Chapter 6: 6

I spend the rest of the day helping around the garage to repair the damage caused, which mostly involves cleaning up the attackers we killed and preparing burials for those of our group who died. Ama finds me on my knees on the second floor, scrubbing at the continent of blood left on the asphalt.

"Hey babe."

I lift my head. "What's up?"

She crouches, morning light from outside getting caught in her dark hair. She has it tied back today, the way she used to when we fought the mutated to secure the garage.

"Colton's still on bed rest, so Winona and I are going to see what we can learn from Lucy."

"Lucy?" I sit back on my heels, brushing the back of my hand against my forehead.

"It's all Lora got from her before she put her out. Winona wants you to join us." She manages a smile. "Apparently you're scary."

"Winona's scary too."

"Well, I'm not."

I set down my brush and lean towards her, placing my hands on her knees as I tilt my head. "You're a little scary."

She laughs, then recoils as I try to lean in for a kiss, wrinkling her nose.

"Ew, Teddy, no. You still smell like blood."

I groan but get to my feet, knees protesting after an hour of kneeling on the pavement. "Alright, let me get changed and I'll meet you there."

—

"The anaesthetics haven't completely worn off yet—I probably used the equivalent of a horse tranquilizer," Lora says, smiling sheepishly. Her eyes are bloodshot; I can't imagine she got much sleep with all the injuries that need to be tended to. "She'll probably still be a bit out of it."

"Alright. Thank you, Lora." Winona touches her shoulder briefly. "Go get some rest, okay?"

She nods gratefully and sets down the first aid kit she's been carrying, stripping off her latex gloves. Winona holds back the tent flap, gesturing Ama and I in. I duck inside, enveloped by a dim red light that falls over us as soon as Winona steps in and lets the nylon flap fall behind her.

The woman has been laid on a makeshift bed, kept off the concrete by two inches of foam and a few blankets. She looks like shit, too—pale and harrowed, with dark shadows under her eyes. Lora's changed her into a clean white tank top, but already the wound beneath has started to seep through the bandages, leaving a small red spot on the sweat-drenched fabric. Her eyes flutter open when we enter, her upper body propped up slightly.

I see red. The feeling of Ama's hand on my arm is the only thing that keeps me grounded.

Lucy shifts, pushing herself up onto her elbows. Ama hurries to her side, firmly pushing her back down.

"You're not supposed to be moving around."

"Fuck you." Lucy's voice is a rattling cough; every syllable requires effort.

Winona folds her arms and waits until she's sapped the rest of her strength, slouching back down to the blankets. The spot of blood on her torso has started to spread.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I got shot in the stomach."

"Great," I mutter. "She thinks she's funny."

Winona elbows me. Hard. I hold back a pained grunt.

"Well, Lora expects you to make a full recovery." Winona stares at her with a gaze that could bore holes through steel. I should know; I've been on the opposite end of it plenty of times. "If you let yourself get enough rest."

Lucy slumps into the blankets, energy drained from her brief struggle. "And who the fuck are you?"

"Winona. I'm... in charge here. So is Ama." She nods at my girlfriend."

"She's the one you owe your sorry fucking life to," I butt in.

Winona glares at me. "...And this is Teddy. She's not in charge."

I probably shouldn't feel proud of myself, but I definitely can't make myself feel ashamed, either.

"Now, we want to know a few things about you." Winona leans back against a splintered wooden crate of medical supplies, kept on the main level for ease of access instead of down on the first floor. "You and your friends. Who are you? Where'd you come from?"

Lucy shifts again, grimacing. A sheen of sweat has broken out over her brow, sticking her short, blonde hair to her face.

"...We're a group. Situated over on the bridge."

"The bridge?"

"Golden Gate." She slumps, lashes fluttering as she struggles to keep a grip on her consciousness. If Lora wasn't exaggerating about the anaesthetics she used, she's probably still feeling woozy.

"Okay. We've never had a run-in with you guys before." Winona lifts her knuckles to her lower lip, deep in thought. "I didn't even know there were people living there. So why'd you attack us?"

"Needed the space." Lucy lifts a hand to her forehead, rubbing away a lock of hair. She seems reluctant, closing her eyes and pressing the heel of her hand to one of them. Winona is silent, not pressing, but not changing the topic, either. I know the method. Winona has a way of prying information out with nothing but that unflinching stare.

"Space?" She prods at last, tone gentler than I'd expected. Still firm, but clearly she sides with Ama on this. She isn't weak—I've watched her with her boot on the chest of a screeching mutated, exploding its face with bullets with all the grace of a professional killer. But she's kind—maybe too kind. Whatever Lucy's done, Winona isn't going to see beyond the fact that she's young, human, and injured.

Maybe that's why I'm here.

What little resolve Lucy maintains crumbles, likely under the pain and lingering traces of anaesthetic in her system. "Our barricades. We have them set up on either end of the bridge. One of them, the one on the other side... we've been having some trouble with mutated. They're about to break through it." She rests both of her hands against her face, rubbing at her eye sockets. I realize suddenly that she doesn't just look dead tired from the bullet wound she's endured—her eyes are shadowed and bloodshot, cheeks sunken. Her bare arms are lined with scars, and although she's built up hard, sinewy muscles, she's painfully thin.

Maybe I'm starting to see what Ama and Winona have been looking at this whole time.

"We don't... have enough people or firepower to defend ourselves when they break through. We've been scavenging for equipment to reinforce the barricades, but with anything on the other side of the strait completely inaccessible, and this side pretty much cleaned out of anything useful..." She drops her hands and folds her arms across her chest, hugging herself. "It's been difficult."

"No one asked for the tragic backstory," I say. "Why'd you attack?"

Ama comes to my side, resting a hand on my arm. Her gaze is cold, voice a soft hiss. "Teddy, would you like to wait outside?"

I lean closer to her, lowering my tone. "No, not really."

"Ama? Teddy?" Winona glares at us, though her attention is focused more on me. "Please." When we fall silent, shifting to leave a foot of space between ourselves, she sighs and turns back to Lucy. "I'm sorry. Continue."

Lucy's gaze flits between us, then drops to the blossom of blood on her stomach.

"We needed to find somewhere to relocate to. When we saw this place, already cleared and fenced in, fully stocked... I guess some of us thought it would be easier to take it for ourselves."

"Yeah, because fuck the people already living here, right?"

She doesn't react to the venom in my tone, eyes half-lidded.

"We didn't want to hurt anyone at first. It was supposed to be a surveillance job, to get an idea of how big your group is and how well-armed—"

"So you could attack us another time. Got it."

Ama looks like she's about to hit me.

"We were spotted by one of you. One thing led to another and—here we are."

"You know we could've—we could've talked, right?" Ama asks. "You could've asked us for help, or supplies, or a place to stay."

Lucy's brows furrow, like the idea is completely foreign to her. "Why the hell would you have helped us?"

Winona exhales, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "I don't know what things are like where you're from, Lucy, but around here we generally try not to let humanity help along its own extinction."

Lucy's calloused hands drop into her lap, gaze following to stick obstinately on her clenched fists. Ama ducks her head, crossing her arms over her chest.

"We assumed you'd attack us on sight." She lifts her head, staring directly at me. "Which was reasonable. I was told you're the asshole who killed three of my friends."

I drop my hands to my sides, nails biting into my palms as I step forward defensively. "Yeah, because you fucking chickenshits attacked us! What else was I supposed to do?" Ama reaches for my hand, but I brush it off. "You're probably the bitch who killed three of my friends."

My hands quiver as Winona grabs my arm.

"Teddy. Outside, please."

My teeth hurt with the pressure on my clenched jaw. I shake Winona's hand off of myself, stepping away before Ama can reach for me.

"Fine. I'm done here." I give Lucy one last burning glare that she doesn't even see—she's dropped her head again, eyelids drooping. I push open the tent, listening to Winona's retreating words.

"Alright, thank you, Lucy. Get some rest."

I let the tent flap fall shut behind me, brushing roughly past Lora and storming off.