She ground her teeth.
After several moments of silence, she tugged again on the rope. “Please, stop. We’ve been traveling since midday, and you poisoned me. You ripped me away from my friends, from Christian. I’m exhausted.”
Colton glanced at her over his shoulder then groaned. “Fine. But try to run, and I will shoot you. And believe me when I tell you that I’m as good as Christian.”
Gemma rolled her eyes as Colton tossed his backsack on the ground. He created a fire ring using rocks and an infernoblock, exactly as Christian had done.
Figures he pretended not to know what he was doing until now.
Given Rami’s belief that Colton was a highly trained operative, he probably had more survival skills than any of them. The hidden outpost proved the Dissent didn’t stick to the confines of Perileos. It made sense why he knew how to take out that slinger—and how he could make bombs.
They’d been so blind.
Gemma seethed, but no matter what he said, she would not grant him the satisfaction of earning her attention or rage.
The world around them was silent, Gemma’s own breaths as loud as a sandstorm’s roar. She could feel Colton’s eyes on her, but she refused to meet his gaze. Instead, she focused on the taste of the minerals in the air, the sound of shifting sand, the scent of the sulfur in the flames.
“Glad you didn’t fall the day I knocked you off the bridge,” Colton broke the quiet. “Reymond would’ve killed me.”
Gemma continued to ignore him.
Colton smirked. “You can hate me all you want, Gemma, but wedowant the same thing. I just have the guts to do whatever it takes.”
She snapped her head toward him. “You mean like murdering innocent people?”
Blast. So much for not speaking to him again.
“There are always casualties in war.” He shrugged. “But if you think about it, the Systems are murdering us too. They just take their time doing it.”
Gemma shook her head. If that’s how the Dissent justified bombing citizens and making people disappear, it was no wonder they’d earned themselves the distinction of being a terrorist organization.
It would be different if the Systems sent in armies to attack Perileos, but they hadn’t. Killing Rami would’ve been terminating the life of one person; it would’ve been making a statement. Murdering hundreds of people was a completely different scenario, even if theywereemployed by the Systems. Not every civilian was evil.
Did she want to see her planet recognized as legitimate and her people freed from poverty? Absolutely. But would she sacrifice those same people to justify the cause? No way.
“Tell me, Gemma,” Colton continued, “why’d you sign up with the Dissent?”
She glared at him. “You know why.”
“Nah, it couldn’t purely be because of your vengeance. You wanted to make a difference, right?” When she didn’t answer, he continued. “Your way—the ‘no casualties ever’ way—offers the least results in the longest amount of time. But ours? By this time next week, we’ll have control of Zion, and the Systems will be forced to work with us if they want peace. I call that a win.”
Gemma ground her teeth. How could he care so little for his own people that he was willing to murder them?
She’d agreed to help Rami to keep herself alive—and to get revenge on Reymond for using her. But this wasn’t predominantly about that anymore. There were much bigger stakes now, and she needed to do her part, no matter how small, to make sure her people didn’t die as a result of the Dissent’s crazed desires.
If they started an actual war with the Systems, it would be Perileos’ people who paid. There were other ways—better ways—of making the government see Reva as a legitimate planet than sacrificing innocents.
Her pulse raced when Colton stood and switched out his pistol for the very knife he’d held to her throat. Gemma shuffled away from him as he approached.
Colton smirked. “I’m not going to hurt you.” He sliced through the ropes that bound her wrists, freeing them.
The breeze that met her raw skin was like claws, but at least the wounds on her wrists would have a chance to scab over. If they didn’t get infected first.
“Set up the shelter.” Colton waved to his backsack with the blade. Without a word, Gemma obeyed.
When she was finished, she reached into her backsack to grab her own.
“Nope. We’re sharing tonight.”
