above ground: chapter 27 part 2

Lilith didn’t know how long she’d been sitting there, head pressed against her knees, before a rustling sound reminded her of exactly where she was: above ground, alone and unprotected. And although she was sick of the constant running and unfathomable demands of the infected, Lilith couldn’t quite suppress her will to survive, so she lifted her head up to examine her surroundings.

Mere inches from her face were two pale brown eyes, staring at her without blinking.

Lilith screamed, jerked her head back and felt it solidly connect with the tree behind her. The world spun for a brief second, but the adrenaline had her moving before she even knew what she was doing: she shot to her feet and brought her fists close to her body, ready to attack.

Sprawled on the ground at her feet was an undignified heap of tangled arms and legs. It was only when he straightened and gave her a small, accusing glare, that Lilith recognized Howl.

When he spoke, his voice was petulant. “You scream real loud.”

She let out a deep breath, letting her arms fall to her sides. “Well, you almost gave me a heart attack.” Then, because he looked so pitiful on the floor, she reached out to offer him a hand up.

“Nah.” Howl scrunched up his nose and pushed himself up, ignoring her hand. “You stink of death.”

Dry chuckling followed that comment. Lilith looked around, towards the town, only to find Jake walking towards them, an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips. She suppressed a shudder; at least it wasn’t lit.

“Playing hooky?” Jake said as he drew closer. Then he frowned. “Howl’s right. You look as lovely as ever, but you do smell a little off. What have you been doing, messing with—.” Jake paused in realization, narrowing his eyes. “I’m surprised Silver and Amber let that zombie get so close to you.”

Her cheeks warmed, and this time Lilith was sure it wasn’t due to alochol. She just barely resisted the urge to smell her clothes, choosing to cross her arms instead. “They weren’t there.”

Howl’s eyes went round. “Why? Did something happen to Silver?” His body quivered as he stared at her, as if it were a great effort to hold himself still.

“Nothing happened,” Lilith replied, and Howl relaxed, sinking down to sit on the floor.

Jake lounged against the tree nearest to her. “So where’s Silver?”

“He went off with Shiloh.” She’d meant to sound cool, but her voice came out hard. It made no sense. What—or who—Silver did was none of her concern; she knew that logically, but convincing her heart was a different matter. Wouldn’t it be funny if she was the one bewitched, after being accused of being the bewitcher?

Jake looked unsurprised. “And Amber?”

She shrugged half-heartedly. It was too embarrassing to explain, to tell him that she’d run away only to get drunk and end up in even worse trouble. And then, to have only made it this far, still within view of the town…. Lilith knew it was unreasonable to be hard on herself, but the failure grated.

Howl saved her from having to elaborate: he plucked something off of the ground and stood up, waving it. “Look at this! It has Lil’s photo on it!”

It was the scrap of newspaper. She reached out to take it back, but Jake was quicker, moving unnaturally fast. He took the newspaper, then tucked his cigarette behind one ear as he stepped back to read the article, his head bent over the page so she couldn’t judge his expression. Howl stayed where he was, halfway between them, his eyes darting back and forth with bright, irrepressible curiosity.

Howl didn’t wait long. “So what’s it say?”

“Let me finish reading, kid.” Jake’s eyebrows scrunched together when he finally looked up. But he didn’t comment on what Lilith had thought he would. Instead, he said, “That Emma girl’s a piece of work.”

Lilith froze. “Who?” Not again. It couldn’t be about Emma. She’d fallen for this before; Emma was gone. Dead.

“Emma Walker. Your friend? She’s mentioned in the article next to yours. Apparently she thinks you’re working for us.” Jake smirked. “Five minutes above ground would show her the stupidity of that claim.”

Lilith barely processed his words. “Emma’s… Emma’s alive?” Could it really be that everything would turn out in the end? That she’d return home and find everything as it once was? Lilith had barely begun to hope again, when the rest of Jake’s words filtered through.

She walked over to Jake, took the newspaper from his unresisting fingers. This time she ignored the picture of herself. Her eyesight blurred when she saw Emma’s name in print, but somehow she managed to read the rest. The reality of the situation sunk in. Her main lifeline back home—her passport—was missing. And in any case, she was presumed dead, meaning that with or without a passport, she’d have trouble convincing the guards who she was. And now this, to be accused of the worst sin, of betraying humans to the infected…. It made returning underground almost impossible, not without someone on the inside working to clear her name.

She almost laughed at the irony of it, and as it was had to quell a hysterical giggle. To be an accused traitor, accused by a person who was betraying everything their friendship has stood for? To be accused of betrayal when Lilith had been the only one to believe it when Emma insisted that her sister was still alive? Lilith tilted her head back, trying to stop the tears from falling. Howl’s unabashedly fixed staring didn’t help.

Jake took one look at her face, and turned to Howl. “Go tell Amber that we’ll all meet back at camp in a bit.” He cut off Howl’s grumbles by saying, “Maybe Fang can cook us something then.” Howl sprinted off without another word.

Lilith tried to keep her tone light; anything that distracted her from the growing knot in her throat was a welcome distraction. “Aren’t you supposed to be babysitting him?”

Jake shrugged. “He’s a tough kid, he’ll be fine. Can’t watch over them all the time, you know. You’d be surprised what he’s capable of.”

“I don’t think anything could surprise me anymore.” Lilith swallowed heavily and took great care to scrunch up the newspaper as tightly as she could.

Jake wrapped an arm loosely around her shoulders. “Maybe Emma’s just jealous that you get to meet lots of hot guys.”

“She can have you guys,” Lilith muttered.

“Hey! We’re not all like Silver.”

Lilith latched onto the topic. “So you don’t accuse a girl of being a witch like it’s a bad thing, but then go off with another witch?”

“We’ve known the other witch quite a bit longer than you.” Jake smile became a little grim. “Besides, you can’t judge us all by Silver’s actions. Al gives him a lot more leeway than the rest of the pack.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that Silver can have who he wants, whether they’re part of the pack or not.” His voice had grown bitter.

“I didn’t think Al would play favourites.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about Al.” Jake pulled away. “Come on, let’s get to camp.”