ecstasy | corpse husband

chapter 11.

"who's the kid?"

corpse slips his face mask off. a couple of seconds pass in which no one speaks, and she almost bursts into laughter. this entire situation must seem atrociously ridiculous in his eyes.

she strains to keep a humorless expression. "I found him."

"you... found him." he's understandably confused. they'd only been apart three hours. "what, was he a half off special in aisle nine?"

"funny." she deadpans, lips pressed together. "he was abandoned in a shopping cart in the store. I wasn't going to leave him there."

"so you took him?" it sounds absurd when he says it out loud.

"I know it looks bad—like I'm so freaking out of my mind. and it may have been a terrible decision on my part, but... he... his parents..." she trails off morbidly.

"oh." her distraught expression gives it away.

she loosens her grip on the steering wheel and exhales a stressed breath. she glances at the boy in the back through the rearview mirror and finds that he's still expressionless. his eyes are rimmed red from his tears.

"I should've tried harder to find his parents," she admits with guilt bleeding through her tone. maybe she was too quick to assume and just stole a child from his family.

"no." corpse surprises her when he calmly disagrees. "you did the right thing. you probably saved his life."

she doesn't feel like it. she feels like a kidnapper.

he changes subjects. "back at the parking lot, when I was getting fucking stabbed in the leg with a knife, the last person I expected to see was you."

she briefly glances at him, unsmiling. "I know you probably didn't want to see my face ever again, but—"

"I didn't say it was a bad thing."

she stills, not able to finish her interrupted sentence. she doesn't understand but lets it go. "well, I could say the same. about not expecting to see you, anyway. I thought you were going to canada."

"that's still the plan. I took a detour to get some stuff. fucking everyone had the same idea."

"yeah, people are panicking." It was bound to happen. something else confuses her, though. "that guy who stabbed you... did you know him?"

corpse shakes his head. "not at all."

she's obviously lost, so he fills her in. "I watched him for a little bit. the guy was waiting to mug people on their way out, after they filled up on supplies. he tried taking my backpack."

"but..." it doesn't add up. "why would he go after you?" if he was smart, he'd go after an easier target. unfortunately, that probably meant a woman. or an elderly. it doesn't make sense that he'd go after a guy like corpse, who'd obviously put up a fight.

he's silent for a moment, like he's unsure how to answer. "I picked the fight with him," he eventually admits, and she stuns at his words. "I didn't realize he had a knife on him."

"why would you do that?" her gaze fixes on him momentarily, wanting to understand. "tell me."

"well, if you must know, it struck me as entertaining before it turned into a knife fight. I couldn't grab mine quick enough to make it very fair, but I'll take his dirty play as a compliment."

the amused tone of his voice jars her, and yet she's fascinated. and something tells her he's hiding the real reason for him picking the fight. she wonders if he tried to stop that creep from taking advantage of people, from assaulting them and stealing their supplies. if she hadn't shown up, if she hadn't been there, it could've gone so much worse for corpse than a stab in the leg.