Thicker than Blood Read Online Free Page B

Lawrence’s
close-knit group.
    I’d been here for an hour now, and yet hadn’t
had a single visitor other than Alex and a few other guardsmen
passing through. No one had so much as looked at me, let alone
spoken to me, leading me to wonder how many people had actually
known about the four long years of abuse I’d endured.
    Why hadn’t anyone ever said a word about it?
No one except Evelyn, that is. And even Evelyn had been loath to
speak her mind in front of anyone who mattered. Speaking your mind
in this new world was a crime in and of itself, and if the words
you spoke were against Lawrence Whitney, you usually ended up minus
a tongue.
    I sighed, knowing I couldn’t fault them for
falling in line with the cruelty here, not when the outside world
was as terrifying as it was. These men had saved us from the
infection, protected us, given us a semblance of our old lives, no
matter how warped that semblance might be. Something was always
better than nothing.
    Averting my eyes from Alex’s, I looked out
the lone window and into the inky black night, thinking of what was
to come. I would be executed soon, there was no getting around
that, and yet, much to my own surprise, I wasn’t experiencing the
crippling fear I’d thought I would when it came to facing my own
death.
    My calmness probably came from the
knowledge that the world I was leaving was a barren one, devoid of
everything I’d once loved. With the exception of Evelyn, there was
nothing here for me. And maybe some small part of me was still
hoping that there was a heaven somewhere out there in the great
unknown. That maybe the human race hadn’t been forsaken, and God
would forgive me for my sins, allow me into heaven to be with my
first husband again, to be the woman I once was without
repercussions—simple, shy, and happy.
    Without consequence.
    Maybe someday I would see Evelyn again as
well. Because if heaven was real, then she deserved to be there
too.
    The sound of a door rubbing against the
concrete floor jolted me out of my musings. I jerked, then lifted
my head to find Alex already on his feet and nodding to whoever was
entering. I stiffened, preparing for the worst, thinking that my
time had already come and I would be sentenced to die
tonight.
    A messy shock of dirty-blond hair came into
view first that I instantly recognized as belonging to Jami,
another Fredericksville guard and Evelyn’s latest distraction from
her husband. Following behind him, her face stained with tears, her
strawberry-blonde curls unusually messy and her hands wringing
together, was Evelyn.
    My shocked gaze slid to Alex, who gave me a
small, sad grimace in return. He was helping me? Yet again?
    I jumped off my stool, entirely forgetting
that my ankles were cuffed, and ended up falling forward. I twisted
my body just in time so as not to land flat on my face, allowing my
right arm to bear the brunt of the impact. Sharp pain radiated up
the limb, exploding in my neck, causing me to inadvertently cry
out.
    While I lay there, breathing heavily,
tears stinging my eyes, I could hear the jingling of keys, the
sound of muffled cursing, and then she was there, kneeling on the
floor beside me, her hands gentle as she turned my body.
    “ Oh God,” Evelyn whimpered as she looked me
over, her eyes widening at the sight of me. I couldn’t imagine what
I must have looked like; I hadn’t looked in a mirror since the
incident. But I knew from Alex’s initial expression, and now
Evelyn’s, that I was a sight to behold.
    “Eve,” I said as I sobbed softly. “I’m so
sorry. I’m so very sorry.” Not for killing Lawrence but for leaving
her here alone, because that was what she would be after I was
gone—alone.
    “Shh.” She shushed me, smoothing her hand
across my cheek and brushing errant strands of hair from my
eyes.
    “No,” I whispered frantically, wishing I
could hug her. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking, and I—”
    “Lei,” she interrupted, softly yet firmly.
“You