“Then just leave me behind,” I shouted at him, at all of them. I walked over to Teresa and took back my cat, then dragged my sleeping bag with me away from the fire. I lay down with my back to them so I didn’t have to listen to their stupid conversation. I heard Cipher tell Artemis to “add it to the list,” which was probably an inventory of all my weaknesses. At least I had Little Miss Purrfect, who didn’t care that I wasn’t some tough-as-nails survivalist.
I couldn’t wait to find my brother and leave these assholes behind.
SEVEN
CIPHER
“You could have handled that better,”Artemis said as we were packing it in for the night. I was on first watch; she was on second. Kitten was pretending to be asleep, and for once, I wasn’t worried that he would overhear us talking.
“The little fucker lied to me,” I reminded her.
“You embarrassed him, Cipher. How would you like it if someone detailed your own disabilities in front of everyone else? People you’d just met?”
“I can’t exactly hide mine. And neither can you or Gizmo, so excuse me if I was a little pissed that he potentially put us all in danger by withholding important information.”
“You withhold information all the time,” she said.
“My personal life, yes, painful things about my past, sure, but not my capabilities. Or lack thereof.”
“You’re worried about him,” she said.
“I worry about all of you, including the asthmatic, hard-of-hearing, stubborn-as-hell pipsqueak who hasn’t left his gated community since he was ten years old.”
“Look, all I’m saying is you could be a little bit nicer to him.”
“I’m not the nice one, remember?”
“And you should apologize.”
“I’m not apologizing for shit. He owesmean apology.”
“Have it your way, but I think if you like him—”
“Who said I like him?”
She pursed her lips and gave me that all-knowing look of hers. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you laugh like you did today at the waterfall.”
“I wasn’t laughing, I was gasping for air. The little fucker took advantage of me.”
She shook her head and groaned with frustration. “You are exhausting. Apologize to Kitten. You could use the practice. I’m going to bed.”
“I’ll send Macon along after,” I told her, and she shot me a warning look. I held up both hands, not wanting to be on her bad side too.
I walked a little ways away from the fire to where Macon was perched on a pile of rocks. We kept a fire going throughout the night to ward off Rabids. Their eyes were sensitive to light, probably why they tended to hide in the daytime and attack after dark. We scouted this rocky outcropping earlier in the day when we’d set up camp. It had a good vantage point, and I could easily see where the others were sleeping, as well as anyone who might be approaching the clearing from the surrounding woods.
“Thank God you’re here. I’m about to pass the fuck out.” Macon stood and stretched out his arms, then handed me the night-vision goggles. The moon was out, casting a silver glow over the trees and brush, but I took them just in case. “What’d I miss?” he asked.
“Kitten’s got asthma and he can only hear in one ear, his left one, so we need to watch his three o’clock and find him a fucking inhaler.”
“Word. Nothing to report out here. Just me and the owls above making sweet, sweet love.”
“Good. Let’s hope it’s a quiet night.”
He left and I made myself comfortable on the rocks, machete in my lap, positioned so I could easily pivot and see in all directions. I heard the owls hooting back and forth as I pulled out one of my cigarettes and lit it with a silver Zippo. One of my finest acquisitions, I’d bartered a bootleg porn DVD for this lighter back in D.C. The kid who traded it to me is dead now, burned alive in the fire that was supposed to have been caused by faulty wiring, which still doesn’t explain why the fire alarms didn’t trip and all the stairwells were locked.
There was a rustling of leaves to my right, and I said to him, “I know you’re there, Kitten.”
I’d seen him get up a few minutes ago and watched his back while he pissed on a tree. I then tracked his movements from our campfire to my crow’s nest. Even if I hadn’t seen him approaching, he made a shit-ton of noise when he moved around.
