Love and Decay, Episode Three: Season Three (Love and Decay, A Novella Series Book 3) by Rachel Higginson

Author:Rachel Higginson [Higginson, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: new
Publisher: Reckless Siren Publishing
Published: 2015-01-07T11:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

With cannibals behind us and slavers in front of us, we did the only thing we could that would ensure our survival. We rested.

Vaughan gave us the order of the watch and instructed us to wake the next person when we absolutely couldn’t stay awake anymore.

After hours of wandering through the dark and a nighttime of escaping cannibals, we all turned out to be a little bit sleepy. Not even the fear of what we had left to face could conjure up enough adrenaline to keep my eyes open.

Our watch shifts were done in pairs and quickly. We went through three cycles until our bodies finally felt rested enough to handle a couple hours at a time.

We stayed in the shade as much as we could and ignored the other dangers to our health and survival. Sleep came first, even my body could agree to that.

When I awoke the third time, my wrists throbbed where the leather bonds cut them. I looked down, only to flinch in disgust. They were badly cut and bloodied. The flesh at the base of my hands had swelled and bloated beneath the crimson streaks. I pulled off the leather strap, still attached to my left wrist, and chucked it into the copper mine.

Infection, I thought. I was definitely going to get an infection. The back of my head still throbbed and my ribs ached. My muscles felt stretched and brittle, like dried out rubber bands. I needed a bath.

And I was so hungry I had stopped feeling hungry. Instead, a permanent nausea took up residence in my stomach and refused to let me think about anything else.

I had the most ridiculous thought of wanting to go home.

But where was home? And even if I got all the way back there, I knew there would be nothing left for me. There was no such thing as comfort anymore. I wouldn’t be able to lock myself in my bedroom and dive under my covers.

This was my life. This, for better or worse, was home.

After every one had gotten up and proved that they could still move around, Vaughan decided we should leave.

“We can’t go backward,” he declared.

Was that a metaphor for my life?

We climbed out of the copper mine. It took some time since there was no straight way up. We exited beneath the shadow of the watchtower. A paved parking lot stretched out beneath us and a highway snaked through the Mexican wilderness.

“Can you help us stay away from towns?” Vaughan asked Adela.

Her face scrunched as she prepared to deliver bad news, “I think that would be worse.”

“I don’t trust you,” Vaughan told her casually. We all knew that he didn’t, but apparently that was a surprise to her. Her pretty face blanched and she waited for his edict, for what that meant for her life. “Give me a reason to trust you. Keep us safe.”

Some understanding returned color to her complexion, but determination finished the job. “Okay,” she agreed quickly. “I will show you the safest way.

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