I could only stare up at him, too wound up and too anxious to respond. Shaking his head, he let out an angry breath and then clamped his hand around mine. Tightly. A little too tightly.
The bones in my fingers strained against his crushing grip, yet I wasn’t complaining. His large hand, his warmth, even the ache he was causing in my hand, it was all a welcome distraction from the noise all around us, and the smells that were threatening to send me over the edge of sanity.
Grunting again, he started walking, this time dragging me along beside him, and leaving me no choice but to work twice as hard to keep up with him. As the narrow path we were on began to end, opening up into a small square, a wave of dizziness accompanied by nausea barreled through me, leaving me both breathless and spinning. Every sound, every sight, every smell unfolded before me, causing me to try to dig my heels into the concrete and squeeze my eyes shut.
I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t.
But I was hungry. I wanted to eat. I needed food.
I opened my eyes and looked up at Eagle. Strong and sturdy, he was staring down at me, waiting.
“I’m fine,” I said.
The corner of his mouth quirked up. “Then let’s go.”
Tugging me forward, he pulled me through a crowd of people, and I hated it. I hated that they were so close to me, their hands grazing over me discreetly, their curious stares moving from Eagle to me and back again. He pulled me through the tightest pathways, through the most crowded areas, passing food stall after food stall and yet not stopping, until I was whimpering and wanting to cry from hunger and from the many emotions swarming through me.
But I refused to cry. Instead, I lifted my chin and clung to his hand as we forged ahead.
When we finally came to a stop at a quiet corner, I took a shaky breath, allowing the mounting tremor to work its way through my body. Glancing up, I found Eagle watching me.
“Why didn’t you stop for the food?” I mumbled, needing to say something, anything at all. Because right now, I was feeling as if my mind was on the brink of fracturing into a thousand pieces.
He ran his free hand over his beard as he stared at me. “They only sell rat and other shit there,” he eventually said with a strange look on his face.
I looked at him curiously. I had eaten rat before and it tasted fine, good even if it was cooked, maybe even delicious compared to some of the things I’d been forced to eat at times.
“No rat,” he said as he dragged me around a corner and into the wide opening of a cement structure.
It was dark inside, and my eyes hadn’t had enough time to adjust before Eagle was tugging me up a set of stairs. I stumbled on the first step, and my face smacked into his back. He cursed angrily but slowed his steps, walking more carefully now.
At the top of the stairs, small fires lit inside metal drums lined the corridor, making it easier for me to see where I was going. Thick concrete pillars held up the ceiling throughout the open space, making me wonder if this place might have once been used as a small parking garage. Several cars were set up on the perimeter of the open area, fires burning in the empty cavities where their engines used to be. Over the fires were grill-like grates with food cooking on top.
Eagle headed toward the nearest grill, looked over the offerings, and then pulled me away. I looked over my shoulder longingly at the slow-cooking rats, my mouth watering at the sight of their plump bodies.
“Keep moving,” he growled, tugging on my arm.
At the next car, he skimmed over the cooking food before bothering to greet the man tending the grill. He was tall and thin, his skin shiny and pockmarked.
“What can I get you today, E?” the man said, rubbing his hands together, a greedy smile on his face.
“I placed my order with you a fucking week ago, Denny.” Eagle looked down at the grill again, his eyes traveling over the roasting bodies of lizards and snakes. “And this ain’t it.”
Denny held up his grease-stained hands in innocent surrender. “Don’t go crazy on me, man. I got exactly what you wanted. Took a while for my guys to find everything you asked for.” Turning, he pulled open the driver’s side door and disappeared inside.
“Take whatever you want,” Eagle said as he continued to stare after Denny. “And don’t ever fucking say I don’t feed you enough again.”
I looked over the food once more, deciding on a small snake, already partially skinned, the meat inside a glistening white. Releasing Eagle’s hand, I pointed to it.
“Here we go,” Denny said, emerging from inside the car. Holding up a large and torn paper bag, he grinned at Eagle.
“That too.” Eagle pointed to the snake I’d chosen.
“That’ll cost you,” Denny said. “I was—”
“Free,” Eagle growled. “Call it interest for keeping me waiting. And if you got a problem with that—”
“No, no!” Denny exclaimed. Pulling one of many whittled sticks poking out from inside his jeans pocket, he speared the snake and offered it to Eagle.
