He cupped my cheek, then gripped my chin when I didn’t look at him. I raised my eyes to his. He was fuzzy in front of me, and I didn’t know…
Wait.
“What?” I licked my lips, glancing from his hand to his face and back again.
“I’m immune. The virus doesn’t affect me.”
The roaring in my ears began to die down, but I was still having trouble breathing. “You’re…you’re immune?”
Cain nodded. “Yeah. My dad found me right after a storm when I was really little, and I’d already been bitten and soaked in the rain, but I didn’t turn. He waited days, took me home and cared for me, thinking I’d turn at any moment. But I never did. I’m not a carrier, either. Just immune.”
His thumb stroked my chin as I stared at him, and when his words fully processed, it was like an enormous weight hadbeen lifted off my chest. I swayed forward, dizzy with relief. My forehead fell against his chest, and when he cradled the back of my head, holding me to him, it took a long time to realize the wetness against my face wasn’t just tears, it was also blood.
I pulled away, and Cain grimaced as he looked at me. “Yeah, we’re gonna need a nice long soak in the river when we get back.”
He didn’t look any better; congealed blood had splattered under his jaw and up his left cheek.
The panic that had seized me the moment I saw the Corrupted biting him wouldn’t fade. I struggled to focus, to try and sense if there were any other Corrupted around, but my mind and body were completely shot, drenched in an all-consuming fear as thick as tar.
Cain sifted his fingers through my hair over and over again. “It’s okay,” he said, staring into my eyes. Willing me to believe it. “You’re okay.” He rubbed his thumb beneath my left eye, a tiny smile lifting his lips. “I wanted to protect you but you beat me to it. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
I nodded, turning with him as he repositioned his pack under his bow.
A noise from the back of the building made me still.
There weren’t any more Corrupted. I knew that intrinsically. Had I missed one? No, it wouldn’t have kept hiding after all that commotion.
So what was that…?
I swiveled around, unease slithering across my shoulders, searching the darkness for whatever had made that sound. Listening for another one, wondering if I’d imagined it.
“Bowen?”
I whipped my head around to find Cain standing in the doorway. His front was bathed in shadows, the sun shining on his back, limning him in a brilliant gold.
He looked like he didn’t belong in this world. Like he’d come from somewhere better.
Maybe he had.
“You coming?”
I looked back into the darkness, then shook my head. It was probably another squirrel or something.
Cain smiled at me and held out his hand, and when I slipped my fingers into his, the rest of the world faded away.
Chapter 9
Bowen
Cain wanted to fix the wire before going to the river.
The moment we got back, he wiped most of the blood off of us with a washcloth.
After he replaced the wire, he made me a bowl of stew and a plate of sliced apples and sat me on the couch to eat while he did something at the table.
I set my plate and bowl beside me when I was done and watched him. He was hunched over a long, thin piece of wood, carefully slicing the tip with a sharp knife.
When his eyes suddenly flashed to mine, I sucked in a breath. My heart pounded in my chest as he started to smile.
