Brody was letting him be, staying by the fire. He knew him well enough still to give him space when he needed it, just not well enough to know that his friends were off limits, and he had no right to make any decisions that could put any of them at risk. He didn’t feel the least bit guilty for pounding on him.
Still sleepy-eyed Ams and Laurel ran out of the cave toward the woods or the stream to do their morning business. He wanted to talk to Laurel about this without Ams. He could see Ams losing it on Brody for this, could see her shooting him to keep Laurel safe. He knew she still hated the boy, and he still didn’t get a chance to talk to her about him. He could see her hatred for him in the way she looked at him, throwing daggers at him for just being, and he couldn’t imagine her being okay with what Brody was planning. He walked out to the fire, ignoring the bruises on Brody’s face, and poured himself another cup of coffee, drinking the bitter liquid, not saying anything to his friend, not even looking at him.
The girls were walking back now, Laurel looking at Brody, and then at him, surprise written all over her face. She said something to Ams, and he saw her run back into the cave, not looking at any of them. Laurel walked quickly to where he was sitting on the log and stopped right in front of him, staring at his face, waiting, and finally when he didn’t say anything, couldn’t think of anything to say yet, she spat at him in her angry voice, one he’d only heard her use once before, “I don’t see any new bruises on you, not a one, and an awful lot of bruises on him. That tells me you two didn’t have a fight. A fight I would have been okay with. But this? This looks like a beating. I didn’t think you had it in you, Riley. Did you tie him up for this too? Point a gun at his head? Do you bloody feel better now?”
He shook his head at her, embarrassed, set his coffee on the grass and stood up, keeping his head down. She seemed angry enough to want to hit him, and she almost did, too, only suddenly Brody was there, pulling her away, making her look at him, instead of Riley, “It wasn’t his fault, Laurel. I swear it wasn’t. I could have fought him or stopped him if I wanted to. I didn’t. It looks worse than it is. And it’s not what you think it was. Please, let it go. There is something we need to tell you. It’ll make a lot more sense after that, I promise,” and he took her away and sat her down on the log, handed her a cup of steaming tea, and told her what he did, told her his plan, quickly, in a rush to get it all out before anyone else came out of the cave.
He stood where she left him, watching them, hoping Laurel thought it was a lousy idea, hoping she’d change her mind about wanting to go back in the first place. But she was nodding her head at whatever Brody was telling her, too softly for him to catch anything but an occasional word. She got up finally and walked over to him, “You have to let us, Riley, you just have to. It’s a good plan. It’ll work. She can’t tell anyone she lost us, not right before the Selection, so she’ll come, I know she’ll come, and she won’t have but a few guards with her at the most. She can’t call this in, you know that. And they can’t hurt me.”
Nothing he could do about changing her mind, so he didn’t try. There was no point.
“All right, but I am going with you, or you can’t go. I’m not going to argue over it either. I am going. And one of you is going to have to tell Ams. I can’t be the one to do it. Not that. I think it should be you, Laurel. I have a feeling she’ll kill Brody to keep you from going if he tells her,” he said quietly and walked away from the fire toward the stream, wanting more than anything to wade in and let the cold water run all around him in icy waves, and not think about what he just did to Brody, or seeing Hassinger’s face again.
It was almost time for them to go when he got back to the camp. Ams wasn’t talking to him. Wasn’t looking at him either. So Laurel did tell her then. He’ll have to deal with it later. There just wasn’t enough time for it now. Drake and Ella were sitting on either side of Ams on the log, Drake’s arm draped around her. Laurel looked like she had spent the last hour crying, her eyes so blue they looked almost violet, but her face was all pink and splotchy. He wished Ams made it easier on her friend. It was cruel of her to make her hurt like that now. But that’s what they did, he and Brody and Ams. They hurt the people they loved.
“I am packed and ready to go. I just need to change my clothes,” he whispered and walked into the cave to grab his bag and put on a dry shirt. Nobody was saying anything to anybody when he got out. Brody and Laurel had their small backpacks on them already, and he could see an old metal gun strapped to Brody’s belt, and a stun gun at Laurel’s waist. They seemed ready.
He walked over to Ams and crouched in front of her, trying to look at her face, “I am sorry, Ams. It wasn’t my call, it was Laurel’s. I’ll make sure she is safe, I promise. We should all be back by morning.” She didn’t even look up at him, so he leaned in and planted a kiss on the top of her head, catching Ella looking at him sadly. He kissed his sister on the cheek, and walked into the woods, knowing that Brody and Laurel would follow.
They had more than enough time to get there, so they walked slowly, not wanting to be exhausted in case something went wrong. He had a feeling that something would go wrong, and couldn’t make sense of it. The plan was solid, he knew that, but he couldn’t keep the feeling of dread from settling on his stomach. Brody and Laurel were walking just behind him, not speaking. It’s as if they all ran out of things to say to each other.
They stopped for a few minutes at roughly the halfway point, quickly ate a small meal of cold smoked meat and tea, all of it in silence, and were on their way again. After a few more hours of this silent walk, Brody signaled for them to stop. He could see the clearing through the trees now. They still had almost an hour till Hassinger was due.
He spotted one of Brody’s boys running towards them, gun drawn, and pointing at him.
“Ellis, sir, is darky a prisoner?”
“Stand down, Trelix, you idiot. If he was a prisoner, he’d be tied up. Stand down. And don’t call him darky again. His name is Riley and you will protect him.”
The boy lowered his gun, looking at him with unguarded hatred, “I am sorry, sir. It won’t happen again.” He whistled and the rest of the boys came towards them, no guns drawn this time.
He took Laurel away from where Brody was talking with his crew, and sat her down on the soft patch of grass, crouching in front of her, “I have to tell you something, Laurel, and I hope you don’t get angry at me for it. I think I know why you want to go back. I’ve seen how everything bad that’s happened since we ran makes you feel, how you don’t seem to get over any of it. So I don’t fault you for not wanting to see the ugliness and the sadness ever again. I couldn’t fault you for that. But I need to be absolutely sure that you know what you are trying to go back to. The ugly things the Alliance does, you couldn’t see it then, not at the compound, but you know it now, you’ve seen it. I think you are the wisest person I know, the way you seem to get everything about people anyway, but I don’t think you’ve thought all of this through.” She was looking at him with those guileless blue eyes of hers, hands playing with the blades of grass.
“Laurel, I don’t know what’s going to happen in a few minutes, but I have a bad feeling about it. I can’t explain it. I know it’s a good plan, and that Brody is very good at whatever it is he does with those soldier boys, but I am worried, and I think it’s something to do with you. That Hassinger will try to get you to do something that would be dangerous for you, manipulate you in some way. I don’t trust her… She is like that boy Drake shot, Anders. She gets off on other people’s pain, and I don’t trust anyone who is like that. I promised Ams to keep you safe and to bring you back. I have to do that. And if you still want to go back after that, I’ll help you make it happen, I promise.”
She nodded at him and got up, and when he was standing, came up to him and took his hands in hers, looking right at him, “I know what you’re trying to do, Riley. I knew you would, too, because that’s how you are. I am not running away because of all the bad stuff I see here. It’s more selfish than that. I see you and Brody and Ams, and I know you weren’t the way you are before. I can see you as a happy little kid, Riley, can picture you like that, but I never even see you smile. And Ams… It’s like all the gentleness has gone out of her, and she was the most gentle person I ever knew. And your friend, he is the saddest of all. I think he wants to die, Riley, so if you need to worry about anyone, it should be him, but you don’t even see it. That’s why I want to go back. I don’t want any of this to change me like that. I wouldn’t know what to do with it. But I will be careful with Hassinger. Let’s go find your sad friend, and get ready. Maybe we’ll get Trina back and he would want to stick around a while. I kind of like having him around,” and she smiled at him then, full on big smile, eyes crinkling in the corners.
He would miss this girl, but for now, he just hoped he could keep her safe.
They found Brody crouching behind a thicket, signaling to them to get down next to him on the ground. They did, and Brody stretched what looked like a net made entirely of leaves and grass and branches over them. He couldn’t see any of his crew from he was. Brody pointed up at the trees, and he looked really hard and still couldn’t see anything, but he knew his boys were well trained to blend in, and blend in they did. He checked the time on his screen. 17:50. Brody spotted the flier first, and whispered something that sounded random into his comm. His heart was racing now. He drew his gun, and watched Laurel do the same.
The flier sat there in the middle of the clearing, the doors facing them, but nothing was happening. Minutes went by in absolute silence. He could hear his own heartbeat, and hoped he was the only one. Finally, the door slid open, and the stairs dropped to the grass. He saw a large, light haired man step down, gun drawn and sweeping the area, moving the way Brody moved, like a soldier. He signaled to whoever was behind him and another guard or soldier or whoever they were stepped down after him. They stood at either side of the stairs, weapons buzzing loudly enough for him to hear them.
He switched his on, and whispered to Laurel to do the same. And then he saw her, Dana Hassinger, gliding down the steps in that way she had, taking her time. She seemed unarmed. She stopped a step behind the guards, looked around and walked a few steps forward, saying something quietly to the guards. He felt Brody’s breath catch, and then he saw her, the girl he hadn’t seen for three years now, looking very much the same still, only she was wearing some ridiculously long white dress that hugged her as if there was nothing to that fabric, as if it were made of skin. She was walked down by a giant of a man. He had his hand on her shoulder and a gun pointing at her temple, he guessed so they could all see it. Brody didn’t move, but he could hear his breathing change.
“Ellis, or maybe I should call you Brody, whichever you prefer, show yourself.”
He put his hand on Brody’s back, trying to hold him down, but he was up in one quick move and out in the open, his gun pointing at Hassinger’s head. She didn’t seem concerned.
“Send Trina over, Dana. When she is safely out of the clearing, I’ll let the replenisher go. Not until then.” He said it the way he talked to his crew, an order, not a request.
“You must think so little of me, soldier boy. This is an exchange, not an execution, certainly not mine. The replenisher can take one step towards me for every step Trina takes away, with my guard following. You can follow the replenisher.”
And before he had any time to react, Laurel was up and in the clearing, standing by Brody. He shook his head at her, and then pushed her behind him, taking a step towards Hassinger. The guard shoved Trina a step forward. They kept at it until Brody was only a few steps away from Trina, and he couldn’t imagine the control it took for him to not run up to her and wrap his arms around her.
“This is as far as the guard goes, Dana. Let her go. There are four of you and one of me.”
“Drop your weapon.”
He did, and that sick feeling he had in him earlier came back.
Laurel stepped in front of Brody, her own gun trained on Hassinger, “Please just let her go. I will come once I know she and Brody are safe from your guards,” and she took one step towards the flier. Hassinger nodded to the guard who had Trina, and he lowered his gun and pushed her forward. And suddenly the rest of Brody’s crew were on the ground, as if they dropped from the trees they were hiding in, not making any noise. They surrounded Trina, making a safe passage for her into the woods, two of the boys finally dropping her next to him. Brody and Laurel were still out in the clearing, two of the guards pointing their weapons at them, looking very surprised, as the rest of Brody’s boys stood there with their guns trained on Hassinger and the guards.
“You son of a bitch, you told your crew. You idiot child. They will execute you for this.” She looked at his crew then and addressed them, as if Brody weren’t there, “This girl is a replenisher. She belongs to me, to the Alliance. This imbecile stole her from us, and it is your sworn duty to get her back to me, safely. Not one of you will be spared if I don’t have her on this flier.”
Not one of the boys moved.
“Have it your way then,” she hissed, and then took out her screen and punched something into it, a small smile curling her lips. Suddenly the boys, Brody’s crew, had their weapons trained on Brody. He didn’t know how it was possible for her to do that with a touch of a button, but the soldiers were definitely under her control now.
He watched Laurel, who no longer had the gun on her, walk right up to Hassinger. Nothing he could do about it, nothing any of them could do about it. Laurel turned around just once, and smiled at Brody, and then she was whispering something to Hassinger, only she didn’t seem to like what she was hearing, her face flushed, and then she grabbed Laurel by her arm and turned her around, so she was standing with her back to him. He saw her take out the white handled thing from behind her back, heard the buzzing of the metal, and he was running then, running to where Laurel was, screaming, not caring that some of Brody’s boys turned their guns on him, waiting for Hassinger to tell them to shoot, only she didn’t for some reason.