Zarek asked again. "What’s your decision?"
Ayesha’s rifle was still up, but her arms were getting tired. Harun’s body lay behind her. She could smell the blood.
"What happens if I refuse?"
He shrugged. "I take the weapons and leave. You stay here and die however you like."
She said nothing.
He kept going. "Or you come with me. Food, water, medicine, protection. In return, you follow my orders and give me what I want."
"And if I don’t obey?"
He laughed. Short and sharp.
"Then I leave you behind. If you betray me, I kill you. If you become a real problem, I make sure you regret it first."
He said it the way someone might talk about the weather. No anger. No threat in his voice. Just facts.
"Don’t expect me to save you twice. I’m offering you a way to live. Not a comfortable life."
Ayesha looked at Harun. His eyes were still open. She’d held this store for hours, taken a bullet graze on her arm, refused to give him up when Cole demanded it. She’d done everything right.
And he was still dead.
She understood now. Zarek wasn’t trying to scare her. He didn’t care enough to scare her. If she said no, he’d walk out and never think about her again.
She lowered the rifle. Just a little.
"Fine. I’ll go with you."
He waited.
"But I have a condition."
His mouth curved. "You’re negotiating with me now?"
"You want me to agree, don’t you? Then listen."
She took a breath. Her hands were still shaking. She hated that he could see it.
"First, prove you can actually protect me. I’m not following someone just because he says he can keep me alive."
He nodded slowly. That part didn’t bother him. Of course it didn’t. He knew what he could do.
She forced herself to keep going.
"And you have to give me time."
His smile faded.
She swallowed. "I’ve never done anything like this before. I know what you want. I’m not pretending I don’t. But I can’t just accept everything right away."
She met his eyes.
"Before anything like that happens, no touching. Give me time to get ready."
The words hung in the air. She wasn’t asking him to drop his conditions. She was asking him not to force the rest of it on her tonight. Or tomorrow. Or the day after.
She was asking him to wait.
Zarek looked at her for a long moment. Then he laughed.
He was genuinely amused that she’d agreed to come with him after watching him murder someone she cared about.
"You really are something."
She didn’t know if that was an insult.
He stepped closer. She went stiff, but he stopped just short of her. Close enough that she could see the blood on his jacket. Close enough that she couldn’t pretend he was anything other than what he was.
"Fine. I’ll give you time. And you’ll get your chance to see what I can do."
Relief flickered across her face. Small. Brief.
Then he spoke again.
"But listen carefully. I don’t have much patience."
His smile stayed. There was nothing warm in it.
"I’m not going to spend weeks convincing you to accept something you already agreed to. Take the time you need. Don’t test how long I’m willing to wait."
She swallowed. "How long is that?"
"You’ll know when I’m getting tired of waiting."
He let the silence sit. Then he added, quieter:
"If you run after I’ve invested time and supplies in you, don’t expect me to chase you down and beg. If I catch you, I’ll make you regret ever trying to leave. And believe me, you’ll wish I’d simply killed you."
He didn’t explain what that meant. He didn’t need to.
Ayesha looked at Harun again.
She wanted to say no. She wanted to raise the rifle and pull the trigger, even if it was empty. She wanted to spit in his face and take her chances alone.
But wanting something didn’t make it possible.
She wanted to kill Zarek. She wanted Harun back. She wanted to leave this store and never see another monster again.
More than any of that, she wanted to live.
She loved her life. She wasn’t ready to die, and she wasn’t going to throw away her only chance of survival just to prove she had the courage to refuse him.
Cole was still out there. The mutants would come. She had no ammunition, no allies, and no reliable way out.
Zarek was a monster. She knew it.
But he was also her only chance.
She looked back at him.
"I’ll come with you. I’ll follow your orders, as long as you keep your side of the deal."
He chuckled. "Careful. You’re starting to sound like you think we’re equals."
Her jaw tightened. "I’m not."
"Good. At least we understand each other."
He turned toward the display case.
"Now help me take these weapons. We should leave before someone else comes looking."
She followed. She still hated him. That hadn’t changed.
He popped the display case open with a pry bar he pulled from a nearby shelf. Inside, three hunting rifles sat on a rack, clean and oiled. Boxes of ammunition stacked beside them.
He pointed at the rifles. "Which ones are worth taking?"
She hesitated, then examined the rifles. She knew enough about guns to distinguish the better-maintained ones, and she selected two, checked their actions, and set aside the matching ammunition.
He watched her work. When she finished, he touched the rifles one by one. They vanished.
She stared. "Where did you put them?"
"Somewhere safe."
"That’s not an answer."
He looked at her. "And yet it’s the only one you’re getting."
She clenched her jaw and went back to sorting supplies. He didn’t push. She didn’t have to like him. She just had to do what he said.
When they were done, he walked toward the exit.
"Stay close. If something attacks us, I don’t want to waste time looking for you."
She moved closer. Slowly. Like she was walking toward a dog she didn’t trust.
He grinned. "See? You’re learning already."
She gave him a look that could have killed him if she’d had the power.
He laughed and kept walking.
Behind him, Ayesha followed. Her rifle was empty. Her hands were still bloody. The man she’d tried to save was lying dead in a sporting goods store, and she was walking away with the person who killed him.
She knew exactly what kind of monster she’d made a deal with.
She hated herself for having to follow him.
For now, she’d walk beside Zarek, do what she had to do, and stay alive.
Whatever happened after that, she’d face it when the time came.