Page 23 of When the Living Fall

His jaw tightens, the fire in his eyes shifting, but I can’t tell if it’s anger or something else. It doesn’t matter, not when he looks at me like he’d be better off if I was nothing more than mud on his shoe. My voice trembles when I press on.

“I don’t belong in that colony, Max. No one’s waiting for me other than the one and only person who still cares. Everyone else is hoping I die out here before I can return. You belong in that colony more than I do. Not a singleperson trusts me there, either. You’re not much different from them, so stop pretending you are.”

The look he gives me then is unreadable, a blend of emotions I can’t quite place. Anger, maybe. Pain, definitely. There’s something else simmering beneath it all, a spark I can’t name but I recognize. Betrayal, hot and fierce, with a yearning for revenge.

My voice cracks when I speak again. “I know the feeling, Max. I trusted Nathan, gave him a chance to be more than what he turned out to be, and he betrayed me and everyone I swore to protect. Now no one trusts me—not the colony, and certainly not any of you. All I get is punishment for helping a stranger, and I’ve learned my lesson. I don’t owe anything to anyone, not even you.”

His nostrils flare.

Taking a shaky breath, I swallow the bitterness that’s crept up. “I care about you, Max—all of you. That’s why it hurts this much. If you want nothing to do with me, then stop coming after me. Because once again, I’m not the one leaving. I never was. You are.”

Not wanting to wait for a response, I turn, ready to walk away. His hands clamp down around my wrists, keeping me in place. I look up at him with surprise, though his face is blurring through tears that threaten to stain my cheeks. There’s something desperate in the way he holds on. “Emily, my brother is a liar and a manipulator who will do anything to use people and get what he wants. I hate he did that to you, too. But this whole thing—it’s messed with my head.” His words are low, his gaze intense. “I came after you because I can’t let myself be the reason someone I care about feels like that ever again. It doesn’t mean I’m going to be right in the head, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to be wrong, either. I don’t have it all figured out. Maybe someday. Maybe never.”

He steps back, my hands slipping from his face. I reach out, but before I can touch him, he grabs me, whisking me up so that my legs wrap around his waist, one arm securing me tight against his hard body. I only have a second to process it before he pulls out his gun and fires twice behind me. The shots echo, and I twist in his grasp to see two rotters lying dead on the ground.

“You wasted two bullets.” I look back at him.

“No, I didn’t.”

“How’s that?”

“Because letting go of you to take them out wasn’t an option. This way, I didn’t have to.” He gives a half-smile that sends a shiver down my spine, his face close to mine. His warm breath fans across my lips. “You can’t leave if I don’t let you go.”

Dropping my gaze, I run the soft pad of my finger along his cut lip, my voice lowering. “Does it hurt?”

His lips turn up in a smile beneath my touch. “Not nearly as much as it did watching you drive away.”

I swallow hard. “I didn’t want to.”

His lips lower back to a neutral state. “Why does a busted lip matter to you?”

My gaze lifts to meet the intensity of his. “Even if you don’t want me around, that doesn’t mean I want to see you hurt.”

“Well, good news for you. I’m invincible. Not even a cliff dive can take me out.”

“You’re not invincible, Max. What were you thinking when you jumped off a cliff?”

His green eyes pale and his face turns somber. “I was thinking about you, and the rotters you didn’t see coming up behind you. Even if the cliff edge didn’t give way, I would have tumbled down, regardless. Despite whether or not you even want me here.”

“You were the voice.”

He smiles again. “You heard me after all.”

Buddy bounds over, sniffing our legs first and then the dead rotters sprawled nearby. Max’s eyes flicker with a hint of pain, but he loosens his hold, and I slide down. My feet barely touch the earth before William appears, breathless.

“I found us a working car. We’re leaving.”

16

MAX

Trees, rotters, and the scattered remains of civilization whip past the window as William pushes the car to near breakneck speed toward Emily’s colony.

I used to think finding a colony would feel like salvation. It’s been Griffin’s dream for as long as I can remember, and I believed in it because of him. That all felt within reach at the time, but right now, all I can focus on is the rank smell of decay in this cramped car—and the maddening presence of the woman beside me.

Griffin groans in the front passenger seat, his hand hovering over his bandaged side. I’d like to imagine he’s groaning in silent agreement with my thoughts, but no—it’s the pain from his wound, one his stubborn ass refuses to let heal. Now his side’s coated in sticky tree sap, and Emily said something about it being infected. Not the kind that will turn him into a rotter, thank fuck, but who really knows out here? Anything is possible since the dead rose and the living fell. This world’s a fucking mess.

William jerks the wheel, swerving to avoid a deer bolting from the trees with a rotter close behind. He clips the rotter, the sickening crunch reverberating through the car while thebody disappears underneath. In the rearview mirror, I catch sight of a vulture diving to pick at the fresh kill. A wild, stupid thought crosses my mind—a wish that I was that vulture. Not because I’m keen on gnawing at infected, rotting flesh, but because it would mean freedom from this claustrophobic hell of a car.

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