Strays Page 13

  Max sat up with him. “Was that wrong?”

  He shrugged. “No. I need to get away from you.”

  “What? Are you serious right now?”

  “Just move.” Because the queasy feeling in his gut was making his entire body ache. He ran for the front door, yanked it open and rushed outside to release whatever was in his stomach into the blanket of pure snow. His stomach caved as he wretched and vomited, so he could hardly pay attention to the six inches of snow that had fallen over night. If his lack of consuming blood was making him this sick he needed to suck down the first human he saw. He couldn’t go on this way for long. He didn’t want to become Stray. When he couldn’t vomit anymore, he stood up straight, holding his stomach and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Christ. Had it snowed so much? It was the first snow of December and it couldn’t have come at a more inconvenient time.

  Dakota still had crusts of sleep in his eyes, and on top of his terrible morning breath he now smelled like vomit. Could he be any less attractive? By the time he went back into the house to rub toothpaste on his teeth, everyone was awake and gearing up to leave.

  “Has anyone seen the weather?” he asked, going straight to the kitchen for toothpaste, but everything that had been stacked so neatly on the table yesterday was now packed in withering backpacks. The purple, plastic water bottle pockets had been torn from a Dora the Explorer backpack and one of the blue shoulder straps had been duct taped. The pink pony backpack he had secured on Max at the store the other day was sitting on the table, but it was no longer packed with bullets. They had separated everything evenly.

  “Have you seen the weather?” Dakota repeated, turning slightly. “In which bag is the toothpaste?”

  “Yeah, we’ve seen it,” Curly said, smartly and without looking at his brother.

  Dakota stepped into the hall and stared at his brother, who was checking his gun.

  “What is it supposed to mean? We knew winter was coming.” Curly stood up and strapped his gun into its holster.

  “It doesn’t mean shit to me.” But he wasn’t worried about him. “The toothpaste?”

  Smirking, Curly tossed him his bag. Dakota took it to the kitchen table and opened it. He had stuffed it with clothes, his stack of papers on Strays, two bottles of water and the only tube of toothpaste they had. Dakota took the paste and was about to go to hand Curly the bag, but Curly was already standing in front of him.

  “Thanks.” He snatched it. “It doesn’t matter if the snow is there or not, you know. We got to get back to Lincoln anyway. Taddy knows this place called The Fray, where he’s going to take the others.”

  “We’re leaving?” Dakota plopped a fingertip of toothpaste onto his tongue.

  “Wasn’t that always the plan?”

  “Not after you shacked up with Little Miss Ballerina.” He rubbed the paste over his teeth and used his tongue to wipe it off.

  “Well, now you’ve shacked up with Little Miss Ballerina, so now we can get out of here.”

  Dakota swallowed hard. “Excuse me?” A ball of fire bubbled in the pit of his stomach that he tried his best to extinguish before he did something he would regret to Curly. He had allowed Curly to get away with saying a lot, but he was pretty much done with the daring, impertinent remarks. “Have you lost your fucking mind, Dante?”

  “How stupid do you think I am? Like she just enjoys sleeping next to you because of your personality…”

  Dakota chuckled. “You’ve got to be kidding me right now.” He rubbed his hands over his face. “How old’re you like, fifteen?”

  “We’re not going to talk about this right now. As a matter of fact, I prefer never to speak of it again.”

  “Speak of what?!” Dakota was so upset that he had to use Sign Language to help relay his feelings to Curly.

  “You sleeping with the same chick as your brother, you douchebag, that’s what?”

  “Oh, you have lost your mind. I didn’t touch, Max, so chill.”

  “It’s disgusting.”

  “No, what’s disgusting is you thinking I give a shit about screwing anyone when we’re in the middle of nowhere, six inches deep in snow with spoiled, rotten fucking food, holes in our socks and rubbing toothpaste over our teeth. I washed up with dish liquid yesterday. Dish liquid! I care about sleeping with Max right now? I don’t even know if I’ll wake up tomorrow or if I’ll be attacked in the middle of the night by some blood thirsty Stray who doesn’t give a shit about you or me or Max or anyone else in this dilapidated box of a house! Instead of letting your dick dictate your mood-swings, why don’t you try waking the hell up and using your fucking brain before you lose your life? Your priorities are a little mixed up, big brother, don’t you think?” Holding on to his brother’s demonic glare, he walked past him. He hadn’t stopped talking long enough to see that the whole house had stopped to listen to their conversation and Max was ahead of them all, standing quietly in the living room doorway.

  Dakota walked wordlessly past her and into the living room where he had left most of his belongings.

  Mariana looked from Taddy to Hank and then through the cracks of the boarded front window. “It’s snowing again.”

  ● ● ●

  When the tension in the house had died down and the snowfall had finally ceased outside, they readied to head out. It was after two in the afternoon and Dakota didn’t know how much time they had to beat the nightfall, but walking was better than sitting in the awkward silence. And it was better than wasting away. And if Curly was right about them going back to Lincoln Academy they had to get a start. It was a long trip back… and he had to be happy to go. He had to be happy to get back to his family, although he doubted his mind wouldn’t put up much a fight to stay and protect Maxxy. She hadn’t spoken to him since his outburst and he couldn’t tell if she was angry with him or Curly or if depression had finally captured her and created a dark cloud around her. It was another excuse for them to walk. They couldn’t stay in one place for too long without attracting more and more Strays… and it was better than wasting away.

  Eric glowered at Dakota like he was the bad guy, like he was the controlling freak that thought everyone and everything belonged to him if he had had them or it once. Dakota wasn’t Curly and would never pretend that Max could ever belong to him. How could he ever put such little value on another human life? It was selfish. Wasn’t it?

  “Are we ready?” Taddy said, zipping his bag and tossing it to Darcy, who rolled his eyes and put it on his back.

  “I just…” Max struggled with the pink strap on her backpack. The added items had made it heavier, in turn making the straps tighter. “This damn thing won’t… loosen.” She pulled hard, but couldn’t get a good grip on it. “I’m… let’s just… ugh! Let’s just start walking.” But her shaking hands were still on the strap and, with eyebrows turned down, her frustration could burn a fire through the floor.

  Usually, Curly would have been the one to go to her and prove his infatuation, but he stayed where he was, his arms crossed. His face had formed a permanent scowl over the few hours they’d been awake.

  Dakota couldn’t get what she was so shaky for, or why her eyes watered like she would cry or how she could look so saddened, angry and beautiful at the same time. Everyone watched her without going to help. Taddy sighed, like he was annoyed and Curly snickered like a moment ago he hadn’t just been pretending he was in love with her. How had she become an outcast suddenly? The whole situation was awkward and Dakota was about to make it more awkward. He set his rifle on the coffee table and went to her, standing so close that their exchange of words could hardly be heard by the human ears in the room.

  “I’m not helpless,” Max said, letting him take hold of the defected strap.

  “Did I say you were?” Dakota yanked the strap, slightly pulling her with it. It zipped loose effortlessly and he adjusted it so that the bag wasn’t so tight on her. Then he bent down on one knee and tucked her jeans into her boots. “It’s a lot
of snow out there,” he said, standing. He didn’t look at her as he prepared her for the blistering chill, but he felt her gazing. He straightened her jacket, zipped it and then zipped her coat as high as it would go. “Are you okay?” he asked, grabbing her collar. He pulled it so that the clothes beneath it would tighten against her.

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  “Good.” He stepped back.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” He went to the table, grabbed his gun and headed for the front door. “Let’s go.”

  He would let that soak in. He would let Curly take from it what he wanted. He didn’t like the fact that as soon as his brother’s interest had faded or as soon as he thought someone he liked was interested in someone else, Max was rejected. Not only that, but he thought Curly should have been more mature than he was acting. If Curly wanted him to play the bad guy, Dakota was more than willing to take on the role. He was pleased to learn that nothing was holding him back now.

  Eighteen

  Dakota

  ●

  My name is Dakota Joseph Reagan.

  I’m nineteen years old.

  I’m a vampire now…

  I was human once…

  My name is Dakota.

  I’m a vampire.

  Was I ever human?

  I was human once.

  My name is… Dakota?

  “Hey! Hey, Dakota!” Darcy trudged through the snow, which once again fell in thick flakes. “Hey.” He exhaled a puff of white and slapped his ungloved hands under his arms.

  They had all reverted back to high school attitudes and separated themselves into groups. Taddy, Mariana and Hank walked ahead of the pack, leading them all. Dakota and Curly walked together, not too far behind them. Darcy, Ginger, Eric, and Max walked behind them. They had all gone back to their original groups. When they had first left the house, Dakota had been pretty sure him and Curly would say their goodbyes and head in the opposite direction, so he had been surprised to see Curly follow Taddy. He wasn’t complaining. She had been tough when he first met her, but he didn’t see her like that now.

  “I didn’t—oomph!” Darcy went stumbling forward. Dakota grabbed his backpack to keep him from falling. He pulled him to his feet.

  “Damn clumsy humans,” he mumbled, shaking his head. “Would you watch where you’re going?” The snow was piling up around their legs and they hadn’t even been walking that long.

  “Thanks, man.” He rubbed his hands down his face. “This shit is like walking through quicksand.”

  “You can’t walk through quicksand.”

  “But you get what I mean, right?” Darcy said, seriously wondering. “Look, never mind all that. I hadn’t gotten the chance to apologize for shooting you and everything. I wasn’t aiming for you.”

  “What were you aiming for then?” Curly said, looking straight ahead.

  “Strays. What else would I be aiming for? Your brother seems to think I tried to shoot you. I don’t even know you, so that’s just retarded.”

  He said the word retarded like he was from New York and Dakota didn’t know why that annoyed him so much, but it did. “Thanks for the apology.”

  “Yeah, no problem.”

  “Are you Taddy’s feeder?”

  “What?”

  “Does Taddy feed on you?”

  Darcy stumbled again. This time he caught himself. “No. Damn, it’s hard to breathe out here. Can’t you tell? He feeds on Ginger. I let Hank and Mariana.”

  “I thought you and Ginger were”—

  “Yeah, so did I.” Darcy shrugged. “Whatever, though. Life’s too short to care about that stuff, right?” He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his thick, plaid jacket. “Just wanted to say sorry, dude.” He walked off as quickly as the snow would allow, but he couldn’t catch up with the vampires so he walked alone.

  Curly shook his head. “I’ve got to get more out of that loser. It’s clear he hates Taddy, right?”

  Dakota shrugged. How should he know? Why should he care?

  “Well, I’m going to find out. He wasn’t aiming for Strays.” He walked away to catch up with Darcy. Dakota watched him pretend and wrap his arm around Darcy’s shoulder. He wondered what types of questions he was asking him. Why did his brother feel the need to solve problems? Why did he think it mattered if he found out the truth? So what if he had tried to kill Taddy? That had nothing to do with them.

  “Are you not still scarred from what we saw last night?” Max pulled him out of his head by grabbing on to his arm and forcing him to hold up her weight.

  Scarred? He couldn’t get Ginger’s and Taddy’s sweaty bodies out of his mind or the blood on Taddy’s face. If he had bitten her before or during sex… well… to vampires that was supposed to mean something. Dakota hadn’t been a vampire long enough to understand, but he was pretty sure a male vampire biting a female vampire or human was some sort of moral, religious thing to them. Did Taddy love Ginger, or did he just consider her some whore he was allowed to screw and feed from? It should have been love, right? What he had seen last night hadn’t looked like love.

  “It’s a permanent scar, Maxxy,” he said, grinning.

  Max smiled up at him. “Yeah. I, um, like when you smile. Is that a weird thing to say?”

  “Well, you’re weird so…”

  She snatched the sunglasses from his face and put them on. “You’re not used to the opposite sex, are you, Kota?”

  Dakota snorted and looked at her from the corner of his eye. “You love to flatter yourself, kid.” Her nose was bright pink. Her ears were red. Her lips were puffy. “Cold?”

  “Nah, I’m fine. My toes’re numb, but it’s actually not that cold.”

  They were stepping in thick, chilling snow, deeper than their ankles and she was going to tell him she wasn’t cold? She was a liar. Even though he knew they had been walking for hours, it felt like they had only left the house minutes ago. The sun was still in the sky.

  “We should pick somewhere to rest.” But the houses were becoming seldom. There were more trees than there were houses, which could only mean they were reaching the end of the town.

  “Can I ask you something, Dakota?”

  “My God, kid. You don’t stop talking, do you?”

  “Are you and Curly leaving?”

  He momentarily froze. Her voice carried an intonation of concern, though Dakota doubted it was concern for him and Curly. The worst part about this situation was that Max had come to depend on them. If they did leave, she would be less safe than she had been with them. They’d been introduced to a more battered version of her. She had been damaged when she fell into Lincoln Academy running from those Strays.

  “We were always leaving, Max.”

  “I know,” she said, sadly.

  “This whole thing was about getting you somewhere safe. And then we’ll go.”

  She nodded. She returned his sunglasses with a sigh. “Can I ask you something else? Are you going after those Strays? I saw those papers that Curly always looks at. Something about Alias Corporation.”

  “Mind your business.”

  “You can’t, Kota.”

  “I can’t? Okay, mom.”

  “You’ll get yourself killed.”

  “I can handle it.”

  “You can’t!” She raised her voice.

  “Hey.” He grabbed her arm and stopped her. “I don’t know what your weird obsession with my life is, but please stop letting it concern you.” They had stopped walking so the majority of the group was now ahead of them. Only Eric and Ginger fell behind. Dakota kept quiet until they too, were in front of them. Their boots dug into the deep snow, which was beginning more and more to feel like chains and weights. “Don’t put the added stress on yourself. I have Curly. We’ll be fine.”

  “I think I’m more concerned with your life than Curly.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  Max sighed and tried to stomp her foot on the ground, but there was only snow.
She pushed him instead.

  Dakota laughed. “You’re so damn abusive, Max.”

  “We’re losing sunlight!” Taddy called to everyone. “We’d better pack it in.”

  Dakota looked around. Houses were scarce. The only houses present were like toy houses with missing parts. The majority of their structures had crumbled to the ground, like a tornado had swept through. If it had, at least it had spared the tenants from the horrible fate that was Strays.

  “Nothing scares you, huh?”

  “Yeah. Turning Stray does.” He could feel his body weakening by the minute. Curly was there, but he doubted Curly would let him feed on him now.

  “I’m going to say something else weird.”

  “Go for it.”

  “I felt safe with you before I met you. I dreamed of you before we met.”

  “Now, you’re freaking me out.”

  “I’m not kidding, Kota. I dreamed of…” Popping her tongue on the roof of her mouth, she snatched up his hand and lifted the sleeve of his jacket. “This.” She rubbed numb fingers over the turtle tattoo. “We’re on a train.”

  Dakota stopped walking again. “And where is this train going, Max?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. But it’s taking us to someplace better than here, Dakota. You and me.”

  He stared at her and he admired her for believing in a better future. He hadn’t said it to her earlier when she had thought Eric was dead, but there was no better than here. Everywhere was here. Every place was the same.

  “There’s no you and me, Max.” Because he wasn’t allowed to have her… because he had a family… because he had to get back to Reagan and the others… and because he needed his brother to trust him again. He didn’t live in a world where he could have the things he wanted. He lived in a world where he had to watch the things he wanted walk out of his life, and Maxxy Twillish was no exception.

  “No, I didn’t mean like—I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “Damn it!” Mariana screamed, jumping up and down. She began to pace back and forth, clearing a pathway in the snow. “Damn it all! Damn it!”