We stumbled back through the gates just as Brody was practically screaming at Marlon.
"You're not listening to me!" Her voice cracked with panic. "Marlon, listen—I'm telling you, the place was ransacked!"
Marlon rubbed his temples. "It's fine. We'll deal with it."
Mitch swung the gate open, and we filed in—Rhett, Clem, Louis, AJ, and me—all of us breathing hard.
Ruby crossed her arms. "Took y'all a while."
Louis, ever the dramatic, swept into a bow. "'How poor are they that have not patience!'"
We dropped the duffel bags in the middle of the courtyard, unzipping them to reveal the jars of food.
Willy's eyes went wide. "Aasim! Mitch! Check it out! Food!"
Mitch blinked. "That's, like, a lot of food."
Louis smirked. "Observant as ever, Mitch."
Aasim crouched down, inspecting the haul. "I can't believe this. Look at it."
Willy grinned at Clem. "You're our savior, Clem."
Mitch nodded. "Like, seriously. It's a lot."
Clem shook her head. "Louis, Rhett, and Violet helped, too."
Aasim scoffed. "Neither of them ever brought back this much before."
That was it for Rhett.
He turned on Aasim, his voice a snarl. "Oh, fuck you. The three of us just risked our fucking lives to get this food."
I blinked. Rhett was pissed, sure, but this was more aggressive than usual.
Brody stepped forward, her hands shaking. "Where did you find all this?"
Louis gestured vaguely. "The old train station. Clem knew where it was."
Brody's face paled. "Train station... that's outside the safe zone."
I crossed my arms. "We'd have even more... but we ran into the creep that fucked up our fish traps."
Brody's breath hitched. "Creep? What creep?"
Louis wrinkled his nose. "Clem saw him smoking those nasty-ass Bible cigarettes."
Clem added, "He had weird different-colored eyes."
Brody's voice went sharp. "Did he follow you?"
Rhett didn't miss a beat. "No. I killed him."
Brody's composure shattered. "What the hell were you thinking?! This is fucked! How could you be so stupid?!"
Rhett's glare could've melted steel. "Go fuck yourself. What's your fucking problem?"
"What if there are others?!" Brody shouted. "What if they come looking for him?! You don't know what people are capable of out there!"
Rhett took a step toward her, his voice dangerously low. "Then they can try."
Brody's hands flew to her head. "I just can't... I won't... just not again... fuck!"
Marlon finally stepped in. "What the hell's going on here?"
Brody whirled on him. "She took them outside the safe zone! They SAW someone! You know what that means!"
Marlon's voice hardened. "ENOUGH! It just means there's a hungry guy out there looking for food. It's happened before. You're overreacting."
"You can't be serious!" Brody shrieked.
Marlon reached for her arm. "Come on, let's go somewhere and talk about this."
Brody shoved him—hard. Marlon hit the ground, stunned.
"If ANYTHING happens..." Brody pointed a trembling finger at Clem. "I'm holding YOU responsible!"
Then she stormed off, leaving silence in her wake.
Marlon picked himself up, dusting off his pants. "Clem, I know I asked you for help... and you did. You did. But... shit. God. Nothing's easy."
Clem sighed. "Sorry I went outside the safe zone. I didn't see any other option."
Marlon nodded. "Yeah, I know. It's just hard keeping this together." He glanced at the food. "Well... at least we're eating tonight. And for the next few, I'd wager." He rubbed his neck. "Um, I'll go talk to Brody. Thanks for the haul, Clem. You guys should go enjoy it. You've earned it."
As he walked away, I exhaled, running a hand through my hair.
Before I could even process everything that had happened, Rhett grabbed my hand and started pulling me toward the dormitory.
"What are you—"
"Shut up," he muttered, but there was no bite to it. Just that rough edge he always had, like he was annoyed by his own impatience.
I rolled my eyes but let him drag me along.
"You know," he said as we walked, his thumb brushing over my knuckles, "you're kinda cute when you're not being a pain in my ass."
"Wow," I deadpanned. "That might be the worst attempt at flirting I've ever heard."
He smirked. "Did it work?"
I fought the smile tugging at my lips. "No."
"Liar."
We reached his room, and he shoved the door open, pulling me inside before locking it behind us. No hesitation—his hands were on my waist, his mouth on mine, kissing me like he'd been thinking about it all damn day.
And honestly?
I'd been thinking about it too.
******
Later, we lay tangled in his bed, skin still warm, the air thick with the scent of sweat and cigarettes. His arm was slung over my waist, his face pressed against the back of my neck, breath steady against my skin.
"So," he murmured, voice rough. "How was it?"
I exhaled, tilting my head back against his shoulder. "Better than last time."
He chuckled, the sound vibrating against me. "Damn right."
Silence settled between us, comfortable but heavy. After a moment, I turned slightly to look at him.
"Why were you so aggressive earlier?" I asked. "I mean—more than usual."
His smirk faded. He didn't answer right away, just stared at the ceiling like it held some kind of answer.
Then, quietly: "First time I killed someone."
I stilled.
He let out a slow breath. "Felt sick after. Still do, kinda. Even though I just... wanted to protect you."
I turned fully to face him, searching his expression. "Are you okay now?"
His fingers traced idle patterns on my hip. "Right now? Yeah. But that's probably just 'cause of you."
I didn't know what to say to that. So I didn't say anything. Just leaned in and kissed him, soft but sure.
He kissed me back like it was the only thing keeping him grounded.
And maybe it was.