“Yes, pointless. Alex won’t budge and neither will you, so both of you are just going to argue in circles until one of you eventually snaps and kills the other.” He pauses to wince and curse as he moves his injured shoulder. “My money is on Alex snapping first, since he’s already fucking gone for the princess.”
“Fuck you,” Alex snarls at him.
I narrow my eyes at Rhys. “So, what about you? Where do you fall with this argument?”
He snorts. “Nowhere. I’m not even in the running.”
“Liar. I’ve seen the way you look at her. You’re as gone as the rest of us.”
“Fucking typical,” Alex scoffs at the same time Rhys snaps, “I’m not lying!”
I roll my eyes. “You’re both as bad as each other.”
“No, you’re just trying to push something that no one butyouwant,” Alex shoots back.
“Oh? You’ve talked to Ollie about this, then?” I cock an eyebrow in challenge, knowing full well he hasn’t. It’s clear as day that she likes all of us just as much as we like her.
His expression hardens. “I’ve made my stance clear, Theo. I’m not budging. You want Ollie? Then you’ll have to compete with me because I’m not fucking sharing.Ever.” He stands and stalks off further down the stream before either of us can say anything.
I blow out a long breath and shake my head while praying for patience.
“Pushing him isn’t going to get you what you want,” Rhys says, sounding uncharacteristically reasonable.
“He’s an idiot if he thinks making Ollie choose between us will end in anything but disaster.”
“He probably knows that, but you know what he’s like with scary shit; he’ll ignore and deny it until he’s blue in the face. Only after it’s bitten him on the ass will he realise he’s wrong.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” I say with a grimace as I stand and rummage through my medical bag until I find some painkillers and antibiotics. “Here,” I say, handing the tablets and a canteen to Rhys.
He takes them and then washes the tablets down with a good gulp of water from the canteen. “Why are you afraid of him realising the error of his ways?” he asks as he hands the canteen back.
“Because by the time he learns, the damage will already be done and there will be nothing left but pieces of broken hearts. And Ollie will be long gone.”
I refuse to let that happen.
Later that day, wehole up in a corner shop after clearing out the few zombies that made their homes there. Someone has already ransacked the place, so there’re no supplies, but with the boarded-up windows and doors, it’s the safest place for us to hide out. Especially since every other house in the area is mostly rubble.
Darkness falls as we all sit behind the cash register, the plans of the second camp Mark drew lying on the floor in front of us. Rhys is leaning back against the wall, a permanent grimace of his face from the pain while he waits for the pain meds to kick in. Alex is sitting on his other side, as far from me as he can get, while Ollie sits opposite us, completing our little circle.
She hasn’t said a word to any of us all day and I wonder if she caught any of the argument we had earlier. It’d make sense since she looks completely shut down. Her normally brilliant emerald eyes are dull and her face is an expressionless mask. Only Harlow causes a flicker of emotion as she lies at her owner’s side.
“We’re about three miles out from the camp, which means we need to stay hidden and be on guard for any attacks,” Rhys says as he flicks his gaze to each of us. “Since I’m out of commission, at least for tonight, the three of you will need to set a rota for guard duty.”
“I’ll take first watch,” Ollie says, speaking for the first time in hours.
Alex leans forward toward her, his brow furrowed with concern. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” she says curtly, keeping her eyes trained on the crudely drawn map lying in the middle of our small circle.
Hurt flashes on Alex’s face before he covers it with his cool mask. “I’ll take second watch.”
I sigh. “Guess that means I’ll be taking third.”
Rhys nods. “Good. Now that’s sorted, we need to decide how we’re planning to attack this place.” He leans forward with a wince to peer at the map. “We’ll need to scout this place out, preferably tomorrow, since it’s already Tuesday and the delivery on Friday will be the best time for us to attack.”
“Me and Alex should go,” Ollie says, shocking the fuck out of me.
“What?” Rhys and I exclaim at the same time while Alex just stares at her with a mixture of confusion and hope. Jesus, the guy really is gone for her. If only he’d pull his head out of his ass and realise making her choose won’t give him what he wants.
