Chapter Twenty-Six
THE WORST POSSIBLE SCENARIO COMES to mind: the Split was bombed. Mass casualties. Zombies inside the gates. Grandma blown to bits. Bunny bitten.
What else could that deafening boom have been besides a bomb?
I will my legs to move, but my thighs tremble, and my feet are stuck in sludge. Everyone’s outside; their dampened shouts leech through the cement walls.
Put on your big girl pants and join the conversation, Kota.
With a deep breath, I shove open the metal door to the outside.
Greeley’s Jeep is engulfed in flames.
“You bitch!” Greeley screams at Chandler. They stand mere feet apart in front of the blistering Jeep. Behind it—too close to it—is a line of trees. This fire needs dousing. And soon. “I knew you weren’t over me!”
Chandler’s mask is back on, but Greeley wears her rage on her sleeve. She sprints toward Chandler, but as she lunges forward, Jasper grabs her arms. Greeley flails desperately against his chest.
“This isn’t about you,” Chandler says. “When will you learn? The world does not revolve around you. My world doesn’t revolve around you.”
Greeley pulls against Jasper’s taut embrace.
“Like hell! I’m the one you wanted—before Z Day as a lover and now as a scientist. But you couldn’t get your hands on my big brains, so you took the next best thing.
Joke’s on you, because Eagan and Garrett are just my assistants.
And I’d aim to guess they’re not nearly as good in bed. ”
“Keep quiet,” Jasper says as she yanks herself free.
She springs toward Chandler.
Jasper tries to catch her, but I’m faster. I beeline toward the two women and land between them, holding them apart. The heat from the fire swelters this close to the Jeep, and both of their collarbones are slick with sweat. Their hearts pound in their chests, their rhythm in tandem.
Greeley presses her chest against my hand. “Move aside, Blondie.” She could easily overtake me, but I hope she recognizes that hurting Chandler wouldn’t benefit either Egal or Mac.
I wince at the sight of the burning Jeep. “There’s a bigger fire to put out right now.”
Chandler slaps my hand away and walks toward Chief. He drags his hand down his face like a disappointed father. “Why have you done this?”
She sneers at his reaction. “You play with fire, you get burned,” Chandler says, her voice erupting over the roaring flames.
“Leave,” Chief orders. “You were welcomed to Macoby today under special circumstances, but you are no longer welcome here. Ever again.”
Then Chief turns to me, his eyes grim.
My stomach drops. Is he going to send me back with them? What will Chandler do to me?
“Kota,” he says. “There’s a fire extinguisher inside, hanging by the door. Do you mind?”
I nod and hurry off.
I’ve heard enough, anyway. I storm into the windowless building, searching for the extinguisher in the dark. Another set of footsteps trails behind me. Like a whimpering child, Peter says, “I’m sorry.”
“You did this,” I breathe. “You torched Nancy.”
“The Jeep? Yeah,” he says, reaching for me. “But that’s not why I’m sorry.”
I keep my back to him. “For what, Peter?”
“For letting things go on with Zara for as long as they did.” As long as they did. My gut seizes, and the walls around me shrink. No matter how little Peter means to me now, the thought still stings. “I’ve ended it with her. When you come back home, I’ll be yours. Only yours.”
“You were never mine,” I say. Peter has only ever made choices to benefit himself.
I was never considered; I was convenient.
I let out a deep breath. “I see that now.” The air feels like it’s been trapped in my chest for days.
“Your lies built walls between us. I thought I could be the one person to get through, but you never made a door for me. You let me bang my head into the wall, over and over again. You watched me bleed, Peter, and you never lifted a finger to help.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying,” Peter says. I trace my hand along the cold, smooth wall until I feel a hard metal tube. “Can’t we go back to the way things were? I miss you. I miss your touch.”
I ought to knock him out with this fire extinguisher. Right here, right now.
But I’m the bigger person.
I pull the insulin and aspirin out of my pocket, where they’ve stayed safely since Costco. I shove the medicine into Peter’s hand. “If you meant what you said, you’ll give this to Bunny and Grandma.”
“You have my word.”
His word doesn’t mean shit, but I can’t tell him that, not when he’s the only thing that could keep my sister breathing and my grandma from suffering. Because we both know I’m not going back. He said he loves me, but Peter won’t fight for me. He’s loyal to Chandler, but he was never loyal to me.
I mutter a thanks and run past my stupid ex, shrouded in darkness.
I wrench open the door and propel forward under the blazing sun. In one swoop, I extinguish the flames on Nancy, clouds of white foam coating the newly decimated vehicle. For good measure, I run around the Jeep and blow foam on the trees behind.
My chest heaves as I drop the extinguisher. It clanks on the concrete as it lands, and I kick it into the line of trees. Not my smartest move. The bone in my foot hurts like hell from the impact.
Fuck this. It was me who got the extinguisher. It was me who doused the flames. It was me who saved the day. And I won’t get rewarded for it. No, I’ll just keep getting hurt.
I turn around. Jasper holds Greeley by the bicep, and Chandler stands by her own truck, a satisfied smirk on her gaunt face. Chief is wide-eyed, looking like a psychic who predicted a calamity but hoped desperately it wouldn’t come true.
Sorry to burst your bubble, Chief.
“Always a pleasure,” Chandler says once Peter’s back outside. He keeps his eyes fixed on the ground as he walks toward the passenger-side door and opens it for Chandler. Before she slides in, Chandler turns her venomous eyes toward me. “See you when you have something of value to trade.”
And with that, they leave.
Greeley lets out a scream that sends the zombirds flying away.