Chapter 27
“We’re all scared out of our minds. There’s no help coming. The monsters we created have taken over. Now it’s only a matter of time.” – Excerpt from the journal of Island One leader Sybil Macleod
Briar
“Wake up, Briar.”
Nova’s voice launches me out of a deep sleep. Amira and I are sleeping on the floor of an empty office because there aren’t enough cots for all of us in the Sub.
I scramble to my feet, running my hands over my wild hair in an effort to tame it.
Nova steps into the room and closes the door behind her, her expression grim.
“Theron’s gone,” she says.
My stomach drops to the floor. “Gone?”
“The cell door was ripped out of the rock. We shouldn’t have left the Tiders alone in camp last night.”
“Shit.” I scrub a hand down my face, still groggy. “So he’s gone, but the rest of them are still here?”
“Seems like it. Stella and Breck are doing a count.”
“What should we do?”
“Tighten security. Take away their spears. See if Pax knows anything.”
This is my fault. Theron is a beast of a man, and I should have been more cautious.
Now that he’s on the loose, he could pick off our people one at a time while hiding in the jungle.
Or join the other Rising Tide exiles and attack.
Set our camp on fire. Steal our remaining supplies, which we can’t afford to lose.
“Action and reaction, Briar,” Nova says. “Guilt isn’t a reaction. Get yourself together and let’s deal with this.”
I nod, running my hands through my hair and gathering the thick waves into a bun at the nape of my neck.
“What can I do?” Amira asks.
“Go to the tower with your bow,” I say. “Be ready to take out any threats. If Theron or the exiles come into our camp, shoot to kill.”
“Got it.”
Nova radios all the command team members to get strapped and meet outside the Sub. My anger grows with every step I take toward the weapons room.
If anyone from our camp gets hurt, that’s on me, and the chances of it happening are a lot higher now. I led with my heart, and it’s not just myself I’ve put at risk.
I already have a gun in my shoulder holster and a small knife strapped to my ankle. I put on a waist holster and add a second gun and a hunting knife to it.
Niran, loading a gun nearby, gives me a cautious look.
“You good?” he asks.
“Fantastic,” I bite back, grabbing a stun stick.
I storm up the Sub’s ramp, the guards at the door opening it for me. The bright morning sunlight is blinding, so I shield my eyes with a hand.
Several command team members are already here, and so is Pax. I glare at him.
“You know anything about this?”
He puts his palms up. “Would I be here if I did?”
I narrow my eyes. “Don’t answer my questions with questions. Do you know anything about Theron breaking out?”
“No.” His eyes stay locked on mine as he says it. “I wouldn’t put my people at risk by doing something so stupid.”
Nova and Niran walk out at the same time, Nova’s jaw set and her eyes blazing.
“We’ve got all the Tiders in the Hub but the ones out on fishing boats,” she says. “Wyatt, Niran, Chance, coordinate searches of their quarters. Get all their spears into the Sub.”
Vadim, our usually jovial head chef, is approaching us, his expression stern.
“Food was stolen from the kitchen last night,” he says.
I’m such a fool. The Tiders protected Georgie and I immediately let my guard down. They played me and I couldn’t have made it any easier.
“How much?” I ask.
“About ten pounds of dried beef and a dozen eggs.”
Pax groans softly. “Shit.”
I want to go after that Viking bastard. We’ve been feeding him even though he can’t work. Nothing but firing several bullets into him will tame the fury burning in my chest right now.
Why take so little when he could have taken it all, though? It doesn’t add up.
“Adele, take two people from team two and go guard the kitchen,” Nova says. “Briar, put out a shelter order. I want every Dust Walker who isn’t on one of the command teams in the Sub, and I want both security teams guarding it.”
I nod and grab my radio, grateful to Nova for taking charge. As soon as I’ve issued the order, Pax approaches me, his expression sheepish.
“I swear I didn’t know anything about this,” he says.
I think he’s telling the truth, but my judgment got us into this situation.
“You’re with me today,” I say. “I’m not taking my eyes off you.”
“That’s fine.”
I wish I could take a break from the stress and worry of this place. Just an hour alone with Marcus at the pool. It’s seven a.m. and I’m already sweating through my clothes, just from standing still.
Ten pounds of dried beef is a lot. Meat and eggs are scarce right now. We’ve already cut rations down to less than half of what we were eating before. We’re going through shelf-stable food faster than we should be, hoping we can make up for it with produce when our garden returns.
It’s going to be tight; even tighter with what Theron stole.
“I can help search quarters,” I offer to Nova. “If you’ll keep an eye on Pax for me.”
She shakes her head. “I need you here. The Tiders don’t have anything, so searching the quarters will go quickly.”
Once our people are inside the Sub and it’s locked down, camp is eerily quiet. Adele and Breck are holding all the Tiders, other than Pax, in the Hub.
Pax is sitting on the ground in a patch of shade, his back to the wall of the Sub. Nova and I are standing back to back, both of us keeping watch over the camp for any movement.
Niran approaches from the direction of the housing block he was searching, a burlap bag in one hand.
“Found the dried beef,” he announces.
“Where?” I ask.
“Under a cot in one of the rooms.”
My mind races through possibilities. If Theron’s working with other Tiders, he may have asked them to siphon supplies to him slowly, thinking we wouldn’t notice.
“Whose room?” Pax stands up.
“Fuck if I know,” Niran says. “I don’t have the records.”
Adele made a written log of which Tiders were assigned to which rooms when they got here.
“You know the room number, though?” I ask.
He nods.
“Watch Pax,” I tell Nova.
Niran and I walk to the Hub, where we find Adele and Breck guarding the door from the inside, both with guns in hand. When Niran tells Adele he needs to match a room number with its occupants, she takes a small notebook from her pocket and gives it to him.
The Tiders are staring at us, some of them scowling.
“No talking!” Stella yells at someone. “Just sit quietly.”
“Got it,” Niran says, writing something on a piece of paper in the notebook and then ripping it out.
He passes me the paper.
“Dion Marquez and Grady Powell,” I call out. “We have something to discuss with the two of you.”
No one moves. I call out the names again and get no reaction.
“Anyone want to point them out to me?” I ask.
Still nothing.
“We’ll do it the hard way, then.” I move behind a seated Tider and aim my gun at his head. “For every ten seconds that no one gives those guys up, one of you dies. Three. Two—”
“I’ll tell you!” The man I’m about to shoot puts his hands in the air. “They’re at that table.” He points. “The guy with the red beard and the bald guy next to him.”
The redheaded one narrows his eyes almost imperceptibly. I back up, keeping my gun leveled.
“Dion, Grady, you have fifteen seconds to move your asses outside, or I’ll shoot,” I say.
They both get up from the table and start walking.
“Hands in the air!” I yell, keeping my weapon on them.
Niran has a gun pointed at them, too. He keeps a safe distance from both men as we walk back to the Sub entrance.
Pax shakes his head when he sees us coming.
“What the fuck did you guys do?” he demands.
Neither one of them responds. Pax advances on them, shoving the bald one. “Answer me! What did you do?”
The man stumbles back, nearly falling. He scowls and bites out, “We were hungry.”
“Everyone’s fucking hungry!” Pax rages. “You fucked all of us! You selfish fucks.”
He turns away, hands on his hips, and I think he’s going to retreat when he instead turns back and throws a punch, hitting the bald man square in the face. His nose breaks with a crunching sound.
Then he goes to the other man, who tucks his chin to his chest and cowers.
“Take it like a man,” Pax grumbles, hitting him in the stomach instead.
This could all be for show. I’m not taking any chances.
“Get on your knees,” I order. “All three of you.”
The redheaded guy is already on his knees, still trying to suck in air after the blow to his gut. The others drop down, Pax glaring murderously at the two thieves.
“Where’s Theron?” I ask.
Pax is the only one looking at me. The other two are staring at the ground.
“I’d tell you if I knew,” Pax says.
“Red Beard, where’s Theron?” I demand.
“How the fuck should I know?”
I shoot at the ground a few feet from him, the bullet kicking up dust and ash. He flinches.
“I don’t fucking know! We took the food from the kitchen because we were hungry last night. We cooked the eggs and ate them and hid the beef jerky in our room. That’s all I know.”
I lock my eyes onto Nova’s. She gives no indication of what she’s thinking.
“You broke a camp rule and the punishment is death,” I say. “It can be quick if you tell us where Theron is.”
“I don’t know,” the bald man says. “Look, I’m sorry. We took the food, but that’s it.”
I glance at Nova. “Do you believe them?”
Her slight nod confirms what my gut is telling me. It’s not the outcome I wanted.
Marcus wouldn’t hesitate. Neither would my dad. Even though this decision isn’t really a decision, I know it will cost me something. I brought these men here, though. I told them the rules—and the consequences for breaking them.
“Dion. Grady,” I say flatly. “You disrespected the people in this camp when you stole food. You know the punishment.”
“Briar.”
I look at Pax, whose gaze is steady and knowing.
“They’re my people. I’ll do it.”
“I’m not giving you a gun, Pax.”
He shrugs. “I don’t need one.”
Dion is crying softly. I hate being in this position, but I put myself here. I could have followed Nova’s decision not to let the Tiders in.
I pushed for this, though, and the reality of leadership is setting in. It’s heavy.
Both men have their heads bowed. I fire a bullet into Dion’s head first, and then Grady’s.
Their bodies drop to the ground. It’s the first time I’ve killed someone who wasn’t trying to hurt or kill me. The difference is massive.
Pax is still on his knees. I motion for him to stand and he does. Niran’s eyes are wide with disbelief. Nova nods and takes out her radio.
“I’ll bury them,” I say, knowing she’s about to call people to do it.
“You sure?”
I nod. “Pax and I will do it.”
When it’s just Pax and me, tying the ankles of the bodies together so we can drag them more easily, he studies me.
“What?” I ask.
“You okay?”
I meet his eyes, unflinching. “You wouldn’t ask a man that.”
“Depends on the man.”
“No, it doesn’t. You’re assuming because I’m a woman that I feel bad about it, but I don’t.”
I tied Grady’s ankles tightly, leaving myself a long section of rope to drag his body with, but it’s still like trying to move a boulder. Pax is dragging Dion’s body without much effort.
“I can get both,” he offers.
“No.” I dig my boots into the ground, seeking traction. “I’m fine.”
I put the rope over one of my shoulders, using my back to pull. I’m moving slowly, but moving.
“Still want to kill me?” I ask Pax.
He tried to call me into the circle for a fight to the death after I killed Virginia that way. Marcus wouldn’t let him do it.
“I never wanted to kill you,” he answers.
I scoff. “Liar. When you wanted to trade Ellison for me, it was so you could kill me.”
“That was just me messing with Marcus’s head.”
We walk in silence for a few minutes, me huffing and puffing with exertion as we cross camp with the bodies.
“You trust me,” Pax says.
“I do?”
He lifts a shoulder in a shrug. “I could easily kill you right now if I wanted to.”
“Maybe. But you’d die for it. Maybe what I trust is that you want to keep breathing.”
His lips quirk in a grin. “I miss that sharpness. I never wanted you to leave our camp.”
“And yet.”
“Yet what?”
“You manipulated me and let Virginia imprison me in a hole in the ground.”
“I should have rescued you. We could’ve run away together.”
My short, humorless exhale is my response.
“Where’s Marcus?” he asks.
“I’m not telling you that.”
“Have you forgiven him for lying to you?”
I cut a sharp glare at him. “We’re not doing this. Go get a shovel from the supply shed.”
“Isn’t it locked?”
I sigh heavily. “Fine, I’ll get it. Stay here.”
“I’m not going anywhere. You want me by your side all day, remember?”
Rolling my eyes, I say, “Not for the reason you seem to think.”
“We’ll see.”
If Marcus saw us right now, his jealousy would incinerate the ground we’re standing on. Pax is clever, and while I trust that he’s not going to murder me, I don’t trust him enough to let him out of my sight.
I can’t wait until Marcus wraps his arms around me again. I miss his salt and leather scent. His voice. The way he can communicate so much to me with just a look.
He’s okay. He has to be. And he keeps his promises. I just have to rely on my trusted friends for support until he gets back.
But I know for sure that Pax isn’t one of them.