My breathing was shallow; I could barely get any air in my lungs as my chest constricted painfully. I was afraid that I might hyperventilate. I knew Cade was just skimming the surface of where he had been, what he had seen, but my skin crawled with horror, my insides felt like jelly. What had they done to him? I wondered for the millionth time. He reached for me again, but this time he was looking to soothe himself as well as me, and I could not refuse him that. My fingers entwined with his, I could breathe a little easier as I clung to him.
“Those things left people alive?” Bishop inquired.
Cade shook his head. “Those things only feed when they intend to kill, and then they bring the blood back.”
“Back for who?” Jenna asked. Her face was abnormally pale as she watched Cade with wide eyes.
“For the aliens. Those things are like walking storage units. They give their bounty up when they return.” There was a long moment of silence as everyone tried to digest the shock of that statement.
“And the alien’s, they feed from those things?” Aiden’s voice was strained, it sounded as if he was trying not to puke. Cade remained silent, it didn’t appear that he wanted to answer anymore. “What about people like us? The ones still moving?”
“They’re there,” Cade answered.
Darnell shifted, his hand tightened around his gun. “There are people still alive?”
Cade’s dark eyes finally left me as they slid slowly to Darnell. “I think I’m enough proof that they don’t kill everyone, don’t you?”
Darnell’s dark eyebrows shot up, his hard chin clenched tightly. I wanted to intervene between them, I wanted to speak, but my mouth would not form the words. “Where are they?”
Cade shook his head. I felt his eyes burning into me; I knew that he was staring at me, even though I did not meet his gaze. I suddenly understood Cade’s reluctance to tell us anything. To tell me anything. He didn’t want me hurt; he didn’t want me anywhere near where he had been held. “I don’t know.”
I finally met his gaze; sadness crept through me as I took in those beautiful onyx eyes. “Cade…”
“They’re on the Cape, at least some of them anyway, and I think that’s why the bridges were destroyed. It’s a perfect prison over there for them, an island with no escape. I couldn’t find where I was held again though, they move often.” I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was lying, that he was keeping something from us. “There is nothing we could do anyway. No way to get at them without more firepower, people, and a way back across. We couldn’t fight off all of those things anyway, what do you think is guarding those people? There aren’t as many there as you are hoping for anyway.”
“That explains Plymouth. Why the town was so clean, why they hadn’t gotten to all of the Frozen Ones yet. They had been too busy cleaning and setting it up as another holding place for people,” Lloyd said in awe.
I gasped; my eyes flew back to Cade. His jaw was locked as he gave a crisp, affirmative nod. “We can’t just give up,” Jenna whispered. “We can’t just leave them there.”
I wanted to agree with her, but there was a knot in my throat that I couldn’t swallow. The thought of leaving them all behind made me sick, but how could we possibly help them? Not only did it seem as if we weren’t going to be able to help the ones that had been captured, but there was nothing we could do to awaken The Frozen Ones. “My blood isn’t the answer,” I said thoughtfully. “It is those things.”
Bishop tapped his chin thoughtfully as he studied me. “It’s the answer for something,” he said softly. “It could be a vaccine, it could still awaken people. We have no idea the potential your blood may hold.”
“Or doesn’t hold,” Cade said softly. “Just because she has a different blood type than everyone here doesn’t mean that she is the only one. There could be other survivors like her, and you just haven’t run across them yet.”
“It’s too big of a coincidence. Hopefully these uncontaminated samples will hold some answers.”
Cade’s jaw clenched, a muscle jumped in his cheek. His displeasure was evident as his hand slid from mine. “Were you held on the Cape?” Lloyd inquired.
“Yes.”
My skin crawled. They had turned our home into a place of death, hopelessness, and torment. A place that Cade had managed to escape from twice, but how? I turned back to ask him, but he was already gone.
***
“You can’t keep me sheltered. You can’t protect me from them. You can’t save me from the truth Cade.”
It had taken me a half an hour to find Cade. He had retreated to the workout room of the hotel and had been in the process of beating the crap out of a punching bag. Though I could feel his anger and frustration, I couldn’t help but admire the hard ripple of muscles as he straightened. A thin layer of sweat coated his bare back; his dark hair was wet as it curled against his face. His head turned slowly toward me, his eyes smoldered as he stared at me over his shoulder. I was stunned by the hostility I sensed simmering beneath his surface, I was held immobile by the sheer force of his beauty.
I swallowed heavily, ignoring the heat that pooled through my body, the desire that filled me. Right now was not the time to jump him, no matter how badly I suddenly wanted to. “There is no way to keep me completely safe.”
“Maybe not, but I can do my best to try.”
“Cade…”
“There are things that you do not need to know Bethany. Leave it at that.” I was stunned by the fierceness of his words, the abruptness of them. He walked over to a bench and grabbed the towel that had been tossed onto it. He wiped his face and arms with it before draping it around his shoulders and turning to me. “And there are things that I can do to keep it that way.”
I took a deep breath before taking a step into the room. Anger battled with love inside of me. “You were gone for over a month Cade.”
He nodded, a muscle in his cheek jumped. “Yes.”
“The girl you left on that beach is gone.” It was weird saying those words, weird admitting it to someone other than myself. “I’m not the same, and neither are you. I was weaker then, I was frightened and partially beaten by everything that had happened. When I lost you I was destroyed. I had no hope; all I had was agony, revenge and fury. And I did whatever I could to try and find a way to exact that revenge. I’m stronger now, I can fight, and I’m excellent with a gun. The girl you left behind…”