Odium II: The Dead Saga by Claire C. Riley

believe that.”
    “That’s not the point. It could happen,” he says seriously.
    “This is stupid, ” I whisper.
    “Better to be safe than sorry.” Mikey turns to Alek. “Go to the bedroom window, see if you can see anyone hiding. Maybe we can attach the curtain po les together, create a long enough stick to pull the basket toward us?”
    “Also stupid,” I whisper again. I decide to throw caution to the wind when my stomach grumbles loudly, making Emily jump behind me. I take a deep breath and run for the basket.
    My feet slip on the fresh snow, my heart beating like a herd of wild buffalo in my chest. I reach the wicker basket, grab it, and head back to the house, all the time waiting for the whizzing of bullets to go zooming past my ears. I hear Mikey shouting—but thankfully no bullets—but I refuse to look up. I just keep placing foot after foot in front of one another until I make it back to the door and charge inside, barging past Mikey and the others and heading straight into the living room.
    I hear the door shut and they all storm into the room. I grin, they frown. This is bad.
    “What?”
    “What do you mean, what?” Mikey shouts. “I just said that it could be a trap, and then you ran out there anyway. You could have been killed.” Mikey looks seriously pissed, and it’s all I can do to not roll my eyes at him again.
    “Well, I couldn ’t see anything, and we’re hungry. This,” I point to the food in the basket, “is food. Now stop yelling at me and let’s eat.” I pull some of the cans out, trying to ignore his angry stare, and begin to distribute everything between us. SpaghettiOs, canned beans, chopped tomatoes, and some tuna. My stomach growls again. Alek and Emily dive straight in, ignoring mine and Mikey’s little spat. Sure, he’s right and I was being reckless, but hey, aren’t I always? Besides, his stupid stick idea was just that: stupid.
    Mikey grabs the crook of my elbow. “I want a word with you.” He pulls me from the room, and I go with him without argument because let’s face it, I kinda knew that he was going to do this. So I’ll suck it up and take it like a big girl.
    I cross my arms in front of me. “What?”
    Mikey places both his hands on my shoulders, looking into my face, his own expression one big giant frown.
    “I said what? I ’m hungry and I want—”
    Mikey cuts me off by placin g his lips on mine, gently kissing me as his hands move to the back of my head and he presses his body to mine. He parts my lips with his tongue, and I open up to him, embracing his kiss—almost feeding off it as if he were my life support and the kiss my oxygen. Mikey pulls away, leaving us both a little breathless, and my chin a little itchy from his beard.
    “Don ’t do stupid shit like that anymore, Nina.” I can tell he’s still angry and trying to control his temper. The kiss seemed to take the edge off it though.
    He knows me, he knows how I work, and after what we ’ve been through together, he also knows that losing his temper with me will only cause me to dig my heels in more. I’m not stupid, I know he’s playing me, but I’d prefer him to play me than be a nag.
    I pout, still reeling from his kiss, still wanting more , feeling dizzy and intoxicated. “I’m not going to break. I’m not as fragile as you might think.”
    His hand strokes my cheek, a softness in his face now that the frown has gone. “No, but maybe I am.” I stare at him, confused, before he continues. “I can’t lose you again.”
    M y heart starts beating heavily in my chest: baboom, baboom, baboom . Of course it was always beating—I’m not a deader or some shit like that—but up until this point, it was always a low thud. Just your standard run-of-the-mill heartbeat, nothing to see here, move along everyone at your easy steady pace. However, when I look into his face—in his eyes—I see how much I mean to him, and my heart is practically bursting out of my chest with warm