Chapter 34: Now we're finally getting somewhere.
Kaelan's knife drifted from Nate's throat, dragging lightly across his jawline. The blade didn't cut yet, it simply traced the shape of the man's face, as if Kaelan were studying him, memorizing him for whatever came next.
Then, without warning, Kaelan snapped the blade sideways.
A shallow slice carved across Nate's cheek.
Blood welled instantly, running hot down his jaw, dripping off his chin and onto the dusty floorboards. Nate snarled through clenched teeth, the sound more animal than human.
Kaelan's expression didn't change.
"See? That's what disrespect costs."
Rourke and another man tightened their grip on Nate's arms. Kaelan stepped behind him… and drove the knife straight into Nate's shoulder.
Nate's scream tore through the bookstore. His eyes bulged, muscles seizing violently as white-hot agony exploded through his entire left side. The knife twisted, metal grinding bone, and Kaelan pulled it free with a wet sound.
Blood poured down Nate's chest. He gasped, shaking uncontrollably, breath breaking apart in ragged bursts.
Across the room, Skylar convulsed in her bindings, trying to reach him even though it was impossible. The duct tape over her mouth muffled everything into desperate, strangled cries. Her eyes were wide with terror, already red, already brimming.
"Pathetic," Kaelan muttered as he wiped the blade on Nate's shirt.
Rourke chuckled, a low, ugly sound. "He cries louder than Pierce did when we made fun of his messed ass."
Skylar shook her head violently, trying to scream, trying to make them stop. Her chest heaved. The tape turned her breathing harsh and panicked.
Kaelan didn't even look at her as he walked past.
He kicked her in the stomach.
The blow lifted her off the floor for a split second before she crashed back down, curling into herself, breath stolen from her lungs. Tears spilled over instantly. Her fingers clawed at the floor, desperate for air, desperate to keep Nate in her sight.
"That's for the trouble you caused," Kaelan said coldly, adjusting his glove. "Running off. Acting like you were something worth taking."
He crouched and grabbed her chin, jerking her head up so hard it forced another whimper out of her. He waited until her trembling eyes met his.
Then, with a sharp yank, he tore the duct tape from her mouth.
Skylar screamed. A raw, scraping cry of pain. Her lips tore, her skin reddened violently, and she immediately doubled over coughing, choking on breaths she couldn't organize.
Kaelan leaned close.
"Tell me, Skylar… was this man"… he gestured with the bloody knife toward Nate "really the reason you ran? This weak fool who falls apart from a little cut? This is who you abandoned your people for?"
Skylar's voice barely existed.
"…Kaelan… please…"
"Not answering the question," he said, his tone almost curious. "Interesting."
Nate tried to push himself up on one arm, blood dripping from his shoulder. "Leave her…" he rasped.
Kaelan didn't wait for him to finish.
He drew a 9mm from his belt.
Skylar screamed, "NOOOOOO!!!"
Kaelan pulled the trigger.
The shot hit Nate square in the same torn shoulder. His body jolted violently, legs kicking out as he collapsed onto his side. His scream broke into a hoarse, agonized bellow before dissolving into groaning curses.
He writhed on the floor, clutching at the wound, blood pouring between his fingers.
Rourke laughed.
"Look at him dance."
Skylar's tears finally spilled freely, streaking down her dirt-stained cheeks. She shook as if freezing, breaths stuttering, horror twisting every feature of her face.
"Nate…" she whispered, voice cracking apart.
Kaelan stood slowly, holstering the pistol.
"Good," he said, watching Nate struggle to breathe. "Now we're finally getting somewhere."
He turned to Skylar again, wiping a smear of Nate's blood off his fingers.
"Now," he said in a tone too calm for the moment, "let's have a real conversation."
Skylar's breath was shallow, shaking. Nate lay on the floor in a spreading pool of his own blood, his groans fading to ragged whimpers. Kaelan's men hovered like vultures, watching for the next instruction.
Skylar forced herself upright, even though every muscle screamed and her stomach throbbed where Kaelan's boot had driven into her.
Her voice cracked as she spoke.
"It… it was me."
Kaelan paused mid-step.
"…What?"
Skylar swallowed hard, tasting blood. "Five days ago. Pierce wasn't killed by some stranger who didn't know him. I killed him."
Rourke snorted, but Kaelan's eyes narrowed.
Skylar took a trembling breath and pushed through it. "He was planning to hand me over to the rest of the men. Trade me. Use me as leverage with the rest of the compound." Her voice quivered but she didn't look away. "He was about to agree to your demand to share me to the rest of the group just like the other girls."
Kaelan raised an eyebrow, amused. "And?"
"And I wasn't going go through that," she said, louder this time. "So that night…I slit his throat while he was looking for a weapon. I took the sniper, the other big gun, the grenades, the food stock. All of it. I carried it out myself."
Rourke barked a laugh. "You? You carried all that gear? Alone?"
Kaelan's expression darkened with insult. "Are you expecting me to believe that a frail little thing like you, a useless, pampered airhead when the outbreak started — hauled thousands of rounds, two rifles, and quarter of a tone of storage room food into the woods by yourself?"
Skylar's heartbeat thundered in her ears. But she didn't flinch.
"Believe it or not… it was all me," she said, her jaw trembling but her eyes locked on his. "Nate had nothing to do with this. He didn't steal anything. I forced him to take me with him. I had the weapons he needed for survival, he had no choice."
Kaelan stared long and hard at her.
And for a moment… just a moment, someone in the group shifted uncomfortably, as if a tiny, impossible piece of her story made sense.
But Kaelan broke that moment with a scoff.
"Let's test that theory."
Rourke grabbed Nate by the hair and dragged him up from the floor, his body limp, his breathing ragged. Blood ran freely from his shoulder, mixing with the dirt.
Kaelan crouched beside him, examining the gaping, bleeding bullet wound… and the knife gash.
Then he stuck his finger into the bullet hole.
Nate convulsed violently, his scream exploding from his lungs like a torn-up roar. His entire body spasmed, legs kicking out, his injured shoulder jerking uncontrollably.
Skylar shrieked, "STOP! STOP IT, PLEASE!"
Kaelan didn't.
He pushed his finger deeper.
Nate's vision went white, black, then white again. The world spun out, dissolved. The pain swallowed his ability to think. His scream broke off into a choking sob.
Rourke tightened his grip on Nate's good arm and pushed the blade of a combat knife into the knife wound, inch by inch.
Nate screamed again. A sound that didn't even sound human anymore.
His eyes rolled back.
His body seized once… twice…
…and then went completely slack.
Rourke frowned. "He's out."
Kaelan withdrew his hand, covered in blood up to the wrist. "Pathetic. He faints from pain like a child. Pierce would have laughed himself to death seeing this."
Another man muttered, uneasy, "We might've gone too far. If he bleeds out…"
Kaelan shot him a glare that shut him up instantly.
Before he could say anything else, Skylar forced herself to her knees.
"Listen to me!" she cried, voice cracking, tears running freely. "He didn't steal anything! He doesn't know your guard rotations, I do! He doesn't know the patrol routes. I memorized them! He wouldn't even know where the storage rooms were without me!"
Her voice rose into desperation.
"You trained me, Kaelan. Four months. Every day. You took me with you to hunt for supplies and weapons. You know what I'm capable of now. You know I'm not the same useless girl Pierce dragged around like baggage!"
She pointed at Nate, sobbing. "He can't plan a robbery. He can barely walk past a Ripper without tripping over something! Look at him, do you really think he could sneak past ten men, two locked gates, and your night patrol alone?"
Silence fell.
A heavy one.
A dangerous one.
Rourke looked at the others. Some exchanged glances. Doubts flickered, thin as paper, but real.
Skylar saw it.
She pressed harder.
"If you want revenge, take me back," she said, voice cracking from fear. "Use my body. Interrogate me. Punish me. I don't care. Just let him go. He wasn't part of this."
Kaelan stared at her like a man examining a bug he wasn't sure he wanted to crush or keep alive.
Her breathing hitched.
She didn't blink.
And for the first time… Kaelan hesitated.