“Do you know why our country fell, Reagan?” Matthias asked, changing the subject so abruptly my head spun. I shook my head- truth. I didn’t know. The news just stopped one day. My parents were killed three days later. Haley and I went on the run twenty-four hours after that. I wasn’t convinced there was no government, but I hadn’t seen any kind of political organization since the day the news stopped. I didn’t know what happened, but I assumed we just fell apart. Matthias decided to enlighten me, “Our government imploded, plain and simple. With all our troops scattered around the globe and then more than half of all the government officials infected with the virus within days of the outbreak, there was no one left to organize us- to rally us.” His deep southern accent floated over each word, sinking low on the consonants and pronouncing each syllable with conviction and enthusiasm. He was like a preacher…. or cult leader.
If they tried to serve me applesauce, I was so out of here.
Matthias continued, “They failed us, Reagan. When we needed them the most, they couldn’t give us a cure, or a solution or protection. They just dissolved.” He made a wiggling motion with his fingers that was supposed to symbolize something disappearing I guessed, but it looked so much like jazz hands that I had to press my lips together to keep from smiling. “And they left their citizens in dire straits. They left us to die. Our people need a stronger system; they need someone who can keep them from falling prey to these animals, who can offer them hope for the future.”
Ah. Ok, this guy was bat shit.
Everything was becoming clear now.
“And that person is you?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
Annoyance flashed in his dark eyes. “Kane, give our guest a tour of the town.”
“Yes, sir,” he answered immediately.
Kane prompted me to move toward the door by tugging on the arm he was still holding. He reached out to the handle and pulled it open for me. The dreadful sound of pained moaning in the hallway filled the room immediately, but Matthias’s voice could be heard easily through the noise.
“And when you’re finished, Kane, set her up where you see fit. Miss Reagan Willow is going to be staying with us for a while.”
Kane led me out into the hallway and away from the band room/throne room. His hand was still on my forearm as he pulled me down the center of the corridor- away from the reaching hands of the emaciated Zombies.
We retraced our exact path, even past the glassed office-ish room that was guarded by armed men and housed Hendrix, Nelson and Vaughan. They all stood at the window watching my approach. Matching tortured looks as they were forced to do nothing but watch silently as I walked by.
I held Hendrix’s gaze and tried to convey a sense of confidence and hope into him, but his blue eyes were bleak with fear. His jaw was clenched tightly, his hands fisted in front of him as they rested on the glass.
“Can I speak to them,” I asked Kane quietly, never tearing my eyes away from Hendrix.
“No,” he answered simply. And then pulled me out the front doors and back into the warm sunlight.
I blinked against the blinding sun and dipped my head to avoid the worst of the light. I wanted my hands back. The metal was starting to cut into my skin and my arms felt like dead, tingling weight.
It sucked.
Kane stopped walking and let me adjust to the brightness outside. He turned me around so that my back was to him and I felt his fingers brush down my forearms. A flare of panic stampeded in my chest and I held my breath while I waited for him to do whatever he was going to do with me.
His calloused fingers came to rest on my wrists and then after a few seconds of adjusting, I heard the click of the key and the cuffs fell away. My arms fell limply to my sides and I worked my fingers, hoping to restore the flow of blood and feeling.
Whirling around to face him, I demanded, “If you hurt them, I will kill you.”
“So many threats,” he sighed sarcastically. His gaze collided with mine holding me in an intensity I didn’t understand. “If you hurt me, I will kill them.”
A thin sheen of sweat broke out all over me at his words. I had no doubt that he would follow through with that threat. In this, I trusted him implicitly in that aspect.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked in a small voice.
His jaw clenched and his gray eyes darkened with some emotion I didn’t understand. He towered over me, his muscles big and contoured under his gray t-shirt. Loose jeans hung from his hips and bunched over thick leather boots. His skin was tanned and flawless, his jaw so smooth I wondered if he had the ability to even grow a beard.
He was a massive contradiction after the sexy scruffiness of the Parker brothers with their lean, lengthened muscles and flat stomachs. Yes, they were muscled and gorgeous as well, but it was almost like they were direct opposites of Kane’s good looks. And the most obvious difference of all was the warmth and safety every Parker brother emanated like light.