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Still My body count is at two I wince Is this going to beco count? Is everyone right and I have a knack for it? My sto to be sick

Caden aze, and it’s a relief "Not happening, Marcus"

"All right Why don’t you all leave us now?" Phelps announces in a voice that declares he’s finished with the little draet her cleaned up and check on that shoulder" Phelps closes in on ether, they help me to my feet I whimper when she lifts my arm to drape it over her shoulder I used to think I had a pretty good pain tolerance, but now I realize I was giving aze toward the door, and my heart sinks at the distance It seems so far away I want to hen I think of the walk stretching fro about it at all, because I’ far too fa?" My fingers clutch Caden’s shirt like I need to hang on in case he drops ers, and I snatch my hand away

Faces blur as he carriesThe air is cooler outside the infir" I de you to the shower soaze dips toto do with adrenaline or outrage Especially when his lips lift in a half smile "You’re welcome"

I jerkthat rateful to him As if we should be friendly with each other--if not actual friends Looking at me with eyes that make me feelwell They rumble

His hands flex where they hold me My skin shrinks at the sensation, and I pull inside myself "It’s not a problehter, trying to hold myself apart from him as we head down the hallway

I feel his eyes on h he’s a carrier and someone in his flock just tried to kill irls from certain death don’t then hurt them But for some reason hetouched"

"I noticed Is that a chronic condition?"

"Meaning have I always been this way?" I think about the girl I used to be before her life ended She loved people Touching didn’t scare her If anything, she was a hugger "Itqueen" I don’t knohy I throw this out there Maybe for shock value

His eyes glow like the sunset, all amber and red tones buried in the brown, and I know he’s ahter How can he find around bunker because the world up top rejected him Us "Actually, that doesn’t surprise me at all"

"Liar"

"No I can see you in a dress like souess, quarterback?"

"Rugby captain," I supply

He shrugs "Close" His gaze fastens on my face in a way that makes my skin flush His voice drops low Husky "I see past this tough ar princess Admired by friends Sweet Confident Boys couldn’t help but stare And in secret, you jaer Let s"

"I knew it" His sht white teeth

I s and wince at the pain inhi "Yeah Not h, am I?" I motion to my blood-caked self and arch my throat where the imprint circles me like a collar My dark, hacked-off hair no doubt completes my ensemble "This is me now, okay? And I don’t like to be touched or handled, so stop it with everything" Stop the sht there di"

I claht I shouldn’t try to talk Tabatha watches us with a bemused look on her face as we pass Several others are awake, e in the open space of the ht of me, covered in blood

Once we’re in the showers, he deposits lances at Rhiannon and Phelps "Got this?"

"Sure" The doctor waves hi them back to bed God knows you can’t leave them to Marcus, and Terrence isn’t exactly one for many words He’s probably already back in the controls rooo Suddenly he stops and turns back to me My neck falls back to look up at him, and I wince Even that simple movement stretches my bruised flesh uncomfortably

His expression is serious, intent "I’m sorry this happened to you It shouldn’t have happened here It won’t again" His deep voice is like a physical touch, and I shiver