“If you guys are done rambling, I’m going to get something to eat,” Alex says, grabbing a can of potted meat and plopping down at our table. “I’m famished.”
Everyone else goes back to what they were doing before Alex, Jesse, and Veil showed up. Cobra, Snake-Eyes, Yang, and Marco watch the holographic TV while Ax and Lesnar continue muttering to Krystal about all the perverted things they want to do to her later. (Judging by Krystal’s incessant giggles, she’s down for their demented idea of eroticism.)
With mouthfuls of the foul-looking canned meat, Alex garbles, “Holy crap, I can’t believe I’m actually hanging out with you guys. Did I mention that you, Lance, and Krystal are a huge inspiration?”
“Er, yes, you have,” I say, unable to suppress a smile. Alex reminds me of an over-excited kid in a man’s body. A very sexy man’s body.
“You guys are just so freaking cool,” Alex rattles on, jiggling his legs underneath the table. “I mean, teen bounty hunters? That’s cool in itself. But then you guys have captured some of the most wanted criminals in the country. And of course you stopped President Klaxton from blowing up the world. You’re like freaking superheroes!”
Lance sighs and says, “I’m glad you find us so inspiring. Now can you please stop jiggling your legs? You’re shaking the entire table.”
“Oops, sorry,” Alex says sheepishly. He stops jiggling for precisely three seconds before starting up again.
“You seem to have a lot of energy,” I observe.
“Oh yeah, I’ve got like ADHD and stuff like that,” Alex says, popping open a can of beans and chowing down on that.
“We’ve been trying to get him to take Ritalin,” Pitbull says. “He drives us all nuts with his incessant hyper-activity. Sometimes I just want to punch him in his fucking face, but then I remember how good of a shot he is. He’s taken out quite a few savages who tried to sneak up on us while out on our reconnaissance missions in the jungle. The boy’s got a knack for finding hidden sharpshooters, that’s for sure.”
Alex’s cheeks flush at Pitbull’s praise. “It’s not really me, to be honest. It’s my goggles.”
Alex pulls them down over his eyes. They almost make him resemble a bug-eyed frog.
“These goggles can detect even the most well-hidden individual. They also fire super-powerful lasers that can slice through solid steel. Wanna see?”
Alex hovers his hands over the sides of the goggles.
Pitbull blurts out, “No! Not in here! You’ll blow a hole through the damn wall!”
Alex chuckles and lowers his hands. “Haha, I was kidding, Pitbull. I’m not stupid enough to blow up our own compound.”
“Coulda fooled me,” Lance says in a not-so-quiet whisper.
Alex stands up and says, “I am, however, stupid enough to blow something up outside.”
Alex makes his way over to the front door. He turns and says, “You coming, Boom Boom?”
I glance at Pitbull and Lance before slowly standing up. “Er, I guess.”
I make my way outside with Alex. Lance and Pitbull come out as well, as does Krystal, Ax, and Lesnar.
“Watch this,” Alex says with a grin. He turns toward a massive tree on the outer edge of the rainforest, presses two small buttons on the sides of his goggles, and steps back as two blinding, fiery red laser beams eject out of the glowing lenses. The lasers slice into the tree, cleanly severing it in half. The tree falls off to the side, crashing into the grass and sending several birds fluttering into the sky.
As smoke spirals out of his still glowing goggles, Alex says, “Cool, huh?”
“Very cool,” I say, indeed impressed with Alex’s ‘weapon of mass destruction’. “How much did those visors cost? Must have been a fortune.”
“Oh it was super expensive, almost $50,000,” Alex says. “But totally worth it. You can take out an entire army with them. Of course, you can only fire off a few lasers at a time. Takes close to half an hour to recharge. But as long as you use the lasers strategically, they give you a huge tactical advantage.”
Lance scoffs. “Please. Those goggles ain’t jack-shit. Now this,” he says, holding up his glowing electric glove, “… this gives you a huge tactical advantage.”
Now it’s Alex’s turn to scoff. “Really? What do you do with it? Scare people off by waving your glowing fingers?”
“No jackass, I scare them off like this.”
Lance spins around and fires five crackling lightning bolts into the forest. The electricity slices through two trees, sending them crashing into the jungle.
Lance thrusts his glowing, crackling hand into Alex’s face, causing him to instinctively jump back.
“Impressive, no?” Lance says smugly.
“Whatever dude, my goggles are a much more effective weapon,” Alex says.
“Are you kidding me?” Lance cries. “Did you not just see all the damage I caused? And unlike your goofy goggles, I don’t need to waste time recharging. I can fire electricity again…”
Lance releases more lightning into the sky.
“…and again and again…”
Two more lightning bolts illuminate the heavens.
“… and again if I have to….”
Lance unleashes one last light show before finally lowering his hand.
Alex’s perpetual smile has deteriorated into a scowl. I notice him clenching his wrists. I step in between the two and place my hands on Alex’s chest. I’m slightly taken aback by how muscular his pecks are. Yeah he’s wearing a bullet-proof vest, but you can still tell there’s a lot of muscle under there.
“Alex, calm down. Lance just likes to get the last word.”
Gritting his teeth, Alex says, “At this rate, your boy is about to say his last words.”
Lance laughs and crosses his arms. “Oh really? You want to throw down, pretty boy?”
I can’t believe my ears. Usually people are calling Lance pretty boy. I’ve never heard him call someone else that. He must feel threatened by Alex’s sensual good looks.
I spin around and shove my jealous on-again, off-again boyfriend in the chest. “Knock it off, moron. We are guests here. Quit being such a dick.”
“Speaking of dick, Lance and Alex are just doing what boys like to do,” Krystal says. “They’re showing off their toys… trying to see who has the biggest penis. Guys have been doing stuff like that since the beginning of time.”
Lance mumbles under his breath, “I bet I’m way bigger than Alex.”
Alex scoffs. “In your dreams, blondie. Unless you’re over eight inches, I think I’ve got you beat.”
I snort. “Eight inches? Lance is maybe seven inches on a really warm day.”
Lance glares at me, prompting me to shut up.
Pitbull blurts out, “I got all y’all beat. I’m 10 inches!”
Krystal replies, “Yeah, and it’s probably made out of solid steel. Nobody wants that shit inside them.”
“That’s not what your mom said last night,” Pitbull cackles like a perverted jock.
“My mom’s dead, asshole,” Krystal snaps.
Pitbull rubs the back of his gleaming steel head and mumbles, “Oh. Sorry. That was in poor taste.”
I sigh and say, “On that note, can we please go inside? The mosquitos are really thick out here.”
We all swat away the swarm of bugs as we head inside. Pitbull, Alex, Lance and I grudgingly sit back down at our table and quietly eat our metallic-tasting canned food. I know it sounds clichéd, but the tension truly is thick enough to hack away with a dagger. Although since we are in the jungle, a machete would be more appropriate.
After several awkward, uneasy minutes (interrupted by the occasional snarl or growl from my testosterone-heavy teammates), Jesse Hunter returns from the dungeon and washes her bloodied hands in the kitchen sink. After she dries off, the short, blonde vixen saunters over to our table and sits down next to Alex. Lance looks up and grins, but Jesse’s not paying him any attention. Her eyes are focused solely on
Alex.
Resting her head on his shoulder, Jesse says, in a breathy, seductive voice, “Oh Alex, I’m sooo exhausted after our hot, sweaty trek into the sweltering jungle. Why don’t we go get a shower and head off to bed?”
Jesse rubs her tiny hands all over Alex’s body.
I have to admit it pleases me when Alex rejects Jesse’s sexual advances.
“Cut it out, Jesse,” Alex says in annoyance. “Can’t you see we’re entertaining guests at the moment? If you’re really that tired, go to sleep. I’m going to be up for a while.”
Jesse lifts her head and narrows her beady little eyes into narrow slits of pure fury.
“What, you think that bimbo Boom Boom is going to give you the time of day if you hang out with her long enough? She’s not all that, you know.”
I grit my teeth and clench my fists in a desperate attempt to quell my own rising fury.
“I never claimed to be,” I hiss.
Lance leans across the table and grabs Jesse’s right hand. Jesse is obviously caught off guard, because she rips her hand from Lance’s grasp. She turns to say something to him, but her mouth falls agape and no vitriolic words come out. It’s like she’s noticing Lance for the first time. I can’t blame her for being mesmerized by Lance’s appearance. I’ve grown immune to his drop-dead gorgeous looks over the years, but times like this remind me he truly is quite handsome.
“Unlike your goggle-wearing pretty boy over there, I am pretty tired,” Lance says with a mischievous grin. “I’m also pretty sweaty. I’d be more than happy to join you in the shower and keep you company in bed.”
I roll my eyes and mutter, “Oh for crying out loud.”
Jesse flashes Lance a sex-starved grin. “That would be awesome. I hate sleeping… and showering… alone.”
Pitbull cackles uproariously and slaps Lance on his back once again, this time nearly flipping him over the table.
“You sly dog! I’ve been trying to get inside Jesse’s panties since the day we started working together, but she keeps cock-blocking me. But you… you’re gonna get some action within an hour of meeting her!”
“You really are disgusting,” I say in revulsion.
“Yeah, for real, Pitbull. Low class,” Alex says, backing me up. If I wasn’t enamored with him already, I sure as hell am now. There are few things sexier in this world than a hot dude coming to your defense.
Pitbull ignores us and says to Jesse, “Before you two go play ‘hide the salami’, Lance and I were gonna do a little partying.”
Pitbull does a quick swipe across his nose with his metallic index finger.
“Yeah, that wasn’t discreet at all,” I mumble.
Jesse’s eyes light up like a glittering Christmas tree. “Ohh, I love to party!”
Lance grins and holds out his hand. “Then what are we waiting for? Let the party begin!”
“Lance, no! Don’t you dare…”
My words fall on deaf ears as Lance, Jesse, and Pitbull make their way to a room in the back of the compound and shut the door.
“Un-fucking-believable,” I say, crossing my arms and scowling in disgust.
“Let them go,” Alex says. “If they want to be complete idiots and overdose on poison, then that’s their damn problem.”
I turn to Alex and say, “So you don’t do drugs? At all? If so, that’s incredibly refreshing. It seems everyone I know is cracked out of their minds.”
“Don’t start making me out to be some sort of role model,” Alex says sheepishly. “I, uh, just recently overcame a real bad addiction to cocaine and heroin. It was really bad up until a couple years ago. I got in deep after I lost a lot of good friends and family members.”
Alex lowers his head, his words starting to slur from a combination of the alcohol and his ongoing war with his own personal demons. I know all about keeping one’s demons at bay. It takes all of one’s mind, body and soul to stay afloat from the ever-rising sea of despair.
I rub Alex’s back and quietly say, “Hey, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. Don’t worry, I’m far from judgmental. We all have our own way of coping. I was addicted to pain pills until a couple months ago.”
Alex looks up and cocks an eyebrow. “Really? Wow. But I guess it’s not that big of a shock. I mean, all the crazy missions you guys have gone on over the years… all the psycho bad guys you’ve taken down. I guess anyone would crack under all that pressure.”
“Yeah, it was tough going for a while. I lost friends… family… lovers….”
I blink back a single tear and force a smile. “But I got through it, just like you are. We are a rare breed, Alex. We’re survivors.”
Alex scoffs. “Yeah. But is it even worth surviving in this fucked up world?”
“No,” I say.
Alex cocks both of his eyebrows and says, “Wow, way to be upbeat and motivational.”
I chuckle and say, “What I meant was, this world isn’t worth living in. But maybe we can make a new world worthy of our presence.”
Alex grins and pats my shoulder. “And that’s all I ever wanted. A chance to make this bleak world a better place… a paradise with clean air and non-polluted waters and green trees for as far as the eyes can see… a world where the temperatures cool on their own accord… a world where the ice returns and the seas fall, revealing long-lost lands. That truly is something worth fighting for.”
“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” I say, lost in Alex’s mesmerizing words. There’s something about this boy I find irresistible. He has a poetic aura around him, and an innocence that I found lacking in both Lance and Arrow. Not that I’m bashing my two former lovers, but there was always something about their character that prevented them from becoming my ‘knights in shining armor’. An inner clarity, if you will… a desire to learn and love and grow. This might just be the apple cider talking, but I’m finding myself growing attracted to Alex. Not just sexually, although I’d be a liar if I didn’t admit I find him insanely gorgeous. But personally… spiritually… and if I’m not mistaken, I think he’s starting to feel the same way about me.
Alex suddenly says, “Hey, would you care to join me for a midnight stroll?”
“A… a midnight stroll?” I repeat, like a dumbfounded parrot.
Alex blushes and says, “I know it sounds silly, but sometimes these guys get on my last damn nerve.”
Alex gestures toward his fellow mercenaries huddled around the television, laughing uproariously at some trashy TV show. Krystal, Ax, and Lesnar have joined them.
“Yeah, I think I know what you mean,” I say. “Lance and Krystal, they’re good people… my best friends, really… but sometimes I feel disconnected from them. We’re all so different. They’re such emotional, visceral people… a lot of times they act without thinking. I’d love to be able to sit down with them and have deep, philosophical discussions about life, love, history, literature, you name it. But they don’t have the same desire for ‘enlightenment’ as I do.”
I pause for a moment, then say, “Er, sorry. I’m really not as elitist as I sound.”
“Hey, I don’t think you sound elitist at all. In fact, for the first time in a long time, I’m talking to someone who feels the exact same way I do.”
Alex stands up and offers me his hand. “I think the jungle air will help clear your head. Care to join me?”
I glance around and say, “I mean, is it safe? Aren’t you guys at war with a bunch of natives?”
“We are far from any of their villages. And they hardly ever attack at night. It’s too dangerous, with all the wild animals out there that can kill you with a single bite.”
“You’re not really making me feel any safer.”
“Nothing’s going to mess with us,” Alex says, his hand still hovering above my own. “You forget that we’re armed to the hilt.”
I look up at Alex’s laser-firing goggles. I suppose it would be rather foolish for any native or creature to try and mess with us. I grab m
y own goggles and slide them over my eyes. They may not fire lasers, but they provide excellent night-vision.
I finally reach up and grab Alex’s hand. “I could use some fresh air, actually.”
Alex flashes his sexiest, most charming smile yet. “Awesome. Trust me, you won’t regret this.”
Alex and I exit the compound without anyone noticing. We make our way to the front of the electrified fence, swatting away all the mosquitos attracted to the blinding lights illuminating the nearby jungle. I’m assuming the lights are meant to scare off any natives contemplating attacking the compound in the dead of night. It’s a lot harder to stage a sneak attack in the dark when it’s not, in fact, all that dark out.
World War Forever (Highway To Armageddon Book 2) Page 23
