Unknown (Unknown Series Book 1) (36 page)

“Well, don’t say anything,” I told her. “Some military guys are weird about that. I know Rylen and Tater wouldn’t care, but you never know about the others.”

“I won’t.” She paused. “So . . . which one do you like best?”

I sighed. “I don’t know. None of them.”

“You just said they were all cute.”

“They are, but that’s the last thing I need to worry about right now.”

She gave a feminine grunt. “There is nothing better to distract you from the Apocalypse and Mr. Nonavailable than a hot guy.”

I rolled onto my side to face her, making out her silhouette. “Is that what you think this is? The Apocalypse?”

“I mean . . . I was just joking, but . . .” Her voice got serious. “It could be. My dad thinks it is.”

A zinging chill went up my spine. I grasped my neck to massage it away. Outside of the tent I thought I could hear shuffling.

I sat up and whispered, “Do you hear that?”

She sat up too. “It’s just the guys, right?”

I pulled Grandma’s pistol from beneath my pillow.

“What’s that?” Remy asked.

“Protection.” I reached for the tent zipper and slowly pulled it down.

She gasped. “You have a gun? Be careful!”

“I will. Stay in here.”

I went out and slipped behind a tree, racking the slide with a
click
. Down the trail I could see a group of shadowy bodies making their way up to our camp. One huge guy and one super tall guy stood out from the others: Texas Harry and Mark Mahalchick. I let out a breath and called to Remy, “It’s them.” She slipped out of the tent and zipped it back up.

When they got up to us, the guys all eyed the gun in my hand.

“You packin’ heat?” Josh asked, sounding impressed. I clicked the safety back on. Devon whistled. “She was ‘bout ready to take our asses out.”

“My sister knows how to shoot, too,” Tater said. I almost “aww’d” out loud from the compliment.

We all ended up back around the dead fire in a circle to talk since we’d pulled up rocks and logs for makeshift seats.

“So?” I asked.

“We literally saw nothing,” Tater said. “Nothing interesting, anyway. There were Derp guards patrolling, but since we got there right after dark, all the people were indoors. It was quiet.”

“The busses are gone,” Rylen noted. “Only three white vans are there now.”

“From what we could see, they have about twenty Derps,” Texas Harry said. “And you said a couple hundred townspeople?”

Tater nodded. “They could overpower them if they wanted, but I know they won’t.”

No, I didn’t think they would either. They wouldn’t want to take the chance of getting a bunch of their people killed if they weren’t in direct, known danger. Plus, they were half-starved, unless they were giving them full rations now, which I doubted.

“I think our best bet would be to cause a distraction away from their encampment,” Rylen said. “Draw as many Derps away from the camp as we can, toward a diversion of some sort.”

“What kind of diversion?” I asked. “Like a big ass fire or something?”

“Exactly,” Rylen said. “Something close enough to make them feel threatened and want to check it out, but far enough to give us time to come around from the other side and storm the front gate.”

“What if everyone starts shooting?” She sounded horrified. I tensed, waiting for the guys to verbally attack her naiveté again, but they were respectfully quiet.

“None of us wants to kill,” Texas Harry said. “But if it comes down to them or us, we won’t hesitate.”

Shooting was a given. The guards would feel threatened. So would our guys. Sudden fear seized me. Twenty guards against our eight guys and me. And that’s if Remy would let me out of her claws so I could help the cause.

I rubbed my forehead.

“I think this night calls for a drink,” Texas Harry said. He pushed to his feet and went over to his pack, rifling through and joining us again with a huge bottle.

“Jack?” Tater asked. “Hell yeah, bro.”

Before anyone could do or say anything, Remy reached over and grabbed the bottle from Texas Harry. She unscrewed the cap and held the bottle with two hands as she tipped it up and chugged.

“Remy!” I said. She brought it down and her whole body gave a violent shiver. She let out a loud breath and smiled. All at once the guys broke into cheer, clapping and slapping their legs.

It was on.

I was the only one not drinking. And honestly, I wanted to. I wanted to get so wasted that my worries would crawl away from me and pass out in a sea of nothingness. But the problem was, we did not have enough water resources to keep us hydrated against the alcohol. I couldn’t say that to them, of course. This beast would not be stopped. Even Rylen was drinking. They would probably end up draining every single bottle of water tomorrow, which made me itchy all over. I wanted to smack some sense into them.

But they were having fun. And fun was a rarity we needed.

T
he fun was getting out of hand. All of the guys were hitting on Remy. Except Rylen, of course, and Sean, who sat with the group and grinned without saying much. But the rest of them were like freaking peacocks with their feathers fanned, strutting around her. Remy ate up the attention like a starving woman. Her face was going to hurt tomorrow from smiling and laughing.

Rylen and I sat together on our rocks, watching as the other guys told animated stories of all the manly things they’d ever done—how much they could lift, how far they could shoot, how many IUD explosions they’d escaped—everything but the size of their junk, but that would probably come up now that we were nearing the bottom of the bottle. Everyone took one last swig, and then the liter was empty.

Tall Mark grinned at Remy with his wrists hanging lazily over his knees. “So, what were you studying in school?”

“Biology,” she said. “I wanted to be a middle school science teacher.”

Mark made a face and some of the other guys hissed. “Why would you want to do that?”

“Middle schoolers are awesome!” Remy said with passion. “They’re right at that age where they’re trying to figure out who they are and what their place is in the world. And science is all around them. It’s like a constant that keeps them grounded and helps them make sense of their changing bodies and emotions, and—”

“You do realize all them little boys are gonna be having wet dreams about you, right?” Texas Harry asked.

Remy’s mouth popped open, appalled, as the other guys fell over laughing.

“That is disgusting!” she yelled. But she couldn’t stay mad long. In seconds, she was laughing with them. “I’ll put my hair up in a bun and wear a mumu.”

“Won’t matter,” Mark said. “Boys have legendary imaginations.”

Another round of laughter.

Short Matt was the drunkest of the bunch, his head lolling and his words slurring. “I once jerked off thinking about my English teacher on a stripper pole. I think she was, like, sixty.”

More falling over raucous laughter.

“You’ve got issues, sweetie,” Remy said.

“I was twelve!” His goofy, lopsided grin made her reach out and pat his cheek. Everyone “
Awwed
” and then a comfortable lull passed.

Texas Harry rubbed the thick facial hair growing across his cheek. “Man . . . I really need to shave this sasquatch.”

A beat of absolute, horrible silence passed, in which my stomach plummeted deep inside me, and then Remy’s voice and spluttering gasps filled the air, “You! You dirty perv! You were listening and watching us! I knew it.” Absolute hysterical laughter ensued.

Shit!
My face flamed and I was glad it was dark enough to hide the worst of my embarrassment.

“What are you guys talking about?” Tater asked with a bemused smile.

“Nothing,” I said loudly.

“It’s obviously
something
,” Rylen said.

I was desperate not to have the sasquatch comment explained. “No, it’s really nothing. They overheard mine and Remy’s stupid conversation when we were showering.”

Sean stood up and stretched. “On that note, I’m going to hit the sack.”

“Always first to bed,” Texas Harry said. “G’night, Sleeping Beauty.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he laughed softly, giving a mock-salute. He disappeared into the one-man tent.

“What’s with the sasquatch comment?” Tater would not let it go.

“Oh my freaking gosh,” I said. “Just drop it. They’re joking around with us.” I stood up. If the sasquatch explanation came to light, I really didn’t want to be sitting next to Rylen. “I’m going to bed.”

“Wait, I have an idea,” New York Josh said. He turned the big bottle onto its side on a patch of dirt and gave it a spin.

“Oh, no,” Remy said. “Not if I’m the only girl. I’ll play if Amber plays.” She looked at me, her eyes pleading in the moonlight. I walked over, but stopped and kissed the top of her head.

“Not on your life,” I told her.

Everyone but Tater and Rylen
booed
me. I smiled and shrugged. “Good night, everyone.”

I made my way to the tent, feeling a strange sense of sadness and regret. I wanted to be able to have fun like Remy. Would I ever be able to? I hated feeling so boring.

I’d almost zipped the flap closed when I saw a hand grasp the opening. “Mind if I join you?” Rylen’s voice reverberated through the nylon door, making me shake on the inside.

“Yeah, sure.” I unzipped it and he climbed in, leaving his shoes outside of the tent just as I had.

I was very aware of his nearness in the small space as we both took spots against the far sides, leaving room between us for Remy and Tater. Voices and laughter came to us from where the others sat up the hill, but I couldn’t make out full details of their conversation. I lay down on my side, facing him, and he lay on his back. It was dark, but my eyes had adjusted to the small light given by the moon, stars, and campfire. I squinted and saw that he’d closed his eyes.

Rylen had had at least eight shots from the liter of whiskey. The tent’s air quickly filled with the faint smell of Jack Daniels and Rylen Fite. I can’t say I hated the combination. In fact, it kind of gave me my own personal buzz.

We were quiet so long that my body started to relax and feel heavy with sleep. And then Rylen whispered.

“I don’t think she’s happy.”

My ears perked and my heart sped up. “What?”

It took a moment, but he finally replied in that same low, quiet tone. “I don’t think she wants to be married to me.”

For a few seconds all I heard was my heart pounding in my ears. He had to be drunk to bring up something so major. Something so private.

“I doubt that, Rylen,” I whispered.

“I mean it,” he whispered a little more strongly. “I keep thinking back to Guatemala . . . she told me that she told you.”

“Yeah,” I breathed, still shocked he was talking about this.

“We were caught up in the moment, you know? She was scared for her life, and I was pissed off by the injustice of it—and we just sort of clicked. We clung to each other. It was like no one else in the world could understand.”

“You don’t have to tell me any of this,” I said. I was so afraid he would wake up and regret this conversation. I didn’t want him to be ashamed or awkward about it tomorrow.

“I want to,” he insisted. “I can’t talk to anyone else.” He sat up and rubbed his face, roughly running his hands through his hair. We ended up facing each other, and I clasped my hands in my lap to keep them from trembling.

“Okay,” I said. “Tell me why you think she could possibly regret it.”

“In Guatemala, I put her up in a hotel to keep her safe, and I’d visit her at night after work. When it was getting close to time for me to leave, she asked me to bring her to a neighboring town where she had a cousin she could stay with. I didn’t like that idea. It was another small, old school town, just like hers, where people basically made their own laws. Her dad could have found her there. Or word would travel and she’d end up shunned. I told her I could bring her to the U.S. It wasn’t until we went to the local town council to get her paperwork that I realized those fuckers would do anything to make a buck. They said she couldn’t leave unless she was going with a legal spouse.”

“Is that really the law?” I asked.

“No clue. Some towns in the world are so corrupt that they make their own laws to suit their needs. And of course a marriage license was pricey. It made the local government some money. At that point I would’ve done anything to keep her safe. God, Pepper, if you could have seen . . .” He looked up, and I could make out his eyes on me. “I know she’s been kind of shy since she’s been here, but when I saw her being beaten, she was fierce. Her chin was up, and she did not want to show pain. She wouldn’t give those bastards the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She was so strong, and all I could think was,
Damn, that could be Pepper
.”

He looked down and I swallowed several times, fighting the emotion pooling inside of me. I had no idea what to say. No idea how to feel—only that I was overwhelmed.

“When we were at the hotel, I didn’t try to touch her because she was so hurt. She was black and blue all over, covered in cuts. On the second day, she kissed me, but it felt like she was trying to thank me or pay me, so I stopped it. I think it hurt her feelings. I tried to explain it in Spanish as best as I could, that she didn’t owe me, but I’m not sure she understood. And next thing I knew, we were married and flying to the U.S.”