“Back so soon?” Dee asked from her bed. She had a little bit of color back in her cheeks.
I sat down next to her, taking her hand. “I just can’t stay away from you. You’re contagious.” I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth.
Dee smiled, squeezing my hand. “Not according to Marie.” I could tell by her tone that she was being sarcastic, but it still didn’t make me feel any better.
I frowned. “I’m sorry, Dee. I was talking about your smile and personality, not your condition.”
“I know,” Dee said. “My disease isn’t contagious, so you could’ve only meant my sparkling personality.”
“It is sparkling, you know.”
Dee tapped her finger on my forehead. “What’s going on in that head of yours?” She seriously was a mind reader.
I put my head down on our clasped hands. “They want me to go on the next trip to River Springs.”
“Good. You need to get out of here. I didn’t want to say anything, but you’re starting to smother me.”
“That won’t work.”
“I’m being serious. It’s claustrophobic. I mean, I know I’m great and all, but enough already. Geez, give a woman some space.”
I looked up at her. “How can you joke about this? I want to be here, by your side.”
Dee looked me straight in the eye. “Emmie, I love you, tons and tons, but you’re going on this trip.”
“But …”
“This is not open for debate. You’re going, you’ll have fun, you’ll kick some butt, you’ll save some River Springs citizens, and you’ll report back to me with every juicy detail. Understood?”
“Dee,” I said, starting to give in.
“This conversation is closed. Besides, I need some cute guys back here to swoon over me and you know my type.”
“Want me to see if Tim is available?”
We had grown up with Tim and he had the hugest crush on Dee, but she didn’t return the feelings. She liked him as a person, just not in a romantic way.
Dee rolled her eyes. “I need someone to light my fire and rock my world.”
“Oh please,” I said, laughing.
“Someone to tickle my fancy.”
I held up my hand. “Please stop.”
Smiling, she reached out and touched my necklace. “Someone who gives me butterflies.”
“Well, if butterflies are what you want, then it will be my personal mission to find them for you.”
“Wonderful.” Dee sat up a little more in her bed. “So, when do you leave to find my true love?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
It was too soon in my opinion. But I guess the sooner I left, the sooner I got back.
She stretched out her body. “So, a couple of weeks of freedom for me.”
“You’ll miss me.”
“I’ll definitely miss this face.” She took her hand out of mine and squeezed my cheeks together with her fingers.
I laughed. “Now you’re just getting ridiculous. What’s Marie giving you?”
“I don’t know, but it’s some good stuff,” Dee said with a wink.
A noise came from my communicator I kept in my pocket. I pulled it out and lifted it to my mouth. “What?”
“There’s movement out here.” It was Tina. She was on guard duty on the east part of the mountains, which was the side the other cities would come from.
“What kind of movement?” I asked, standing.
“There’s been a lot of rustling of trees and I think I may have seen someone,” Tina said.
“On my way,” I said at the same time as Eric, Dante, Mack, and Terrance. We always kept a communicator on us open to the same channel.
“Come back and let me know if any of them are cute,” Dee said as I headed for the door.
I turned to her. “What if it's the enemy trying to attack?”
“I’m open,” Dee said with a shrug.
I smiled at her. “I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Eric was waiting outside Dee’s door.
“Have you been here the whole time?” I asked.
Eric laced his fingers through mine as we walked. “Yes, but don’t worry, I wasn’t listening to your girl talk.”
“How do you know it was girl talk?” I asked him, my eyebrows raised.
He shrugged. “You’re both girls and you were talking. Hence, girl talk.”
“Sure,” I said, bumping his arm.
When we walked out of the infirmary, which was connected to headquarters, we went through the weapons area, each grabbing a gun.
Eric always preferred a rifle, and I took one too, but my weapon of choice was the handgun I always had on me. It wasn’t good for long ranges, but I had great accuracy with a handgun, better than anyone else in New Haven. I had a connection to it I couldn’t explain.
We ran toward the jeep parked outside Headquarters, the old snow crunching under our feet. Dante, Mack, and Terrance were already waiting for us. Eric and I hopped in the back with Dante. Dark clouds loomed overhead, casting a dreary feeling over the city.
Tina was waiting for us at the foot of her stand post. We’d constructed towers at each entrance to our city so we could keep watch on anything coming in.
“There’s something about one hundred yards out on the south end of the canyon,” Tina said to all of us. “Whatever’s there hasn’t moved from that spot in a few minutes. I’m thinking that maybe they spotted me.”
“We should split up,” Dante said. “Half of us go on the north side and the other half on the south.”
Mack ran his hand over his beard. “We’ll have to go quietly and stay as covered as we can.”
“What if we’re outnumbered?” I buttoned up my coat to protect my body from the wind. The canyon made the wind fiercer.
“Won’t make a difference in the end,” Terrance said. “We either fight them now or wait until they come to us and fight at that time.”
I nodded. “I guess that’s true. Eric, Terrance, and I can go to the south. Mack, Tina. and Dante can go to the north.”
“Sounds good,” Tina said. Her long red hair looked vibrant against her white coat. Pulling the hood up, she tucked her hair inside to conceal it. “We'll try to get farther ahead so we can warn you of what’s on your side.”
“Let’s head out,” Dante said, motioning for us to go.
He and Terrance both had their bows in hand and their arrows in a quiver on their backs. Mack had a rifle and Tina had a shotgun, which was her favorite to use. I think she just liked the sound of it when she racked the slide.
Eric, Terrance, and I stayed close to the south end of the canyon, next to the mountain. Terrance led the way, with me and then Eric behind. I had my rifle on a sling around my shoulder and my hands wrapped around the grip of my handgun. I held it to my side, aimed at the snowy ground, my pointer finger extended along the barrel waiting to slide onto the trigger at any moment.
We walked as quickly as we could without making much sound. The canyon wasn’t too wide, maybe fifty yards, so we could see Tina, Mack, and Dante walking on the north end, up a little way.
Mack held up a fist, motioning for us to stop, so we all took cover behind a tree, waiting for his next signal. I still couldn’t see anything up ahead. The area on the south side was densely thicketed with pine trees, making it easy to conceal yourself, which was nice for us, but meant whoever was out there could conceal themselves just as well.
Mack signaled for us to slowly move forward. As we got closer to where he was looking, he pointed at a tall pine tree, its branches lined with snow.
Terrance motioned for Eric to approach from the left, me from the right, and he would go straight on. When he nodded, we separated, creeping toward the tree, weapons ready. We were only a few feet away from the tree when Terrance motioned for us to stop. He had his arrow drawn as Eric and I held up our guns, all pointed at the tree.
I nodded at Eric and we both went around the tree to see what waited for
us.
A guy was leaning up against the tree, his dark brown hair hanging past his ears and covering part of his eyes. He looked about my age, tall and strong, and his skin was light brown. By the widening of his eyes when he saw us, he didn’t know we were that close. He looked back and forth between me and Eric, not knowing what to do. He held a shotgun, but he had it pointed down.
“Don’t move,” Eric said quietly.
The guy’s eyes stopped on mine, his expression unreadable.
“Slowly put your gun down,” I said, stepping in closer, my gun pointed at his head.
Not moving his eyes from mine, he smirked before slowly lowering his gun to the ground and then raising his hands above his head.
Shotguns racking their slides as one echoed down the canyon, chilling me to the bone.
We were outnumbered.
The guy lowered his hands, his eyes still locked with mine. “I think it’s your turn to put the guns down.” He finally pried his eyes away so he could look me up and down, raising his eyebrows in the process. A playful smile landed on his lips.
I ignored him, keeping my gun pointed at his face. “Who are you?”
The guy took a step closer to me. “Who are you?”
“I asked you first.”
He took another step closer to me, leaning his forehead against the barrel of my gun. “Are you going to shoot me?”
It took me a second to process what he had said. His eyes were a beautiful light green, the glint in them making me lose my train of thought. I cleared my throat.
“If you just tell me who you are, we can end this.” I kept my eyes focused on his, willing myself not to pull away.
“Santiago!” Someone to the right of us had yelled out.
“Just a second,” Santiago said to the person, still looking me in the eyes. He gave me a wink and lowered his voice. “How about we put the guns away so you and I can go somewhere more private?”
“I don’t think so,” Eric said from behind Santiago, pointing his gun at the back of his head. Apparently, Santiago hadn’t been quiet enough.
Everyone with Santiago didn’t like Eric’s movement, all of them yelling at us to lower our guns. I looked behind Santiago and saw Mack, Tina, and Dante standing a few yards out, trying to stay hidden from the intruders, but keeping a close eye on us. It wasn’t much if an attack started, but it would at least catch them off guard.
Santiago gave me a pout, ignoring everyone else. “Brother or boyfriend?”
“Boyfriend,” Eric and I said at the same time.
Santiago tsked. “That’s too bad.”
“Santiago, stop playing around!” It was the same man from before that called out.
“Alright, alright, don’t get your panties in a bunch, Javier,” Santiago said, pulling away from my gun. The next thing I knew, he leaned in close to my ear, his movement so fast I couldn’t react. “If it doesn’t work out, let me know.”
I gaped at him but didn’t say anything.
“Maybe we should all lower our weapons and have a chat,” Terrance said, stepping around the tree, his bow lowered.
“Hey, what’s that?” Santiago asked, looking at Terrance’s bow. He walked up close and slid his hand along it.
“It’s a bow,” Terrance said, each word spaced apart as he eyed Santiago.
His candor caught all of us off guard. If he was another revolutionary, we were in trouble. He was worse than Dante.
“What do you do with it?” Santiago asked.
“You shoot arrows with it,” Terrance said.
“Can you show me?” Santiago’s eyes lit up with curiosity. He rubbed his hands together as if Terrance would show him how to use it right then and there.
“This isn’t the time, Santiago,” Javier said. He stepped up next to me, his shotgun slung across his back. He stuck out his hand. “I’m Javier.”
After placing my gun back in its holster, I reached out and shook his hand. “Emmie.”
Javier was just a couple inches taller than me, but I could tell by the thickness of his neck that he was probably strong. He had on a bulky coat, so I couldn’t tell for sure. His hair was cut close to his head and his eyes were a dark brown. He turned his head so he could gesture to everyone behind him. There was a small marking behind his ear, but I couldn’t tell what it was.
“This is everyone from Scorpion City that we could round up,” Javier said. People moved toward us, coming out from behind the trees. There had to be at least a hundred of them, which surprised me. “It’s not much, but we’ll get more. There should be another group of about fifty already on their way.”
I let out a laugh. “We showed up with ten, so this is amazing to me.”
“Only ten?” Santiago asked, stepping to the side of me. I noticed he had the same marking behind his ear, so I leaned in a little closer. It was a cross. Santiago saw me looking at it. “Most of us who joined the revolution have the sign of the cross behind our ear. It’s a reminder of our bond and that with the Lord on our side, we can do anything.”
The reference to the Lord caught me by surprise. Religion was not something that was talked about in River Springs. Whit didn’t like the idea of residents worshipping anyone but him.
“Neat.” It was all I could think of to say.
Santiago laughed. “Yes, neat. So, are you going to keep us out here all day, or can we head in?” He patted his stomach and winked. “I’m starving.”
Eric came up right next to me, taking my hand and holding it tight. I looked at him as he glared at Santiago. I’d never seen him like that before. I gave him a small smile and squeezed his hand.
Mack, Tina, and Dante all stepped forward, startling some of our new members. A couple of them brought up their shotguns.
“They’re with us,” Terrance said. He looked at Javier. “Follow me.”
I moved to walk as everyone else did, but Eric held me back, waiting until there was some distance between us and Santiago.
“Jealousy looks good on you,” I whispered in Eric’s ear.
“I’m not jealous,” Eric snapped. He immediately blushed. “Okay, maybe I was a little jealous.”
I let go of his hand and wrapped my arms around his neck. “You have nothing to worry about. He doesn’t even come close to comparing to you.”
Eric raised his eyebrows. “Not even a little?”
I shook my head. “Nope. You are and always will be the one I love.” I pulled him in and kissed him on the lips. I tried to back away after a few seconds, but Eric pulled me closer and kissed me with the most passion I think he ever had, his lips moving heatedly on mine. After a couple of minutes, he finally let me go.
“I think I need to get you jealous more often,” I said with a smile on my mouth.
Eric shook his head. “No way. I don’t need competition.”
I rolled my eyes. “You don’t have any competition. Santiago seems like the type who would flirt with any female. I’m sure there was nothing serious behind it. He’ll move on to someone else the second he gets the chance.”
“You have no idea how hot you are, do you?” He leaned in and kissed my neck.
“The only one I care about is you.” I hugged him tightly. “I love you.”
“I love you, Emmie,” Eric said. He pulled away. “I guess we should get going.”
I turned around to see everyone already way ahead of us. “I guess so.” I took hold of his hand and we started walking back to our city.
I smiled at the thought of adding a hundred and fifty new members to New Haven. We definitely had a lot of work to do to fit them all.
Santiago flirted with Tina on the walk back to the city, which was understandable because she was gorgeous. She flirted right back, but I could tell there wasn’t much feeling behind it. She still had feelings for Luke, a resident of River Springs. We had wanted him to come with us to New Haven. Blinded by his father’s views, he refused to leave. Or maybe he really did agree with the way Whit ran the place.
&nb
sp; President Brown was waiting for us at the entrance to the city. Mack had radioed him to let him know we were coming.
While Steven, my Recruitment leader from River Springs, and James, a previous resident of Kingsland, gave our new residents a tour of our small city, we took a few of them to Headquarters to talk. Santiago was among them, who turned out to be their revolutionary.
Javier, Santiago’s older brother, came too. They also had a little sister named Rosie. Santiago, Javier, and Rosie were the vice president’s children. Their mom, Carmen, had come with them on the trip. She and Rosie were out on the tour. Their dad, Vice President Oscar Mendes, was on his way with another group, scheduled to arrive within a week.
Fernando also joined us in Headquarters. He was their military leader. The man was tall, extremely bulky, bald and covered in tattoos from head to toe. I tried to keep myself from staring, but I’d never seen anything like it before. He also had a piercing in each ear.
All the girls and women from Scorpion had at least their ears pierced once. A lot had multiples piercings, some in surprising places like their nose and lip. Even some of the guys had piercings, but only in their ears. Santiago had one ear pierced and Javier had both pierced. No one in River Springs had anything pierced. It was frowned upon, like a lot of other things.
We sat down around the table and let them tell us about their journey. They had a lot of rioting in Scorpion, which was why it took them so long to get out. They were trying to round up as many people as they could since they probably wouldn’t be able to get back too often.
“When we got to the rendezvous point where we were supposed to meet the last city, we waited for a few days, but they never came,” Javier said, leaning back in his chair.
“We couldn’t wait any longer,” Fernando said. He’d squeezed into a chair at the end of the table. The chair creaked under all the muscle, but somehow it held. “Everyone was getting restless and the food was running low. We thought that maybe we were so late, they’d already moved on themselves and would be here.”
I shook my head. “They haven’t shown. There’s been no word from them in months.”
“When was the last time you were in contact with them?” President Brown asked.
Reckoning (New Haven Book 2) Page 3
