They Fed Me to the Dead, So I Woke Up Before the End novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: Claimed

"Yes," I said.

It came out steady, in the voice I used to use on customers at the pharmacy counter.

"I'll give it. Day forty-one, on the roof."

A sound went through the hall, half cheer, half breath let out.

The captain inclined his head to me.

Keaton squeezed my hand until the bones shifted.

"I told you," he said to the room, grinning. "I told you she's the best of us."

He turned me to face him, and his hand came up to my cheek.

"Everybody out there has been so brave, and I'm so proud," he said, quieter, but for the front rows. "Do you know how long I waited for you to say that?"

"Longer than you think," I said.

He laughed and kissed my forehead, and then, because the hall was clapping, he kissed my mouth.

I let him.

His lips were dry and hot, and under my fingers, resting on his sleeve, his forearm burned like a fever.

The chaplain at the table cleared her throat.

"We have a quarter for couples on the second floor," she said. "Mr. Marsh, you and Ms. Tolland may take it."

Keaton reached into his pocket.

He took out the looted ring with the jeweler's tag cut off, and slid it onto my finger before I could shape a protest.

"It's the world's quietest day," he said. "I want everyone to see."

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