“Thallirin?”
He lifted an arm so I could slide out from under him.
“Go,” he said softly.
I bolted from the bed to the bathroom then to my bedroom and hurriedly yanked on my clothes. When I emerged, I could hear the low murmur of voices in the kitchen.
“You sure you’re okay? You look a little mad. Did Brenna keep you up all night with her snoring?”
Before I could yell at Zach to cut it out, Thallirin answered.
“Brenna does not snore.”
I walked into the kitchen and saw Thallirin was already dressed and scowling at Zach. I did a double-take and wondered why I thought it was a scowl when his expression really wasn’t any different from his normal one.
Passing Zach, I reached into the cupboard for a granola bar. It wouldn’t taste too good on top of toothpaste, but I couldn’t afford to be picky.
“Sorry we’re late,” I said. “We didn’t set an alarm.”
“No problem. Ryan’s waiting. He said we’re not likely to get much help from Tenacity, anyway, because we’re going back to Harrisonville. I think those people are stupid if they don’t come with us. We’re hitting that distribution center again. There’s enough to feed us for months in just that warehouse alone. It was untouched.”
He headed for the door.
“They’re not stupid,” I said, following him outside. “It’s dangerous any time we go out. You know that. Don’t get full of yourself and let your guard down.”
He rolled his eyes at me.
“I’m not letting my guard down, and I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. All I’m saying is there’s a lot of food there for a group that’s desperate for it.”
He was right, of course. But the people in Tenacity didn’t understand their short-term choice wasn’t much different than their long-term one. Stay inside the safety of the walls and potentially slowly starve or leave the walls and potentially be bitten. Each option had an equal potential for death.
“Come on.” He started jogging. I didn’t mind. It warmed me up and got the blood flowing. Cleared my head, too, until we stopped by the group and another fey walked up to offer me a ride.
“That’s okay. Thallirin, can—”
“He already left,” the fey said.
I looked behind me and didn’t see my shadow. Confused, I agreed to the fey’s offer. Maybe Thallirin was still worked up over this morning and thought it would be a bad idea to carry me. I’d just lectured Zach about not being distracted, so it made sense Thallirin wouldn’t want to carry me. However, it didn’t stop me from feeling a tinge of hurt.
Thanking the fey, I gripped my bow and nodded that I was ready. He carefully picked me up but didn’t hold me like I was fragile and would shatter at the slightest jarring like Thallirin did.
When my fey cleared the wall and started running, I looked for Thallirin. He was running ahead of us. I caught myself wondering what was going on with him before putting it aside. I could worry about Thallirin and his sudden change of heart about carrying me tonight when I was safely back inside Tolerance’s wall. Until then, I needed to focus.
My eyes went to the trees, watching for signs of infected. Everything was quiet the entire trip.
Matt and a few others waited for us outside the wall by the trucks.
“Thirty percent of what the trucks bring back belongs to Tenacity,” he said.
“Agreed,” Ryan said. “As long as you’ll take an additional week’s worth of supplies for each new household so they see what supplies can be found when they venture outside the wall with the fey.”
Matt and Ryan shook on it as the fey delivered me to Garrett’s truck.
“Morning, Brenna. Ready for some easy pickings?” he asked.
“Don’t jinx it,” I warned, getting in and taking the granola bar from my pocket.
I ate while we waited. It didn’t take long for the volunteers to load up and for the fey to get into position. Our truck rumbled forward, and I got comfortable. During the drive, Garrett explained the distribution center’s layout and our plan for today.
“The infected probably heard the trucks yesterday, so there’s a chance they set a trap for us. But more than likely, because we haven’t hit the same area twice, they’ll be waiting for us somewhere else.”
“And if they’re not waiting somewhere else?”
“The fey are going in first to check while we back the trucks up to the dock. When they give the all-clear, we work together to load as much as we can as quickly as we can, picking up where we left off. You’ll be watching the trucks again, but there will be fey on the roof as well. The place is huge.”
Instead of taking Highway 2 all the way west, Garrett took a back road south and met up with Highway 7. There didn’t look like much around. Only a gas station that was probably well-picked over and a fireworks store once we crossed the overpass.
“How did the fey even find this distribution place?” I asked.
“Not sure. A few of them always scout while we’re out.”
We turned off onto a backroad that looked like it led to nothing. After a few minutes, I saw a huge building ahead.
“That’s it?” I asked.
“Yep.”
We followed the road around to the side of the building where rows and rows of semi-trailers just sat there.
“It couldn’t have been easy to park them like that,” I said, looking at how only a few were turned so the hitch was toward the parking lot. “What’s in them?”
“A few have pallets of supplies. Most are empty.” He turned the truck around and backed toward one of the empty docks. “Now we sit tight until the fey check things out. It takes a while.” He reached under his seat and pulled out a bag of trail mix.
We munched and watched for signs of infected. The temperature in the truck dropped quickly, and I used my first set of hand warmers to keep my toes toasty.
A knock on Garrett’s door, a good deal later, startled me.
“It’s time,” the fey called.
We got out, and I immediately climbed up the hood of the truck to take my position up top. The volunteers cautiously exited their truck.
“Humans stay close to your fey,” Ryan said softly. “Work quickly and quietly. The place is big, and there can be infected anywhere.”
The groups slipped in through a bay door that one of the fey had pried open, and I started my watch, not that there was a lot to see. Across the wide expanse of snow-dusted blacktop, sat the long line of trailers. Behind them, barren trees. The trailers shielded me from the wind but obstructed my view of the trees and fields beyond.
I glanced at the fey who paced the roof, knowing with the extra height, they’d have no problem seeing anything that came our way. However, instead of looking at the trees and fields, the fey closest to me was looking down toward the trailers.
Turning, I saw the reason for his attention. Thallirin was inspecting one of the nearby trailers. He reached out, touching the unlatched lock, then looked at his finger. I couldn’t see what he was seeing, but I was sure it had to be blood by the way he stared. And, only one thing would leave a bloody lock.
I drew an arrow from my quiver and nocked it, ready. Thallirin looked up at me, holding my gaze. Behind him, the door to the trailer moved.