises to his feet. “I guess I should let you rest and see if they need me somewhere else.”

I reach out for him without thinking, suddenly not wanting to be alone so badly after all. “Hey, no, you can rest for a while, you just had a long drive here, right?”

The dorm door flies open and we both look to see the feeder who wouldn’t stop staring at me walk in. I feel a flush rise in my cheeks as a faint memory washes through my mind, of him carrying me to my bed yesterday, sweeping me up in his arms like I weighed nothing.

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