"And I like you way more when you aren't so damn stubborn."
"Well, I guess you aren't going to like me very much then." He tilts his head to the side a bit, stretching his neck out, cringing at the movement. "Okay, Reese, have at it. What do you want to know?"
With the abundance of questions I have and answers I desperately need, the one I'm about to ask should be my last concern, but it's what's nagging at me most right now, "Did your mother abandon you here with your father?"
He straightens his posture and narrows his eyes at me. The smile on his face fades into a straight line as a red tinge fills his cheeks. "What kind of question is that? I thought we already moved on from the fact that I murdered her. Didn't we?" He brushes by me and begins walking through the row of trees we're in. He doesn't tell me to follow him or keep up. He doesn't say a word to me.
Playing the stubborn game along with him, I remain still, waiting for him to stop running off. If I'm going to coexist with this man and try to survive this doomed hell alongside him, then he's going to treat me like his equal. We're going to fight through this together, without him tugging me along. Otherwise, I might as well just give up now. I've had enough.
By the time he makes it past the fifth tree, regret seeps through me. I'm being stupid. He knows I know this. "Watch your back, Reese," he shouts, continuing forward.
Asshole. Asshole. Asshole. I look behind me, just because, and move forward, following after him, swallowing every last bit of pride I had left. He slows his stride, allowing me to catch up with him, and when I do, he places his arm around my neck and pulls my head into his chest, dropping a soft kiss on the top of my head. I inhale deeply and close my eyes. "I don't want to follow you like a lost puppy. I was someone's object for three years, and I don't want to be yours now too."
Sin stops walking and turns to face me. "You are not my object. You are the one person I care about. The one person I want to save me from this goddamn misery."
"What about yourself. Don't you count?"
"I can't be saved, Reese." He takes my hand and laces his fingers in between mine, bringing my knuckles up to his lips. "But you can try." His words mixed with the sensation of his lips on my sensitive skin forces a weakness through my body. A weakness that ends our banter.
Until I remember he's still injured.
"Then take me to the hospital so you don't die of an infection, leaving me here to rot alone."
He glances over at me and sucks in a sharp breath. "Very well. Don't say I didn't warn you."
"I won't say a word." I just hope I don't eat my words. I haven't noticed a hospital or any type of facility other than a condemned shed. Sheds. He pivots around in the opposite direction, pulling me ahead with him. "It's this way."
We walk for what feels like forever, stopping every few minutes so Sin can take a breather. He must have a concussion. The paleness on his face and the hazy look in his eyes is worrying me. "Are you okay?" We've been standing still in this spot for several minutes.
"Nah. I'm no—" Before he has a chance to complete his thought, he falls to his knees, heaving into a pile of brush, but nothing comes up. There's nothing in either of our stomachs. He rolls to his side, leaning up against the tree.
"How much farther is the hospital?"
"Another ten minutes or so."
"I'll go alone. You stay here," I tell him, unrolling the paper bag with the food. I find a bottle of water and a small loaf of bread. Squatting down before him, I hand him the bread. "Here, eat this." I unscrew the cap off of the bottle and hand it to him too.
"No, I got this food for you." He pushes my hands away.
"You're hurt and you're sick. Eat it."
"No, Reese." I look into the bag, confirming there's nothing else in here. All of those people were fighting for bread and water—the mere necessities of survival.
"How about I split it?" I ask gently. I place the bottle of water down and tear the bread in half unevenly. Hiding the smaller piece within my fist, I offer him the bread once more. He looks into my eyes, his forehead lined with concern—a look I'm not sure I've seen. "We are supposed to survive this. Not just one of us."
He takes the bread and devours it in one bite. I do the same, feeling a more intense pain grow in my stomach as I swallow it. I was afraid of how much hungrier I would feel after tasting the small bit of food we had. I take a few sips of the water and hand him the bottle. "You need water." The loss of color on his face is concerning and I place my fingers up against his forehead, feeling an intense heat burn against my skin. He has a fever.
He takes the water from my hand and downs a few gulps. "I'm coming with you. You're not going yourself," he says.
"Sin, you can hardly walk right now."
"Reese, I've already told you, you don't know what you're walking into. Will you just keep quiet and listen to me for a change?"
He hands me back the bottle of water, the plastic crunching in his hand. "Finish this."
Knowing that he's had at least half of the water, I feel a little better about finishing it up. The coolness of the liquid running down the inside of body feels good against the ache and heat, giving me a false sense of energy to push forward. "Well, let's get going then."
Trudging uphill for the ten minutes Sin assumed it would take, we come up on an empty field surrounding a tall, brick building. The edifice is breaking apart, and it looks like every other window is either broken or missing. "This is the hospital?"
