The soft words were like a crack of thunder in the quiet room, making my fear flare again.
He held out his hand. “Come.”
I put my hand in his, letting him pull me free from my hiding spot. But, the remnants of the dream continued to cloud my thinking and skew my judgment, and with my arms still aching from the bites, the bedroom felt too large and open. The lingering sensation of danger had me stepping into his arms when he released me.
There was a moment of hesitation on his part before his hand settled on my head, and he stroked my hair. A shuddering sigh escaped me, and I wrapped my arms around his waist. Face planted in his shirt, I stayed there, soaking up the comfort while I tried to separate dream from reality.
It took a few minutes for me to realize what I was doing and who I was doing it with. He didn’t stop me when I pulled away. I tried not to notice how my head felt bare without his touch.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
He grunted.
I continued to stand there awkwardly. There was no way I could crawl back into bed. I also didn’t want him to drag me downstairs again.
“Any chance I could eat now?” I asked hopefully.
“Yes.”
With quiet relief, I followed him from the bedroom. Emily’s door was closed tightly, and I wondered if she locked it at night because Merdon was in the house. Probably not. He could just break it down if he really wanted to get in. Luckily for her, he wasn’t interested. Too bad for me, he was.
He sat at the island and watched me look through the cupboards. I found bags of cookies stored away, for Emily’s visit to Tenacity, but left those alone and kept looking for something a little more nutritionally sound.
The search proved unnecessary when I discovered a plastic wrapped plate of food in the refrigerator. Meat, mashed potatoes with gravy, and carrots. My stomach growled loudly as I slipped it into the microwave. I stopped it before it could beep and started cutting the meat into manageable bites.
“Are you hungry?” I asked softly.
“No. Eat.”
Everything was orders with him.
I took my time eating, letting the memory of the dream fade as much as possible in the hopes that I’d be able to go back to sleep.
The complete silence accentuated the sound of my chewing, which I didn’t like at all. It was sometimes like that now, though. Especially with the infected gone.
“How many days has it been since the breach?” I asked with a frown. All the days with Merdon were blending together.
“I don’t know. Why are you asking?”
“It’s weird for the infected to be gone this long, isn’t it? I mean, it’s been at least two weeks. Almost three, maybe. We’ve never gone that long without seeing an infected. What does that mean?”
“They are learning to stay away from us because we can kill them.”
“Hmm. Are they still setting traps for the groups that go out for salvage runs?”
“Yes.”
“Then I don’t think they’re staying away from here because they’re avoiding you guys.” It scared me to think that they might be planning something else.
I finished my food, trying not to focus on the noise I was making, then rinsed my plate to wash in the morning.
I didn’t need to fake a yawn when I turned back to Merdon.
“Am I allowed to go back to bed, or are you in the mood for some wrestle time?”
He tilted his head, studying me for a long, intense moment.
“If you’re looking for my vote, it’s bed,” I said with another yawn. “I feel like I could sleep for a day straight.”
He stood and motioned for the stairs leading to the second floor. I didn’t need to be told twice. Glad for the reprieve, I jogged up the stairs and was burrowed under my covers moments later. With a sigh, I closed my eyes and let exhaustion pull me back under.
Thoughts drifted in and out during my semi-conscious state of almost awake. One in particular had my eyes popping open, and I was momentarily blinded by the sunlight streaming in through the window. The light didn’t banish my thoughts of last night’s messed up dream or the blame for it.
Angry, I sat up and looked at the bite marks on my arms.
It’d been Merdon’s bites I’d felt as the infected pulled me down. He’d wormed his way into my dream, twisting it so I suffered in Katie’s place.