Honestly, she should have expected not to be able to play the avoiding game for long. The compound may have been big, but it was also small in a lot of ways. Everyone knew everyone, and avoiding people wasn't logical. And maybe, subconsciously, in a way, she'd wanted to see him. Maybe, just maybe, she'd wanted to break the avoidance. No maybe about it, she told herself. You missed him.
But the sound of his voice when he greeted her reminded her that this wasn't an average reunion. The bruising around her eye was the visible reminder that this might very well be the last time he ever spoke to her. And thinking about the bruising made the bite marks on her shoulder and calf hurt, as well as the couple of other scraps and bruises she'd garnered on this trip. She looked up at him, a hopeless look on her face as she responded. "Hi," she said in a quiet, defeated tone. She only met his eyes for a second before casting her gaze down at the floor.
And then came the question that she knew was coming, but dreaded all the same.
How to answer it? She brushed a hand through her hair, wincing at the movement and how it squished the skin that was freshly perforated by infected teeth. Zach had done the best he could with it, and she'd been following the cleaning regimen he'd given her, too, but infected bites always, always hurt for a good long time. She reached a hand up to rub at her shoulder, and sighed and looked up at him again. Once again, she had to give him the chance to run if he wanted to.
"Bea and I..." she started. "We, uh... we ran into a couple guys from the Bedford group while we were out looting." She looked down again. "They didn't really give us much choice but to stay and fight, either." Blocking their only exit to the car.
She closed her eyes for a second, wincing unwittingly at the pain it brought to her still-sore skin. Quickly, she braced herself for the onslaught of shouting. After all, why wouldn't he shout? It was all anyone else had done when she told them what happened.
He's going to leave. You know he's going to leave. After all, why wouldn't he leave? She'd promised that she'd be careful, and here she was, coming back looking like she'd gotten into a row with a leaper and lost.