Love and Decay, Episode Eight by Rachel Higginson

Author:Rachel Higginson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, paranormal romance, zombies, apocalypse, young adult, end of the world, dystopian, new adult, rachel higginson

Chapter Three

Everything happened at once then. One lantern was turned on and then there was a flurry of movement that seemed constant and never ending. The only sound in the still mostly dark space was the clicking of guns and the rustling of clothes as everyone got dressed and armed.

I stood pressed against the wall as everyone rushed around me. For the first time that I could remember I felt anxious to be a part of this kind of mayhem- I felt…. blood thirsty. But in a way I never expected. I wanted to be part of the solution. I wanted to be able to protect these people, protect this life we’d communally created and cherished.

I also felt a bizarre attachment to this particular gift shop and I hated the idea that we would have to leave it. While I always knew that we would, and that we had to- maybe more than anybody else. This felt like home for the first time in years. And we’d only been here for a week.

I was sure that was mostly because of the people I was sharing this space with. I just had to hope that we could recreate this sense of home and belonging anywhere we went.

As unlikely as that was, it was something to hope for.

“Harrison, King, Miller and Tyler, you’re all staying back with Page,” Vaughan commanded when everyone started to circle around him.

“I thought we weren’t splitting up again,” Harrison challenged with a lot of attitude.

“We’re just going out front,” Vaughan explained patiently. “There’s not a place for Page or Tyler on the street. You’re not going to move, so we will know right where you are. We won’t leave the street directly in front of this store, so you will know exactly where we are. I need you to do this, Harrison. You alright with it?”

“And if I say no?” Harrison pressed.

I held my breath.

“You won’t,” Vaughan answered evenly. “You want your sister safe as much as I do.”

Harrison let out a loud breath of frustration but finally agreed in a much humbler tone, “I do.”

And then I breathed again. I realized I had been waiting for an explosion of anger or assertion of dominance from Vaughan- but neither had come. I was still waiting for pieces of my dad to show up in every single person of authority. I was still waiting for a monster to emerge in every single living being- Feeder or human.

But I should trust Vaughan. He was not the man my father was. He was so much better. He wasn’t a dictator, or a sadistic tyrant. He was just a man, trying to keep those he desperately cared about alive. There wasn’t something evil in what Vaughan did or how he led, just a quiet dignity that demanded respect, not because he asked for it, but because he was truly good.

He put his hand on the door handle and nodded his head toward the back craft room where we shared most of our meals.

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