“They don’t smell,” I commented in a rasping voice.
Kane glanced down at me and then at his hand that still held my arm. Slowly he removed his grip and I stumbled without his support. His frown deepened but he didn’t attempt to touch me again. I regained my balance and wondered if he heard me.
“We’ve learned that if they don’t eat human flesh, they don’t emit that noxious smell.” His voice was quiet and lilting with that southern accent but I heard him clearly.
“But why would you keep them like this? It’s cruel!”
“Are you siding with the Feeders?” he asked in amused disbelief.
“No!” But then my chest ached at the idea of prolonging this kind of life. “But it’s unnecessary. Why would you make them live through this? They’re starving and emaciated.”
“They only eat human flesh,” he emphasized. “What would you suggest we feed them?”
“Don’t feed them anything! But don’t leave them like this either. Shoot them. Kill them. Help solve the problem!”
“In one breath you share compassion for them and in another you suggest genocide,” he pointed out sounding surprised that I would have either.
“It’s not that,” I argued. “It’s disgust for a creature that should not exist. It’s revulsion for humans who should know better.”
“You’re revolted by this?” The disbelief resounded in his voice.
“Aren’t you?” I demanded.
But he didn’t reply.
He stopped walking and I turned to find out why. He looked down at me, his gray eyes black in the dim hallway- the only light came from low lit kerosene lanterns that hung from the ceiling. Light flickered over his face and cast the angular planes of his jaw and cheekbones into shadowy contrast.
“My dad is going to ask you a lot of questions,” he explained and for the first time I noticed a heavy wooden door behind him. “It’s better if you answer…. all of them. And if you answer them truthfully.”
“Is this how you treat everyone that stumbles on your settlement?” I asked with more bitterness than I wanted to show. “You handcuff them and order them around? Are you going to let us go at some point? Or enslave us? Or eat us like you said?”
His lips twitched like he was trying not to smile and my insides burned with hatred. I despised that he found me amusing.
“We don’t actually eat people,” he assured me carefully. “And we don’t have slaves.”
“So then why am I handcuffed?”
“It’s temporary.” But I didn’t believe him. When my eyes narrowed and I pursed my lips he continued, “We’re taking precautions. You could have been bitten. You could bring the virus to us.”
“We didn’t even know this was here,” I lied. This was my lie. And I realized how terrible telling more truth than lies was going to be for me. “You found us, not the other way around.”
“And can you imagine what that is like for us day in and day out? People wandering through? Potentially carrying a virus or stumbling upon us and hoping to relieve us of our food and guns? We have a permanent settlement here, we have to protect it.”
All of that made sense and it bothered me. “You don’t need to treat us like prisoners. You didn’t need to separate us.”
“Was that your boyfriend you were with?” he asked in a low, irritated voice. I nodded because I didn’t want to explain and his jaw clenched and unclenched before he continued, “His brothers showed up late last night, sneaking around our camp. They had my little brother with them- my rebellious, tenacious, disobedient little brother with them. And then we find you and your…. boyfriend this morning. You’re obviously in the same traveling party. You obviously knew they went ahead of you last night.”
Ignoring the bulk of his accusations, I asked, “How did you know they were brothers?”
“It’s fairly obvious by their looks,” he gave me a sarcastic eye roll. “And even if it wasn’t, they carry the same gun. I made an observant guess.”
I didn’t respond verbally. What could I say? It was kind of obvious they were brothers, or at least related in some way. Besides, that wasn’t information that I had to be worried about giving up. Two truths. One lie.
Realizing I wasn’t going to add anything to his hypothesis, he said, “I’m not trying to be the bad guy. But I will protect what’s mine.”
I leveled my stare with his and promised, “Me too.”
He nodded slowly and then issued one more warning, “Do not leave my side. Do you understand?” When I didn’t say that I did, he continued, “I will say this once for your benefit and I will not say it again. This camp is low on women. But we have an abundance of men. And we do not share our women. Once you belong to a man…. he keeps you. You might not like me, but what is inside that room is worse. Stay by my side.”