Jude sighs. “I love you, too.”
“You didn’t warn us that you would come accompanied,” Stellan says, gesturing to me with the barrel of his gun.
“Oh, him? He’s a ghost. Or soon to be,” Jude says. “I just needed him to fly the aircraft. As soon as Perri manages to hack into the AI, I’ll kill him myself. He’s too weak to cause trouble.”
I do my best to convey my hatred in my eyes as I glare at the both of them.
“Wait until you’re back in the wastelands before doing it,” says Stellan. “Don’t let Perri know about it. You know how he is.”
“I know.”
Stellan lowers his gun. “Move him inside. I have people coming in the morning to pick up their rover.”
Jude nods. “I’ll need your help. He’s a dead weight.”
Both men carry me inside, and I never wished for my electricity more. I just want to burn their entrails.
Stellan grimaces as they drop me on an old couch. “He smells like death,” he says, eyeing my bloody clothes and the crusty wounds on my chest.
I can’t say he’s wrong. I’m a corpse hanging onto life.
“Jude!” comes a voice from the other room.
It’s the one who answered the radio signal.
A young man appears and throws himself into Jude’s arms. He has long brown hair tied in a messy braid. Perri is small, even compared to Jude’s thin frame. Just like Stellan, he looks to be in his twenties. He has on a long pink shirt and shorts.
“Hey, sweetheart,” says Jude with a bright smile.
I blink. There is no hidden shadow lurking in that smile. None of the usual cruelty that I’ve been used to for the past two days.
“You dickhead,” retorts Perri, holding the other man in a tight embrace. “I was worried sick.”
Stellan watches them with a strange look. Worry, perhaps.
“I’m sorry,” Jude says. “I had to leave fast. I couldn’t say goodbye.” He kisses the top of his head.
Perri tightens his embrace even more. “I forgive you.”
Stellan smiles at last, watching them with something akin to fondness etched on his face.
Envy burns its way through my entire being. Those three share something deep, something I always craved. I thought I had it with Helios years ago, before he ran away from me. I close my eyes.
“Who is that? And why is he tied up?” asks Perri after a moment.
He’s watching me, something like shock and pity on his pretty face. It’s much worse than Jude’s hatred or Stellan’s disinterest.
“No one of importance,” says Jude, pulling him back to him. “Don’t mind him. He’s my prisoner.”
Perri’s eyes widen. “Your prisoner? Why?”
Stellan walks to him and runs his fingers through his hair affectionately. “Go back to bed, love. You can rest for a few more hours before sunrise.”
But Perri shakes his head. “I want to catch up with Jude.”
“Then let’s go eat breakfast.”
And the three of them disappear into another room.
