Dash grins, and Felix huffs.
“I’ve missed you like crazy.” Dash beams. My heart is bursting.
Felix lets a tiny grin out. It’s so innocent, I can’t take it.
“I missed you too.” His eyes finally peel off of my fiancé and slide my way, cheeks flushing a bit. “Hi, Kellan Kemper. Nice to… see you again.” His lashes flutter. “You look great. You both do.”
I purse down my smile while Dash chuckles.
“You look…” Dash’s voice trails, and he blinks. “Like you should be on a fan boat whileFortunate Sonplays in the background.” Felix laughs. “Seriously… Is Charlie all around us??”
“In a way, yea.” The amusement falls away, from all of us. “Seriously, though…” Felix’s face flings about. “We should move. The woods have more cover.”
“Felix, what is going on here?” I ask, my mind plagued with a million questions that need answers.
“Can you get us to Joy?” Dash asks. “To the prison?”
He nods. “Of course.”
“We haven’t been able to get ahold of—”
“I promise, I’ll tell you everything.” He motions for us to follow him. “It’s not smart to be out in the open like this. I have a spot… Come on.”
Dash and I share a look, sparing one last glance around the coast that seems clear, though we’re not naïve enough to believe it. And then we scurry in between the trees, following the serial killer turned guerrilla soldier.
“We’ll help you get Lem back,” Dash says to him, in firm sincerity.
Felix’s eyes sparkle, a small grin sloping his mouth.
He nods. “First thing’s first. Let’s go to prison.”
Not that I knew what to expect coming back to this island—I had an inkling that the tensions between The Ivory and our side had finally reached boiling point—but I have to say, this is mayhem that has far-exceeded all of my expectations.
During our trek, Felix tells us everything he knows, and it’s pretty upsetting. We’ve seemingly stepped into a dystopian nightmare. Between the state of the prison, snipers keeping watch, the constant gunfire, cartel soldiers everywhere, and The Carver lurking in the woods with a Bowie knife, I think it’s very unsafe to say that we haven’t the slightest clue what we’re doing.
Luckily for us, though,Team Velledoes.
We make it to the old armory with no issue—it’s always been our rendezvous point should anything go wrong, so I’m not surprised they’re using it now—aside from having to take cover at every snap of a twig.
We have no qualms following Felix’s lead. He’s been out in these woods for weeks. At this point, he knows them better than any of us, despite my having lived on this island for overa decade. I wasn’t exactly hanging out in the forest, although I would stray from my usual jogging path along the coast from time to time and cut through, just to check out the old armory, or marvel at the foreboding structure formerly known as the guard tower.
Us guards had a lot of thoughts about the tower over the years. Mainly, how much of a waste it was that no one ever manned it, and how if wehadbeen asked to man it, we wouldn’t have wanted to, because it was clearly becoming less and less structurally sound over time. It’s one of those things that you sort of push out of your mind as something above your pay grade, but is admittedly a ticking time bomb you know you’ll have to deal with one day.
Would you look at that… We were right.
Some part of me always assumed Velle would just up and disappear one day. Clearly, I didn’t give him enough credit, nor did I know him as well as I thought I did.
We never really got along, but I tolerated him because I love Joy, and we worked together, and… well, that was it. Velle and I just sort of existed around one another, but we did that for ten years. And based on all that time, I’d thought I had him pegged.
I guess I didn’t…But Joy did.
Ha!
No, but seriously.The guy isn’t what we all made him out to be. The gruff and menacing exterior is just that, but underneath the tattoos and piercings and the facade of a cocky asshole who doesn’t give a fuck, is a true leader with a heart of gold.
Who knew.
Seeing the Pen in the state it’s in certainly helped cement this new reality we’ve stepped into. Dash and I are quick to adapt to change as it is, especially in high-stress situations. It’s something you learn in the Academy.
