When dawn comes I creep back into the loft but it’s not my home anymore. Mentally I’ve already moved out. I’m trying to decide where I’m going to go, which part of town I should try to find shelter in or if I should cut my loses and finally take the plunge and move into the woods. That’s when I see the writing on the wall.

7 th /Boren

red brick

I know urs, u know mine

don’t go

“Oh my God.” I breathe, my hand against my mouth.

He’s given me his address. It’s his toothbrush, his underwear, the key to his diary all wrapped up into one. His crew, if they knew, would beat his ass and throw him out on the streets for this. This is a dangerous thing he’s done. I search the room, looking for a rag to wipe it clean with. I can’t leave it here. Anyone who finds it will know right where they live. I can’t believe he left this!

I see the red brick lying on the ground beside the gray cement wall. This is what he wrote it with. He used the edge like chalk. I grab the brick and prepare to scrape the words out, to draw over them until they are unrecognizable. But I freeze, my hand holding the stone hovering over his writing.

I know urs, u know mine

He gave up all he could to try and make us square. To try and make me stay.

I look around the room to do a quick inventory. It’s all here. Everything. Even the tire iron he used to fight with last night. He didn’t take anything to help him get home and that realization makes my gut clench with guilt. I’m worried he might not have made it home last night. I’m sure he left immediately after I asked him to which means he left in the dark. In an unfamiliar neighborhood. With only a knife and a huge gaping wound on his hand.

“Son of a—“

I drop the brick and grab my coat, throwing it on as I pocket my ASP and sheath my knife on my hip. I quickly whip open the door and blindly run into the hall.

I should have looked both ways.

I immediately trip and fall flat on my face.

“Owwww.” I groan, clutching my elbow.

“Are you alright?” Ryan asks, reaching out for me.

I roll away from him onto my back and clutch my arm to me, riding out the crazy weird tingles and shocks passing through it.

“I hit my funny bone and it wasn’t funny.” I moan. I kick my foot at him and catch him in the hip.

“Ah, what!?” he cries, scooting away. He grabs hold of my foot as it comes back for more.

“You tripped me! Can you even function without screwing with my life?”

“Actually, you stepped on me and fell. I’m more the victim here than you are.”

I kick vainly at him again. “Why are you lying on the floor in my hallway?”

“Because I couldn’t lock the door.”

I lift my head up and stare at him. “What?”

“Your door, it only locks from the inside. I went to leave and realized I’d be leaving you defenseless but you wanted me gone so I camped out here. I was going to go once I heard you moving around inside but I fell asleep.” He picks up a chunk of rotted out carpet and chucks it at me. “Then you stepped on me and started kicking me. So, you know, you’re welcome.”

I sit up, still cradling my angry arm. “Is that really your address? That’s where your gang lives.”

“No, I lied for the hell of it. Yes, it’s where we live.”

“Why would you do that?” I ask incredulously. “That is so dangerous to put that out there like that. And not just for you, for all of them.”

“I know. That’s why I told you. I knew you’d understand.”

“Understand what? That you can’t be trusted?”

He frowns. “Wait, what?”

“They trust you to keep that information on lock and you go writing it on walls in random rooms across town? You knowing where I live, that’s one thing. But putting it out for the world where your entire crew lives, that’s crazy. And reckless. And so stupid.”

“You’re missing the point. We’re square. Now you don’t have to move.”

“No, I still have to move. But thanks, now I know what part of town to stay away from.”

“No, you don’t move. That’s why—How are you not getting this?!”

“Oh, I get it. You make terrible decisions. That’s what I’m getting.”

He pauses then puts his hand up, silencing me. “Hold up. Where were you going in such a hurry?”

“What?”

“You. You came slamming out of the apartment without even glancing in the hall or you would have seen me lying here. Where were you going in such a hurry?”

I don’t answer but I don’t look away either. I hold his stare, keeping my face impassive.

He grins. “You were going after me, weren’t you?”

“I was coming to look for your corpse.”

His grin becomes a smile. “You were worried about me.”

“No. Kind of. You didn’t arm yourself before you left and I didn’t want that on my head so, yes, I was going to look for you to make sure you were alright.”

“That’s nice of you.”

I roll my eyes and look down the long ugly hallway. Anywhere but at him.

“I’m not a complete bitch.” I mumble.

“I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Well, you did.”

“I know and I wish I hadn’t.”

I shake my head. “We need to stop wishing for things.”

“How ‘bout we start doing things instead.” He stands and offers me his hand. “Walk with me. I’ll show you where I live.”

Chapter Six

The rain has left the world looking shiny and bright. When we hit the sidewalk outside my building, I’m pleasantly surprised to find no evidence of the zombies we killed out here last night. Since no more showed up later on, I’m assuming the rain took care of Ryan’s blood too. Everything is as it should be, aside from the eight corpses now rotting in a nearby room inside. But that actually works to my advantage. They’ll mask my scent and keep zombies and animals both away. Animals don’t like the dead when they’re walking and they certainly don’t like them when they’re rotting for the last time. If it weren’t for Ryan knowing about me, I could stay here.

I’m not crazy and I’m not so stubborn that I can’t entertain the idea that he’s on the up and up. He may very well be able to keep me a secret, no matter what happens with him and his crew. But it’s a big question mark and one too dangerous to gamble on. I want to stay, I really do, and honestly I want to trust him. But I don’t. I can’t.

“You should get a rain system started.” he whispers, poking his head around a building and scanning the road.

“I’ve got one.”

“The bucket?”

I shrug. “Among other things.”

“In other places?” he asks, looking at me sideways. I return his stare but I don’t answer. Eventually he nods. “It’s smart. It’s better than going to the holes.”

“I never go to the holes.”

“Good.”

I frown at him. “Why do you care?”

He chuckles and shakes his head.

“What?” I ask, annoyed at being laughed at.

“It’s a weird question.”

“No it’s not. It’s a good one. Why are you so concerned with me and how I manage?”

“Because I’m a human being.”

“I’m human and I don’t care how you survive.”

“Really? Is that why you ran out of your apartment after me this morning?”

He has me there and I don’t feel like talking or thinking about that so I look away, scanning the crumbling buildings around us. There’s no movement. No animals or otherwise. I remember enough about life before to know it should be weird, but these days, it’s really not. There’s not enough of us out here, dead or alive, to make a lot of noise.

“I just…” He hesitates, running his hand over his face once. “Don’t get mad, but you’re a girl. There aren’t many women left around here and even fewer young, pretty ones. I worry what will happen if the wrong person sees you.”

“I make it a point not to be seen.”

He looks at me, his face serious. “I see you.”