The Blood That Binds by Madeline Sheehan
Willow
“Would you stop your dang fidgetin’—you’re more worked up than a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rockin’ chairs.” Britta eyed me over a mug of steaming Calamus root tea.
“They were supposed to be home yesterday,” I said irritably, pacing the length of the small room. “Joshua said it could take them up to four days to return. Which means if they’re not back today then—”
“It don’t mean nothin’,” she interrupted. “Time works differently out there, you know that. Hiccups happen ya can’t account for. Take my dang foot, for example.” Britta gestured to her bandaged stump with a frown. “Ain’t exactly how I saw myself endin’ up, but here we are. Gotta account for them hiccups.”
“I love you, Britta,” I said, grabbing the foot of her bed. “But I don’t understand you. If I’d lost my foot…” I trailed off, shaking my head. Truthfully, I had no idea how I’d react to losing a limb in a world like this one—a world where you relied on your physical prowess more than anything else.
“Aw, shoot, there ain’t nothin’ to me, sugar. I’m just a girl wantin’ to make the most of what I got left. And speakin’ of makin’ the most of shit—do ya really wanna be lookin’ like that when Logan rolls in here? If that were my man comin’ home, I think I’d want to be lookin’ my best.”
Glancing down at my dirt and sweat-stained work clothes, looking over my soil encrusted fingernails, I groaned. “Shit,” I muttered, wiping my hands on my jeans, merely smearing the dirt around. “Shit.”
“Go get fancy,” she said, pointing at the door. “Go spit shine that gorgeous face of yers. Go now, ‘fore he gets here!”
I’d just finished with my hair when I heard it—the unmistakable sounds of celebration rising up through camp. Heart leaping into my throat, I gave myself one last look over in the bathroom mirror. My hair, after having been wound in a tight knot all day, now hung in long loose curls around my shoulders, and I was wearing the top Logan liked; the black button-down with a bow at the collar. I took a steadying breath and then I was bursting outside, leaving the cabin door swinging behind me and flying across the grass. I wasn’t the only one running, though I couldn’t tell who I was running alongside; I had a single-minded focus: to reach the gate, and Logan, as quickly as possible.
The gate was open, vehicles pulled in single file as I reached the wall. I slowed to a stop, frantically searching the faces inside each vehicle as they pulled past me.
“Maria!” Jim shouted from the open window of a truck. Jumping from the moving vehicle, he tackled his fast-approaching wife, crushing her to him and spinning her through the air.
Behind Jim’s truck, a fortified SUV was rolling to a stop, all four doors flinging open. Logan emerged from the passenger seat, looking dirty and disheveled, wearing a backpack slung over his shoulder.
My lips split into a smile even as tears filled my eyes. Breaking into a run, I shouted his name. Logan spun in my direction, going still at the sight of me, his hands falling limply to his sides—as listless as the lifeless expression on his face. Confused, I began to slow, my gaze moving to the man exiting the seat behind Logan.
Tall and slim, the man was cleanly shaven, with short blond hair cropped close to his head. I didn’t recognize him, and yet… I absolutely knew him.
I staggered to a stop, my hand moving to my mouth, heart sputtering in my chest.
“Willbraham!” His face split into a wide, familiar smile. And then he was running, reaching me quickly and lifting me straight off my feet. As he spun me around, his scent engulfed me, strange and unfamiliar and yet… the most familiar thing in the world.
“Luke,” I gasped, gripping him tightly as we continued to spin. “You’re… alive.”
“It’s insane—this is so crazy insane!” Lucas was shouting between bursts of happy laughter. “I thought you were both dead. You know, I went back to the farmhouse looking for you. And then I searched the ravine and I found all your stuff at the bottom and I thought… I thought I’d lost you both.”
The three of us were alone in our cabin—Logan sitting at the table, me on my bed, while Lucas paced the space in between, talking animatedly. I hadn’t said much, while Lucas couldn’t seem to stop. At the gate, his excitement had rapidly drawn the attention of everyone in camp, and as the three of us quickly became Silver Lake’s focal point, Leisel had suggested we move our reunion to our cabin.
“I broke my arm when I fell off that cliff. See?” Lucas bent down on one knee before me, pulling up his shirt sleeve, revealing a mass of pink and white scar tissue. I reached out to touch him, changing my mind at the last second and clasping my hands back in my lap.
“I twisted my ankle pretty bad, too,” he continued, tugging down his shirt sleeve. “I almost didn’t make it inside that car before they got me. I was lucky, you know? They’d been down there so long I think they were half petrified. If they’d been Runners, they definitely would have got me.
“I don’t know what happened after that. I think I passed out and when I woke up, it was dark and the Creepers were gone and it took me forever to find a way out of there. And I was so out of it and disoriented, and I got so turned around…” Lucas trailed off. “Anyway, Logan told me you were sick, too. Like really, really sick and that the doctor here saved your life.”
At the mention of Logan, I looked to the table; our gazes crashed together, each of us quickly glancing away.
“Willow, come on—you gotta say something.” Lucas’s hands grasped my thighs. “Talk to me! Tell me how you are!”
I swallowed and tried to speak. “I, um, I’m sorry,” I whispered, wringing my hands. “I guess I’m just confused. Have you been at Everdeen this entire time?”
Lucas shook his head. “Just these last two months. After I crawled out of the ravine, I’m not sure how many days passed before this guy found me—his name’s Anthony, only everyone calls him Ant. He fixed me up as best he could, but it was weeks before I was good on my feet again. After that, we ended up staying at the farmhouse for a little while—that’s when I found your gear at the bottom of the ravine and I thought… well, you already know what I thought.”
I merely blinked at him, speechless. Lucas had been at the… farmhouse? All this time… all that pain… and all we’d needed to do was wait for him to return to us? The revelation was agonizing, as was the realization that if Logan and I hadn’t left the farmhouse that we would have never happened. My eyes cut to Logan again, finding his head hanging low, his gaze on his feet.
“Once we ran out of supplies at the house, Ant took me to Everdeen. He’s from there, you know? He’d been there for a few years until he’d lost his friend in this freak accident and decided to head out on his own for a while. Crazy how things work out, right?” Lucas let out a low whistle. “If Ant hadn’t lost his friend—if he hadn’t been out there and found me when he did—I wouldn’t be here right now.”
“Crazy,” I repeated dumbly.
“So crazy,” Lucas agreed, squeezing my thighs again. “I still can’t believe you’re here. Both of you. And living together.” Chuckling, Lucas glanced around the room. “How the hell are you both still standing? I figured you would have ripped each other to shreds by now.”
My cheeks flamed hot. Lucas had no idea just how badly we’d shredded one another. Or how often. And on how many surfaces inside this cabin.
“Yeah, well, we haven’t had to see that much of each other. We work long hours.” Logan spoke for the first time, staring across the cabin with a flat, hard look in his eyes. I watched him briefly, willing him to look at me, desperate to know what he was thinking.
“That’s right, you have a job. Logan said you work in the gardens—and you’ve been scavenging—tell me about it. Tell me about everything!”
Rubbing my hand over my forehead, I shook my head. “I don’t even know where to begin,” I said softly. “I don’t know what to say or what to—”
Lucas pulled me off the bed and to my feet, wrapping his arms around me. “You don’t have to say anything,” he murmured, dropping his face in my hair. My cheek pressed against Lucas’s chest, I could see Logan out of the corner of my eye, his eyes on me, his flat expression giving nothing away.
“Aw, Will,” Lucas whispered, squeezing me tighter. “You have no idea how much I missed you.”
My mouth floundered and my eyes filled. “Me too,” I whispered hoarsely, my eyes still locked with Logan’s. “I thought… I thought I’d lost you forever.”