by Liahona West
“I…uh…have my akrafena in my room.”
Blake called over his shoulder. “A sword won’t do you much good against deer, newbie.”
“Leave the guy alone, Blake,” Finch said and shoved him. He fake-stumbled, gaining a few cackles from the other Sentinels, and rubbed his arm.
“Ow. You’re so mean to me.”
“Whatever.”
“There’s a supply of weapons over there,” Eloise pointed to the left side of the clearing at some racks of bows, crossbows, and knives. “Grab whatever you like and meet us at the horses.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Eloise
“Just pretend to be my date.” Mal knelt, his hands clasped together in a pleading gesture, and stared up at Abe.
“No way, vato!” Abe knocked Mal’s hands out of the way. “I ain’t pretending to like you so you can get him to notice you.”
Mal groaned, loud and dramatic. “You’re the most boring person. Finch?”
“Uh-uh. Nope.” She shook her head. “You’re on your own with this one.”
They had been traveling for much of the day, taking turns riding the two horses they brought with them, unable to give each Sentinel a horse because of the small number of them at the Compound. The two mares waited, tied by a tree and tended to by Nails, while the rest of the group sat along the riverbank drinking from their water canteens.
Eloise looked at Bannack.
I can’t believe Mason threw him on me.
Mason’s expression, with the sly smile, irritated her more than Bannack being in their group. She recognized that look.
He knew exactly what he was doing, putting him in my group. He can go eat rocks, for all I care.
She still loved him, even when he failed miserably at playing matchmaker.
While she filled up her canteen, Eloise asked, “What are you doing here?”
Bannack looked at her, his bright blue eyes making her skin tingle wonderfully. “I’m a Sentinel. What did you think I was doing?” He leaned in, the warm, earthy tones of lavender and leather filling her nose. “Picking daisies?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Never mind. Just …” Eloise wiggled her hand in the air, “stay over there. The Sentinels are my thing. Go find something else to occupy your time. Knitting, maybe.”
He smiled.
Why does he have to do that?
The smile made her heart thump faster, and it stayed on his face so long that she had to look away to hide the reddening of her cheeks.
“I’m quite good at that. My mom taught me. I can make you and Bali matching hats.”
She made a face and stuck her chin out. “I still don’t like it. You’re invading. Go away.”
“What’s there to be defensive about when it was Mason’s idea?”
“Well, Mason’s nosey and put us together purely for his own entertainment. Plus, you’re a suck up.”
The laughter that came out of Bannack ruffled her feathers and sent a wave of butterflies through her stomach at the same time. She didn’t know whether to blush or glare at him.
“What’s so funny?”
“You,” Bannack looked at her and leaned his body against a tree trunk, cocked his knee up, and put his other arm on top of it. “You seem threatened by my presence here and it is making you flustered.”
Don’t let him get to you.
Eloise grabbed her bag and began rifling through it.
“What are you doing?” Bannack asked.
With her head in the bag, Eloise replied, “I’m looking for the opinion I asked you for. It must be in here somewhere. Oh wait…” She looked at him, “It’s not here.”
Bannack’s face blanked, then he smiled. “Fair enough.”
“You guys ready?” Finch walked over to them, her boots crunching the rocks. She touched Eloise’s hand. “We’re heading out again. Bannack? Do you ride?”
He shook his head.
“Hmm. That’s a problem. We’ll have to figure something out, then, once you get tired.”
***
Hours later, Eloise rode the bay mare. She poked her tongue into her cheek, glared, and inhaled a long breath.
“The only reason you’re on my horse, not Abe’s, is because mine can carry the weight and I’m smaller than him, so we fit. This is not because I felt bad for you.”
From behind her, his chest pressed against her back and legs hanging, Bannack spoke over her shoulder. “I got tired.”
“You could have waited.”
“The hill was steep.”
“One hour. That’s it.”
“My ass got cold, and the horse is quite warm.”
Eloise clenched her teeth. “Just…stop talking.”
Bannack’s laugh rippled against her back.
Nails trotted over on the second mare. “We’re heading into the city to make camp. If you go under the double overpass, through the tunnel, we’ll be in the old theater with the red carpet inside the glass doors.”
“Got it,” Eloise waved at him. “We’ll do a quick patrol and then join you.”
Abe trotted off and down the hill.
“Hey, Eloise,” Bannack’s voice puffed air past her ear, “what’s up with you and Finch?”
The name of her fellow Sentinel brought a smile to her lips. “What do you mean?”
“It kinda looked like you guys were flirting.”
“Yeah,” Eloise shrugged and turned her head. “I like her face and her tattoos. She’s really smart, too.” When Bannack said nothing, she added, “You know I’m bi, right?”
“Oh,” he said. “I didn’t. I mean, I saw hints here and there, but was not sure. Have you had many other women partners?”
“A few. I like guys more than girls though.”
“Hmm…cool.”
“Why are you all of a sudden interested in the people I associate with?” His strange question confused and frustrated her. It wasn’t any of his business.
Bannack stumbled through several ‘oh’s,’ ‘well’s,’ and ‘uh’s,’ before explaining himself. “It is not my place to pry, and I’m sorry for my mistake, but the truth is rather embarrassing.”
“One that you’re going to share with me, I hope?” Eloise asked. Too many times she’d been disappointed by partners keeping things from her that made them uncomfortable and she hated it. If she could trust him, she needed to have open dialogue. Without it, she would struggle with worrying what he wasn’t telling her, and especially because they would be working together.
“I may have been a tad jealous.”
A laugh almost escaped as his answer was so unexpected. “You were jealous?”
“Yes. And I can feel you trying not to laugh. We are on a horse. Touching.”
“Oh, stop,” Eloise smiled beside herself, glad he couldn’t see. “I’m not laughing at you. It was unexpected, is all. Why were you jealous?”
“I do not quite know. The experience was unexpected for me, as well. Perhaps it is because…I may like you. Or not. Jury is still out on that one.”
Unfortunately, Eloise couldn’t convince her mind to move on from his revelation. Also, unfortunately, she didn’t want it to. His words lifted her heart, against her direct wishes, and wouldn’t come down.
What the hell’s wrong with you? You’re acting like a giddy, love-sick woman and it’s not allowed.
“Well,” Eloise swallowed, “keep me updated.”
“I shall let you know the minute I figure it out.”
Eloise stopped the mare at the top of the hill and peered down into the valley. The wide road allowed for eight lanes of traffic, and the cars were spread out, rusted, broken, and growing plant life. Skyscrapers reached for the heavens like souls clawing at Death’s ankles, their glass broken by brambles, moss, and grass. The overpasses grew vines like hair.
Deer carcasses of varying decomposition littered the road, some growing maggots and attracting flies. A murder
of crows flew away from their meal.
“Where are all the people?” Bannack asked.
She turned her head, his warm breath puffing against her neck. She shuddered, and said, “The locals live about five miles from here. I’ve never met them, but they aren’t a people I want to meet. Word is, from the scouts, they are hard, brutal, and attack anyone who comes close. The only reason they’ve allowed us to hunt here is the deer are overpopulated.”
The day turned cold while they walked through the city, pushing vines out of their way and patrolling the area. A derailed train, the engine and three of its cars pouring over the edge, lay still and forgotten on tracks high above the road.
A long screech shocked the air. The mare stopped, her ears forward and nostrils flared. Eloise searched for the source, unable to see but still able to hear the awful noise. Something was dying a slow, miserable death.
“Hey, Eloise,” Bannack’s tone revealed he too was nervous. “Are you sure there’s nothing here with us?”
She whispered back, “Up until now, I was positive.”
“And now?”
“Eh…forty percent sure.”
“Better make that zero percent.”
The mare took a few steps back and tensed underneath Eloise’s thighs.
Deer bolted past, bounding and scrambling, and the mare reared. Bannack held onto Eloise so tight she worried he would crush her bones, but she stayed on and gained control of the horse even though the mare pawed the ground, bounced on her hooves, and tossed her head.
“Woah, girl,” Eloise stroked her neck, her stomach and heart in her throat, and panted. “Easy. We’re okay now.”
A low growl sounded above her. She turned, pulling the horse around, and looked straight into the yellow eyes of a tawny lioness. Three more appeared.
“Eloise—”
“I know. I see them. I’m not blind.”
The lionesses crouched low, one jumping off of a truck bed, and advanced. The mare tensed, ears back, then roared, and took off. Eloise tried to pull her around, to stop her, but once she began running, Eloise knew they were toast if they stopped. The mare shot through the city, chased by the lionesses who ran after her.
Eloise pulled the horse down alleys and side streets, desperate to find a building that a rampaging horse could fit into without stopping.
“We need to get inside.”
“I’m looking!” The only thing she could hear above the wind and Bannack’s voice was her loud, heavy breathing. Her throat burned from the cold she gulped down.
A lioness Eloise hadn’t seen jumped in front of them. The mare reared. Eloise gasped as her feet left the stirrups. She fell on top of Bannack, eliciting a sharp grunt from him. The mare took off, chased by two of the lionesses.
Pulled violently to her feet by one arm, Eloise took off running with Bannack. They couldn’t outrun them. Their only chance was to hide in the nearest building.
“I’ll shoot, you run.” Bannack notched an arrow.
“Don’t tell me what to do!” She flicked one of her throwing knives. It pierced the skull of a lioness with stripes and she fell.
“Come on!” Bannack grabbed her arm and ran into a building only a few yards away.
We’re going to die.
Eloise’s stomach ached. She could hear the heavy padded gallop of the lions after them. It was only a matter of seconds before—
Bannack cried out and Eloise, still attached to him, landed on her knee. She opened her mouth in a silent scream as pain crashed up her thigh. She spun, drew her kukri and an arrow from Bannack’s quiver. For a split second, she watched in horror as the big cat pulled her paw away from Bannack to strike again, blood in the tawny fur. Eloise stabbed the lone lioness’s eyes, screaming so loud her voice cracked. The cat, smaller than the others, withdrew, roared, and writhed on the ground.
She pulled on Bannack, unable to get him inside with merely her strength. “Get up!”
Groaning and stumbling, Bannack cradled his arm and they walked into an old mall. As they trudged through the swamp that used to be a floor, Bannack dripping blood into the water, Eloise searched for a place to hide. Anywhere. Escalators stood solemnly in the center of the concourse. Three wide hallways branched away, and above them, a balcony ran along the outside perimeter with overpasses connecting it. The glass ceiling no longer existed and vines hung down from the hole.
Eloise released Bannack. Adrenaline coursed through her body and made her tremble. She turned on him. “What’s your problem?”
Pushing off from the wall he was leaning against, Bannack blinked at her. “Come again?”
“Don’t tell me how to fight. I know what to do.”
He scoffed. “You are a Sentinel. If you did not know how to fight, you would not even be one. I was trying to escape with our lives.”
“By telling me what to do.” Eloise held her frustration and anger barely below the surface. It pushed on her, begging to be let out. Her hands shook.
“No,” Bannack said and groaned, grabbing at his shoulder. “By attempting to work as a team.”
She walked over to him and clenched her fists, yelling, “A team I never asked you to be on!”
“Is that what this is about?” He kicked the water and it sprayed all over. “You are angry at me for joining the Sentinels?”
“Yes, I’m angry at you for joining the Sentinels. It’s my thing!”
“Sentinel duty is for everyone.”
“Not you.” Eloise’s voice cracked. She poked her finger at him, jamming his chest. Quick as a whip, he grabbed her wrist, which pulled a gasp from her lips. Her jaw tightened, and she looked up at him. “You’re not allowed.”
“Why?” He asked, whispering. “And never touch me when you’re angry. I didn’t give you permission.”
Bannack leaned in close and released her wrist. Being near him allowed her to absorb his energy, and she realized it was chaotic, a boiling pool of fury and anger, kept together by a deceptively quiet tone. That energy burned through her with a thrilling burst.
She tilted her chin. “Because I don’t want you on the team.”
“Why?”
“Because you infuriate me.”
“Why?”
His whispers made her shiver. “What are you doing, asking why over and over?” Eloise pulled away. “Aren’t my answers good enough for you?”
“No. They are not. It is obvious your anger is directed at me and I deserve to know why so we can work together efficiently. I ask again. Why?”
The dam broke. Her grief, anger, and fear poured out of her mouth in a giant wave and she lost control of her body, collapsing waist deep into the water and weeds. “Because! Because you’re a reminder that I lost everything, okay?” She gestured wide, tears burning as they fell. “What Joy did took everything from me! The minute you waltzed into my life, you won’t stop helping. I don’t want your goddamn help, Bannack! None of it! I can’t even look at you without seeing what I lost: my sister, my parents, Seth.” Eloise pointed at Bannack and her next words made him jump. “And you! I lost everyone, and it’s because of that woman. I can’t ever get it back!” Words turned to anger, and she growled, her face contorted. “So, yes, I don’t want you here. I want you to go away.”
She stood in the middle of the swamp, wet up to her knees, and shook. Eloise’s teeth chattered. Her bones creaked.
“I am not leaving,” Bannack said as he exhaled. “Your pain is real. It is valid. You cannot push me away because of it nor can you hold it in and hide it. If progress is to be made, if we must work together, we need to understand each other. I cannot work with someone who wishes for me to go away. We will both die.”
Eloise exhaled, all strength to fight any longer gone, and fell onto a metal bench. She put her forehead in her hands. “Can we just…agree to move past this? You need help and my head hurts from the yelling.”
“Sure.” Bannack nodded.
The
y found a utility room. Bannack stood in the center, trying to remove his shirt, but hissed and groaned with every movement while Eloise searched through boxes on the shelves. She slammed them shut or tossed them through the air when they yielded no results, items clattering to the floor. Her head pounded.
Come on! Next time I’m giving everyone a pack of first-aid. What was I thinking having one person carry it all?
She looked at Bannack, watched him struggle with his shirt, then jerked her attention back to her frantic hunt for first aid supplies. Bannack panted behind her.
“Yes!” Eloise’s hands found a box of rolled gauze and another of plastic wound closures. She turned around, both boxes in her arms, and let out a small squeak. Bannack stood by the door, body tilted and torso bare. He had removed his shirt. The sunset created an orange and yellow halo around the outside edges of his body, his shoulders, and arms.
“Did ya find it?”
“I…” Eloise gulped. “I did.”
“Well? Whatcha waiting fer? Help me. I can’t do it myself.”
He’s so grumpy. Sounds a bit like Kendal.
Eloise smiled a little. She knew full well the danger they were still in, but it was a side she’d never seen before. Ever. As kids, he always cried when he got hurt. Not if he scraped his knee or bumped his head, but if he saw blood, he was crying. As an adult, and probably because of the history she knew little of, Bannack reacted differently.
“Turn around.”
He spun, placed his hand high on the doorjamb, and leaned forward, exposing claw marks down his shoulder blade to his ribs. They were deep, but none looked damaging.
“You’re lucky the lion was young. Any of the bigger ones and you’d be toast.”
“Lucky me.” He growled, and she could hear him rolling his eyes.
Eloise placed the box of wound closures on a nearby shelf and dismantled them, using the three steps labeled clearly to guide her, and pulled the wounds closed. She used the entire box. Fluttering, color coded tabs covered the floor. She dug into the next box, wrapping Bannack’s shoulder, and ducked underneath his arm to get a better angle.
He looked at her, face sweating.
