She smiled. “That’s a nice one.” She took it out and put it in a box. I watched the silver chain with the football on it sparkle and hoped Bret liked it. It would be my last present to him before he left. I paid for it and walked outside, almost running into Billy.
He smiled and looked down at the bag. “Gift for Bret?”
I sighed. “My going away present for him. Something so he’ll remember me.”
Billy rolled his eyes. “Like anyone could forget you.”
I smiled at him and started walking towards the exit. He walked quietly beside me and opened the door for me. I looked down at his hands and gasped. “How much did you spend?”
He shrugged. “A couple hundred dollars. Not much.”
I gaped at the ten bags he held. “Oh my God. I don’t think I’ve spent that much in five years of clothes shopping.”
He rolled his eyes. “Are you sure you’re a girl?”
“Are you sure you’re not gay?” I asked.
He frowned. “Would I have kissed you if I was gay?”
I fought the frown that wanted to form and forced a playful look. “You did just question if I was a girl.”
He rolled his eyes at me and started walking to his truck. I walked beside him and smiled at how easy it was to be around him. I felt, for once, normal. We were almost to his truck when we heard screeching tires. I turned my head and saw Skankzilla driving J.D.’s truck and swerving out of control. Billy jumped in front of me to protect me from the careening truck. I tensed, waiting for impact, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes slowly and saw the truck had stopped just inches from Billy. He exhaled and turned around to face the truck. “You almost killed us!”
Skankzilla shrugged. “I wasn’t aiming for you, Billy.”
Bret frowned from the passenger seat and shook his head. “I can’t believe you just said that. Are you alright, Artemis?”
I patted my arms and legs and nodded. “Yeah. Billy saved me by blocking Skankzilla’s path.”
Bret’s forehead creased further in anger.
Billy stepped in my view of him and looked me over. “You sure you’re alright?”
I laughed. “Billy, I’m fine. If anyone would have been hurt, it would have been you for jumping in the way. You could have died.”
He smiled. “Well, I couldn’t just let you get hurt. I had to protect you.” He kissed my cheek and I felt the blush spread across them. He turned around and yelled, “Don’t ever let her drive again!”
Bret glared at Billy as he walked to the truck. Bret hopped down and walked towards me. “You having fun with Billy?”
I shrugged. “Actually, yes. We ate then we shopped…” Billy whistled and I turned just as he tossed the sunglasses he bought me at my chest. I caught them easily and put them on, smiling at Bret. “You like them?”
He nodded and smiled. “Yes. They look good on you.”
Billy called, “That’s because I picked them out.”
Bret snarled. “So, you and Billy dating now?”
I frowned and pushed the sunglasses on top of my head. “Bret, I have to make friends, right? You’ll be gone in a week. And we just talked about this.”
He scoffed and then glared at me. “Friends? Right, more like bed buddies.”
I shoved Bret in the chest as hard as I could, making him stumble a few steps backwards. “Don’t ever say something like that about me again. You know I’m not like that. I can’t believe you said that. Here. Take this.” I tossed the bag with his necklace in it at him and walked away. Bret started walking towards me and I turned around and yelled, “Screw you! I’ve been your friend for over ten years and never ever done anything with you. How dare you assume that I’m with him for a few hours and I’m screwing him. If that’s what you think of me then you should just leave for Indiana now.”
Bret called, “I’m sorry, Artemis. Wait. Please.”
I hurried to Billy’s truck where he stood with the door open. I pulled my sunglasses down, so he wouldn’t see me crying, and hopped up into the truck. He shut my door and got in the driver’s side, starting the truck quickly and pulling out of the parking lot. We wove our way down the parking garage while I cried as silently as I could. Billy put his hand on top of mine and rubbed small circles on it, trying to be soothing. His touch began making me nauseous so I patted his hand to let him know it was alright and turned to face the passenger door. I let the tears fall, then shook my head.
I am not going to let him ruin my day.
I turned to Billy. “Sorry about that, Billy.”
He rolled his eyes. “Bret is a jerk to you and you apologize to me? That’s a little backwards, Artemis. I can’t believe he said that to you.”
I shrugged. “He’s just upset. I’m sure he feels like a jerk especially after seeing the necklace.” I thought about it and realized that I didn’t want to see Bret. “Is it okay if I come over and eat chips and salsa and watch movies?”
Billy smiled wide. “Yeah. My parents are still out of town so we’ll have the place to ourselves.”
I smiled. “Cool. So, what are we watching?”
He shrugged. “I have like a thousand movies so I’ll let you pick.”
The trip passed quickly, and we stopped in front of his house. I climbed out of his truck and grabbed a couple of his bags. He opened the door and waited for me to go in.
I called over my shoulder, “Where do you want the bags?”
He whispered, “Here is fine.”
I jumped since I hadn’t realized how close he was.
He laughed. “Sorry. I whispered so I wouldn’t scare you.”
I smiled. “It’s alright.” I set the bags down in the entryway and walked to his kitchen. I had been to Billy’s house a few times to watch movies with everyone. I took out a soda for each of us and Billy took out the salsa and got the chips down. We walked to his living room and I gasped. A new gigantic TV sat, taking up his entire living room wall.
“Holy crap,” I exclaimed. “How big is that?”
He shrugged. “It’s a seventy-three inch. We’re going to get the eighty-inch next month.”
I turned to my right and gasped again. The wall was an array of shelves of movies. “What order are they in?”
“Release year.”
I walked to the wall of movies and started going through the titles. I finally decided on one of my favorite movies. “Here.”
He looked at the movie then up to me again. “This one?” he asked. “Are you sure?”
I nodded smiling. “It’s one of my favorites. You don’t like it?”
He laughed. “No, I love it! It’s just that I thought you would pick a comedy or something…”
I finished, “Something girly?” He nodded and I laughed. “Nope, I like action movies.”
“Alright, 300 it is.” He walked to the stand which held the movie player and what seemed like every game console ever made and put the movie in. I sat down on the couch and opened my soda and ate a chip with salsa on it. He turned the lights off and sat down beside me as the previews started to play. I relaxed into the couch and felt the stress press down on my shoulders. Billy sat back against the couch beside me and clicked the menu button to start the movie. I smiled excitedly as the movie started to play. I could practically say each line along with the movie, but I kept quiet so Billy could enjoy the movie as well. Halfway through the movie a message blinked at the bottom of the screen. Billy sighed. “Breaking news alert again.”
I turned to him and asked with a shaky voice, “Can you turn to it?”
He shrugged. “Sure. I’m surprised you want to after how much has already gone on.”
I frowned harder. “I haven’t heard anything. Darren has been keeping me and Bret away from the television so we haven’t heard about what’s going on at all.”
Billy’s mouth fell open. “So, you don’t know what’s happening?” I shook my head. “Then you need to watch this.” He hit pause on the movie and changed inputs to go to the news.
The reporter was the same monotone reporter we had seen at the diner. His face seemed more solemn than before. “Another attack and another country completely decimated…”
I turned to Billy. “What is he talking about?” He shushed me and pointed at the television. Pictures started flashing on the TV of a city with buildings on fire and hundreds of dead bodies everywhere. I gasped. “What’s happening?”
The reporter came back on screen. “The entire country of Mongolia is completely devoid of human life.” The bodies in every town have all been left in the same state of mutilation: their throats ripped out and their blood drained. Some even seem animal ravaged, but we believe that may be from scavengers who smell the decaying corpses. We haven’t been able to find a single shred of evidence as to the cause. Scientists are baffled, saying that they do not believe this is some type of disease, but no answers have been found as to what or who has been causing this. Video surveillance is unable to pick up anything either. So far the following places have been hit… Japan, Russia, North and South Korea, Nevada and now Mongolia.”
I gasped. “Oh my God! Why wouldn’t Darren let us know about this? It’s kind of important.”
Billy shrugged. “I don’t know.”
The shock slowly set in. “We were just in Tahoe. What if we had been there…?” I remembered Darren making us leave so quickly from Tahoe and then it had been massacred. Could Darren be in on it? I shook my head, dismissing that thought. Then I stood. “I have to go.”
Billy followed me to the door. “Okay, but will you come back?”
“Not tonight. Thank you for a great afternoon.” I put on my best smile and put a hand on the doorknob.
He held up one finger. “Hold on. I got you something.” He walked over to his bags and rummaged through them. I twitched nervously as he came back with a small white box. He handed it to me. “Here, I thought you would like this.”
I opened the little white lid and gasped. A silver chain with a silver wolf hanging from it glittered in the white box. I stared at the small wolf and whispered, “It’s beautiful.”
He kissed me lightly on the lips. “You can come by anytime you want.”
I smiled at him and kissed his cheek. “Thanks. I love the necklace, and I’ll hold you to that offer.” I ran from the house to his truck and grabbed my backpack. It still didn’t feel right when Billy kissed me. Was it just me, since I hadn’t been kissed before? I ran down the road, past the feed store and the side street that led to Bret’s house, leaving behind the town’s cozy ambiance as I left the town’s border.
Darren sat on the front porch, cleaning one of his shotguns.
I frowned at him as I walked up the steps. “You shoot one of the wolves?” I asked nervously.
He shook his head and sighed. “I wasn’t going to kill the wolf, Artemis. I was just going to scare it a little.” He looked at the necklace box and sunglasses on my head and smiled. “Bret, get you those?”
I shook my head. “No, Billy did. Bret and I aren’t speaking right now.”
He frowned. “Not speaking? When have you ever not been speaking? What happened?”
I groaned. “I don’t want to talk about it. I do want to talk about what’s been going on that you’ve been hiding from us. Why didn’t you tell us that people are dying or being killed? That’s kind of important, Dad! Especially when it happens at a place right after we leave.”
He flinched. “I know. I was just trying to keep you kids happy and not worrying about what was going on.”
I shook my head. “You knew about the attack in Tahoe. How?”
“I can’t tell you that,” he said sternly.
I groaned. “You are always keeping secrets from me, you have ever since I was born. Why?”
He shook his head. “I can’t tell you. I’m sorry. If I tell you, it will put you in danger and I want you to be safe and happy.”
I sighed then turned around when I heard someone running down the street. Bret was running up our road with his necklace shining in the sun. I groaned. “Great. Just freaking great.”
Bret looked down at my necklace box and frowned, but turned to Darren. “What the hell, Darren? Why didn’t you tell us what was going on?”
“I’ve heard this, so I’m going inside to pack better.” I walked away, leaving the boys to talk and went to my room. I pulled out more pairs of underwear and a couple of pajama tops and bottoms and shoved them into my backpack.
I heard Bret come in my room, but ignored him and zipped up my bag. He whispered, “So, how was your day?”
I shrugged. “It was great until my best friend called me a slut and I found out my dad has been hiding things from me.”
Bret sighed. “I’m sorry, Artemis. I didn’t mean what I said.”
I raised my hand stopping him and looked up into his eyes. Tears had started to well up in mine. “Don’t apologize for something you meant.”
He wrapped his arms around me. “I didn’t mean it.”
I shrugged and pulled out of his embrace. “Whatever. I’ll be at Billy’s if you need me.” I started to walk out of the room and Bret grabbed me by the arms and kissed my lips hard. I felt the strength he had in his hands and knew I couldn’t fight him off even though his kiss sent my stomach rolling.
He pulled back from the kiss and whispered, “Please don’t go over there. I’m better than him. Stay with me. Please.”
I stared up at his face and knew that if I didn’t go with him that it would crush him. Yet the disgust I felt each time I was kissed by him or Billy was too much to deal with. “I’m sorry Bret. I need some time alone.”
Bret frowned. “You can’t go out alone with the wolves constantly showing up.”
I snarled at him. “I can do whatever I want. Besides, I’m sure you need time to go see Skankzilla.” I pulled away from him and walked out of the house. If it had been any other girl than Skankzilla I wouldn’t have cared since I didn’t like him in that way. Why her? Why my nemesis?
Darren called after me, “Where you going?”
I yelled, “Away from you!”
“She’s trying to go somewhere alone,” Bret said in a sharp tone.
Darren frowned at me. “You going to the stable?”
I nodded.
Darren quickly put his gun back together and handed it to me. “Take this then. Just in case you need it.”
I slung my bag over my shoulders and took the gun and the box of shells sitting next to Darren. “Thanks.”
I walked away from Bret, who was frowning in frustration at Darren for not stopping me, and through our field. The stable sat in the center of our property and was basically an empty building for the horses and cows to use to get out of the sun, rain or snow. The trees swayed slightly in the breeze and birds and insects chirped and clicked and built an endless stream of music as I walked. I raised my arms to the wind and reveled in the feel of it against my skin. The outdoors had always drawn me more than buildings. The forest felt like a friend waiting for me to walk with. And I could feel the moon’s presence like a buzzing in my veins, though I couldn’t see her. I jogged through the pastures, past grazing cattle, until I finally came to the stable. The building was dark brown instead of red, and I could see a few horses dozing inside under the shade. I approached slowly, making kissing noises so I wouldn’t frighten them. The horses bobbed their heads and waited patiently for me to come to them. I stroked the three horses’ heads and crooned and cooed to them. Two feral cats stared at me from their perches on the beams. Cats had never liked me or Darren, so the only cats that we got were the feral ones who ate mice in the stable. In the back, east corner was a ladder that led up to the small loft.
I climbed up and shook out the bedroll to make sure there weren’t any creepy crawlies hiding within the folds. The horses nickered and snorted and talked to each other, relaxing my nerves. I set the gun against the wall and opened the necklace box. The wolf charm sparkled in the sunlight that was streaming through the win
dows. I picked the charm up in my hand and screamed in pain as it burned my fingertips. I dropped the charm and stared at the red blisters now present on my fingertips. The silver had burned me? I held my palm out flat and laid it against the charm and screamed again as the charm burned me.
“What the hell?” I cradled my hand against my chest and squinted against the tears trying to squeeze out.
Something isn’t right.
I needed to get cream for the burn or it would get infected. “So much for my alone time,” I muttered as I used the bedroll to put the necklace back in its box and close the lid. I grabbed the gun again and grimaced at the pain from holding the gun against my burn. I climbed down from the loft and ran through the pastures towards Bret’s house.
I hadn’t forgiven him, but I needed to take care of my burns and I didn’t want to see Darren or Billy.
How could I explain that the necklace burned me?
Bret’s house came into view and I saw him sitting on his back porch talking on the phone. As soon as he saw me, he hung up and ran out to meet me. “Hey.”
I frowned and looked down at the ground. “I haven’t forgiven you, but I hurt my hand and need to treat it before it gets infected. So, even though I’m still mad at you can I please stay the night?”
Bret held his hand out for the gun. I gave it to him and gritted my teeth as I released the cold metal from my burnt hand. I followed him into the house and into the bathroom. He tried to help me with it, but I told him to leave. I sat down on the toilet and stared at the wolf-shaped burn on my palm. I squeezed burn ointment on it and wrapped gauze around my hand. I smeared some ointment on my fingertips and walked out to the living room where Bret was watching a movie.
I kept quiet the rest of the night so that I wouldn’t start any more trouble between us. I leaned against Bret as I started to get tired. He put his arm around me and rubbed my arm as he watched the movie. I rested against his familiar body basking in his familiar cologne. I used to hate cologne, but Bret’s had just become his smell. I shivered and Bret walked to the closet and got a large afghan out. He laid down against the back of the couch and I laid down in front of him as he wrapped us up together. He put his arm out and I laid my head on it in the perfect curve of his elbow. This had become such a common occurrence that I could be practically incoherent and still do this. Although doing it now felt wrong somehow. I shook my head and ignored that thought.
Artemis Lupine- The Complete Series Page 5
