Twisted World: A Broken World Novel (27 page)

“
W
hat the hell
are you doing?” Dragon growled.

I rolled onto my side and peered at the other man through the cage surrounding the ring. The bar was still dark, so it must have been early, but I hadn’t gotten much rest. The cot was a piece of shit, but it was a hell of a lot softer than the floor of the ring.

“Trying to get some sleep.” I pushed myself up to sitting position, then rolled my neck, wincing at the cracking and popping noises that echoed through my head. “Those asshole guards of mine are hacking like crazy.”

Dragon let out a deep breath. “Shit’s going down.”

“Happens every few years.” I narrowed my eyes on the other man, trying to get a good look at him through the cage. Something in his voice said what I already knew: that this was more than just a bug sweeping across the settlement.

“Happens too often.” He turned his back on me and headed toward the bar, nodding for me to follow. “Come get some breakfast.”

I dragged myself out of the ring and headed after him, wondering what he was thinking. I had my suspicions about the illness spreading through the settlement, but that was because of what I’d overheard at the Regulator’s house. Dragon had other sources, though. Whether it was Helen or the gray man, I didn’t know, but someone had let him in on the Regulator’s dirty little secret: that they were using this flu to weed out the scum of the city.

I slid onto a stool just as Dragon pulled a couple prepackaged meals out from behind the bar. He tossed one my way, his brows pulled low and his face darker than usual. I didn’t say anything before tearing into my meal. He clearly had stuff on his mind and so did I. Between Meg and what was going on with her family, and the fact that I couldn’t stop thinking about her or how bad it hurt to know that I was leaving in a few days time, my head felt full.

We ate in silence, each of us lost in thoughts about the shit that was falling on this settlement and what it would mean for us. I knew what it would most likely mean for me: death by flu. That was a subject I hadn’t broached with Meg. I’d been sleeping in the same room with my guards, and odds were good that I’d catch this thing.

Someone banged on the door, the sound echoing through the empty bar, and I swear I nearly shit my pants. It had startled me, coming out of nowhere when the silence was so thick and heavy it had felt untouchable, but there was another reason my heart started pounding like a stampede. No one came to a bar this early in the morning to deliver good news.

I stopped chewing and swallowed, wincing when the food nearly got stuck in my throat. My gaze was on the door as Dragon swore and headed around the counter.

I didn’t move from my position on the stool. After the other morning, Dragon and I both knew exactly what was on the other side of that door, but what I didn’t know was why. Was it another message for Meg, or a zombie for me?

Dragon pulled the door open and took a step back. The snarls that floated into the room weren’t a surprise, but they still made my stomach threaten to eject the food I’d just eaten.

“You know the drill,” a man said, but his voice was strained. “Move back. This one’s determined to get a bite out of me.”

Dragon took a couple steps back as the same two men from the other morning dragged the zombie inside. The thing growled and struggled against his chains, fighting to get free as they pulled him forward. The zom’s snarls were only interrupted by the constant cursing of the guards. If they were having a tough time controlling the bastard while he was chained, I was in for it.

I turned my back on them and returned to my meal, trying my best to ignore the swears and growls that vibrated through the room.

When Dragon stopped in front of me, I forced myself to look up, wanting to read his gaze. His eyes, dark and hard, gave nothing away, though.

“Is this another message?” I asked when he didn’t say anything.

He shook his head, his gaze moving past me to the back of the room. “Not that I’m aware of.”

“Great,” I muttered, looking down at the pathetic meal in front of me. One of my last, most likely. “Maybe I would have been better off if I’d allowed myself to catch the flu.”

“Don’t kid yourself,” Dragon said. “They’d still make you fight.”

He was right about that.

I
was doing
pushups when Meg came stumbling into the bar. Her eyes were crazy and her normally neat hair was a wild mess. She looked like she’d been attacked or threatened, or she’d just heard the worst news of her life.

I was on my feet and out of the ring before she’d made it even halfway across the room, meeting her in the middle of the bar. Her little body slammed into mine so hard that some of the breath whooshed out of my lungs, but I pulled back and looked her over, trying to figure out if she was hurt.

“What’s wrong?” I asked when I didn’t see anything.

“Jackson.” She swallowed and blinked like she was fighting back tears. “I talked to him last night.”

“You did what?” This girl was either the bravest or dumbest person I’d ever met, I just wasn’t sure which one. “I told you to stay away from him.” My hands tightened on her shoulders when a million crazy thoughts flipped though my head. If he touched her, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself. I’d kill him with my bare hands and die with a smile on my face when his puny father put a bullet through my brain.

“He threatened you,” Meg blurted out, and all the thoughts in my head sizzled away. “At least I think he did. He said to tell you good luck.”

From anyone else that would seem like a nice sentiment, but from this guy… Yeah, it was definitely a threat. I should have known he was behind the special delivery we had this morning.

“Shit,” I muttered, but I couldn’t help feeling relieved that Meg was okay. I was going to die, but it wasn’t news to me. The second those guards knocked on the door this morning I knew my odds of seeing tomorrow were slim to none.

Across the room, someone coughed. Meg and I both turned, but I didn’t know who it was. None of the men in the bar looked particularly healthy. Slouched, weak, shivering with fever. They were drunks who had dragged themselves here even though they’d felt like shit. Hell, they were probably used to feeling like shit and hadn’t yet realized that this was different. This wasn’t a hangover after two too many glasses of moonshine. This was death.

“Listen,” I said, pulling Meg’s attention my way. “Another zombie was brought in his morning and I have good feeling this one was intended for me.”

Meg’s green eyes grew even bigger, seeming to take up most of her face. “What?”

I wasn’t sure if she didn’t understand what I was telling her or if she just didn’t want to accept it. Either way, I had a few things I wanted to say to her before I stepped into that ring tonight.

I pulled her to the side of the room and held her by the shoulders, looking her in the eye as I said, “This is probably the end for me.”

Meg swallowed. Her lips parted but nothing came out, then she shook her head. This was exactly what I’d been trying to avoid: Meg once again feeling abandoned. Even though it wasn’t my choice, I couldn’t help feeling like an ass.

“We both knew it was coming,” I said gently. “We knew they wouldn’t let this go on forever.”

“This is my fault,” she whispered. “If you hadn’t gotten involved with me, they probably wouldn’t have worried about you. They’d let you go to Key West. They’d let you keep fighting.”

“Maybe,” I said, unable to lie, “but maybe not. We all knew this was temporary.”

I let my hands fall from her shoulders as I looked around. The fight would be starting soon, but the crowd was thinner tonight than usual. Of the few people who had managed to drag themselves in, most didn’t look so hot. It wasn’t just the hacking that seemed to constantly echo through the air, either. I watched as across the room, a man in his fifties leaned against the wall, gasping for breath. He acted like he barely had the strength to stand.

“This flu is going to get worse before it gets better.” I once again focused on Meg. “Remember what I heard at the Regulator’s house?”

She nodded. “I know. Half my crew was out sick today.”

“They did this.”

“I know.”

Meg let out a deep breath and looked across the room. “I’m sorry. I still feel like this is my fault.”

“It’s my fault. I’m the one who got sent to DC.”

“You did it to save your sister,” she let out a deep breath and turned back to face me. “I’m glad I met you.”

“Me too.”

I pulled her in for a hug even though I really wanted to kiss her. I would have done it too, if it hadn’t been for the fact that I was sure it would make this goodbye that much harder on her. I wanted to be fair. Needed to be. It was the least I could do for her.

“How sweet,” someone sneered from behind Meg.

I pulled back but kept my hand on her arm as together we turned to face Jackson. He was only a foot away from us, and behind him stood a group of people close to his age.

His brown eyes flashed as he looked back and forth between Meg and me. “I should have known you were screwing the convict.”

I tried to push Meg behind me, but she stood her ground.

“Donaghy is a friend.”

The cocky prick only smiled. “We’ll be in the VIP area.”

He jerked his head toward the roped off section and headed that way. The group at his back followed, a few of them shooting us looks that ranged from hateful to curious. I didn’t have to be told that they were all council brats; the air of importance that followed them said it all.

“You should get to work,” I said as I watched the asshole step into the VIP section.

I hated the idea of her serving him, but she needed the money. There was no guarantee that she’d ever get her dad out of the CDC—assuming that’s where he was—and she had a life to live. One that didn’t involve me and the extra drama I’d brought to her life.

Meg turned back to face me, her green eyes pleading. “You can beat this. Whatever they throw your way, I know you can beat it.”

After listening to the snarls and struggles of the zombie they’d brought in, I wasn’t so sure, but I nodded anyway. “I’ll do my best.”

Meg took one step away before thinking better of it. This time when she turned back, she threw herself against me. I barely had time to think about it before she had her lips pressed against mine, but even when I was able to think it through, I couldn’t stop her. All I could do was pull her closer to me. My arms engulfed her, pulling her against my chest as I moved my lips faster. She opened her mouth and I swept my tongue over hers, savoring the way she tasted and how strong her little body felt in my arms.

When I pulled back, we were both gasping.

“I had to do that one more time,” she said, tears shimmering in her eyes before she turned away, pushing through the crowd. Leaving me standing by myself and hating what I was about to face.

I never thought the end would hurt this damn much.

My heartbeat hadn’t slowed by the time Dragon came over to join me. After the other day, I expected some kind of lecture about how his girls were off limits, but he didn’t say anything. I guess he figured that since I was about to die, kissing Meg didn’t really matter all that much.

Dragon cracked his knuckles as he surveyed the room. I leaned against the wall and watched as Meg pushed her way through the crowd and headed toward the VIP section. Jackson and his friends filled the area that normally sat empty, and their catcalls were loud enough that I could hear them from all the way across the room.

“You ready for this fight?” Dragon asked, looking my way out of the corner of his eye.

“Do I have a choice?”

I glanced through the open doorway at my back, taking in the zombies that were loaded onto the cart. They were struggling to get free, their chains clinking against each other. The one they’d brought in this morning was much more aggressive than the others. He snarled. He pulled at the lock like he still had enough mental function to get it open. He looked at me, his eyes barely milky enough to cover the blue of his irises.