Feral

Chapter Three

"What do you reckon he was put away for?"

"I think it's pretty freaking obvious what he was put away for, Travis!"

"Jasper, don't yell at him."

"We're not actually letting him come with us, right? One of you guys tell me we're not letting him come with us!"

Grace met his victims in prison, at least that was the story he was sticking with. According to him they'd never been nice guys – said with an indifferent shrug, covered in their blood. Despite Paige's less than pleasant experience with them, that didn't excuse the butchering still staining her skin. She'd pulled her clothes back on, blood coating her like a sunburn and his eyes on her like a snake about to strike.

For the deliberation he waited atop a crate a little ways away in the shade of the store. Adam nestled himself easily on the ground beside him, flipping through a handful of postcards scooped up from inside. While Adam was courteously pretending not to be listening to her, Jasper and Travis, the prisoners eyes stayed glued to them, to her.

You're coming with me.

He lifted a hand to scratch irritably at his chest. Flakes of splattered blood crumbled and scattered to the ground. It was starting to itch, she knew, because her own skin tickled as Roger's blood began to crust under her clothes.

"We haven't got all day," he growled from the shadows of the store.

Resentment blazed within Paige at his callous tone. "And we haven't finished, murderer!" she shot back with a toss of her head.

His gaze narrowed on her.

Alarm flared within Paige as he stood. Jasper stepped between them, already shaking as the killer advanced. Up close he was taller than Grace, but from the way the prisoners eyes looked him up and down, like a dry twig to be snapped in half, the murderer didn't feel any of the menace Jasper was failing to muster up.

Grace looked past the trembling boy, a cruel spark lurking in the bottomless depths of his eyes. "I'm pretty sure my former cell mates mentioned what you could call me."

This was amusing to him. Her fists clenched at her sides, forcing herself to banish the terror of what she'd witnessed him do. If he saw he could frighten her he'd always have that power to use. Jasper could never scare him, if he'd ever had that chance. Now the murderer didn't bother to see him. 

"You mean the ones you slaughtered?" she shot back in her best imitation of ferocity.

"So next time I let you get slaughtered, Princess?" She made the mistake of bristling at the bait. He smirked. "Look, I was searching for the girl with the cure. So are others, for very different reasons. So when I ran into some old contacts from my prison days I let them think our reasons were shared. They watched my back, I looked for you. Right up till about ten minutes ago." He must have seen the disbelief on her face and rolled his eyes at it. "If they'd figured me out before I got to them, they woulda' killed me, then you. After they'd had their fun. I protected you."

"After you stripped me down in front of them!" Venom coated the words so thickly she could taste it. In a move she didn't remember ordering she jabbed her finger at his chest. "You let them run their filthy hands all over my body! They were going to... You made me think I was going to die!"

He looked down at the finger, then at her with flat dark eyes. It took all her willpower to keep it where it was, refusing to give in to his unspoken order. His gaze traced over her, from the furious groove in her brows to the thin line her lips speared across her mouth.

His own lips curved wickedly. "All for show." Shifting back on his heels, rolling his neck until its pop was echoed by a satisfied sigh. The showful apathy sent a hot flush of anger up Paige's neck before she could stop it. "Pretty sure I already explained this, but if you need it explained again, listen closely this time." He began to speak low and slow, gestures flat with long pauses in between. "If they'd... known my plans... weren't on track with theirs... they'd have killed me... Then done much less kind things to you."