“Not exactly the response that I was hoping for,” Liam said, lightly.
I winced. Liam was attractive, more than attractive. He was exactly the kind of boy that Madison and I would have drooled over and teased each other about at late night sleepovers. He was beautiful, and at least I knew him. But he wasn’t… “Do you actually want to be part of this plan?”
“God, of course not, Zoey,” Liam answered angrily. His hands hit the table with a loud smack, and I jumped. The sound echoed through the cold, empty room, lingering. “Do you think I wanted to be locked in some room all day, experimented on and prepped to repopulate the world that Razi destroyed? I don’t want to be forced to do things like this. I don’t want you to be forced to do something like this, but I don’t see that we have much of a choice. And at least I would take care of you. At least I care about you. You could have gotten off much worse. We both could have.”
I flinched at the harsh sound of his voice. It was so different, a stark contrast to the light tones that I had been used to for months while living with Ash and my mother. “That’s not what I meant.”
Silence filled the room for a long moment, and my eyes fell to my clenched hands in my lap. They seemed to be the one thing that hadn’t changed since the Awakened had changed everything in my life. They were rough, calloused, scarred, but they had been like that ever since I had learned to fight. Nothing about them seemed girly or feminine, but they were familiar, and right now, they were shaking like crazy.
“I know that’s not what you meant,” Liam finally spoke, his voice light and low, “but you can’t imagine the relief I felt when I realized it was you. Everything about this sucks, and there’s nothing I can do to change it, but if I have to do this, if I have to go through with this, at least it’s with you. You’re beautiful, Zoey, and you made such an impression on me, in such a short amount of time.”
My fingers twisted the hem of my shirt into knots. I felt a sort of comfort at the sound of his words, and my hand went consciously to the raised scar across my face. It was hard for me to remember that I had once felt beautiful, that I had been so sure of myself. The wound across my face had taken all of that away. “Liam, it’s just that…”
“How did you get here, Zoey?” Liam interrupted. “What happened to your dad? And…the other guy that was with you? Are they here?”
A lump formed in my throat, and I choked on the words. “My dad…he…he’s not…” I took a deep breath. “He’s dead. He died about six months ago.”
“Six months ago?” Liam spoke softly. “I’m so sorry, Zoey.”
I shook my head. “Thank you.”
“Where have you been this entire time?” Liam asked. He hesitated for a moment and then stood up, moving around the table to sit in the chair that was closer to me. “Did you make it to your mother’s?”
I nodded. “It didn’t work out there. We left, and we were going to find Sanctuary. I still don’t know if it exists, but I had to believe in something. I had to go somewhere. That’s when we were taken.”
Liam scooted closer to me, and my body relaxed at the warmth that was emitting from him. His arm came around my shoulders, and I let him pull me closer. I needed the comfort; I craved it. “Who? Who was taken?”
“Me,” I said, my head leaning against his chest. “Me and Ash.” Ash. I felt tears well up in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall, not now, not with them watching on the cameras.
His arm tightened around me. “Ah,” he said, his voice full of understanding. “Ash. Are you and he…”
My head bobbed around in a sort of nod and shaking my head gesture. I shrugged. “I don’t know. I think so. I know I…” The words refused to leave my lips. “I know how I feel, and I think I know how he feels.”
Liam pulled away, catching my gaze in his. “I don’t understand. Where is he? Did he die too?”
I hiccupped. “No. No, he’s…he’s okay. He has to be okay. He’s sick, so he’s not good enough for me.” Liam’s eyes grew wide and I shook my head again. “No, not like that. He has a cough or something, but apparently that’s all it takes to be completely wrong for Razi’s world. I don’t know where he is. They say he’s alive, but I don’t know.”
“Zoey…” Liam started to say but I cut him off.
“What of the outside world?” I asked. “I’ve seen nobody, heard nothing. I felt like we were the only ones left for so long.”