Zeke nodded solemnly. “Lead the way.”
Entering the water, we swam through the flooded streets, passing between the burning buildings. The air was thick with smoke, and flaming rubble toppled into the waters around us, hissing as it struck the surface. I concentrated on moving forward, ignoring the canyons of fire around me, ignoring the Hunger that still cramped my stomach, and the warm body next to mine.
As we passed under a walkway, Zeke hanging a little behind, footsteps echoed above us, and a raider peered over the railing.
“You!” he shouted, pulling the gun from his belt. “I saw you in the Pit! You’re the bitch who set it on fire!”
A shot rang out, and pain exploded through my chest with a spray of blood. I heard Zeke cry out as the water closed over my head.
Anger and Hunger roared to life. I was sick of being shot, stabbed, burned, gutted, staked and thrown out windows. Snarling, I exploded back to the surface, grabbed the raider by the belt and dragged him over the edge. We hit the water with a splash and sank like a rock, the human thrashing frantically in my grip. He stiffened as I plunged my fangs into his throat and stopped moving by the time we hit the bottom.
I finished feeding and hesitated, tempted to leave him for the fishes and the worms. But Zeke would be waiting up top, and he had seen me pull the raider into the water. With a growl, I grabbed the limp body and struck back for the surface. He might still succumb to hypothermia and blood loss, but at least I wouldn’t leave him to drown.
Zeke gaped as I broke the surface, shaking water from my ears. “You’re alive,” he gasped, teeth chattering with cold. “But…you took a shot right to the chest. I was right there and I saw…”
“It takes a lot to kill me,” I muttered. “Well, scratch that. It takes a lot to kill me again. I’m already dead, remember?”
Swimming beneath the walkway, I heaved the raider’s limp body out of the water onto the edge of the platform. His head lolled to the side, revealing two oozing bite marks that I hadn’t sealed. Zeke’s gaze followed mine, and his face tightened, but he didn’t say anything.
I could feel him thinking, however, as we swam through the streets and finally reached the elevated tracks leading out of Jackal’s territory. Dripping, shivering, he followed me up the framework to the top, grabbing my hand as I pulled him onto the planks. An icy wind rushed along the surface, and I was struck by how miserable he looked, wounded, wet and freezing, with his hair and clothes plastered to his body. Yet his eyes still gleamed with iron determination as he gazed across the bridge, only looking forward. Unlike me, who turned and glanced back toward the city and the fires that raged through it.
So many gone. So many lives lost. People I had known, talked to. Dorothy, Darren, Jeb…I hadn’t been able to save them. I swallowed hard and rubbed my eyes. When had I started caring so much? Before Kanin Turned me, death was something I faced every day. People died, often; it was just how the world worked. I thought that, after the deaths of my old gang and Stick’s betrayal, I wouldn’t worry about anyone else. And yet, here I was, a vampire, wishing I could have saved the very person who hated me most.
“Allison.” Zeke’s voice made me turn around. He shivered in the cold wind but stood tall and unbowed at the edge of the tracks. “The sun is coming up,” he said, nodding to the tops of the buildings. “We have to get you and everyone else to shelter soon. Come on.”
I nodded and wordlessly followed him, sprinting down the tracks, over the bridge leading out of the city and into the ruins of Old Chicago, leaving Jackal’s territory behind to burn.
*
“HELLO, OLD FRIEND,” Sarren crooned, bringing his scarred face very close, so that I could see the madness raging in his black eyes. “You can’t go to sleep yet, I’m afraid. What fun would that be? I have the whole night planned out.” He chuckled and stepped back, watching me hang limply from the chains. At least I was no longer upside down, though I suspected one of my arms was still broken. It was difficult to tell; my body had been broken, healed and systematically broken again; the only thing I was aware of now was the Hunger.
Sarren smiled. “Hungry, are you? I can’t imagine how that feels—it’s been four days. Oh, wait. Yes, I can. They used to starve us before an experiment, so we would attack whatever beast they put in our rooms. Did you know that?”
I did not answer. I had not spoken for the entire length of my captivity, and I would not begin now. Nothing I said would sway this madman; he was only looking for ways to torment me further, to break me. And I would not give him that, not as long as my mind was my own.