midst of death

Chapter Twenty-Three

~Alex~

A few days later, I was walking Dez around the compound. His knee was permanently screwed up, and he would always walk with a limp. He was talking animatedly about soccer, and I could've laughed at how enthusiastic he was about it. Abruptly he stopped and faced me.

"What?" I asked, worried that he was in too much pain.

"Nothing. Sit with me." 

I helped him down onto the floor, his bad knee straightened out. I sat beside him, and we were alone in the corridor. I felt the same electricity I felt a few days ago in the cafeteria, and I subconsciously moved away. It zipped up my arms and tingled along my spine, giving me nervous pleasure.

I barely knew him. Why did I feel this way?

Dez looked over at me, his gaze thoughtful. "Can I tell you something?"

"Uh, sure," I replied. I played with my fraying sleeve, mentally criticizing the handiwork of such a famous brand of clothing.

 "Promise you won't be weirded out?" He watched me, gauging my reaction.

Alarm raced through me. Struggling to confine it, I said, "Promise."

He monitored me as he started his story.

"So, you know how Kain and I are. We met shortly after the apocalypse, on a military base that was breached. We fought like hell to get out of there. After we did, we had almost no choice but to stick together. We decided we would try and find survivors and bring them to safety.

"It was hard, fending for ourselves. We saw a lot of things that would make people vomit, or would see in a horror movie. We almost saved a few people, but many times we were either too late, or they died on our watch.

"The only way we really stayed sane was when Kain recited stories for us. Stories of a spunky, rebellious little sister."

I blushed, unsure what to think of Kain's stories.

"One story was of how his little sister, when she was younger, climbed up a tree and stayed there for hours. When their parents tried to get her down, she said she was too busy wanting to be a bird and fly away.

"Another was when she was around 12, and decided 'I'm not gonna dress like a prissy, frilly girl!' and started wearing mostly boy clothes. She was going to be a tomboy, and not care what anyone thought of her from then on out. And oddly enough, she made friends that she kept for a while."

He paused as my cheeks grew redder. He smiled as he began to recount his favorite story. "And there was one story of when she turned 15. A guy was giving her a hard time about having a military brother, and how our country wasn't worth the blood shed for it, and how her brother was worthless for wanting to die for it. Wailed on that guy pretty good, as far as I know. Last Kain heard, that kid never talked around her again."

I looked at him, wondering where this was going. "He pissed me off. He disrespected my brother and my country."

"Understandable. I would've done the same thing." He cleared his throat, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. His voice got breathtakingly serious. "Kain told me so many stories of his little sister and her personality, I began to think differently about a lot of things. He even pulled out a picture a few times. Slowly, I fell in love with his sister."

I sat there, shocked, trying to think of something to say.

Dez was in love with me? I sighed. Kain really did a number on me this time.

That was when it clicked in my head. I think Jones has his eyes set on you, Kain's voice bounced in my head. He knew!

I tried to imagine creative punishments fir him while Dez watched me. Finally I turned toward him and said, "I don't know what to say."