Who We Were | Book One

32. The Real Story

The man paced slowly in front of Josh. With his hood down, I was able to see his face clearly. He looked to be the same age as us, if not only slightly older. His hair was the colour of coffee, sitting short and cropped against his scalp, emphasised by his bronze skin. The two of them watched each other, locking hardened eyes. The customary warmth I'd associated with Josh had disappeared faster than summer rain on the pavement. There was a sharp tension between the two of them that not even he tried to mask.

"What the fuck did you do?" Josh said through gritted teeth.

"To her?" The man questioned, raising an eyebrow towards me. "She's fine," he sneered. "You should worry more about yourself."

My heart quickened as the man lifted a clenched fist and brought it down at speed. It met Josh's face with a sharp force, sending his body to the ground with a heavy thud. I inhaled as he went limp against the gravel, lurching towards him. A hand was on my shoulder just as quick, pushing me back down.

"What are you doing?" I screamed.

The man held up his hands innocently as he nudged Josh with the toe of his boot. "We're just having some fun."

I stared at Josh against the grass, he was limp and unmoving. His eyelashes flickered as they opened, and I exhaled a sigh of relief. A groan escaped his throat as he pulled himself up and sat back on his heels. He lifted a hand tenderly to his jaw which was imprinted with small stones from the dirt. I looked to the man and his hand that clenched as he watched Josh brush damp mud from his face and hair.

A surge of adrenaline burst through my body as I brought my arm up, thrusting the gun out of the man's hand. I ignored the burning sensation that seared through my arm as I hauled myself up and launched on the man beside Josh, sending his body to the ground.

A forearm locked itself around my neck and pulled me backwards. I fought against it as hard as I could, kicking out in every direction trying to break free of his grasp. The scraping of metal rang through my ears before I caught sight of a blade hovering just above my skin. My actions had understandably aggravated the man further.

"No!" He yelled. "You don't get involved in this!" He pointed at me; his nostrils flared. "This is between me and him..." He moved a finger to Josh. "Go on then, Ben. I'll let you put up a fight."

Confusion flooded my body. I looked at the boy in front of me, his face was a bloody mess as he clutched it and looked back to Chris.

"Who's Ben?" I rasped, struggling against the forearm around my neck.

The man raised his eyebrows in amusement and his lips twitched upwards. "Who's Ben?" He repeated as his eyes flickered over to Josh. "So, you're a liar as well as a coward now. I didn't think it was possible for you to be any worse." He paused, revelling in the moment where he was in charge. He turned to the boy in front of me, a much too wide smile plastered across his face as he landed another hard punch to Josh's face. "This is Ben!" He announced as he sent him back to the grass.

The swing was followed by a solid kick to his ribcage which released a throaty groan from his mouth.

"Stop!" I screamed as the knife hovered closer to my neck.

Josh wasn't fighting back. He spoke no words to defend himself. His arms wrapped around his body as if he was trying to hold everything together.

"Now's your chance to tell her, Ben—" he waved his gun around to emphasise his words "—or do you want me to?" The tone of his voice was unnerving, and it sent chills through my body. "What's he told you about our little trip to London?"

"London?" I furrowed my brows as I looked at Josh. "The Infected swarmed the building..." I recalled, "he was the only one from the group that got out alive..."