We stare at each other for a moment, her light blue eyes flitting back and forth between my dark and angry brown ones. When she finds whatever it is she’s looking for in my expression, she drops her hand from my mouth.
“I need you to fill in the blanks for me, Remi, because right now there are so many that I feel like I’m going to lose my mind. I mean, we almostkilledpeople because of this fucking hoax…” I trail off, unable to voice how that would have broken all of us beyond repair. We’ve all been fighting tooth and nail just to get where we are today, and this fucking joke…this fake mission made me feel alive. I felt like I could get back to who I was. Anguish and relief wars inside of me, and I have no idea what to do with any of it. To think of all the shit we went through these past weeks...
Remi’s face fills with empathy as she takes in the hurt that must be written on my face. “This town was founded a long time ago by people who didn’t trust the government and were convinced that they needed to prepare and plan for the end of civilization as we know it. Every year, they do something like this. Pretend there’s some catastrophic event, and then they work to survive it.”
“So everyone in this town is part of this group?” Theo asks, and Remi nods. “So my uncle…” Theo trails off.
“Yeah, I thought you guys knew. I figured your uncle would have told you about this place, or even your parents would have clued you into what he was involved in.” Theo shakes his head at Remi’s words, and Brant bends down to pet Puddles, who’s leaning heavily against his leg.
“So this is why you didn’t want to come back?” Brant asks.
Remi blows out a breath. “Yep. I was raised here, and while I love the people in this town, it was driving me insane. I needed to get away from all the doomsday and prep talk. I just don’t believe what they believe.”
“What is it that you don’t believe, Trouble?” a gravelly voice sounds behind us, and I turn to see Sheriff April and Zeke walk out of the door from the gym. He opens his arms wide—obviously expecting for Remi to step into them—and if this had been a week ago, she probably would have wrapped him up in a huge hug, but right now, she’s glaring at him. Sheriff April seems confused by her hostility, and he lowers his hands in sad defeat.
“Dad, how could you do this to them?” she asks in an accusing tone, her arms motioning toward us. “It’s one thing for you guys to play pretend and go to the elaborate lengths you do to play your weird doomsday games, but it isbeyondmessed up to pull people in who don’t know that it’s not real!”
Sheriff April immediately looks confused and turns to Zeke, like somehow he’s going to have the answer. When Zeke looks just as baffled, Sheriff turns back to Remi. “What are you talking about?”
Remi stares at her dad for a beat, and then it’s like all of the anger drains out of her and is replaced with mirth. She covers her mouth with both her hands before completely losing it. We all stare at her as she breaks into hysterical peals of laughter. She bends over and holds onto her side as tears start to drip down her face and guffaws pour out of her throat. If I wasn’t so pissed and feeling so lost, I’d probably crack up just from the sight of her, but my anger is too fresh and prominent.
I look to Brant and Theo, whose eyes are jumping from Remi to mine, clearly just as confused as I am about everything that’s going on. I realize that we’re all still wearing our sashes, and I rip mine away from my body in disgust. At the sound of the fabric tearing, Sheriff turns from his kid to me, and all of a sudden, realization fills his face and is quickly replaced by horror.
“You...you didn’t know this was just an exercise?” he sputters.
Zeke’s head snaps our way at Sheriff’s words, looking equally appalled by that realization.
“No,” I tell him, working to keep the rage out of my voice.
“But...how?” Zeke insists. “We’re on a watchlist. I thought everyone knew about Endstone.”
Remi wipes tears from her eyes and looks to Zeke. “Oh my God, that is not something to be proud of,” she scolds him, but the pride in Zeke’s eyes is not easily doused.
“No one fucking told us,” I snap. “We haven’t even lived here for three months yet. How were we supposed to justknow?”
“It was in the contract you signed for your uncle’s property.” Sheriff announces, his eyes fixed on Theo. “It was part of his will; Zeke drafted it for him.”
Theo’s eyes widen with shock, and he starts shaking his head. “What?” he asks, panicked.
“Your uncle left you the property, but it was under the condition that you’d be part of our militia. Your uncle was a prominent figure around here, and he wanted you to carry on that legacy.”
Brant and I turn to Theo and fix him with hard looks. “What the fuck, Theo? Don’t you think that would have been pertinent information to give usbeforewe all moved out here and unknowingly joined a doomsday militia?”
“Thedoomsday militia,” Zeke adds proudly, rolling back on his heels. Remi, who’s managed to get a hold of herself, slams her palm to her face and shakes her head at Zeke and his statement.
“I didn’t fucking read anything,” Theo shouts, his arms raised in defense as he takes a step back. Brant’s mouth drops open and his stare grows incredulous.
“What do you mean you didn’t readanything?” he barks at Theo.
He shrugs sheepishly. “It was a ton of paperwork. I just signed where the lawyer told me to. That was it.”
I take a step towards Theo, enraged. “You made us join a cult because you didn’t read the fucking paperwork?” I yell at him.
Theo blanches and Sheriff April raises his hand. “Not a cult, son. They’re into all sorts of religious things, and that’s not what Endstone is about. We believe in protection, preparation, and assembling against enemies both foreign and domestic.Thatis the Ender way.”
Remi snorts, and her dad shoots her an unamused look. “Dad, stop trying to recruit them. Besides, from the sounds of things, they’re already members,” she teases.
Theo glares at her. “We are not.”
