CHAPTER NINETEEN

“Abby?”

I awoke with a start.

Sitting up, my stomach dropped with the knowledge I’d fallen asleep on Memphis’ lap. “How long have I been out?”

A self-assured smile stretched on his lips. “A little bit. I’m sure you’re exhausted after everything.”

Exhaustion was an understatement. I could sleep for a week. But sleeping on his lap? Oh dear baby Brightonites. Not good.

“It’s no worries. Besides, Cactus could use a drink and I want to stretch.” He slid off the bench seat, beaming with even more smugness. He reached up to help me down.

I stared at his hand, gaining my bearings. He’d parked the wagon under a large oak next to a stream. Cactus was already sucking down gulps of water.

“Yeah, sure.” Reluctantly, I took it and allowed him to help me down.

Once on the ground, I stretched and rubbed my sore neck. My whole body ached. Memphis’ hands landed on my shoulder and squeezed their way up to my neck. I leaned into him when a tiny moan escaped from my lips and I stiffened, pulling away.

“Thanks.” A flush heated my face once again, betraying me, while his lip quirked up in a grin.

Yes, I appreciated his attention to my needs, but I wouldn’t complicate things by developing attachments to either of the brothers.

“If you want to eat something, there’s food in the pouch.” He pointed to a satchel hanging from the bucket seat.

A bundle of crackers wrapped nicely in a fine thin sheet of clear, stretchy filament, alongside some fruit and assorted nuts were inside.

“What’s this?” I held up the package.

“Cheese crackers.”

I rolled my eyes. “No, silly. What’s it wrapped in?”

He quirked a smile. “Plastic wrap.”

Plastic. So thin? How weird.

I shrugged, feeling dumb as I unfolded a corner. “We don’t use wasteful stuff like that in Brighton when we can help it.”

His brow lifted. “Well, you’re not in Brighton anymore.”

I frowned, glaring at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He moved closer to me, a grin tugging on his lips. “How else are we supposed to keep food fresh?”

“Glass, or even paper since it’s so plentiful in your world.” My chin lifted, challenging him. We’d become very adept at recycling in Brighton, so much so, we threw away very little of anything. “Plastic isn’t good for the environment.”

“I’ll let the ladies know not to drill for anymore oil.” He winked and stole a cracker from me.

I cocked my head to the side, angered he wasn’t taking anything I said seriously. “Not funny.”

He kept grinning in that mischievous way while he chewed, teasing me without saying a word. I wrinkled my nose.

“Oh don’t get all post-apocalyptic on me, Sugar.”

I leaned against the wagon and crossed my ankles. “I wasn’t lecturing. I’m just curious.”

“It’s cool.” He stole another cracker and dangled it in front of me.

The smell itself almost killed me and I gave into my hunger, allowing him to feed me one. Salty and tangy, the cracker’s flavor burst in my mouth, shooting pain through my taste buds. I chewed, savoring all I could, then reached for another.

“Not bad.”

“Not bad? It’s awesome. Aunt Clara makes them all the time.” He popped a few more in his mouth. “It’s one of her specialties, along with peach cobbler.”

My mouth watered on queue. “That’s my favorite.”

“Well,” he said with a wink, touching my nose. “If you’re good, I’ll make sure she makes you one of your own.”

I smirked again, feeling heat return to my cheeks. His swagger was affecting me way too easily. Distance. I needed to keep a distance from these adorable boys.

“Give me those.” I knocked his hat from his head, then stole the bag from his fingers.

“Oooh,” he said, but he didn’t fight me for any more of them. Instead, he turned to check on Cactus.

~~|~~

After I finished eating and refilled my canteen, we continued on our way, hiding once again under the hats and blanket.

“We’ve got quite a ways to go, so feel free to sleep if you want.” Memphis patted his lap.

I shook my head, containing my groan. No. I was done sleeping on boys’ laps. But the news we had farther to go made my sore butt muscles hurt even worse. My curiosity (if wherever we were going had a shower) was killing me, not to mention things down south were beginning to itch. My inner city girl wished for Elle’s Refulgence to drive us there.

“So, wherever your family camp is, you have to have some areas where you’re exposed to the satellites, right? Like fields where you grow crops.”

“We have a system…” He suddenly stopped smiling like I’d insulted his dead grandma.

“And?”

He looked down at me from the corner of his eye. “You’re on probation. That’s classified information.”

I elbowed him in the side. “How am I supposed to lead if I don’t know how the colony works?”

“Maybe you do. Maybe you don’t.”

I pursed my lips. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He twisted so he could look at me full on. “You may not lead in this lifetime.”

“According to Kaden, I will,” I said, determined.

“Abby. Your Complement’s present is not our future.”

“Sure it is.”

“No, it’s not, and I’ll prove it to you.” His eyes squinted for a moment while he pursed his lips. “How do you think future-you discovers time travel?”

“In a Brighton laboratory, where else?”

“And what if you don’t return to Brighton to do that? Then what?”

The words hung in the air, thick in the sun’s heat.

Time travel wouldn’t exist in the future or now. That was unless I made a decision to give the secrets to the EA. Otherwise it may never be discovered. I looked down at my naked wrist suddenly aware of how huge my decisions were to that discovery. Without it, it could jeopardize her… me… us. She’d prevented me from returning to the EA. Was that because if I would have returned, eventually I’d discover time travel for Brighton? My head hurt thinking about it.

Then my mouth dropped open. The abduction didn’t just rescue me, it altered everything. It wasn’t about being bait, or showing the EA I was the Oracle. It was about destroying time travel. And if everything was okay, future-me shouldn’t show anymore. She was like my new DOD watch. Life with the rebels wasn’t an option. It was my destiny.

Holy dead walkers.

Memphis leaned toward me. “You’re thinking too deeply about this.”

“Huh?” I focused on his smile, terrified. My throat began to tighten. My lids filled with tears. I’d never see Elle or my parents again.

Memphis rocked my shoulder. “Abby?”

“What?” I scooted away from him, igniting the skin along my inner thighs. I lightly scratched, careful to appear like I was only readjusting the jeans sticking to my legs. As if it wasn’t enough that my life as I knew it had literally ended, now my privates were on fire, too. Seriously?

“It’ll be okay,” he offered.

I blinked at him, jerked back to reality. “Of course it’ll be okay. Why would you say that?”

“’Cause you’re kind of freaking out.”

“Am not.” My lips felt leathery, my throat chapped. A tear slithered down my cheek. I wanted to yell at him, hit him, but the desire to itch the heck out of my inner thighs robbed me of my sanity. I pulled the blanket up higher, hiding where I scratched.

“Okay.” Memphis pushed out a deep breath, oblivious, as we rode in silence.

It wasn’t about whether or not a life here would be far better than in Brighton: it was about time travel. But could I live here? Without the walls, without the safeguards, without my watch?

“I wonder how I ever managed to be in charge,” I said. “Your dad seems pretty established as the head honcho.” I chuckled to soften my observation.

“He’s only in charge of daily operations, safety stuff. The Elders run the colony.”

I squirmed again, wanting to rip off my jeans and scratch everything down with a wire brush. “Then I guess I don’t run the colony.”

Memphis’ features darkened. “Who knows? After this stunt, I doubt even Kaden will get a chance to lead security like originally agreed.”

I frowned. Why would Kaden no longer be allowed to head up security? He seemed so much more adept at this leading thing than I could ever be. I wanted to ask, but let out a strangled gasp instead, unable to control myself.

“Are you okay?” Memphis asked.

“I need to pee again,” I lied as my butt cheeks danced on the bench.

He slowed Cactus, but I jumped off before Memphis could help me down, keeping my limbs springy to cushion my fall. Fire danced up my inner thighs with the impact, but I didn’t care. With my pack in hand, I tried to keep a smile, and darted bowlegged over to the furthest bush. Memphis yelled something about blowing our cover, but I didn’t care. The itching had to stop.

“I’ll be quick!” I yelled, before unzipping my pants and ripping them off. My inner thighs were screaming obscenities in the tune of tiny swollen blisters. What the heck?

I brushed my fingers over the puffy skin, wincing at the conflicting need to scratch and be careful at the same time, as pain and relief flooded me. Bottles with faded labels, crossed out and rewritten over in pen, were piled at the bottom of my pack: White willow bark, ginger, peppermint, licorice root, and coconut oil.

Oh, great wall of Brighton.

I kept searching, hoping for anti-itch cream, for something useful, finding nothing. With a moan, I opened each bottle instead. Twigs and dried leaves fell out of most of them. In a frantic mad rush, I accidentally opened the coconut oil too quickly and spilled it everywhere. I rescued what I could and put the oil on my inner thigh. With a sigh, I rubbed it in. Reprieve.

“Abby?” Memphis called. His voice was closer. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” I took a quick look over my shoulder. He remained close to the wagon, which was good, but I knew he wouldn’t for long if I didn’t hurry up.

I gave my jeans the evil eye. There was something wrong with them, some chemical laced inside, something that was tearing my skin to shreds. Had Lana done this on purpose? I couldn’t possibly put them back on. Not to mention the waistband had been cutting off my circulation.

“Um, Memphis?” I stood up, holding my pack to cover my underwear. “I need you to look away.”

His eyes bugged as he scanned my bare legs, then turned his head away. “Abby?”

“Please. I… I’ve had an accident and I need the blanket to cover up with.” Riding into camp with a blanket around my waist wouldn’t look good. Maybe we could stop by an abandoned clothing store on our way. Or I could wear the jeans just for the blindfolded ride into camp. Oh, dear God, no.

“What kind of accident…?” he moved forward, keeping his eyes low. Then he glanced upward and his cheeks matched the color of my inner thighs.

“Oh, no… it’s not that.” I shook my head. Good lord. I didn’t want to talk about my period, of all things. “Something is wrong with my jeans. I have this rash…”

He quirked his head. “Rash?”

“Yeah,” I said. “They must be chafing me.”

He took a few steps forward. “Let me see.”

I took one step backward. “No,” I cried, frantic.

“Abby, this isn’t funny,” he said, “just let me see.”

“No!”

He continued walking, and I continued moving backward, horrified.

“Don’t come any closer.”

“Or you’ll what?” He stopped, towering over me.

“Scream?” I cringed at the tone in my voice. I didn’t want to sound so unsure of myself, but he couldn’t see me in my underwear.

“Screaming will just attract animals,” he said, his brows pushed downward. “Where’s the rash?”

I gulped and pinched my eyes shut. “On my inner thighs.”

“Does it itch?”

“Yes.” My voice quivered. The need to scratch was building to epic levels again. “Tremendously.”

I opened my eyes in time to see his shoulders slump. He scanned the ground, walking in a tight circle. Not more herbs. “I need cream, disinfectant, a shower. Something!” I wanted to yell, but remained quiet while he searched.

He stopped before the pretty leaves tinged in red. “Did you happen to brush up against anything that looked like this?”

“Yeah. Why?”

With a sigh, he took off his straw hat and wiped his brow. “You sat in poison oak, Abby.”

“I what?”

“It’s a terrible nasty plant that gives you red welts and itches like crazy.”

I stared at him. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Well, without looking, it’s the only thing that makes sense since the rash appeared after you peed in the bushes.” He held out his arm, motioning for me to move forward. “I promise not to look. We need to rinse off the poison. Now.”

I walked behind him and kept my legs bowed so they didn’t touch. The stupid tears trickled down my cheeks without permission. Once at the wagon, he wrapped me in the blanket, pretending not to notice my mild breakdown.

I’d been kidnapped, injured, lied to, lost my family, lost my best friend, unwelcomed, in borrowed clothing that didn’t fit, no DOD, and now rashy from a poisonous plant. This day couldn’t have been any worse.

Date: 2015-02-03; view: 655