Thicker than Blood Read Online Free PDF Page B

Fredericksville had ever gotten
away with what I did. For the most part, I had Mason wrapped around
my little finger. He knew it, and I knew it. Yet now, when I really
needed the power, I had none.
    There was only one way to save Leisel,
something I had already begun to arrange but had hoped I wouldn’t
need to commit to. We needed to leave, to escape. We needed to go
back out into the world we’d left behind—that everyone had left
behind.
    The thought was both horrifying and
welcoming, especially knowing we could die out there. The infected
still lurked; I’d gathered this much from Jami and the other guards
who were often sent on scavenging runs. Although they weren’t as
quick as they used to be, the older infected and their rotting
bodies were more shamblers now than when they’d first turned, they
were still a blood-chilling sight to behold.
    The remaining infected weren’t my only
concern. Everyone had heard the stories of people who had refused
safety behind the walls, hell-bent on living in the open and among
the infected. I had no idea what people like this were capable of,
considering they’d survived both the infection and its endless
rippling aftereffects.
    But knowing that if I didn’t at least try to
get us out, that Leisel would die in here, it made the world beyond
the wall seem much less frightening and much more welcoming.
    “Will you help me, Mason?” I stepped forward,
closing the distance between us, and placed my hands on his
chest.
    He swallowed nervously, licking his fat,
greedy lips. He was hugely overweight, the only man left alive with
so many extra pounds on him. It was ridiculous, really. Sometimes
when he was on top of me, I could hardly breathe, let alone fathom
enjoying myself.
    “I told you I can’t, Eve.” His large hands
roved across my back, pulling me closer to him. “You know I would
if I could. I prefer your smiles to your frowns.” His hands moved
lower, cupping my backside.
    “If you can’t help me save her…” Looking up
at him through my lashes, the way he liked me to, I continued in a
whisper, “Then help us escape.”
    I stared at him, my eyes pleading for him to
have mercy on my best friend, and on me. I knew he cared for me;
some might even have called it love. But I knew the truth—what he
felt for me wasn’t love. I wasn’t even sure the man knew what love
really was. To him, his marriage to me, his ownership of me, that
was what love was. And although he’d allow me a lot of things,
Mason’s warped idea of love wasn’t going to allow me this. He
wasn’t going to let me go.
    “You don’t know what you’re asking, Eve.” He
shook his head slowly, a look of sad resignation crossing his
homely features, causing dread to pool in my gut.
    “ I do,” I replied, unable to control the
tremor in my voice. “I’m asking you to help me save my friend. My
sister.” Running my hands up his chest, I wrapped them around his
barely distinguishable neck and brought us face-to-face. “Mason,” I
begged. “Please.”
    Gripping my hands tightly in his, he regarded
me with pity. “You don’t know what the world is like out
there.”
    “So I’ll learn,” I pleaded.
    “You’ll be dead in a day.”
    “So will she.” My voice finally broke,
cracking on the last syllable. “Mason, tomorrow they’ll execute
her, and I’ll die right along with her. Help get us out of here.”
Attempting to school my features, I looked up into his eyes. “If
you love me, let me go.”
    The pitying look he’d had only seconds ago
vanished, instantly replaced by one of sheer greed. The same greed
he’d had in his eyes the day he forced this marriage on me.
    I was his.
    That was all there was to know.
    Folding me against him, he forced my cheek
against his chest as if to comfort me, and ran his hand lightly
over the fall of my hair. This was typical of him, treating me as
if I were a good and docile wife, helping him maintain his illusion
that a woman like me would ever