I haven’t heard any sounds.I can’t hear anyone else breathing or moving.There’s no one in the room with us.
So, what the fuck is he pointing his gun at?
But then I recall Willa telling me about venomous insects and drones being used to kill people when we first arrived here, explaining why there’s a camera in my room.
I swallow, and just before the gun reaches in line with my shoulder, I drop to the floor.Fenrir fires, the noise exploding off the walls and ringing in my ears.
Scrambling, I crawl to him, adrenaline coursing through my veins.
As I reach him, he puts out his hand and pulls me into his solid body, wrapping his arm around me.Confusion mixes with fear.Why aren’t we running?Why is he not picking me up and getting me the hell out of here?Unless he shot them, whoever or whatever it was?
“What the fuck?”I ask as I turn to look where he still has the gun aimed.
But other than some cracked plaster and a bullet hole in the wall, there’s nothing there.I drop my gaze to the carpet, expecting to see a venomous insect or some high-tech killing device, but again, there’s nothing.
“What the hell?”
“I thought I saw something,” he says at last, still holding me tightly.
“Something?”
“A shadow.I don’t know.”He shakes his head, his voice lacking any sort of certainty.He releases his grip on me, but I’m not ready to let go of him just yet.
“Jeez.You scared the shit out of me,” I say, exhaling a large breath, but his reply niggles at me.A shadow.I recall the look on his face when he had the gun pointed at the wall.He looked at it for a long time.It wasn’t a split-second glance; it wasn’t a moment where something caught his eye.Hestaredat it.He must have known what it was.He was following it with his gun.It doesn’t make any sense.
“Sorry.”He doesn’t look sorry.
“You really need to get some sleep.Sleep deprivation can do all sorts of things to the brain.”
He looks like he’s about to argue, but then seems to give in, his jaw tensing.He doesn’t like not being in control.
“I’ll get a few hours of sleep, and then we’ll swap,” I say, taking charge.
“No.”He takes a step forwards.
“No arguing.”I throw back the covers on the bed.“And I want you to stay in my room.”
He glances at me.
“I don’t want you falling asleep in that little room downstairs.At least if you fall asleep up here, I can wake you if something happens.”
I’m starting to worry about him now.Is the isolation getting to him?Sometimes, I catch him staring at the walls or looking at something that doesn’t appear to be there.Is this just his bodyguard mentality?He spends his entire time on high alert, never letting his guard down, never relaxing.But this feels different.This feels like a man who’s had no sleep for so long that his brain is imagining things.
I’m suffering from delusions of my own, but of a very different nature.There’d been a second when Fenrir had his gun raised when his focus had been entirely on shooting whatever he thought he saw behind me, and I swear I would have dropped to my knees for him there and then.
Maybe we’re both losing our minds.
THIRTY-EIGHT
FENRIR
PRESENT
She’s lookingat me like I’m a fucking nutjob.
Can I blame her?
But I know what I saw.
