Released, Agents of Evil Series, Book 1

by Megan Duncan

  Chapter 1

  There was nothing quite like the sound of shells being cocked in a shotgun. Once, I found the click and swish of the metal sliding against itself frightening, but now I couldn’t think of anything more comforting.

  I’ve been known to clean my shotgun, disassembling and assembling the parts for no other purpose than my own sense of relief, and the assurance that when the next attack came, and I knew it would, I would be ready.

  Tonight, I was ready.

  My fingers gripped the cold metal with a familiar tension of fierce determination. The gun cocked easily in my right hand and I rested the weight of it on my shoulder, ignoring the instantaneous, but fleeting pain it caused when it struck my scar.

  The wound had healed, in a way, but I knew, somewhere deep inside me, that it would never stop hurting. A constant reminder of the pain I endured on the journey to what we thought would be our salvation. We were wrong. As I pushed the memories away, burying them into the deep abyss of anguish in my soul, I ran forward to the front lines.

  “Ready?” I asked, only slightly winded when I reached the perimeter of our make-shift compound within the military base.

  “Yup,” Max replied gruffly.

  I eyed the other survivors that lined the perimeter and nodded. All of them were prepared. We had done this many times before and there was no reason to think we wouldn’t prevail again. In fact, these attacks were becoming more of a nuisance than anything else.

  Just a few short weeks after Max turned the emergency message back on, people started to slowly trickle in. We were amazed, at first, by the number of survivors. A few dozen might not seem like a lot, but in times like these, we considered ourselves a small army.

  At first, we rejoiced, considering so many survivors a victory in our favor, but that slowly began to change. Where there were people, there were demons. Not long after the first survivors crawled onto our base, so did a new menace - the spider demons.

  After the first attack, we barely survived and the creatures have continued to assail us ever since. We rose from the ashes of that night, shuddering at the corpses of those we could not save. When I looked into Max’s eyes, I immediately recognized an emotion in him that was unhinging itself inside me as well.

  No longer were we focused on just survival, or simply protecting ourselves. My eyes hardened as something broke inside me and all I could think of was revenge. Since the instant demons first stepped foot into our world, everything had turned to chaos. It was time we brought chaos to them.

  “They’re coming!” a man shouted from my left. A nearby tower pointed a light in the direction he indicated and we saw them.

  Our shifting bodies rustled the air around me as we all prepared for the attack. My eyes surveyed our line, everyone was in their position, everyone was armed. Their faces were hard and determined; with every attack, they became less fearful. With every victory, we became more powerful.

  The swarm of spider demons writhed along, tarnishing the deep blue horizon as it migrated toward us. The sound of thousands of spider legs skittering across pavement and earth made the hair on my arms stand on end.

  My attention locked onto Max as he gripped the submachine gun in his hands and charged the swarm. A violent war cry spilled from his lungs as he sprinted. We all followed after him, joining and bellowing our own threats.

  I lengthened my stride to match Max’s, and caught up with him just moments before the first spider demon came within range. Our eyes linked for the briefest of seconds, the horrifying images still lingering within them, and we turned to face our enemy.

  Gunfire crackled and sparked in the night as the first wave of spiders crashed into us. Their giant, leggy bodies gave them ample height. Standing at nearly seven feet tall or more, these monsters loomed above us, attacking mercilessly.

  We ran between their legs, spraying our bullets upward into their abdomens. Spider demons weren’t difficult opponents, as long as you didn’t get within reach of the pincers near their faces. “Stay away from their faces, if you want to stay alive!” I screamed into the night.

  After endless hours of studying their behavior, Carter discovered the spiders’ weakness. Without him, we might not have been able to handle their attacks. The problem wasn’t so much the deadliness of the spider attacks, but their sheer numbers. They could easily consume us all if we didn’t know how to bring them down. They almost did.

  I bobbed, weaved and ducked between their monstrous, pole-like legs, the earth pounding and rumbling beneath my feet as the spider demons savagely tried to kill us.

  Max and I always ran further into the fray than the others, who preferred to stay on the edges, waiting for the demons to come to them. No, we couldn’t fight like that anymore. I knew we were being risky, cheating death with every step we took, but in a world like this, after what we’d seen, you could say we’d been doing that for a long time already.

  The ring of Max’s blade being pulled from its sheath pealed through the night, interrupting the drone of arachnids that deafened my ears and flooded my brain. I knew that sound. It was time to take these damn spiders down and send them back from whence they came.

  Slinging my shotgun’s strap across my back, I pulled the two long, hunting knives from their casings on my thighs. It was time for some dirty fighting.

  I knew Max was somewhere nearby, even though I couldn’t see him. With my jaw clenched, and spider demon hair follicles rubbing the flesh of my arms red and raw, I gripped my blades tightly. We were in so deep, the monsters wouldn’t know what hit them. They never did.

  Max and I were getting awfully good at this. With the spiders’ attention focused solely on the base, and the line of men and women defending it, we easily wove our way beneath them, deep into the heart of the horde.

  My chest heaved a steady breath as I pulled my arms into a wide, winged arc. My muscles twitched in preparation; I needed to be fast. I needed to be really fast. I expelled another breath, hearing the shrieks of nearby spider demons, which caused the others to slow their pursuit toward the base. Immediately, their pea-brained attention moved toward the noise. Max had already started his attack, and by the sounds of it, was taking out quite a few. If I didn’t get going, I would be in trouble.

  I sprang into action, running at full speed as I whacked the spindly legs of the spider demons with my blades. Their heavy bodies thudded to the ground behind me with every limb-breaking slice.

  I snapped my arms like a rubber band with every blow. Each hit had to count. Each hit had to take out a leg of a spider demon. It didn’t take much force, but there were a lot of spider legs between the base and where I was.

  Taking off their legs not only kept them from moving closer to the base, but it also disrupted their senses, somehow disorienting them. Carter tried to explain it to me once, but I didn’t need to know the how or why, all I cared about was that it worked. I vaguely remembered something about his theory that they have kind of bee colony mentality.

  “Like some sort of demon network?” I asked Carter.

  “That’s one way to put it. They are still individual demons, but I think they have similarities much like a beehive, or a colony of ants would. You can tell that just by how they attack the base.” He began drawing a schematic on some scratch paper.

  “I get it,” I said, the annoyance rising in my voice as I ripped the paper out from under his pencil.

  “If that were true,” Carter grinned defiantly at me, yanking the paper back from my grasp, “then you wouldn’t need me to tell you how to kill those creepy crawlers, would ya?”

  “He’s got a point,” Max chimed in. He planted a boot onto the chair, leaning on his knee as he eyed Carter and me.

  “Just tell us how to kill them, Carter.”

  The spotlights of the base grew closer, their bright beams cutting through the mass of web-spinners that loomed above me. I was almost to the end of the line. The thought of getting so close to being done renewed my energy, temporari
ly helping me forget the burning sensation in my arms. I had to ignore my muscles’ painful protests caused by the demands I was subjecting them to. All this pain would be worth it in the end.

  I sliced through the last set of spider limbs and dove forward before the massive body could fall on top of me. If I got trapped underneath one, I’d be a goner. They didn’t need their legs to eat you, a fact one of our survivors learned all too personally.

  Stretching my arms, I lunged forward like a baseball player trying to make home base. The not so pleasant, but familiar, sensation of bristly hair rubbing against my legs sent my arms clawing frantically at the ground. I growled and grunted in frustration; I couldn’t allow myself to scream, even though I wanted to. I could see the outline of our small army not far off. They would hear my call, but so would the spider demons. Then I would have to deal with more than just one clawing at my legs.

  I allowed myself a few mere seconds of panic, then swallowed hard and flipped my body over. My legs resisted the twisting sensation as the spider demon gripped tighter. My bones were threatening to snap, and tears of infuriated rage fused with pain began to burn my eyes.

  I couldn’t let this one demon take me down. No, I wouldn’t allow it.

  It held onto my leg feverishly; its own fallen limbs twitching sporadically on the ground. It was trying to pull me into the swarm, no doubt to feast on my flesh, but luckily for me, this spider demon had no meal coming tonight.

  Of its eight legs, five had been severed; two on one side, and three on the other. The spider kept toppling over every time it rested its colossal weight on the other three legs. Stupid demon.

  My knives skidded across the dirt when I jumped out from under the demons. I had to get to one of them. I reached back, twisting and over-extending my back muscles further than my body was willing to allow. I was certain I could feel them tearing, ripping under my flesh, but I couldn’t think about that. I had to focus on reaching the blade and slicing off the demon’s claw-like leg that was clamped around my foot.

  With a roar of pain, I clasped the knife in my hand; and in one swift, but painful movement, I hacked off the spider’s appendage, narrowly missing my own foot.

  I scooted myself backward frantically. The spider demon couldn’t crawl anymore, but I didn’t want to be anywhere near it. Hands caught hold of me, lifting me upward, and in my panicked state, I raised my knife, ready to strike. I whirled to see whatever was behind me, and prepared to plunge my knife into it.

  “Whoa! It’s just me, Abs. You’re okay.” Max raised his hands in surrender. Relief washed over me and I fell into his open arms, silent tears streaking down my dirty face.

  I might have been tough. I might have been on a war path to kill demons, but for some reason, when one got hold of me, I almost always panicked. I was constantly trying to be tougher than I really was, whether to convince myself or everyone else, I wasn’t sure. But Max was always there for me, lifting me up when I fell and renewing my resolve that someday I could be as tough as I wanted. As tough as he was.

  He held me close for a brief moment, long enough for my ragged breath to return to normal. There was still fighting to be done.

  When Max released me, I felt something hit my foot. I looked down to see the spider demon dragging itself toward me.

  Wow, this one was not going to give up.

  This time, however, I kept my cool and didn’t panic. Max made a move to dispatch the demon for me, but I lifted my hand to stop him.

  “I’ve got this one,” I said with deadly resolve. Lifting my shotgun off my shoulder, I loaded the last shell that hung from the strap across my chest, cocked it, and blew the spider demon’s brains into a slimy puddle of goop. With a kick of my boot, I flung off a splatter of gore that landed there.

  We ran up to the line of people guarding the exterior fence of our makeshift compound, and joined their fight against the last remaining demons. Swiftly, we dispatched them. With only a few dozen headed toward us, it was easy to take them as they struggled to climb over their fallen comrades, their bodies still twitching and jerking.

  It was a sight to turn even the strongest stomach, but the more I saw, the more normal it became. It was the sign of another victory for us, and something we deserved to see.

  “That’ll do it,” Max exclaimed to the crowd as the last demon was killed. It dragged its body along with only half a limb working. Still, it came for us. They always came for us.

  “The clean-up crew will be here soon enough,” I added, following everyone back into the safety of our perimeter and its ten-foot fence, topped with barbed wire.

  I waited as Max and another man, I couldn’t remember his name, maybe Henry, secured the gate. Our part of the job was done for the night and we didn’t want to be anywhere nearby when the “clean-up crew” arrived.

  “You did good tonight,” Max smiled at me, slinging his arm over my shoulder and pulling me close. His expression had lost some of its steeliness. I knew mine had too. We always felt better after a victory. There was nothing quite like the feeling of knowing we had accomplished something. We would all be alive for another day and that felt good.

  “Thanks. How many do you think we got tonight?”

  “Oh, man, I would say at least a hundred. That swarm seemed to be one of the bigger ones we’ve encountered.” We were walking through the halls of the housing units and people gasped at Max’s words as we passed them. Most of the newcomers were still uneasy about staying here. I couldn’t blame them. Before, occupying one place for too long felt wrong, but that was starting to change now. We had a defensible location. If we had a chance of surviving anywhere, it would be here.

  “Hmm… I guess that’ll keep the clean-up crew busy enough tomorrow. Should buy us time to scout the city. What do you think?”

  All the weeks we had been here, we hadn’t found time to do much scouting. I was becoming almost as eager as Carter to see what we could find. Just for different reasons. He was certain we might find more clues as to what really happened at the base, and the military that used to be here. He had some hair-brained idea that the military left to fight against something within the city. It was a little farfetched, but as with most of his ideas, I just rolled my eyes.

  I, on the other hand, wanted to gather supplies, and if we were lucky, maybe even find some survivors. Maybe they would know what really happened to the base. So far, no one who had entered our compound was originally from here, so they had no clue as to what went down.

  “Yeah, I think with a swarm that big, it’ll give us a good chance. The longer we keep waiting, the more likely our window of opportunity will fizzle out.”

  “What window of opportunity?” Carter, my brother, asked as we entered our room. Carter, Taya, Max and I all shared a room. Not for lack of space. We tried separate rooms at first, but it didn’t feel right to be apart. We just felt safer this way.

  “Heading into town,” I answered Carter’s curious look as I dropped my shotgun onto my cot and began the annoying job of taking off my gear. The hardest part were the combat boots. I always had Max tie them for me. He had the muscle to make them extremely tight, which was always a good thing when fighting demons, but it didn’t take long for my feet and ankles to begin screaming in agony.

  I looked at Max for him to explain when I saw the look of excitement on Carter’s face, his journey book clutched tightly in his hand. My brother was starving for new details, still clinging to the hope that he could put all his information to good use and save mankind. Max and I both agreed that we didn’t want Carter to go. Since our fight with the madman, John, Carter’s vision just hadn’t been the same. His face received some serious damage and didn’t heal right. He hated being kept from doing anything because of it, but it was just too dangerous for him now. He couldn’t fight like he used to. Even his aim with a crossbow was leagues from what it once was.

  “Great! When are we going?” Carter twisted around on his cot to face us.

  “We,” I sa
id, pointing to Max and me, “are going at first light.” I glanced to Max for confirmation, and he nodded as he changed his shirt. I felt my cheeks flush with heat and quickly turned away. I couldn’t let him distract me when I was trying to yell at my brother.

  “Don’t start that argument again, Abby!” Carter’s irritation began to rise. I turned my back to him as I dropped my boots on the ground.

  “Carter,” I sighed in my whiniest breath. “Please don’t start. I’m tired and I don’t want to hear it right now, okay?”

  “No, not okay! You’re my little sister and I’m not letting you scout the city alone. You think just because you can go out and fight spider demons, you can take on whatever is out there waiting for us?”

  “You know I won’t be going alone. Max is going with me and we are assembling a team.”

  “So, why can’t I be part of that team?”

  I could see the pain lingering in his expression as he asked the question. His eye twitched awkwardly. He knew the answer, and I didn’t need to tell him. He was a liability now. I had to be the one to look after him and he hated it. I couldn’t blame him though. He was my big brother, but he could no longer do the things that he felt the title embodied.

  “Dude,” Max said, as he plopped down next to Carter on his cot. “You know why.” He placed a comforting hand on Carter’s shoulder, which he shrugged off.

  “Abby’s not healing right either, but you’re still letting her go.” His face looked angry, but not his tone. That was just his expression now and we were all starting to get used to it. His injured eye kind of drooped sleepily, making it seem like he had a permanent scowl, which was very uncharacteristic for my brother. Well, at least before everything happened, it would have been.

  As much as I wanted to crawl into bed, I couldn’t. After an attack, the four of us always did a walkthrough of our camp to check on everyone. We were much like shepherds, herding our flock, making sure the “big bad wolf” hadn’t done more damage than we knew about.

  Except in our case, our flock was comprised of people and the big bad wolf was made of savage demons.

  Having given up the fight, for now, Carter followed Max and me out of our room. I slung my shotgun over my shoulder, unwilling to let it leave my side, even when I knew we were relatively safe, for now. I think all of us had learned the hard way that there really wasn’t such a thing as “safe” anymore. Taya’s words echoed in my memory at the thought.

  “There is no such thing as safe. There is alive and there is dead. Everything in between is just dumb luck.”

  “You’ve got that look on your face,” Max commented as we rounded a corner and headed to the cafeteria. It had become our pro tem assembly room after attacks and everyone was making their way toward it.

  The discussions and reports were relatively the same every time, but we didn’t want to leave anyone in the dark as to what was going on. Carter and Max both agreed that ignorance meant death. I concurred.

  “What look is that?” I feigned ignorance even though I knew exactly what he meant.

  “You look like one of those kitten posters. All helplessly clinging to a tiny branch, with the phrase, Hang in there! on the bottom.”

  “You look freaked out,” Carter added for good measure.

  “So?” I snapped.

  I was getting really sick of them trying to read my facial expressions. They didn’t understand women before the apocalypse; and for the life of me, I didn’t understand what made them think they could now.

  “So, you’re going to make people worry. We won tonight. It’s was a good night.”

  I rolled my eyes at Max and groaned. “They should worry,” I raised my voice a little too loud, and several people looked my way. I gave them weak smiles and they continued on.

  “See!” Carter piped in again. “Just because the world has gone to shit around us doesn’t mean these people don’t deserve some sense of peace. We might not have much here, but at least, we have some semblance of safety. Some tiny bit of security in a world of chaos.”

  I avoided their gazes and stared intently forward. The doors to the cafeteria lay ahead, and as each person entered I got a peek into the room and the small assembly of people gathering there. I knew Carter and Max were right, but I had a really hard time concealing my feelings. Especially on nights when a spider demon got a little too close for comfort. It just rattled my nerves.

  I adjusted my shotgun and gave them as confident a smile as I could. Ushering the last few people into the cafeteria, we walked in and joined Taya up at the podium. She had taken it upon herself to start these gatherings, and even at her young age, people revered her with rapt attention.

  Most of the survivors who managed to get to our base were just people who had held been holed up in their houses, hiding and waiting for help to arrive. Very few of them saw or encountered the things that we did. Lucky for them.

  With each group that arrived, Carter and Taya would convey our tale. Most sat quietly with horrified looks on their faces. Then Carter would go through his demon book, and instruct everyone on what we had learned. We wanted everyone to be able to defend themselves and know what they were up against, if our worst-case scenario were to ever happen - if demons ever crossed into our compound.

  Few ever spoke up when Carter asked if they had any facts about demons to add that he hadn’t already mentioned. Either they were scared, or just didn’t want to relive their experiences by saying the words aloud. Occasionally, some would approach Carter later on, telling him what they saw. He would add it to the book and tell them how brave they were and how every bit of information would help us in our battle. I knew he was trying to instill them with the same hope he had - that someday we would defeat the enemy, and the world would finally be ours, once again.

  Max walked up to the microphone and cleared his throat as the crowd hushed. Carter, Taya and I lined up behind him. “As you are all probably well aware, we won tonight!” The crowd cheered his announcement.

  I surveyed the room, spotting the men and women that fought beside us lining the walls, still in defensive stances, even though the current threat had been defeated. A feeling of intense pride swelled inside me for these people. I remembered each of their faces as they entered our compound on their first day. They looked utterly broken and afraid, but standing here tonight, they appeared more like warriors. Men, women, young, and old.

  We weren’t in this alone, and I knew that each one of them would do whatever it took to maintain the peace and safety we had established. Finally, the last remaining threads of fear dissipated inside me.

  Max’s speech was uplifting, raising even my spirits. He was becoming quite the leader and I imagined that in some small way, he was living his dream of joining the military. Even though this version was much more twisted than he ever previously hoped for; he was still defending the helpless, protecting the innocent and saving mankind. A smile pulled up the corner of my lips. I was so proud of the man he was becoming.

  Everyone applauded after Max ended his report, and Taya stepped forward to give her standard cautionary warning. “Tomorrow there will be limited access until the cleaning crew disposes of the spider remains. So, if you have to go outside, please use caution and inform the nearest guard where you’re going. Does everyone understand?”

  All nodded their heads as they turned to exit the room. I had to hide the smirk that appeared on my face. Sometimes, it seemed Taya must have aged ten years since arriving at the base. She sounded so much like a strict teacher; it was both funny and comforting. She wasn’t much younger than I, but I still felt guilty that she had to grow up so fast. Then again, everyone had to. I guess that’s why no one had a problem with us leading the group. Age wasn’t an issue anymore. It was just human versus demon. No shades of gray, just black and white.

  Taya turned to look at us as the crowd moved away behind her, releasing a tired sigh. “I hope they don’t show up early in the morning. I can’t ever sleep with all the noise.
It’s too friggin’ creepy.”

  I nodded my head in agreement. I didn’t think anyone could sleep through the noise. Our “cleaning crew,” as we fondly called it, were merely vulture-like demons. They were huge, scavenging birds that ate whatever was left behind of the demons. After the first brutal attack on the base, we somehow fell into an uneasy alliance with them.

  We killed the spider demons and they disposed of the carcasses. I almost lost the entire contents of my stomach the first time I saw them picking at the mutilated remains; and knowing that they ate their own kind was horrifying. Sure, it worked out for us, because they didn’t attack live prey, but it was still disgusting.

  The demon birds, our cleaning crew, would completely vanish until there was another attack; and the following morning at dawn, they would reappear. Their skin-prickling shrieks reverberated through the predawn air, waking everyone up as they fed off the carnage. I couldn’t help feeling like we were feeding them. It was better than the alternative, though. Demon remains were much more preferable than human remains when it came to feeding demons.

  “They always come at dawn,” Max replied, smiling and handing her two foam ear plugs. “Here, use these. It helps a little.”

  “What will you use?”

  “I’ll be fine.” He waved her off, and she smiled.

  “Are we still on for tomorrow?” she asked me.

  “Yeah. As soon as we get back.”

  Taya beamed before heading out of the cafeteria. She had been begging me to help teach her how to shoot and though at first I had tried to pawn her off on Max, she had still wanted me to do it. I finally relented and agreed. There was still an unspoken tension between us, but things had improved. I knew she would always harbor some anger toward me for what happened to Judy, Norah and Savannah. Their deaths were difficult on all of us.

  I didn’t take it personally anymore. It wasn’t me she was truly mad at anyway, she just needed something tangible to target her anger on, and that just happened to be me.

  “I suppose you’re going to start letting her go on scouts now, too?” Carter asked, hopping down from the stage.

  “Carter, don’t be stupid.” His pouting sessions usually didn’t last this long and I was starting to get annoyed.

  He stormed off with no response, other than dramatically trying to slam the cafeteria door, which he failed at miserably. It’s hard to slam a door that self-closes.

  “Abs,” Max said my nickname admonishingly.

  “What?” I shrugged my shoulders before jumping down to the floor. We held hands and walked back to our room.

  He beats himself up enough; you don’t need to as well.”

  Since Carter’s injury, Max had become overly protective and somehow hyper-aware of his best friend’s feelings, which made me feel slightly guilty. Carter was my big brother and that’s how I should have been treating him.

  “I know, but…” I sighed, pushing through the cafeteria door. The hallways were mostly empty as people rushed to get as much sleep as they could before the demon birds came and woke everyone up.

  “Imagine how you would feel if I wouldn’t let you fight with that shoulder of yours.”

  I rubbed the mentioned shoulder that still remained sore. “First of all, you can’t tell me what I can or cannot do,” I said, bumping him with my hip. “And second of all, I would feel like crap,” I admitted.

  “Ya know, sometimes it seems like you’re the big sister and he’s your little brother.”

  “Mhm. The tables have turned and Carter doesn’t like it one bit.” I lost the giggle that started to build in my chest and continued. “He knows he can’t fight anymore, and I hate having to keep telling him ‘no’ every time he asks. I just wish there were other things he could do to occupy himself.”

  “Maybe we should find him something to do?” Max suggested. “So, he feels like he is contributing.”

  I nodded in agreement and let Max pull me under his arm as we rounded another corner on our way down the hallway, where our room was located. I wasn’t sure we could find anything that would keep Carter busy. I knew when it came down to it, nothing would suffice except fighting beside us. He wasn’t willing to sit around while we risked our lives to defend this place. I couldn’t blame him one bit for that. I would be doing the same thing. Busted shoulder or not, I’d fight until my last breath.

  Our room was already dark by the time we got there. Taya was squirming under her covers, trying to get comfortable and Carter was motionless with his back toward the door. I knew he was still upset and only feigning at being asleep, so I walked quietly to his bed and sat down. Placing my hand on his shoulder, I bit my lip, trying to think of what to say.

  “I’m sorry.” That was all I could come up with and I felt like a horrible sister.

  When he didn’t respond or even flinch under my touch, I tried harder to think of something. Sorry wasn’t enough for how I’d been treating him. He only wanted to help defend everyone and I just kept snapping at him. I had to remember how Carter got hurt in the first place. It wasn’t because he was being careless; it was because he was trying to defend Norah. He had been brave and I needed to remember that.

  “I’m a jerk, okay?” He stirred a little, so I continued. “Alright, I’m a giant jerk!” I let out a small laugh. “Does that make you feel better?”

  Carter rolled over and looked at me, a small smirk breaking on his face. “Not much, but it’s a start.” I slapped his arm.

  “Seriously though, Abby, I can still fight; you just gotta let me prove it.” He pulled himself up into a sitting position. “Just because I can’t shoot doesn’t mean I can’t do anything.”

  “I know.” I looked up to see Max smiling at us. I knew he was happy we were making up.

  “And just because you say I can’t, doesn’t mean I won’t go anyway. If I want to go on that scout tomorrow, I’m going to go,” he said sternly. I opened my mouth to protest. “Shut it! I won’t go tomorrow, but I will go on the next scout. Got it?”

  “Yeah, I got it,” I said, giving in. He was right. If he really wanted to go, there wasn’t anything I could do to stop him.

  “Now stop worrying about me so much, that’s my job. I’m supposed to look after you, not the other way around. I promised Dad I’d protect you, and damn it, that’s what I’m going to do.” His tone was lighter, and somewhat playful; but at the mention of our dad, the mood died.

  “Alright, big brother. So, do you not hate me anymore?”

  “I never hated you, you’re just a brat.” He squeezed my sides and I jumped out of bed with a squeal.

  “Some of us are trying to get their beauty sleep, ya know?” Taya grumbled from under her covers, which only made us all giggle.

  It was nice not to be at odds with my brother anymore, and even nicer to hear him laugh again. It was a long time since any of us laughed.

  I crawled into the cot next to Max’s and snuggled in for the night. We weren’t actually sharing a bed, but it was still nice to be close to him. Someday, the four of us would have to feel secure enough to sleep in our own rooms, but for now, this would do. I turned to face Max, and squeezed his offered hand. It was as much intimacy as I allowed in our current living situation, even though I was almost certain I was ready for more. Max’s patience about it made me feel more like the guy in the relationship. The fact he never mentioned it, made me think even more about it. My last remaining thoughts were of Max and me, going out on our first real date. There was some serious lip action happening, and I was almost certain I went to sleep with a smile on my face.

  ~