Merritts of Writing 3

Chapter 14

Carter

When I was a teenager I never thought about the future. My life was carefree and unencumbered with worries of any kind. The world was laid out at my feet. I was all about the here and now. Enjoy whatever I could while the getting was good.

Now, the future was all I thought about. Mine didn’t look promising.

IN THE TRUCK WITH THE OTHERS

The vibrations of the wheels rotating beneath my butt alerted me to how fast the vehicle was moving. I had a moment of panic, fearing that the rubber tires wouldn’t hold together due to the speed. As for the transmission? I wasn’t all that confident that we wouldn’t careen off the road and crash if the fyre eggs fuelling the engine suddenly died.

I could only hope that wherever Stevron was taking us, it wouldn’t be far. I detected the scent of rubber burning. I wondered if the engine was burning oil too. I wasn’t encouraged.

The light inside the back of the truck was fairly bright. Verena had taken a fresh fyre egg out of a strong box and put it in our lantern as soon as the truck had started moving.

The girl Dirk had taken from Stevron was staring at me. Her dark eyes, wide and searching, watched my every move. The tiniest swirls, of what looked like pinpoints of silvery light, in her irises caught my attention. My gut churned with apprehension. Ah shit, what had we just gotten ourselves into?

The girl crawled out of Dirk’s arms and curled up against my side. I noticed she was surprisingly warm despite the fact that she was wearing only a short sleeved shirt and lightweight pants. Her clothes, like mine, were blood splattered.

I looked down at her and she slipped her fingers beneath mine. A current of energy past between us, similar to, but not quite the same intensity as when I came into contact with Em.

I took a deep breath and gently gripped the girl’s hand. She didn’t speak. None of us did.

I looked to Em. She hadn’t returned to her perch on top of my equipment after squirming out from under me. The sharp elbow jab to my midsection had told me more than seeing her lips moving, exactly how my touch repulsed her.

I tried to force the pain of her rejection out of my mind. Tried to tell myself that I’d always known this would eventually happen. It didn’t work. Even though I deserved every ounce of her fury and hatred, it was still hard to take. Nothing had changed for me. My vow to protect her would never have me faltering and I well…I still loved her.

When the truck suddenly lurched sideways, tossing us around like rag dolls, I was glad my hand was holding the kid’s. My grip prevented her from whacking her head against the strong boxes as they shifted dangerously from their stacked positions.

The fyre egg lantern teetered. Verena’s hand reached out to snatch it before it toppled to the metal floor. She missed. The egg cracked, but did not split open, inside the lantern’s protective casing so the quick flash of light wasn’t as bright as the eggs I had broken in the cavern. Still I winced as much as everyone else did, except for Em.

The truck straightened out and I sighed with relief when I saw that Em wasn’t hurt. I watched as she reached out blindly for her brother. My eyes went immediately to Jam. He didn’t look so good. His face was chalky white and covered in a layer of sweat. His tightly wrapped torso had sprouted several red spots.

The truck lurched again. This time it fishtailed along the highway. I instinctively wrapped my right arm around the child. I could feel her hand clutching at my jacket. My other hand held fast to hers. I felt something hard and sharp jab into my shoulder. I winced again as a blinding light flashed. Then there was only darkness.