by Annie Walls
Giving Dex one last pat, I whisper, “Take care of her.” I stand, gripping my bow and slipping my quiver on as I make my way through the field behind the line of houses.
“Gotta hand it to you, man. That’s control.” Chauncey steps into my view. I clench my jaw and say nothing. I move to stalk past him, making sure he doesn’t see it coming when I kick out, sweeping his feet out from under him. His back hits the ground with a hard thump. Alarm flashes on his face as his lungs learn how to work again. A gasp finally makes it’s way into his chest. “Fuck!” He rolls over, coughing. “I fucking hate it when that happens.” He breathes hard, mumbling something that sounds a lot like fucktard bastard.
“You got the bastard part right, but fucktard? By the way, that was for following me, but mostly for not keeping your eyes to yourself.” I keep moving in the direction of the squad’s camp.
Chauncey catches up to me a few minutes later. “You’re gonna pay for that, and for the Sarge’s bad headache.”
I can’t help it, I flash him my teeth, although far from a smile. “You guys think you could bring me here and not go and see her? That’s just ignorance.” The ancient camera weighs heavy in the cargo pocket of these stiff fucking pants that I long to soak in a bucket of salt to soften up. I stride the two miles toward the small campground with resolve.
Upon entering the camp, there’s an automatic uproar, but I ignore them all in favor of ripping back a tent flap and pushing under it.
The Sarge sits at a card table, glaring at me. The cots set up in front of him hold two sleeping bodies. He notices my glance and sinks in his chair. “I guess I don’t have to ask where you’ve been.” Digging the camera out I pull up the pictures I took and drop it in front of him on the table. He picks it up, looking through it.
I give him a mirthless scoff when he says nothing. “Why does she need a room full of equipment? Get Stevenson on the phone. Now.”
He opens his mouth, but a groan from a cot cuts him off for a brief moment. He waves the phone. “Honestly, I had no idea…about this.”
“Mierda, es como ver un fantasma.” The foreign words make me turn to the cot they came from. Sander stares at me with wide eyes.
“Nice to see you, too. Welcome to the land of lies and omission,” I tell him, wondering what he just said.
Sander shakes his head, “Chingona thinks you’re dead.”
I know Kan doesn’t think I’m dead but… “Why the hell would you think that?” I ask Sander.
The Sarge gives me a tight smile, waggling the camera. “I think we need to talk.”
It doesn’t matter what he what he’ll say, I have names burned into my brain from Kan’s computer.