Shut Up and Kiss Me (34 page)

I tugged my gun free from its holster and took a cautious step forward, cursing silently as the glaring sun momentarily blinded me. Hand shielding my eyes, I moved even closer, pausing when I heard a pained-sounding hiss.

“
Come out of there slowly!” I called out. Nothing happened, other than the foot continued to twitch. Keeping my eyes trained on that very foot, watching for any sort of movement, I started forward again until I was peering down at a very dirty, very bloody woman lying uncaring at my feet. I recognized her instantly as the wild one from outside The Cave, the one I’d instantly known wasn’t going to last twenty-four hours in captivity.

Unsure if she could see me, since she appeared to be staring up at the sky while tears poured from her eyes, I holstered my gun and folded my arms across my chest.

“
Tried to run, didn’t you?” I asked, looking her over. She was sliced up pretty good, courtesy of crawling around in the underbrush, though none of the scratches appeared to be life threatening. Although, considering how filthy she was, infection was sure to quickly follow.

As if on cue, the alarm sounded, and the wailing, warbling siren echoed through the entirety of Purgatory. It was only used if we had an impending situation with the Rotters, or to alert the community that someone or something dangerous was loose inside the gates. Everyone was to head immediately to their living quarters while the guards hunted down the threat. And from the looks of this threat, bleeding and half-starved to death, she wouldn’t be at all hard to capture.

There was a tug on my pant leg, her thin fingers scrabbling to grasp at the material. Two wide gray eyes, red rimmed and swollen with tears, bright with pain and desperation, met my gaze.

“
Help,” she whispered hoarsely. “Help me…”

I don’t know why I did what I did next. I don’t think I’ll ever know why I did it, yet as I stared down at her, not giving two shits about her fate, mildly amused at the thought of the armed guards who were running around at that very second, tripping over themselves looking for this lone waif of a female, I suddenly found myself bending down and scooping her foul-smelling body into my arms. She stiffened upon contact, then winced in pain as I shifted her slight form in my grasp, manoeuvring her up and over my shoulder.

“
Stay quiet,” I demanded, and then I stalked off through the grass, heading home.