The Dead Saga (Book 3): Odium III by Claire C. Riley Page A

another step, dangling the keys in front of her some more. “Thanks for the vehicle, ladies.” She took another step forward, until she was teetering on the edge.
    The ruined city was decimated beyond repair, and I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe she was crazy long before whatever went down at that place. That sort of crazy didn’t happen overnight, no matter what you lived through. It was the sort of crazy that was born from seeing too much and living through too much. That sort of crazy came with years of practice.
    She glanced over her shoulder and back to us, her eyes glinting with maniacal glee.
    “Where are you going to go, Crazy Pants? There’s only two ways out of here: down and to your death. Just give us the keys as you walk by,” Nova said, and even without looking I could hear the smirk to her tone. “I won’t even shoot you if you give up them up now.”
    I looked from Crazy Pants to Nova and back again, cogs turning as I pieced together a story of pain and desperation, and I gasped. Despite the cold rain beating on me, despite the chill that I felt all the way to my bones and the weariness I felt with life, I gasped, because some things just aren’t right. And if my train of thought was accurate, then this was just plain wrong.
    “What? That sounded like an important kinda gasp, Nina.” Nova glanced at me with a fierce scowl.
    “Do you think she was one of the people that were experimented on?” I asked darkly.
    “Shit,” Nova said immediately, lowering her gun, guilt washing over her features. “How long have you been here?” she asked.
    Crazy pants scratched at an invisible beard on her chin while she thought. “Sixty-three years, three months, two weeks, one day, fifty-nine minutes, and six seconds, seven, eight,” she cackled back.
    “Well, I’m assuming that’s her age.” Nova rolled her eyes. “But I think we can assume that she was definitely here when the experimentations were happening, but I honestly don’t remember her.” She sighed.
    “Eleven, twelve, thirteen.” Crazy Pants kept on counting and Nova gave out a huff of annoyance.
    “Christ, how do we make her stop counting?” I said with a grumble. “And give back our damn truck keys?”
    “My aunt used to have the cutest kid,” Nova said, and I frowned at her like ‘seriously? It’s story time now? “Bear with me,” she continued. “She used to have the cutest kid. But that little shit was so naughty, and she would run everywhere just so that you would chase her.” She looked at me seriously. “The only way to make that little kid stop running was to walk away from her.”
    I grumbled. “And that’s why I never wanted kids. Kids are irritating.”
    “…Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen…”
    “Really? Never?” Nova asked in all seriousness, to which I raised a sardonic eyebrow at her. She ignored me and continued. “I always wanted lots of kids. We came from a big family. I mean, I was one of three and we were the smallest. My dad had six brothers and two sisters, and they all had kids. Anyway, it seemed the obvious way to go. But life is what life is, and Mother Nature decided—”
    “To start a damn apocalypse,” I finished for her with a frown.
    “No, she decided not to give me a womb that worked,” Nova replied sadly.
    I stared at her in both sadness and confusion. Crazy Pants’s voice rang out behind us as she continued to count off the seconds. I couldn’t imagine how horrible that must have been for Nova, but that moment was a completely inappropriate time to bring something like that up, plus I wasn’t not emotionally capable of dealing with heavy news like that. I just wasn’t made that way. I stared at her, my mouth opening and closing as I stumbled to find the right words and not come off as callous.
    Nova shrugged and lowered her gun. “Fine, keep the damn keys. We have a spare anyway.”
    I looked back at Crazy Pants, seeing the light go out of her eyes, and I took that as my cue