With Vargr silent and processing his grief, she had ample time to think over what had happened. They headed down the same train tunnel the attack had come from, checking any side tunnels and doors for threats. Inevitable. Toother didn’t fit down the smaller corridors, and this was the most direct route.
With her having to wear wet leggings, it was lucky her body had upped her resistance to cold. She smoothed her hand over the cloth and was shocked at how dry it seemed. A faint mist rose, highlighting her legs.Uhhh.Okay she wasn’t ready to explore the whys of that one.
Hold on.
A thought had bobbed up and dangled itself before her. Her gait slowed.
If she could see the threads of the Lure, and untangle them from Maura, faded as they were with the oncoming night, why could she not do the same during daylight hours when the Lure affected her own body?
Last time she succumbed she’d been in the middle of a fight to survive. In the middle of a blood rage, from what they’d told her. Had she bitten that guy’s throat?
Cyn ran her tongue over her teeth and grimaced. She had a need to brush ASAP.
A swig of water from Tom’s canteen was the best she could manage for the time being. They kept walking, cautious at every curve and divide of the track, checking the ceilings too.
“About two hours, and we should be there,” Rutger said. “This train tunnel goes most all the way to the opposite edge, though it overlooks a wildlife reserve and where it descended from there to ground level, it got taken out early in the invasion.”
No one was talking much. There was a somber feel to the last of this journey, though two of them dying would do that.
She went back to practicing seeing the threads of the Lure and thinking.
So much thinking.
What had Rutger done to her? Her body’s reaction to him was so pronounced, her nipples were like little beacons of lust to his proximity, that she was staying on the other side of Toother. If he had screwed her… or should that be sexually assaulted? Nah, fucked would do. Fucked would definitely do.
Wasn’t bondmating supposed to be one on one?
Two on one would be really fun, her subconscious whispered. A very scary two on one. Rutger was the size of a tank.
She sighed. Had she been this immoral before the Ghoul Lords came and dumped their crap on the Earth? There was that octopus tattoo on her ass. She’d looked in a mirror and the tentacles all came from her asshole. From the looks of that, she’d been a wild girl.
So how did Maura know her? If she did.
Her stomach rumbled, even hurt at times. They’d left in a hurry and had no breakfast. Or whatever meal you called it when it was dark outside, but you did nightshifts and ate your first meal at dusk.Brupper? Dinfast?She started dreaming of a roast meal, and a steaming hot pizza with an inch-thick topping. Melted cheese.
And sex. While in a daydream about wild sex, she caught herself watching the bugs scamper on the walls, imagining herself popping one in her mouth.
Ugh.
She whispered to Tom, “Any snack bars available? I’m starving.”
“Beef jerky. Old but not moldy.” He rummaged in a pocket and offered it to her.
“Thanks.” The first bite was heaven. The expiry date said three years ago. She tossed the wrapper aside and took another bite.
Who’d have thunk it?The main disadvantage of the Apocalypse was a lack of pizza.
20
Rutger ambled closerto Vargr and the two wing-soldiers he walked with, figuring he must’ve had enough time to wrestle some calmness into himself. “Why’d you chase after that ghoul guard? Do you have a death wish?”
“No.” The shrug said he might add more words.
Rutger waited. He wasn’t going to lead with his story of what he had done to Cyn by the waterfall.
“And?”
“And I thought maybe the fucker was someone I knew. His face… not sure but after thinking, he looked like that Dr. Nietz. Now wouldn’t that be one to write home about? Though he’s dead now. Judging by what the stinkers did to him.”
