Or would he?
That wasn’t what Artem had told him. After all, hadn’t Cody—the one who had brought Adam aboard his yacht in the first place—given way to despair before any of them? And Sara, she’d given up hope as well. Adam had been the only survivor of their time on the yacht, and he knew exactly what Artem would say about that. “You were the one who figured out a way to live.”
Survival of the fittest wasn’t all about what you had and what you knew going in. Langley was right that Adam had arrived here with no knowledge of how to hunt or fish, but that didn’t make him unfit to survive. That didn’t make him weak. What made a survivor lay in how well they were able to adapt.
He couldn’t say any of that to Langley, though. The boy was filled with rage, spitting fire. He had already hurt Ella, and Adam didn’t want to see the situation escalate. So he looked down at his feet and pretended to be cowed.
But only for the moment, he thought. I won’t let you continue to treat me like that, you child. I won’t let you speak to me that way or regard me as weak when I’m not.
Langley, thinking he’d won, no doubt, laughed and eased his way out from between Adam and the wall. “Maybe you should go down and take care of that dinner for her,” he suggested. “You wouldn’t want her to be stuck cooking all night, right? And that way you might actually make yourself useful around here.”
I caught a fish, Adam thought but did not say. Even in his head it sounded pathetic.
He had thought of Langley as the more docile of the Birkin twins, if no less heartless than his brother. It was shocking to see him speaking and acting so violently.
For a moment Adam wondered whether he had mistaken which brother he was looking at. But the part was definitely on the left-hand side. Unless the boy was trying to play a joke on him—and it was a stupid joke, if so, a joke with no punch line—this was definitely Langley.
Adam didn’t move. Langley regarded him for another moment, then shook his head and turned and walked away.
Adam was furious. He didn’t think he’d ever felt such hatred. How could Langley have been so needlessly cruel to Ella? What was the point? And why was he suddenly attacking Adam? Didn’t he understand that they all needed to unite if they were going to survive?
He almost had to laugh at himself for even asking the question. If ever there were people who didn’t understand that concept, those people were the Birkins and the McTerrells.
He crossed the hall and knelt beside Ella. “Are you all right?” he asked her. “Let me see your hand.”
She held it up. “Nothing’s broken,” she said, flexing her fingers to show him. He noticed that she winced as she did it, as if she was in pain, but she was able to move each digit. “It’s not bad.”
“What about your neck? Where he grabbed you?”
“I might have a bruise or two. Nothing worse than that. And I skinned my knees when I fell. But really, it’s not bad, Adam.” She straightened her clothes, and he could tell by her rapid breathing that she was trying to compose herself. “You shouldn’t have gotten involved like that.”
“I shouldn’t have gotten involved? Ella, that was abusive. He attacked you.”
“It’s just Langley.”
“What are you talking about? Has he done something like that before?”
She didn’t answer.
“He has, hasn’t he?”
“Adam, you have to understand—”
“How can you let them treat you that way?” he asked. “It’s wrong.”
“What do you want me to do about it?” she asked wearily. She didn’t even sound angry with him, just exhausted. “Don’t you think I would stop it if I could? He’s right. I can’t quit my job. I can’t sue him or call the police. This is what it is.”
“You can fight back—”
“Fight back how? He’s got about fifty pounds and six inches on me, and he owns firearms. Do you really think I want things to get more physical than they already are? The best thing I can do is to keep my head down and try not to provoke them.”
“Them? So it isn’t just Langley who treats you like that?”
She hesitated, then shook her head.
“Who else?” he demanded.
“Adam…” She took his hand in hers. “You need to calm down.”
“I don’t need to calm down. Tell me who hurts you, Ella.”
“Yes, you do need to calm down,” she insisted. “You don’t know what you’re getting into here. You don’t know how bad these people can get. How violent. You think the fights at dinner have been bad? You haven’t seen anything.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve seen Rhett and Langley in an all-out brawl,” she said. “I’ve seen Richard slap his wife. And that’s just the Birkins. I have no idea what the McTerrells get up to behind closed doors, but you heard the way Olivia and Chase were talking today. They’re not kind people. They’re not a loving family. And I don’t want you going up to any of these people thinking you’re going to play the white knight and save me, because I don’t want them losing control and doing something to you.”
“Is it really that bad?” he asked.
“You have no idea how bad it can get,” she repeated.
“What aren’t you telling me?” he asked.
“You ask a lot of questions.”
“You don’t give a lot of answers,” he pointed out. “The first time we met, when you said that dinner might not go the way I expected…you weren’t actually talking about the way they argue like a bunch of politicians who hate each other, were you? You were referring to something else.”
“Adam…”
“Tell me.”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know what I’m not telling you. I just…I don’t trust them. And I don’t think you should either.”
“But why wouldn’t you have told me about this?” he asked. “Why didn’t you tell me they were treating you this way?”
“I’d just met you, Adam. I didn’t know you. I was surrounded by people I didn’t trust, and how was I supposed to know if you were any different? If I told you everyone here thought of me as someone they could just kick around, maybe you’d decide that meant you could do the same thing too.”
“No. I’d never do that.”
“I know,” she said. “I know, Adam. I get that now. But I didn’t know that at first.”
He nodded. “I should have known,” he said. “I should have known after I saw the way Richard talked to you that first day. Like you were his property. I should have known when he made jokes about making you sleep in the pantry. Hell, I should have known when I found out you were sleeping in the pantry.”
“I told you not to worry about that.”
“I shouldn’t have believed you!”
“Of course you should,” she said. “Adam, I’m serious. I want you to drop this. Don’t confront them. Not any of them. Don’t try to call them out. Don’t try to make them stop.”
“I don’t know if I can do that,” he admitted. What he’d just seen was brutal. Ella had done nothing but try to help the Birkins and the McTerrells. She cooked their dinners every night. She hunted for food. It was because of her that they would be eating so well today. How could they justify being so cruel to her? Even if it was survival of the fittest, as Langley had said, couldn’t they see that Ella’s skills and contributions made her fit to survive?
Were they all losing their minds? Was Langley’s behavior symptomatic of a break from reality as acute as his mother’s? Maybe his inability to cope with their situation was manifesting itself in a more violent way.
But if Ella was telling the truth, the Birkins had always been violent. This behavior wasn’t new.
And if that was true…
Then there really was no telling how bad it could get.
In the end, what decided it for him was that there was no telling how they would respond—who they would blame—if Adam decided to make trouble. If he told the others wh
at Langley had done to Ella, they would likely take Langley’s side, and they might blame Ella for Adam’s involvement. They might take their wrath out on her.
He would follow her advice. He would leave it alone.
But from now on, he would be watching his back.
Chapter 13
A week later
Adam came striding back up to the house with a rabbit slung over his shoulders. Hunting, much to his surprise, had become easier in every sense of the word. He had become more skilled at it, that was one thing. It was laughable to him, even just a week later, that he’d failed to hit the boar his first time out. Now he regularly brought back small game for dinner.
Hunting had also become emotionally easier. Adam felt as if he was getting in touch with something organic that lived at the core of him, some primal, human—or maybe even animal—need to prey on weaker creatures for sustenance. But unlike Langley Birkin, he thought sourly, I take it out on actual prey animals instead of my housemates.
He hadn’t been able to look Langley in the eye since encountering him and Ella in the hallway a week ago. That was probably for the best. Adam was sure that if he tried to talk to Langley, he’d end up losing his temper, in direct violation of Ella’s advice. And he knew that she’d been right. The best thing he could do, for himself and for her, would be to stand down for now. He didn’t want to pick a fight with either the Birkins or the McTerrells.
He brought his kill to the butchery shed. Chase was there already, cleaning another rabbit.
“You got one too?” Chase asked, looking up when Adam came in. “Great. One definitely wasn’t going to be enough to feed the whole family.”
Adam nodded. It had been Chase’s suggestion, after the killing of the boar, to stick to hunting small game for a while so that they wouldn’t deplete the island’s resources. “Any luck with the jerky?” he asked, indicating a small pile of dried rabbit meat on the table beside Chase.
“I can’t decide,” Chase said. “Taste it, will you, and tell me if it’s any good?”
Adam picked up a piece and nibbled on it cautiously. To his surprise, it tasted wonderful, rich and meaty and with the perfect amount of salt. “I think you’ve got it this time,” he said.
“Really?” Chase was pleased. “That’s awesome. We can go for a deer the next time we go out, and the meat won’t go to waste.”
“Yeah,” Adam agreed. “Hey, how’ve you been feeling?”
“What?”
“You know, with the…the things we talked about the other day?”
“No, I don’t know.”
“The drugs,” Adam said, lowering his voice just in case someone was walking by outside. He knew that Chase wouldn’t want this conversation to be overheard.
But to his surprise, Chase just laughed. “Oh, it hasn’t been bad at all,” he said. “I’m totally fine.”
“Really?” Adam was surprised. His own withdrawal had included Oxy, and it had lasted about twelve days. Chase’s supply had only run out just over a week ago. Could he really be over the worst of it already?
And come to think of it, Adam hadn’t seen him suffering much at all. He had been his usual outgoing self at mealtimes. He had continued to join in the hunting on a semi-daily basis. And now here he was butchering a rabbit as though nothing at all was wrong.
He was glad if Chase was doing well. He was just surprised, too.
Chase grinned. “I guess I’m tougher than I thought I was.”
“I guess you must be,” Adam murmured. Why did something about this feel so wrong?
Chase took Adam’s rabbit and indicated the pile of jerky. “Can you take this up to the kitchen?” he asked. “Maybe Ella can package it up.”
“Yeah, sounds good.” Adam gathered up the jerky and left for the main clubhouse.
Ella was in the kitchen with Rhett Birkin, up to her elbows in dish soap while Rhett leaned lazily on the counter. “Is that the jerky?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Adam said, setting it on the kitchen island.
Rhett picked up a few pieces. He popped one in his mouth. “It’s pretty good,” he said. “Who made it?”
“Chase.”
Rhett chewed. “It’s too dry.”
“Let me try a bite?” Ella asked.
“No, we should save it,” Rhett said. “We don’t want to use it all up right away.”
“Hey Rhett, come hunting with me,” Adam said. Even though he was just back from a hunting excursion, and a successful one at that, he hated seeing Rhett alone in the kitchen with Ella. She was easily the person he’d bonded with the most here, and as fellow outsiders among the feuding families, they had gotten into the habit of running interference for each other when situations got unpleasant.
Rhett eyed Adam. “What are we hunting?”
“Whatever.”
“Big game?”
“Sure. If we get a deer, Chase can work on getting the jerky closer to how you like it.”
He nodded and pushed off from the counter, brushing past Adam and leading the way out the door. Adam glanced back over his shoulder as he followed, meeting Ella’s eyes and then glancing toward the pile of jerky. Have some.
She nodded and grinned.
“If you ask me,” Rhett said as they left the main clubhouse and collected their guns, “someone else other than Chase McTerrell should be working on the jerky.”
“You think he’s no good at it?” That was no surprise.
“I think he’s trying to be the only one around here who knows how to preserve meat!” Rhett declared.
“What are you talking about?” Adam asked. “What good would that do him? It would just mean more work for him to benefit everyone else.”
“I don’t know,” Rhett said. “You haven’t noticed a pattern with the McTerrells?”
“What kind of pattern?”
“They’re snatching up all the most vital work,” Rhett said. “They go hunting every day, because they want everyone to know they’re the best shots, even though Langley and I are perfectly good at bringing back fish. Charles won’t tell anyone else how he set up that water filtration system. And now there’s Chase and the jerky.”
“I’m sure he’d be happy to show you how he’s doing it if you wanted to get involved,” Adam said, even though he wasn’t sure of any such thing.
“That’s not the point,” Rhett said.
“What is the point?”
“They’re trying to push us out. They’re trying to dominate the resources we have available here. Remember what Langley said about survival of the fittest?”
“How could I forget?” After seeing Langley bully Ella, Adam doubted he ever would.
“Well, the McTerrells are convinced that they’re the ones who are the fittest,” Rhett said. “They’re not, of course. The idea is insane. But they’re trying to use it to push us out of the Santa Joaquina, even though we were here first.”
That was surprising.
“You think they’re trying to force your family out? Really?”
“It’s so obvious,” Rhett said. “And after we were kind enough to allow them to stay in the first place.”
“The McTerrells wouldn’t do that,” Adam protested.
Rhett scoffed. “You don’t think so? You’ve seen what they’re like.”
“They wouldn’t do it for the same reason your family didn’t turn them away when they first showed up,” Adam said. “The same reason they didn’t want to turn me away when I first showed up. Because they know deep down that the best way for us to survive is to have as many people we can trust around us as possible. The best thing we can do for each other is to have a lot of strong hands and minds pitching in. And maybe that means Chase McTerrell goes hunting and makes jerky, because that’s what he’s good at, and you and your brother go out fishing because that’s what you’re good at.”
Rhett shook his head in disbelief. “You’re blinded by them. You don’t see what they’re really like.”
“I don’t
think I’m the one who’s blinded,” Adam countered. “You all hate and mistrust each other so much that it’s tearing you apart. You’re doubting Chase McTerrell now because he’s working hard, and you think that means he’s up to something. But I don’t think he’s up to anything. I think he’s just trying to help us all survive.”
Rhett stopped walking.
Adam stopped too, waiting.
“Why are you defending him?” Rhett asked.
“What do you mean?”
Adam felt a shiver run down his spine. Rhett was right. He had been defending Chase. And that was exactly what he and Ella had decided not to do. They weren’t going to get involved in the quarrel between the families. He should have just heard what Rhett had to say and not responded.
But it was too late for that now.
“You didn’t defend my brother,” Rhett said slowly. “Langley told me what happened when you found him with Ella in the hallway.”
“Langley didn’t exactly need defending in that instance,” Adam pointed out. “Nobody was attacking him.”
“You were attacking him.”
Rhett stepped closer to Adam, closing the physical space between them, and the tingle of nerves in Adam’s spine flared into a gasp of fear. Rhett was smaller than he was, but he was angrier, and if Ella had been telling the truth, he had experience fighting. Adam had never been in a real fight in his life, unless you counted that tragic night with Cody…
Suddenly, he wished he’d never gone off alone with Rhett Birkin.
“One of these days, you’re going to have to pick a side,” Rhett said. His teeth were clenched. “One of these days you’re going to have to choose between us and the McTerrells.”
“I’m not going to choose,” Adam said, trying not to let his fear show on his face. “I want us all to work together.”
“You won’t have a choice,” Rhett said.
“Back up,” Adam said, trying to project more confidence than he felt into his voice.
Rhett shoved him. “Make me.”
Adam didn’t want a fight, but defending himself was instinctive. His hands came up, met Rhett’s shoulders, and shoved back.
As the younger man staggered back a step, something came into view, immediately deflating the balloon of rage that had begun to swell inside Adam.
Escape The Dark (Book 2): Fearful World Page 10
