Smolder by Abigail Livinghouse (best young adult book series TXT) 📕

"Billy", I called, thankful that I could find him out of everyone else. He turned to me and a look of surprise crossed his face when I handed him back his gun. "This belongs to you."

Billy looked up at me and a huge smile broke across his face before he laughed loudly. "Oh darlin', this is your gun! But I will get you the proper holster for it." He said, still grinning as he placed the gun in a holster on his waist.

I blinked, observing his reaction to me and then looking around at everyone else. They were smiling at me, almost all of them. Even Nathan's lip had curled into somewhat of a smile. Then I saw Isabella, walking through the crowd that literally parted for her. Some of her hair had come undone and she looked completely exhausted, but there was a generous grin on her face and her brown eyes were warm with, gratefulness?

"Thank you so much. You saved my people Siren, we are forever in your dept." She said happily, and instead of shaking my hand like I expected she hugged me. My eyes widened and I stood there for a second in shock before I returned the hug. Isabella, fearless leader, was hugging me?

When she released me, a little girl came running out of the group and jumped right into my arms. I staggered back, surprised at the child clinging to my neck. She pulled back, her face streaked with tears, and I recognized her as the girl I had pulled away from the Half Dead.

"You saved me fire lady, you're my hero." She sniffled, burying her face in my neck. I stiffened. Fire lady?

Oh god. My insides clenched in apprehension. How much had they seen?

Mary came forward, smiling as she looked at Maddie. "We saw you throw the match onto the Zoners, that was a very brave move of yours." She said, and I felt my shoulders relax.

"And very risky." Trenton chimed in. I turned to look at him, my eyes narrowing as I handed Maddie over to Mary.

I walked over to meet Trenton, who was standing at the front of everyone. In a very girly and somewhat childish gesture, I put my hand on my hip and scowled at him.

"Is there something you want to say to me Trenton?" I challenged, raising one eyebrow.

He licked his lips and pursed them, seeming to consider something when a stray Half Dead made its way over to us, flames searing its clothes and body. The thing roared at us before someone from the crowd shot it clear in the head, sending it to the ground. We all turned to see Nathan with a smoking gun in his hand, wiping it off with a handkerchief.

"Not here". Trenton said, grabbing my attention. "We have to get moving and find another place to stay. Its obviously not safe in Seattle anymore." He basically said what was on everyone's mind. And even though we had just fought off hundreds of Half Deads, I was willing to bet that they were only a fraction of what was hiding out in the city. This scene would draw them out here sooner rather than later, and I doubted anyone wanted to stick around to see what would happen later. "For now though, thank you." Trenton said seriously, his blue eyes hard. I nodded once.

"Time to move." He announced. There were no arguments.

Although, there had to be an examination of everyone in the group, including myself before we could get going. I knew as well as anyone else that we couldn't risk having someone infected among us. We would do what we could to help them, but in the end there would be nothing that could truly keep them from the inevitable. Luckily, no one had been bitten. So we began moving, even though we were obviously tired and in need of nourishment, the main thing was getting everyone to a safe location to settle down in for the time being.

After a few minutes of walking, Trenton fell to the back with me and the women and leaned in close. "I would like to talk to you later." He whispered before offering a few smiles to the ones around him, then making his way back up to the front.

I scowled. Okay, he had caught my attention. What could he possibly want to say to me? Maybe he would finally bitch at me for sticking out my neck and saving Maddie? Maybe yell at me for taking his matches and leaving the others? Or would he just thank me like the others had? I wasn't really leaning towards any option in particular, but a sinking feeling suddenly nestled in my gut. What if he had seen my fire come out of me?

It wasn't until we had found an abandoned hospital building with the third floor fairly intact and safe that Trenton called me over to talk on the second floor. We sat down in some of the waiting area chairs that weren't too moldy and faced the windows, showing a crumbling Seattle in the distance. The group had traveled as far as we could go in one day, and since everyone was worn out from the unexpected battle, we had to find shelter somewhere.

 We definitely weren't sticking around Seattle any longer. The population of Half Deads wandering around the city was something I didn't want to think about much less fight any time soon. So for now, this hospital would be a safe enough settlement. With two floors separating us and any possible threats down below, this was as good as it could get on short notice.

  Another thing I didn't want to approach but knew I would have to eventually, was the look and behavior of the Half Deads we had fought. Snarling, clawing, dripping blood and completely white blank stares. That was something I rarely ever saw, in fact, I never saw anything but on the occasion white eyes if the corpse was older. The appearance of these creatures was something that really struck fear into me. What if Trenton and Nathan had been right when they first spoke to me? What if Half Deads were way more of a threat than I thought?

 Well, right now Trenton seemed a bit tense. His shoulders were drawn and he had his elbows resting on his knees, his chin in his hand. His sharp blue eyes were calmly looking over me. I didn't flinch under his gaze, I just leaned back and crossed my legs, waiting for what he had to say that could possibly expose me.

  "Siren, what were you thinking?" Trenton's tone was very calm and approaching, as if he was open to discussion. But his expression was anything but friendly.

  I licked my lips. "You guys were in trouble and I wanted to help."               

 "You could've been killed." He cut in.

 "Maddie was about to be eaten!" I nearly shouted defensively. Trenton's brow pursed at my volume but I didn't care. This was what I got for saving a member of his group?

  I sighed, knowing that arguing with Trenton would most likely not go well. I had only known the kid for about two days but he didn't seem like he would give up a fight easily. At the same time though I was glad that we weren't discussing some unknown fire power that had been unleashed on the field.

  "Look, I wasn't trying to piss you off intentionally. I wasn't really thinking, I just acted." I elaborated. Trenton nodded, leaning back in his chair as well.

 "I understand, but what I was referring to was the whole fire thing." He said severely, and my heart jumped into my throat. I swallowed in an attempt to force it back down to no avail, and fought to keep the fear out of my eyes. I looked at Trenton, and I could see the emotion in his eyes. Something was there, something a little bit deeper than just concern for a fellow human's life.

  "Just what the fuck were you thinking?!" His suddenly harsh voice bounced off the peeling hospital walls, and I jumped in surprise, staring up at him with wide eyes. I had never heard him swear like this before.

 "You steal my matches and go running towards the fucking corpses eager for your flesh?! And then not only do you get incredibly close to ending your life, you set a fire to a completely barren landscape and barely make it out without singeing yourself!"

I had to suppress a laugh at the thought of me burning myself. Wouldn't that be ironic as hell.

 "It was the best way to stop the Half-Zoners before they could advance on us any further. We wouldn't have made it without casualties if they weren't stopped." I found myself whispering. I never thought that I would be cowering underneath the cold gaze of a guy I had just met and who was actually yelling at me because I had thrown out my own safety, but here I was.

 Trenton shook his head, standing up abruptly and beginning to pace over to the windows. "I have never seen someone with such complete disregard for their own life before." He muttered against the cracked glass.

 I stared down at the rotting coffee table with the tattered remains of once well known magazines lying across it, processing his words before I got up to join him at the windows.

  "I'm sorry for upsetting you, but I'm not sorry for setting the fire.   It was the best thing that could've possibly been done." I said softly, trying to keep him from yelling again and waking up anyone above us, or anything below us that might be lurking about. He sighed, dragging a hand over his eyes then running it through his ruffled blond hair.

 "I know. And I do appreciate your help. It's just," he shook his head. "You really scared me today, Siren."

  I blanched, shocked. My flames seemed to scamper into a corner. I scared him? What the hell was that supposed to mean? He hadn't brought up anything about my fire, so I assumed he hadn't seen anything. But what if he had and was bringing it up now? Seeing my confused and somewhat frightened expression he smiled, seeming a bit strained as he talked.

  "Seeing you nearly getting bitten by that Zoner, and then with flames literally hot on your tail as you ran away. It just . . . frightened me a bit. If we had lost you in that war zone." He trailed off, and I could see some sort of confusion similar to mine slide onto his face.

 "I'm just not sure what I would've done, or said to the group." Trenton finished, seeming as astonished by his own words as I was.

 I pursed my lips. I wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that. I had never really been shown that much affection by the opposite sex or even my own gender. Terese and I had kissed and kept each other warm, but never had she said that she loved me, or