at the moment.
“I’m not,” I said. “But I’d feel a lot better if you could explain why you’re on top of me like this.”
He shuddered harder.
“The curtains are open.”
Harsh pounding started on the door, evoking a growl from Thallirin as he jerked his head from mine.
“Shit. We have to go,” I said even as I heard Zach call my name.
I looked back up at Thallirin and saw his hesitation.
“Thallirin?”
He lifted an arm so I could slide out from under him.
“Go,” he said softly.
I bolted from the bed to the bathroom then to my bedroom and hurriedly yanked on my clothes. When I emerged, I could hear the low murmur of voices in the kitchen.
“You sure you’re okay? You look a little mad. Did Brenna keep you up all night with her snoring?”
Before I could yell at Zach to cut it out, Thallirin answered.
“Brenna does not snore.”
I walked into the kitchen and saw Thallirin was already dressed and scowling at Zach. I did a double-take and wondered why I thought it was a scowl when his expression really wasn’t any different from his normal one.
Passing Zach, I reached into the cupboard for a granola bar. It wouldn’t taste too good on top of toothpaste, but I couldn’t afford to be picky.
“Sorry we’re late,” I said. “We didn’t set an alarm.”
“No problem. Ryan’s waiting. He said we’re not likely to get much help from Tenacity, anyway, because we’re going back to Harrisonville. I think those people are stupid if they don’t come with us. We’re hitting that distribution center again. There’s enough to feed us for months in just that warehouse alone. It was untouched.”
He headed for the door.
“They’re not stupid,” I said, following him outside. “It’s dangerous any time we go out. You know that. Don’t get full of yourself and let your guard down.”
He rolled his eyes at me.
“I’m not letting my guard down, and I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. All I’m saying is there’s a lot of food there for a group that’s desperate for it.”
He was right, of course. But the people in Tenacity didn’t understand their short-term choice wasn’t much different than their long-term one. Stay inside the safety of the walls and potentially slowly starve or leave the walls and potentially be bitten. Each option had an equal potential for death.
“Come on.” He started jogging. I didn’t mind. It warmed me up and got the blood flowing. Cleared my head, too, until we stopped by the group and another fey walked up to offer me a ride.
“That’s okay. Thallirin, can—”
“He already left,” the fey said.
I looked behind me and didn’t see my shadow. Confused, I agreed to the fey’s offer. Maybe Thallirin was still worked up over this morning and thought it would be a bad idea to carry me. I’d just lectured Zach about not being distracted, so it made sense Thallirin wouldn’t want to carry me. However, it didn’t stop me from feeling a tinge of hurt.
Thanking the fey, I gripped my bow and nodded that I was ready. He carefully picked me up but didn’t hold me like I was fragile and would shatter at the slightest jarring like Thallirin did.
When my fey cleared the wall and started running, I looked for Thallirin. He was running ahead of us. I caught myself wondering what was going on with him before putting it aside. I could worry about Thallirin and his sudden change of heart about carrying me tonight when I was safely back inside Tolerance’s wall. Until then, I needed to focus.
My eyes went to the trees, watching for signs of infected. Everything was quiet the entire trip.
Matt and a few others waited for us outside the wall by the trucks.
“Thirty percent of what the trucks bring back belongs to Tenacity,” he said.
“Agreed,” Ryan said. “As long as you’ll take an additional week’s worth of supplies for each new household so they see what supplies can be found when they venture outside the wall with the fey.”
Matt and Ryan shook on it as the fey delivered me to Garrett’s truck.
“Morning, Brenna. Ready for some easy pickings?” he asked.
“Don’t jinx it,” I warned, getting in and taking the granola bar from my pocket.
I ate while we waited. It didn’t take long for the volunteers to load up and for the fey to get into position. Our truck rumbled forward, and I got comfortable. During the drive, Garrett explained the distribution center’s layout and our plan for today.
“The infected probably heard the