I cock an eyebrow, feeling my competitive nature perk up. “I’m listening.”
His lips curve into his signature smirk. “I think the princess can make Rhys concede on one thing by the time we reach the Scourge camp.”
I narrow my eyes. “What kind of thing? You need to be more specific than that.” You don’t let Theo have wiggle room with bets. I learned that the hard way.
He taps his chin as he thinks. “Alright, fine. I bet that she’ll refuse to listen to a direct order by the end of the day.”
“Only one? She’s already done that. Let’s do five orders.”
“No, five is too much. It’s already nearly midday. Two orders.”
“Three orders.”
He pauses before nodding. “Deal. Now, what are you willing to bet?”
I think about what I have in my pack. Aside from the essentials that we each carry, there’s not much I have other than… “My last bar ofToffee Crisp.” I’m that confident that she won’t disobey Rhys three times today. There’s no way.
Theo’s eyes flare with hunger. “Fuck. You still have that?”
I smirk and nod. “What are you willing to part with?”
He narrows his eyes as he nibbles on the inside of his cheek. “I’ll sing and play whatever songs you want on my ukulele—as long as I know them—for the rest of the trip.”
Oh damn, that’s a great prize. One I can’t wait to abuse. My smile widens as I hold my hand out for him to shake. “You’ve got yourself a deal. Expect cheesy Disney songs on repeat.”
He shakes my hand. “I can’t wait to devour thatToffee Crispright in front of your face. It’s going to taste so fucking good. Even better knowing that I beat your ass to get it.”
“Are you two idiots going to get your asses down here, or what?”
Rhys’s frustrated bark causes both of us to glance down the embankment. The grump is standing beside Ollie, who’s still mounted on Bean’s back, looking smug. Guess Rhys didn’t get to rip her a new one after all. That might not bode well for my bet.
“Let the best man win,” Theo says with a knowing smirk before making his way down the bank.
I follow, hating how easy everyone else made this look because it is notat all. My foot keeps sliding on the slick grass and mud, and the trees and bushes seem to have some sort of vendetta against me. It’s a bloody miracle I make it to the bottom without falling on my ass, although my arms and neck are covered in scratches. Apparently steep inclines are my weakness. Give me a flat rugby pitch any day of the week over this shit.
“Graceful as always, mate,” Theo teases and claps my shoulder as I stride past him.
I shoot him a glare over my shoulder. “Piss off,” I grumble, wanting to move on from that embarrassing display of athleticism. “Let’s dispatch these infected and get moving.” I ignore Theo’s chuckle as I pull out the knife hanging from the belt on my hip and move toward the first shambling infected.
From what I can tell, they were an older gentleman with steel grey hair and dark eyes. But his body is too rotted to get an idea of just how old he was before he turned. A quick stab to his temple with the end of the knife ends his undead life, and I rush to the next.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see the other three doing the same, although Ollie uses her bow, nailing the infected with almost eerie precision. She’s obviously comfortable using the weapon, which makes me wonder just how long she’s been using it. Was it something she learned before the world fell? What was her life like before then?
“Alex, pay attention!” Rhys barks out just as an infected man stumbles into me, jaw wide open and ready to bite.
Shit.
I kick out and slam my foot against the guy’s chest, causing him to stumble backward before he can take a chunk out of my shoulder. As he tries to grab my arm, I twist out of the way and stab the knife throughhis eye. He immediately collapses to the ground like a puppet who’s had their strings cut.
“You good?” Theo asks to my left, his voice thick with concern.
I nod. “Yeah, just got distracted.” Damn, that was a close one. Lucky for me, I have two guys willing to have my back.
By now we’re halfway across the motorway and the cars littering the tarmac are making it difficult for us to navigate, especially Ollie and Bean. It’s weird that there’s so many cars this close together in a cluster like this. Some of them are even chained together, like someone didn’t want them moved. I’ve never seen anything like it. I glance over at Rhys and he has the same puzzled expression I’m sporting.
Something isn’t right; I can feel it in my gut.
I scan the cars, wondering if there’s someone or something lurking, waiting to ambush us. But I can’t see anything and I’m pretty sure if there was a guy waiting to pounce, the infected would have attacked them too. Next, I look at the embankment that looms ahead of us, but again, nothing.
