by Shay Savage
I glance at Aerin, but she’s scowling at the ground. She hasn’t said a word since we arrived. I’m about to ask her to sit down beside me, when Ava touches my arm.
“You remember Layshell’s brother, right?”
“We never officially met,” I say, “but yes, I do.”
“Talen, this is my brother, Corey.” Layshell smiles down at the ten-year-old beside her. “Corey, do you remember when you were so sick, and I told you about the man who helped me get you food? This is him. His name is Talen.”
“Hiya, Corey.” I grin, and the boy hides behind Layshell’s arm.
“He’s a bit shy,” she says.
“That’s okay,” I reply. “He looks pretty healthy now.”
“He’s much better, thanks to you. Actually, he’s been sleeping on that mat I made for you. I found it at Ava’s before the fire.”
“I left in a bit of a rush,” I say with a smile and a shrug. “I should have taken it with me.”
“About that,” Ava says with raised eyebrows. She clasps my hand in hers like she thinks I’m going to disappear again. “Care to explain what the hell happened to you?”
I glance up at Aerin, and she gives her head a tiny shake as she stares down at me.
“I didn’t mean to be gone so long,” I say, turning back to Ava. “I thought it would just be a day or two, but I ran into Aerin, and then that big quake struck.”
“It was a big one,” Layshell says. “A lot of damage in town.”
“Aerin and I got trapped,” I say. “It took us a while to get back out again.”
“You were trapped for weeks?” Ava looks at me, waiting for a better explanation.
The slim hope I had that Ava might be placated with a partial story is completely destroyed, and I try to think of what I can say that won’t either scare the shit out of her or make her lose any trust in me.
“Not exactly.” I look back at Aerin, but she’s gritting her teeth and looking out at the darkening sky.
“Well?” Ava grips my hand tighter, not about the let the topic go.
“We found a shaft,” I tell her as I wipe my sweating palms on my jeans, “in the side of the mountain. We climbed in it to escape the falling rocks, but we ended up trapped inside instead. We crawled through the shaft, and…well, we found something inside the mountain.”
“Inside the mountain?” Milo leans forward.
“They’ve been there for years!” Keller suddenly blurts out. “I told you all. He’s part of it.”
My free hand instinctively curls into a fist. The last thing I need is to have Keller spewing his shit while I’m trying to explain myself, especially when some of what he says might be accurate.
“Oh, shush, you.” Milo rolls his eyes and waves dismissively at Keller. “Go on, Talen.”
“It’s an old research facility,” I tell them, relaxing slightly. “It was probably built before the Great Eruption and abandoned for a long time. It took us some time to find our way back out again.”
“A research facility?” Ava perks up. “Talen, what in the world are you talking about?”
I glance from Ava to Milo and also to Keller, who is glaring at me and chewing on his lip like he’s about to have an explosive tirade. I wish I’d started this conversation with Ava alone, but at this point, everyone is staring at me and waiting for answers. I look to Aerin for help, but she’s still staring out the opening.
I stand and move close to Aerin, reaching for her hand and looking at her intently. Her eyes go wide, and I can guess what she wants to say.
“We have to tell them,” I say quietly. “We can trust them, and they need to know what’s out there.”
Aerin opens her mouth but then quickly closes it again. She glances down at Ava before pulling her hand away.
“Whatever.” She looks away from me.
“What’s wrong with you?” I ask under my breath.
“Nothing at all.” She plants her feet and stares at me. “Go ahead. Tell them.”
I narrow my eyes at her in confusion, but she doesn’t say anything else. I can’t think of any other options, so I turn back to Ava and the rest of the group.
“You can’t go west,” I say. “We went all the way through the mountain, and when we got to the other side, we found out there is nothing there. Nothing but ocean.”
“Ocean?” Ava shakes her head. “That can’t be.”
I sit back down and explain to the group about going through the complex in the mountain and what we saw from the other side. I leave out the part about the task Aerin’s mother sent her to do, and I stop my story short of our discovery of the Thaves inside.
“Where are we going to go?” Layshell asks. “We can’t just wander around in the woods, and they’re burning all the Naughts’ villages.”
“What about going inside the mountain?” Milo asks. “If you lived in there all this time, couldn’t we all go there?”
“No,” I say quickly.
“Why not?” Ava asks.
“Because it’s full of government officials!” Keller yells out. “They’re the ones who ordered the burning of our towns!”
“I told you to hush!” Milo wags a finger at Keller. “We don’t need any of your conspiracy theory crap right now!”
“Actually,” I say quietly, “he’s right.”
“Talen!”
I jump as Aerin actually stamps her foot, creating a cloud of ash.
“They need to know!” I tell her. “We can’t keep it from them anymore!”
She shakes her head at me slowly, but I can’t hold back.
“Everyone, listen to me.” I stand in front of the fire and look at each of them in turn. “There is a lot you don’t know, but Keller is actually right about one thing. There are representatives from the capital inside that mountain. In fact, they tried to kill Aerin before we managed to escape. I know they’re responsible for the fires, and I’m not going to let them get away with it.”
“You’re making a mistake,” Aerin says quietly.
“The first thing we need to do,” I say, ignoring Aerin, “is to get all of you to some place safe. West isn’t the answer.”
“What is, then?” Milo asks.
“North.” Ava pushes herself to her feet and stands beside me. “It might not be a great option, but it’s the only one we have.”
“Are there even any settlements in the north?” Layshell asks. “I’ve always heard it was too cold for anyone to live up there.”
“Why are they even doing this?” Milo asks. “Over the past few weeks, four spies have been discovered in Plastictown. I heard that spies have been found across the river, too. I’m tired of guessing about their motives.”
“They need the land,” I say. “They know the west is gone, and they need the land for farming and livestock. We’re just in the way.”
“So, it’s nothing personal,” Samuel says with a grumble. “Good to know.”
“How do you know this?” Milo asks.
“Because he’s part of it.” Keller tosses a log on the fire and raises his hands in the air as sparks fly. “He’s always been a part of it! He was there in the beginning, stirring the pot and causing the quakes! Now his minions burn us alive!”
“Hush already!” Milo pushes Keller’s leg. “I want to hear what Talen has to say and not your nonsense!”
“His nonsense!” Keller says, taking a step back as Milo takes another swing at his leg. “He’s a lying sack of shit!”
“That’s enough!” Ava shouts. She grabs Keller by the arm until he sits down again. “Talen, please explain.”
“We overheard them talking,” I tell her. “Aerin and I came across some of them in the complex, and we heard them talking about needing space for people to live. We heard them say they had a plan for the people in the valley, but we didn’t know what it was. I thought it might be another virus, but apparently that wasn’t fast enough for them.”
“Who are they?” Layshell asks.
“P
eople from the capital.” I leave out the part about the president’s arrival, which doesn’t escape Aerin’s attention. She tilts her head and stares at me questioningly. “The point is, they’re going to be in the area soon, and we need to be gone before they start looking in this direction.”
“And you think going north is the only way?” Milo wraps his arms around his shoulders as if he were getting cold at the thought.
“I’m open to suggestions,” I tell him, “but I think it’s the only direction to go.”
“I trust Talen,” Ava says as she places her hand on my thigh. “He’s always taken care of us, and if he thinks north is the way to go, then I’m going to follow him.”
“I go where you go,” Layshell replies. She leans against Ava, and Ava leans against me.
“Wow.”
I glance up to see Aerin shaking her head. Before I can call out to her, she turns on her heel and walks off into the woods. Ava looks at me, confused, but I can only shrug.
“I’ll go after her,” I say as I push myself off the ground and follow.
“Be careful!” Ava calls after me.
I spot Aerin near the edge of the river and quickly make my way down the hill to join her.
“Aerin?”
She doesn’t turn toward me.
“Aerin, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing. Nothing at all!” Her sarcastic tone cuts through me.
“You think north is a bad idea?”
“I don’t care where you take them.” She folds her arms over her chest, refusing to look at me.
“What’s wrong with you?” I ask again, gripping her elbow and trying to make her turn to face me. “You’ve been off since we got here.”
“You could have just told me, you know.”
“Told you what?”
“About her.” Aerin pulls her arm away and turns toward me. “I know what she is. Are you going to deny it?”
“Deny what?” I ask, throwing my hands in the air. “I have no idea what you’re talking about!”
“You know, I really should have figured it out,” Aerin says. “You are way too good in the sack for any of that virgin crap to be true.”
I stand there with my mouth hanging open. I have no idea how to respond.
“Is she the one?”
“Is who the one what?”
“Is she the whore who gave you a blowjob?”
It takes me a second to comprehend what Aerin means.
“Ava?” I’m so shocked by the accusation, I don’t know how to respond.
“Who else besides the one who has her hands all over you?”
“She was just holding my hand.” I have no idea how to handle an irate woman, and her lack of direct answers isn’t helping. “Is that why you’re mad?”
“So you don’t deny it?”
“I certainly do deny it! Ava’s never done that to me!”
Aerin scoffs and looks out at the water. I shake my head slowly as I contemplate what might be going on in her head. Only one thought comes to mind, but I can hardly believe it.
“Are you…are you jealous?”
“I most certainly am not!” She lets out a short, sharp laugh.
“You are!” I laugh as well, and Aerin turns on me with a glare.
“Fuck you.”
“Aerin, you are totally wrong about this.” I take a step forward, but she just moves away. I decide on the direct approach. “Ava is a lesbian.”
“Really, Talen? That’s the best you can do? I know she was the town whore, so don’t try to tell me she wasn’t.”
“She is…or was. I don’t know what the current status is, but that doesn’t mean I slept with her! She likes Layshell! Didn’t you see them together?”
“What I saw was you and her together. The way she hugged you and kissed you…the way she keeps touching you…are you going to deny all of that?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Bullshit.”
“Aerin, I swear to you, I didn’t lie about any of that. Ava and I aren’t like that. We never have been.”
“He told me you were with her all the time. He said you shared a tent.”
“Who? Was it Keller? I swear, I may end up killing that guy.”
“Not him.” Aerin continues to glare. “It was Milo. Is he a liar, too?”
“No, he isn’t, but it’s not what you think.”
“I have eyes, Talen. I see how you are with her.”
“Ava and I were never intimate,” I say with conviction. “Not once or in any way. Yes, I shared her tent sometimes, but only because she had a real bed, and I got tired of sleeping on the ground. She’s my friend, Aerin. That’s all. I promise you, there is nothing else between us. She likes women, and even if she didn’t, I’m not in love with her.”
Aerin scowls at me, her jaw clenched. Her dark hair frames her face, and her misplaced fury somehow makes her more attractive. My heart pounds as I reach for her hand and look directly into her eyes.
“I’m in love with you.”
Aerin stares at me. She opens her mouth and then closes it again. She shakes her head, furrows her brow for a moment, and then opens her eyes wide. A half second later, she grabs me.
She twists her fingers into my hair and drags my mouth to hers. She kisses me hard, reaching down with one hand to grab at the front of my jeans, pulling them open. She strokes my cock, gripping it tightly before she reaches up and quickly unbuttons my shirt. She pushes it down over my shoulders.
“You’re mine,” she says with a growl. “You hear me?”
“Yours.” I nod. I have no idea what’s happening here. Aerin still looks angry as she alternates between rough kisses and pulling at my clothes. Apparently, I said something right.
“Not good enough.” She shoves my jeans down and then hauls her own shirt over her head.
Aerin’s clothing flies off and lands in a disheveled heap on the ground along with my jacket and shirt. With my jeans still around my ankles, she grabs the back of my head and kisses me again.
“I want you in me now,” she says. “Don’t wait another damn second.”
I grab Aerin by her backside and lift her up, pressing her back to the nearest tree. She wraps her legs around my waist, and a moment later, I’m home.
“Fuck me, Talen. Fuck me hard, and convince me you’re mine.”
“Is that what it’s going to take?” I hold her with one arm and reach up to grab her hair with the other. I pull her head back and press my lips to her neck as I ram into her. “You going to believe me now, huh?”