The Divide (The Divide Series Book 1) (18 page)

I wanted to shower. I wanted to eat. I wanted to sleep. I just didn’t know which one I wanted most. My head hung down as I watched my feet shuffle through the dirt, which I started doing the last time I fell. Watching my feet was the best chance I had to keep myself from falling. My left arm dangled loosely by my side while my right arm was hanging in its sling. I had no energy to actually pick up my feet, so I listened as they shuffled against the ground.

When I wasn’t listening to my feet move, my mind flashed pictures of my home. I wanted to be home so badly. I had always told myself that anywhere but home would be paradise. Well, I had been wrong. So terribly wrong. I was running for my life with a guy who got on my nerves and I got on his nerves—he was probably regretting agreeing to come along with me. We had our moments when we got along, but how could we survive when we wanted to wring each other’s necks half the time? Maybe we would be better off splitting up when we hit Inonia, I would still pay him for taking me this far. Maybe he could show me some fighting moves before he left so I would have a way of defending myself. 

My chest tightened just thinking about that. I didn’t want to do this alone; I didn’t even know what I was doing. I was just running, but at some point I’d have to stop; I’d have to fight. And it would be better to have someone by my side than to do it by myself. It bothered me that I needed to rely on someone else, and it bothered me that I’d actually miss our bickering back and forth. But what bothered me the most was that I was so preoccupied with Gregory that I hadn’t even considered what my parents were going through, and I wasn’t quite sure if I cared enough to know if they were alive or dead. How ungrateful of a child was I? Shouldn’t I have wanted to figure out if I would ever see them again? Would I ever want to see them again? The questions kept repeating on a cycle in my head. Those questions didn’t bother me nearly as much as the one that kept popping up: was it wrong to hope they were dead? I missed my home terribly, yes, but I didn’t know if I missed them. I missed Agathy greatly, and my heart ached painfully every time I thought of her. But when I thought of both of my parents, I honestly didn’t feel anything. It was like a void. Did that make me a terrible person? Was I just in denial? Shock?

“Mia,” Gregory yelled from up ahead.

I looked up. Gregory was a great deal of distance away, and I hadn’t realized I had gotten so far behind. “What?” I croaked. I coughed, my mouth too dry to yell. He’d have to wait until I caught up to him.

Gregory stood there, watching me as I slowly walked toward him. My legs wanted to give out. Every time I took a shaky step, I knew I would be going down. But I didn’t. Thankfully, I made it to him before collapsing. “What?” I asked, covering my eyes from the setting sun. 

His gaze searched my face, his brow wrinkling. He frowned as worry flashed across his. “I didn’t realize you were this bad.”

I didn’t even have the energy to get offended by that comment. “Huh?”

“We only have a few more minutes left to walk. We’re almost there. See—” he turned and pointed forward “—those buildings over there? That’s where we’re headed. We’re almost to Inonia.” I couldn’t tell if he was trying to reassure himself or me.

I wanted to jump up and down, but I had no energy. “Okay.”

“When we get there, we have to try to blend in,” he said as he started walking. I followed grudgingly, trying to motivate myself to keep walking. I was almost there; I could do it. First stop would be to find somewhere to sleep, eat, and bathe. I would say goodbye to Gregory and find my way to safety. 

I almost cried out in relief when we finally came within reach of a giant glass building, but I figured that would draw unwanted attention toward us. 

“We need to find a place to stay,” Gregory said. He molded into the corner of the building and looked around it while I looked at the ground and talked myself out of sitting.

“I was thinking,” I rasped out. “We should go our separate ways.”

Gregory glanced at me; his face tightened as he narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

“Well,
obviously
we don’t get along and don’t enjoy each other’s presence, so it would make sense for us to go our separate ways,” I said, looking into his furtive face. “And to show you how nice I am, I’ll give you half the money I have as a thank-you.”

Gregory rolled his eyes and turned his attention back around the corner. “I don’t want half of the money, and we’re not splitting up. Those men we narrowly escaped on the train will be here and are most likely out looking for you as we speak. I’m surprised they didn’t have men search from here to where we jumped out. Plus they already know you’re with a male, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they knew who I was. Like it or not, it’s best if we stick together. Also, you couldn’t survive on your own.”

I wanted to smack him. “But why would you want to stick with me?”

“Because if I don’t, you’ll end up dead.” He turned to look back around the corner. 

If I hadn’t been so tired, I would have kicked him from that insult. But instead, I pushed that insult into a little box at the back of my mind, so when I was more awake, I could yell at him. “I can take care of myself.”

He turned to look down at me with a raised eyebrow. “Right.”

I narrowed my eyes at the back of his head since he’d turned back around. I glanced back down toward the ground. I really wanted to sit. Or maybe sleep. Or maybe ea—

“Things look clear,” Gregory said.

“Okay, now what?” I asked. I winced at the pain of swallowing; my throat felt shredded.

Gregory looked at me, his eyes roaming my body. “We’re going to find a place to stay, get showered, eat, and then sleep.”

“How about sleep first?” I asked, just as my stomach growled in its emptiness.

“Let’s find a place first,” he said, taking my hand. I peeked down at our combined hands but ignored the lone butterfly fluttering in my stomach. We walked down the street, staying in the shadows of the buildings and I hoped we would arrive wherever Gregory was taking us soon. My energy level was blaring, as the fumes were almost gone.  

Gregory finally stopped us in front of a derelict building, and I swayed on my feet. In large, bright blood-red colors, a sign read “Dissolution Inn.” I glimpsed over at Gregory with a quizzical look. He just shrugged his shoulders and walked inside, pulling me along with him. As we walked in, I wanted to walk right back out and find something much nicer. The walls were covered in crumbling flower wallpaper, the carpet might have been white at one time but was now a revolting brown—hopefully it was only mud that was stuck to those carpets—and the one and only couch, which sat across from the front desk, was missing a cushion and had massive holes with ashen stuffing spilling out. A dead potted plant sat next to the desk, the leaves all dried up. The desk itself was worn down with scrapes and gouges all over the front, and the man standing on the other side of the desk topped the whole place off—he was grimier than the room. His glasses were smudged so badly that I was surprised he could even see out of them. I really wanted to reach up and grab them so I could clean them for him. His short blond hair was sticking up all over the place like he had just had a conversation with a lightning bolt minutes before we’d walked in.

“Wha’ can I get ya?” he asked with a deep voice. It was almost comical to hear a deep voice coming from someone that skinny. If I hadn’t been scared I would get some sort of disease by just breathing in the air, I would have laughed. 

“Just need a room,” Gregory said as he positioned himself in front of me. I couldn’t tell if he had done that to protect me from the seeing the desk clerk—too late—or the desk clerk from seeing me. If it was the latter, we would have to have a little talk about his caveman personality. I didn’t need to be protected.

“Jus’one?” he asked. He tried to peer around Gregory to look at me.

“Just one,” Gregory said.

“It’ll be a hundred a night,” the desk clerk said.

Gregory started to take out some money from his wallet and handed it over. I looked up at Gregory. “Gregory, I should ha—”

Gregory turned toward me and scowled. I crossed my uninjured arm, which was not as intimidating as it would have been if I’d had two uninjured arms, and glared. I wanted to pay and I had the money for it. I looked up at the desk clerk to see him watching me with a gleam in his eyes. My body shuddered from the creepy stare and I glared back at Gregory and kept my mouth shut. Gregory paid for the rooms, and the guy pointed us in the direction of the room we were staying in. The moment we were locked inside our room, I rounded on Gregory. 

“Why didn’t you let me pay?” I asked.

“What were you going to do exactly? Open up your wallet that holds more money than he’s ever seen and wait to see if we get robbed in the morning?” he said. He walked toward the bed and turned on the lamp.

My mouth dropped opened as horror seeped inside my body. The lobby of the inn had nothing on the room we were staying in. The room was disgusting: the bed was covered in dust and milky brown stains—it was moldy, and a rotten smell was coming off of it—the floor was covered with crumbling paper. The smell of pee filled the room and I gagged a few times, swallowing bile that crept up my throat. I didn’t even want to know what the bathroom looked like if this is what the room was like. I was so tired, but I would have rather slept outside than in here. Gregory walked around the room like he was used to this; he probably was.

“You should probably take a shower,” Gregory said.

“You can have it first,” I said, still looking around. “I’m still getting used to the room.” I didn’t want to touch anything. I could possibly die just sleeping in this room.

“Alright.” He walked to the bathroom and shut the door behind him, the shower turning on a few moments later.

Maybe I could convince him to change places. Couldn’t we find something nicer? Cleaner? There had to be something a little better than this. We would just have to keep looking around. If I had to crawl around just to find a better place, I would. There would be no way we were staying here. We could catch something. With the way the bed looked, I could get pregnant just sitting on it, with my clothes still on. I wrinkled my nose as chills ran up my spine and I covered it with my hand, but it did little to block out the smell. It was nasty.

I was still standing in the same place when the bathroom door opened and steam floated out, followed by Gregory. My eyes traveled to him without my permission. He was wearing nothing but a clean white towel around his waist, and I watched at the way the muscles in his chest and abdomen contracted as he made his way over to the bed. Wiping my mouth, checking to make sure no actual drool fell out, I'd watch him move. This was the first time I'd seen a guy this naked before. There was absolutely no fat on him, he was all muscle. He was God’s gift to women. 

“The bathroom is all yours,” he said, his head still bent over the duffel bag.

Jumping at his voice, I cursed myself for staring, and moved. The bathroom was the only decent thing in the place. It wasn’t a hundred percent clean, but at least the bathroom smelled liked lemon and the towels smelled fresh.
Thank God.
I turned the water on and had my sling off before I realized I hadn’t brought anything to change into. Dropping the homemade sling on the sink and leaving the water on, I went out to grab some clothes. Now wearing pants, Gregory was still shuffling around the duffel bag, without a shirt. He looked up when I walked in.

“I need clothes,” I mumbled lamely as I fumbled through my duffel bag and grabbed whatever was on top. I raced back into the bathroom, undressed quickly—carefully holding my arm—and took pleasure in the hot water pounding on my head and back. The water helped ease my headache, but it still was raging on like a storm. By the time I turned off the shower, the whole bathroom was completely fogged up. I took my time getting dressed in clean clothes. Trying to put the sling back on, I had difficulties tying the knot. So I kept my right arm upright and walked out into the room. Gregory had gotten rid of the dusty comforter from the bed and was sitting down on the sheets, and, unfortunately, had a shirt on. 

“Can you help me put the sling back on?” I asked, holding out the fabric. Gregory stood up and took it from my hand. Carefully putting the cloth through my arm, he tied it up at the top. The whole time I stared at his face, he had this cute, determined look on his face when he was tying it.
Which I will never admit to anyone.
When he was done, he moved around me and to the door.

“I’m going to go grab some food.” He slid his leather jacket back on. “Lock this door as soon as I leave and don’t answer it. I have a key, so I’ll be able to get back in. If you hear anyone outside the door, lock yourself in the bathroom. Got it?”

I stared at him. “Will anyone be coming here?”

“Hopefully not,” he said. “I’m hoping no one noticed us earlier.” He opened the door and walked out, and I followed to lock it behind him. I took up his spot on the bed and waited, straining to hear anyone or anything. My heartbeat pounded in my head, making my headache worse and hearing anything else difficult. I used the time to brush through the knots that were still tangled in my hair. By the time I got all the knots out, my head hurt ten times worse. 

Every muscle in my body tightened as noise shuffled by outside of the door. The door handle moved, and I jumped off the bed, making sure I’d be able to make it to the bathroom. The door creaked open and Gregory pushed through. My body sagged against the bed in relief. He was carrying a couple of brown bags, which were emitting some of the most delicious smells. I moved toward him and snatched one of the bags out of his hand. The smell was unbelievable and I moaned out in joy, my stomach growling with me.

“Hungry?” he asked. I could hear the amusement in his voice.

“Starved,” I said. I dug into the bag, taking out chips and stuffing them into my mouth: the food was mouthwatering. We sat on the bed and ate in silence, both sucking down the food as fast as we could. When I finished off the food and water, I placed the trash back into the bag and lay down on the bed. My headache was gone, but my eyelids were starting to be too heavy to keep open. I watched as Gregory placed both duffel bags in between us. I crooked an eyebrow.