Chapter 154: That could’ve gone better

For a minute there, I had been hoping the group coming through the trees had nothing to do with the kid we’d tied up.

Just travelers.

Scavengers.

People trying to slip by the same way everyone else did now.

But the second I saw the way the boy straightened when they stepped into view, I knew better.

No.

These were his people.

I tightened my grip on the rifle until my palm hurt. My posture stayed upright, shoulders square, but my body was tense enough that I could feel it in my jaw.

A man stood at the front of them.

Short cropped hair. Goatee. Mid-forties maybe. Hard to tell anymore. A handgun sat low in his hand like it belonged there. He didn’t wave it around. Didn’t need to.

The people behind him watched everything and said nothing.

That told me enough.

He was in charge.

His eyes moved over our camp in one sweep. The fire. The packs. The bedrolls. The routes in and out. Naomi’s rifle. Lila’s knife. The trees behind us.

Then they landed on the kid.

The boy looked away immediately.

I looked back at the man.

“One of ours,” he said, nodding toward him.

“I know.”

He didn’t answer right away. He just kept studying us.

It was the kind of stare I knew too well. He wasn’t looking at faces. He was looking for cracks.

Weak spots.

How tired we were.

Who would break first.

His eyes settled on me last. My limp. The wrap on my hand. The dried blood on my sleeve.

He smiled.

There wasn’t a trace of warmth in it.

“He do that to you?”

“No.”

The smile faded slightly.

“I’ll give him back,” I said. “No trouble.”

Lila’s head snapped toward me.

I ignored it.

“That’s the plan,” I added, looking only at the man. “You take your boy, and you and your people move on. No games.”

He stared at me for another beat, then gave one short nod.

I motioned to Naomi.

She moved behind the kid and crouched, already working the bindings with her knife.

For a few seconds, there had been silence.

I stared blankly at the others. They stared right back.

Despite my injuries, I was good at being unreadable.

I wasn’t going to let them think they had more leverage on us than they already did.

The seconds stretched.

For a fleeting moment, I thought this would’ve been cleaner than I expected.

But then—

“Hey. Hold up.”

One of the men behind Bill stepped forward.

My pulse kicked hard once.

He pointed straight at me.

“That little punk’s face is familiar. You don’t see it, Bill?”

I felt my hands tighten around the rifle.

Lila shifted beside me. Barely. But I felt the change in her body like static in the air.

Naomi kept sawing through the rope.

“Come on,” she muttered under her breath. “Cheap ass knot…”

The man kept talking.

“He’s the one who shot Harold and ran. That’s him. Right there.”

The man with the goatee looked back at me.

And I watched recognition hit.

His eyes narrowed first.

Then widened.

Then hardened.

The second it happened, everything broke.

The kid exploded upward and drove his forehead straight into Naomi’s face.

The crack of it made my stomach turn.

She stumbled back, blood pouring from her nose before she even hit the ground.

I raised the rifle—

And got tackled hard from the side.

I hit the dirt flat on my back. Air left my lungs in one grunt.

A heavy man landed on top of me, grabbing for the barrel.

“Motherfucker—”

I drove my fist into his cheek.

He answered with one into my mouth so hard I tasted blood instantly.

We rolled.

Hands clawing at the gun.

Knees digging into ribs.

Someone screamed.

Someone fired.

The shot went wild into the trees.

Lila moved before anyone else.

She didn’t charge the nearest threat.

She went straight for the kid.

Fast. Silent. Focused.

The boy had just turned from Naomi when Lila buried a knife into the meat of his shoulder.

He shrieked and dropped to one knee.

She yanked it free and grabbed a fistful of his hair.

“You keep touching people that belong to me,” she hissed into his ear, “and I’ll open you up slow.”

It wasn’t rage.

That was the part that chilled me.

She sounded calm.

The kid thrashed, trying to elbow backward. She slammed his face into the dirt instead.

Once.

Twice.

A hand grabbed her from behind.

One of Bill’s men.

She let go of the kid and bit the man’s wrist so hard he screamed and let go instantly.

Then she stabbed him in the thigh.

Deep.

He dropped clutching the wound.

Naomi was back up by then, face red with blood, eyes watering, fury all over her.

She spat a clot onto the ground, grabbed her rifle, and leveled it at Bill.

“Everybody freeze!”

Nobody did.

Bill fired first.

Naomi jerked sideways just before the shot took her head off. It tore through her shoulder instead and spun her around.

She hit the ground cursing, still trying to keep hold of the rifle.

I finally got the man off me by jamming both thumbs into his eyes.

He screamed and rolled away.

I got to my knees, snatched the dropped handgun near my boot, and fired twice center mass before I even fully stood.

He stopped moving.

Bill saw it and ducked behind a tree.

“Kill them!” someone shouted.

Bad call.

I fired toward the voice and heard a body hit brush.

Then I saw the kid again.

Whatever his name was.

Bleeding from the shoulder, dirt and blood all over his face, still trying to crawl toward me with a knife in hand.

Even now.

Even after all this.

I kicked the knife away and grabbed his shirt.

“What is wrong with you?”

He spat blood in my face.

“You.”

Something in me almost snapped then.

Almost.

Instead I slammed him against the tree and held the gun under his chin.

“Call them off.”

“Go to hell.”

Lila appeared beside me, breathing hard, eyes burning bright red.

“Let me do it,” she said softly. “Just five minutes.”

“No.”

“Two minutes.”

“No.”

She looked offended.

Naomi staggered back into view, one hand pressed to her shoulder. She looked pale but mean enough to kill three people.

“We need to move,” she barked. “Now.”

Bill’s voice rang from the trees.

“You’re dead! All of you!”

Then a whistle answered from farther back.

More people.

Great.

I shoved Harry forward.

“Tell them to stand down.”

He laughed through broken lips.

“You’re surrounded.”

I believed him.

Lila slid her knife under his jawline, just enough to draw a thin line of blood.

“Then they get to hear you die first.”

He went still.

That got everyone’s attention.

Even mine.

Naomi looked at me like she couldn’t believe I was letting this happen.

Truth was, I didn’t know if I was.

The woods had gone quiet except for distant movement.

Shapes between trees.

More of them coming.

Bill called again.

“Let the boy go and maybe I make it quick!”

Lila smiled wider.

“Tempting offer.”

I looked at the dark tree line, at Naomi bleeding, at the kid shaking under Lila’s blade.

Then I realized something worse than being outnumbered.

We had become the danger in the woods.

And somewhere in front of us, dozens of red eyes were starting to glow between the trees.

—

“Shhh.”

Adira’s voice was low and rough as she rocked the crying baby against her chest. She moved him in short, careful motions, one hand supporting the back of his head, the other patting lightly at his side.

The child had been screaming a minute ago.

Now it had dropped to sharp little sobs and hiccups.

Still loud enough to make her jaw tense.

“Stupid little thing…” she muttered under her breath, bouncing him again. “You trying to get us all killed?”

The baby answered with another cry.

She sighed through her nose and adjusted him higher on her shoulder.

The room around them was dim, lit only by one lantern on a table near the wall. Old blankets covered broken windows. The rest of the survivors were asleep or pretending to be. Bodies on floors. Quiet breathing. The occasional cough.

Every sound mattered now.

Every sound could carry.

“Never thought I’d see the day.”

Carl’s voice came from behind her.

Adira stiffened immediately.

Heat rushed to her face before she could stop it. She lowered her eyes, already bracing for whatever smug comment he had ready.

He walked around the couch and sat beside her, leaving enough space to not crowd her.

“When did you adopt this one?” he asked.

She looked at him sharply.

“I did not adopt anyone.”

Carl raised his hands in surrender.

“The kid’s mother is useless,” Adira said quickly. “She fed him, then handed him off the second he cried. I’m only doing this because if he keeps screaming, the infected will hear us.”

Carl nodded like he was taking in serious wisdom.

“Of course. Tactical babysitting.”

She glared at him.

“It is not babysitting.”

He bit back a grin and looked at the baby.

“Looks like he disagrees.”

The child had gone quieter now. He stared up at Adira with wet cheeks and wide eyes, one tiny fist tangled in the fabric of her shirt.

Adira noticed and carefully pulled his hand free.

“See?” she said. “Manipulative already.”

Carl laughed under his breath.

She tried to ignore him and kept rocking the baby, though now her movements had become gentler without her realizing it.

Outside, wind scraped branches against the side of the house.

Adira’s eyes flicked toward the sound.

“Shit like this keeps up and they’ll find us in no time,” she said. “One cry, one broken board, one idiot opening a door when they shouldn’t.”

Carl watched her for a second.

“You worry too much.”

“I don’t worry enough.”

He frowned slightly.

She kept going.

“Nothing ever goes our way, Carl. You know that.” Her voice lowered. “Every place falls apart. Every plan breaks. Every time people start feeling safe, something takes it from them.”

She looked around the room.

A man sleeping with a bandaged leg.

An old woman curled under a coat.

A mother with empty arms because Adira had taken her baby when she couldn’t calm him.

“Now we’ve got helpless people mixed in,” she said. “Children. Sick people. People who can barely run.”

Carl leaned back into the couch, staring at the ceiling.

“Maybe you’re right,” he said.

Adira looked at him.

“Maybe infected tear through this place before sunrise.”

She frowned.

“Maybe they break the windows, drag us all out screaming.”

“Carl.”

“Maybe I get bit first,” he continued. “Then you have to put me down.”

“Carl.”

“Maybe—”

“Would you shut up?”

He looked at her then and smiled.

The baby gave a soft coo, like he agreed.

Carl nodded toward the child.

“See? Even he’s tired of your attitude.”

Adira rolled her eyes, but the edge had left her.

Carl sat forward, elbows on knees.

“You know what someone told me once?”

“No.”

“Have faith.”

She snorted.

“That sounds stupid.”

“It did when I heard it too.”

He looked around the room, then back at her.

“But I get it now.”

Adira didn’t answer.

Carl pointed lightly toward her hands.

“You keep thinking peace is temporary, and it’s gonna be.”

She blinked.

“What?”

“You expect everything good to die the second it starts. So you never let yourself have it.”

Her mouth opened, then closed.

Carl’s tone softened.

“Look at what’s in your hands, Adira.”

She looked down.

The baby had fully calmed. His tears were gone. He was smiling now, little gums showing, grabbing clumsily at her shirt again.

When he caught a fold of fabric, he laughed.

A small, bubbling laugh.

Adira stared at him like she didn’t know what to do with that sound.

Carl did.

“That’s the future,” he said quietly. “That right there.”

The baby kicked his legs happily.

“That’s life still trying,” Carl continued. “After everything. After all the blood, all the loss, all the shit we’ve seen.”

He leaned closer, voice low so he wouldn’t wake the others.

“It’s our job to protect that. To keep it going.”

Adira swallowed.

“No matter what it takes?”

“No matter what it takes.”

“No matter if it kills us?”

Carl smiled faintly.

“Especially then.”

She looked at him for a long moment.

Then back at the baby.

His hand opened and closed toward her face. After a second, she gave him a finger.

He grabbed it immediately.

Her whole body seemed to still.

Carl saw it and looked away politely, pretending not to notice.

Adira’s voice came out quieter than usual.

“…I hate that you make sense sometimes.”

Carl grinned.

“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Don’t push it.”

The baby laughed again.

Adira instinctively smiled back before she could stop herself.

Carl caught it.

“There she is.”

Her face hardened instantly.

“Say one more word and I’ll smother you in your sleep.”

He held up both hands.

“Faith it is.”

She shook her head, but the threat had no weight behind it now.

The room stayed quiet.

The wind kept scraping outside.

The lantern flickered.

And in Adira’s arms, the baby drifted to sleep, still holding her finger like he trusted the world again.

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