I glared at him and he sucked air through his teeth before continuing, “That’s a shame. He was a real asset to this community.”
“He was a fucking psychopath. Just like you.”
Larry shook his head. “Thanks to Jeremiah, we haven’t had a Rabid attack in more than two years. It takes all types, Cipher, as you well know. We’re not so different, the three of us. If you were going to live for much longer, I imagine you’d reach that conclusion yourself.”
“I amnothinglike you.”
He smiled as if humoring me. “We’ll have to agree to disagree.” Glancing at his watch, he stood and said, “I’m afraid our time here is almost up. I suppose my best hand is to claim I shot you in self-defense. Speaking of guards, how’s Donnie?”
“Sedated,” I said shortly. I wasn’t going to tell Larry that he knew the truth and risk putting him in danger. Larry would likely shoot him too and make up some story about it. With the Council in his pocket, there was no telling what he might get away with.
“Be comforted in knowing that your friends will have gotten away, unless of course they decide to come back here and make trouble. Then I’ll have to kill them all, even the breeders,” Larry said with a smug smile.
“I fucking hate you more than I’ve ever hated another person, you phony piece of shit.”
He chuckled and gave a careless shrug. “Say what you will, in the eyes of the Fellowship, I’m a saint. How many other communities are as functioning as this one these days? Where people are fed, housed, and thriving? Safe from the fever and Rabids? Not too many, I can assure you. Now, how about you stand up and shut your eyes. I’m really not happy about having to do this, and I don’t care to have an audience.”
“Too fucking bad. My eyes will be watching you as you put a bullet in my head,” I snarled, my last bit of defiance.
“Suit yourself.”
I stood with my hands behind my back, tamping down the rising panic with deep, measured breaths. I imagined Kitten’s smile, the sun to my moon, and a wash of calm enveloped me. Kitten and the others would be safe, and I wouldn’t have to fight anymore.
“Anything else you’d like to say to me?” Larry said.
“I hope the cancer ravages your entire body and you have a long, painful death.”
He laughed at that, and I thought, this is the last sound I’ll hear, this bastard’s wheezing, gasping chuckle as he shoots me in the head.
But as I took what was to be my last breath, and prepared for the bullet to end it all, I heard a noise, one that I recognized: the wet, sucking sound of a blade penetrating flesh, three times in rapid succession. It was followed by a groan and a sharp intake of breath.
Larry’s face was a frozen mask of shock and confusion. He dropped the gun, his shock morphing into disbelief. “No, you can’t–,” he huffed out on a weak exhale, eyes as wide as a stunned horse. He dropped to the ground, revealing someone behind him wearing a dark hoodie and jeans, clutching the bloody blade. The figure pushed back the hood from their face.
Kitten.
Kitten?
He’d stabbed Larry three times in the kidneys just as I’d taught him. He’d saved my life… again. His chest was heaving and his eyes were blazing as he scowled at me bitterly.
“What are you doing here?” I said, finally recovering my voice.
“Ignoring your stupid fucking rules.”
“I–”
“Save it. You’re an asshole and I’m still pissed at you. Now, let’s go.”
TWENTY-SIX
KITTEN
There wasn’ttime to discuss what had happened. We gathered up Cipher’s weapons, and I helped him strap them back on, and then we were running, trying to stay hidden by the shadows of buildings and trees until we reached the first fence. We shimmied through, then sprinted past the vegetable gardens and grassy pastures until we met with the second. Cipher lifted the hatch and insisted I go first.
“Fine,” I huffed. I hadn’t said much to him since I’d snuck into Larry’s house through his bedroom window and stabbed him to death. Cipher was an idiot for going there alone, but he wasmyidiot, and he was alive. I knew enough to be thankful for that.
He hadn’t said much to me either, other than to give me instructions. I was still reeling from what I’d done, my hands still tacky with Larry’s blood. I was officially a murderer now, of human beings and not just Rabids. Just as when Jeremiah had died, I tried to feel some way about it, but came up empty.
God, please forgive me.
