I furrowed my brows. “What? I’m not doing anything.” My voice was quiet and hoarse.
“Yes you are, Renuella. I can feel you sending out your energy and I can’t stop you. You have to do it yourself,” he said.
I closed my eyes and concentrated. I could feel my energy practically pouring out of my center, so I tried to put a lid on it, but it wouldn’t stop. I opened my eyes back up to look at Orrean. “I can’t stop it.”
“Shit,” he murmured, “I should’ve known this would happen.” He closed his eyes and said, “Concentrate on stopping it. I’ll see if I can help you.”
“Okay,” I mumbled as I closed my eyes to concentrate again.
I could feel my light pouring out still, so I tried to stop it from coming. I tried to make it stay put, but it didn’t seem to want to stop. After a few more seconds, I was about to tell Orrean that whatever he was doing wasn’t helping, but then I suddenly felt him there, or at least, I felt his warm energy. I thought he was pushing his energy into mine, trying to push it back into my center. At first it didn’t work, but after he sent another burst of his light, mine started to fall back a little. Slowly, oh so slowly, my energy flow started to wane until finally it stopped, making me gasp again.
Breathing hard, I opened my eyes and found Orrean resting his head on Wes’s chest, looking devoid of energy. My body still felt like it had been hit by a truck and by the looks of it, Orrean felt the same way, so I slowly pushed myself up to a seated position.
“Are you okay?” I whispered.
He groaned, “I think so.”
“What the hell are you guys doing?” Wes asked. I hadn’t even noticed him awake, so I jumped when he spoke.
“Something weird happened with my energy and Orrean had to fix it,” I answered.
Wes furrowed his brow. “Are you guys okay?”
“Mostly,” I answered. “I think we both feel like we got hit by a truck.”
“You guys can just sleep and I’ll stay awake, then,” Wes suggested.
“But you need your sleep too.”
“I’m on watch for a while, guys,” Nolan called from across the tent. “I can watch Wes too. It’s not like there’s much else to do, anyway.”
“I didn’t know you were awake,” I said.
“You didn’t hear me ask what you were doing or if you were okay?” he asked incredulously.
“No.”
“That’s why I answered you,” Orrean said to him.
I looked over at Orrean. “You answered him? When?”
“When you were concentrating on your energy the first time.”
“Hmm.” I guess that explained it. “Do you think he could watch out for Wes, or would that be too risky?”
“It would work,” Orrean said, “but we’ll have to fix this problem before tomorrow night.”
“Do you know how?” Wes asked him.
“I think so.”
“Don’t worry about that now,” Nolan said. “All of you need to go back to sleep.”
“Okay,” all three of us said at once before lying back down. I closed my eyes and drifted back to sleep.
***
When I woke up the next day, my hand was still attached to Orrean’s. It was only then that I realized we could have untied ourselves when we went to sleep the second time since we weren’t doing the energy thing anymore. Still, when I woke up, I didn’t even move to untie it. Not only did I not have the energy, but I liked having that connection, even if I was still angry at Orrean. Well, okay, I’m not mad at him anymore, but I want to be. Anger is easier than sorrow.
“Renuella, good morning,” I heard Orrean say from the other side of Wes.
“Good morning,” I responded back, somehow knowing he was talking to me, even though I didn’t know what he’d just called me. “Renuella… what does that mean?”
“Uh, it’s a nickname. No direct translation,” he answered.
“You don’t want to tell me, do you?” I mused.
“No, I do not.”
I snorted. “Tell me. Now you have to.”
“No way.”
“Come on,” I said, sitting up to look at him. I saw Cal sitting up near the doorway. Obviously he’d had the last watch and was awake, but staying out of it.
“No,” he said, mirroring me on the other side of Wes.
“Please?”
“No, Renuella.” He was grinning.
“You cannot call me that if you won’t tell me its meaning.” I rolled my eyes at him, but reached over with my free hand and ran it over his hair.
He shivered. “Yes I can.”
“This is like arguing with a two-year-old,” I told him before petting his hair again.
He shivered again, but didn’t remove my hand. “No it’s not,” he argued back.
“Yes, it is. Proved my point there, Orrean.” I finally released his hair.
“You are doing the same thing I am, you know… Renuella.”
“Stop calling me that. And no, I’m not.”
“Yes you are.”
“For crying out loud, Orr, you keep starting it.”
“No, I—”
“Can you guys please stop arguing in Taoree over top of me?” Wes’s voice interrupted.
Both Orrean and I looked down at him and said, “What?”
Wes blinked and shook his head. “I don’t understand whatever it is you both just shouted at me. Did you call me a name?”
“We did not call you a name,” I said.
“You’re still speaking Taoree, Jeremy,” Orrean informed me. “I did not realize it until right now.”
“I am?” I asked, but then thought about what I’d just said and realized he was right and said, “Oh, now I can tell.” Then I looked at my brother and concentrated for a second before telling him, “Sorry, I didn’t notice. We didn’t call you a name, we asked what you meant, but then we both realized we were speaking in Taoree.”
Wes was looking at me like I had a dick growing out of my forehead.
“I’m speaking in English now,” I said to him.
“I know, but that’s really weird,” he said.
“Weird seems to follow me around,” I said with a shrug.
“Apparently,” Wes said. “So what were you arguing about?”
Orrean started laughing—no, giggling—so I reached over my brother with my free hand and smacked Orrean’s chest, then answered Wes, “He keeps calling me some weird name that doesn’t translate to English, so I don’t know what it means and he won’t tell me.”
Wes smiled at Orrean. “What’s the name?”
“Renuella,” Orrean answered easily, making me groan in annoyance and Wes chuckle.
“I get the feeling that isn’t something you should call your brother, so I probably shouldn’t call him that too,” Wes said with a smile.
Orrean cleared his throat and wiped his forehead with his free hand before answering, “Uh, no, definitely not.”
Wes laughed, but I was insanely curious as to why Orrean was nervous. He was rubbing his forehead again and that was something he only did when he was nervous or very upset.
I asked him, “What does it mean?”
He dropped his hand and looked at me with a serious expression and wide eyes. “I’m not telling you.”
Wes started cracking up, so I punched him in the arm before punching Orrean. Both of them just started laughing even harder.
“You both suck,” I said, annoyed with them. “I need to piss, can you untie us, Wesley?”
Through his laughter, he said, “Sure.” Then he untied the cloth, chuckling the entire time.
When I walked past Cal, he didn’t even try to hide his own laughter. I walked outside and found a place far enough away as to not be gross, but close enough that anyone could get to me or I to them, then I peed before heading back into the tent. When I got back, all the others were awake too, and everyone took turns leaving the tent to piss, just like every morning. It would be nice to one day not h
ave to look over your shoulder while relieving yourself, but what could ya do?
When Wes came back inside, I could tell the short trip had tired him and that his head was starting to hurt, so when he sat down, I grabbed his head right away. I didn’t have to say anything to Orrean because he had noticed too.
When we were finished helping Wes, we ate some food, then packed up to start our day. Once again, Tabitha was still with us. She seemed nice and I liked her well enough, so I was still hoping that she would follow us all the way to the Independent camp. We only had a little over a week’s worth of travel left at this point, so it seemed likely that she would.
Somehow, I ended up walking next to her, all the way in the back of the group. Wes and Orrean were walking and talking quietly only a few feet in front of us and Cal, Nolan, and Mandy were up front. We had been walking that way for about an hour.
I was taking a sip of water when Tabitha asked me, “So how long have you been dating Orrean?”
I almost spit my water out, but somehow managed to swallow it down. I started coughing since some of it went down the wrong pipe. Tabitha patted my back a little harder than I had been expecting, but it helped.
Once I could talk, I told her, “Orrean and I are not dating.” I know my eyes had to look like they were about to pop out of my head.
She tilted her head and examined me for a long moment. I had to fight the urge to squirm under her scrutiny. She finally said, “Hmm. I thought you were. You look good together.” I raised a brow at that comment, but she just shrugged, then asked, “How long have you been learning Taoree? You seem to speak it really well.”
I cleared my throat before answering, “Only a few weeks, I guess.”
“Really?”
I nodded.
“Hmm, how do you say hello?” she asked.
Without thinking I said, “Noa.” Apparently I could understand it, or at least some of it, even when Orrean and I weren’t touching. This is so strange.
“No-a. Noa. Am I saying it right?” she asked.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“How do you say ‘how are you’?”
“Zuam yiy vo?” I answered automatically.
“You said that way too fast.” She laughed.
I repeated it slowly and when she tried to say it back, I couldn’t help but laugh. She smacked my arm in annoyance, but laughed at herself at the same time.
Orrean looked back at me with a small smile, so I told him, “She’s trying to learn Taoree. Did you hear her?”
He slowed down to walk beside me. “I did. It seems like your Taoree is getting better, even when you and I are not touching.”
“I know. It’s really strange, but it’s kind of neat. Don’t you like that I’m learning your language?” I asked him.
He smiled. “I like it, but I also think it’s funny that you do not realize when you start speaking it.”
“What?” I asked, then rolled my eyes. “Very funny. No, I didn’t notice… again. But you didn’t notice this morning either.” Apparently our entire conversation had been in Taoree. It was so weird that I didn’t even realize I was speaking another language.
“In my defense, I was just happy you were talking to me again. Also, I had just woken up,” he said with a smile.
Before I could reply, Tabitha said, “That’s just crazy. You’re the first human I’ve ever heard speak Taoree before.”
“I’m sure there are plenty in the military and government that speak Taoree,” I said to her, then at her wide eyes, I realized I still hadn’t switched back to English. I heard Orrean chuckling on the other side of me as I repeated my statement, in English this time.
“Still,” she said, “it’s pretty amazing. Orrean must be a really good teacher.”
“Or I’m just really awesome,” I stated. I heard Wes laugh and saw him shake his head. I looked back at Tabitha. “Can I ask you a serious question?”
She sighed before saying, “You want to know how I ended up tied to that porch, right? I knew I’d have to tell you all sooner or later. I already told Nolan, obviously,” she waved it away, “but I suppose I should tell you guys too.”
“That wasn’t what I was going to ask you, but if you want to talk about it, I’m here to listen,” I said with a little shrug. I didn’t exactly want to know what’d happened since it was obviously terrible, but I’d listen, and try to be encouraging, if she decided to tell me.
“Can your thing wait?” I nodded my head, then she took a deep breath. “I was with some friends from work when the world ended, or you know, almost ended. Our building went on lockdown, so we were stuck inside for a few days. When no one came to free us and the power went out, we had to break down a few doors to get outside to find food and everything. We stayed together and for a couple weeks, everything was fine. Or as fine as it could be when you’re fighting for your life every day. But then we got attacked by a huge horde of Ferals. They were everywhere, and only James and I made it out alive.”
She took a shuddered breath. “It was just the two of us for a while, but James got sick. I think he ate something bad or maybe we didn’t boil our water long enough, I don’t know, but he got sick, so we sought out help. We came across a group of men that offered to help us out.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “We followed them back to their house thinking they were going to give James some medicine, but when we got there, they turned on us and killed him. Then they dragged me outside and tied me up. I was there for nearly two days by the time you guys found me.”
I tentatively reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “Holy shit, Tabitha. I’m so sorry we weren’t there sooner.”
She snorted through her tears. “Nolan said the exact same thing.”
That made me smile, though my heart broke for her.
Orrean didn’t say anything, but he did reach past me and pat her shoulder.
Wes stopped walking and turned around to face her. “I don’t know if you meant for me to hear, but I did and I’m so sorry.” He slowly pulled her into a hug, obviously giving her a chance to pull away, but she didn’t. She let him hold her for a few seconds before letting go.
She offered a watery smile and said, “I’m gonna go walk with Nolan now, okay?”
“Of course,” I said.
Wes walked on one side of me and Orrean on the other. My brother said, “Sometimes people just suck. Maybe we shouldn’t have let those assholes go.”
“Maybe not,” I agreed. “But I don’t exactly think we should go around murdering people.”
“Those weren’t really people, J, they were monsters,” Wes said.
“I know, but there’s nothing we can do about it now,” I stated the obvious.
“We’ll just have to do better next time,” Orrean said. “Though I hope there isn’t a next time.”
“You and me both, man,” Wes said.
Cal backed up with Mandy walking next to him—I was guessing to give Nolan and Tabitha some privacy—and he said, “Okay, guys, we need a change of subject. This shit is depressing and we don’t wanna talk about it anymore.” He threw his arm over Wes’s shoulders. “So I heard you know how to cut hair. You think you can cut mine if I find you some scissors?”
Wes smiled at Cal. “Sure, but you gotta pay me.”
Cal pushed him. “You little shit. What do you want?”
“Hmm, good question. What are you willing to do for me?”
Cal thought for a minute, then took one arm out of his backpack strap and swung the bag around to start looking through it. It took a while, but eventually he pulled out a can of pineapple and held it up to Wes. “I’ll give you this. I already had one can and it was really good.”
Wes made a face. “I don’t really like pineapple.”
Cal rolled his eyes and huffed, “Fine. Hold on.” Then he started rummaging through his bag again. “What about this?” With a flourish he pulled out a chocolate bar and waved it in front of my brother.
“Where did yo
u get that?” Wes asked him with wide eyes.
Cal smiled smugly. “I found it last week.”
I know my brows went into my hairline, just like Wes’s, who said, “And you didn’t eat it yet?” Exactly my thoughts.
Cal tilted his head. “I was saving it for a special occasion.”
“You’ll give it to me if I cut your hair?”
“Yep. I can’t stand it going in my eyes anymore, so it’s worth it,” Cal answered.
“You got a deal, Calloway.”
“Sweet,” Cal said, throwing the candy bar back in his bag.
Mandy walked over to Wes and grabbed his hand. “Can I have a bite when you eat it?”
Wes chuckled. “Sure, Peanut.” He bent down and picked her up. He only carried her for about two minutes before he had to put her back down and turn to Orrean and me.
Wes said, “I think I need you guys to… what’s it called again?”
“Uanria,” Orrean and I answered together.
“Right, that.”
Orrean called out, “Nol, we need to stop for a second.”
Everyone turned and watched as Orrean and I put our hands on Wes’s head and did our energy transfer. It didn’t take long, but I still felt a little dizzy when we finished. Everyone started walking ahead of me.
I stumbled a little and Orrean caught my arm, asking, “Are you okay, Jeremy?”
I rubbed the bridge of my nose. “Yeah, I just felt a little woozy, but I’m fine.”
Orrean held up his water bottle. “Drink some water, it should help. And here,” he reached into his backpack and produced a sleeve of crackers, “eat a few of these.”
I took the water and crackers. “Thanks, Orr.”
“You’re welcome, Renuella.” I could hear the smile in his voice.
“God, you suck,” I told him before shoving an entire cracker in my mouth.
“Only if you taste good,” he said, waggling his eyebrows.
I elbowed him, laughing. “You did not just make a sex joke.”
He laughed. “I could do with a big juicy cock in my mouth.”
Independents: Taoree Trilogy #2 Page 5
