Chapter 12 #2
She startles anyway and stands quickly. Tears streak her cheeks, but she raises her fists like she’s ready to fight me.
I huff. “I’m not here to try to kill you, Bree. I overheard you crying.”
She bristles at my words. “I wasn’t crying.” My eyes drift down to the floor where I can see a few shiny drops of water. She groans. “What do you want?” she snaps.
“I’m terrified about tomorrow too. It doesn’t help that they’ve hardly given us anything to go on.” I offer a weak grin. Her eyes widen a fraction before she narrows them again.
“What are you so afraid of? Mori is going to keep you safe.” She sounds so convinced. Is that what they all think? I suppose it makes sense that Nolan didn’t share Mori’s terms for his resentencing down in the Under.
“More like his one task is to not kill me,” I mumble. Half wanting her to hear it and half not. But her eyes light up and she stares at me.
“What?” she says as if she’s just been told she won’t die tomorrow.
I shouldn’t have said anything. My hand darts to the back of my neck where Cameron had kissed me.
“His main task is not killing me. So don’t worry about him.
Worry about all the other cadets out there.
” I offer her a mild grin. Reed always chided me for trying to cheer others up.
Sometimes I’d even try to make people smile right before I sawed their heads off.
One last dose of endorphins before lights-out.
Bree’s brown hair is pulled back into tight braids, she twirls one as she assesses me. “Why tell me that?” she asks warily.
I shrug. “Because if you’re this freaked out about Mori, you might let your guard down around someone else who’s after you…and I’d rather you survive than half of the jerks down here with us.”
Bree takes a deep breath and lets her arms fall to her sides.
“Thanks, Emery…and good luck out there.” She walks up to me and sets her palm on my shoulder.
“My advice for Mori? Make him fall in love with you. Use your body. Use anything you can to survive.” I nod at her and she smiles before leaving and disappearing into the dark hallway.
I sit in the corner of the infirmary and let my head fall back against the medical drawers, a smile pulling at the corner of my lips. She doesn’t know that Cameron basically just told me he only sees me as his next killable toy.
I’m so fucked.
The lights come on with a loud buzz, and the drill sergeant blows his whistle as he stomps up and down the aisles of beds. I quickly sit up, surprised by the different routine than the one I’ve grown used to.
“Everyone in your uniforms in five. We’re loading up in exactly twenty minutes and I want you in line and ready to board the train,” he shouts.
We’re all scrambling to our feet. I throw on my hoodie and try to make a beeline for the bathroom before it gets swarmed with other cadets, but Adams grabs my forearm.
My heart is in my throat as I stare up at the huge soldier.
He’s absolutely horrifying this close, partly because he’s always yelling.
“Cadet Maves, correct?” he inquires, and surprisingly his voice isn’t as harsh as it usually is.
I stare into his cold gray eyes and nod.
“You and Mori are to get showered and prepared, then meet me up front in the arena. The two of you have special arrangements.” I don’t miss the glint of pity in his eyes before he looks at Cameron beside me.
“Yes, Drill Sergeant,” I reply. I don’t acknowledge Cameron as I head straight to the showers. The last thing I want to do right now is think about what happened between us last night and my dumb question.
It’s chaos in the bathroom as everyone is trying to quickly rinse off and get mentally prepared to likely die today.
There are a handful of eager cadets with murder painted on their grins.
They carefully look over everyone as if they’re trying to remember the people on their mental lists.
The only two staring at me with hunger in their eyes are Wraith and Arnold.
I hold their gazes for a beat before looking sharply away.
Goose bumps spread up my arms, and I have to take a deep breath before my anxiety gets out of hand.
Today is the first trial. I can do this.
I bump into Cameron, our naked bodies slick with soap.
It’s the first time seeing him in the shower at the same time as the rest of us.
My eyes widen, but he only smirks. I don’t know how to look at him.
Anything can happen after today. He could try to kill me, and he’ll have the weapons to do it.
We’ll be out in the wilderness, and no one will be there to save me except me.
Nolan never said I couldn’t kill Mori. The idea plants a thread of guilt inside me for even thinking it.
It’s not like we wouldn’t kill each other if the opportunity arose, right? If my hand is forced, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I give him a compelling smile.
“Don’t kill me today,” I joke, doing the final rinse on my hair and wringing it out.
“Don’t tempt me.” He winks back at me.
By the time I’m dressed, hair braided, and entering the arena, half of the other cadets are already lined up and waiting. I follow the drill sergeant’s orders and walk to the front where he’s waiting for us.
Cameron is already standing beside him. He’s dressed in matte black tactical gear from head to toe.
His bulletproof vest has a patch over his chest that reads Mori.
This is the first time I’ve seen him dressed in anything other than a hoodie and athletic pants.
I can already see a shift in his mentality, being clothed to kill.
Cameron’s eyes remain impassive when he spots me walking up to him.
He’s smoking a cigarette and has dark war paint on his face.
It’s smeared and makes him look more rugged than his usual presence.
I look through the cadets and realize most of them have it too.
I must’ve missed the memo. Cameron has a thin can in his pocket of the paint and offers me some, but I decline.
“I’ll probably get it in my eyes and blind myself out there,” I grumble.
He chuckles with his lips pressed over the cigarette. “At least remember to tuck your pink hair away then. You’re like a beacon.” I nod, even though he’s using his sassy voice again.
“Why are our arrangements different?” I whisper as I stand beside him. Cameron extinguishes his cigarette with his fingertips and drops it into one of his many pockets.
“Because I’m dangerous, and leaving the Under without my squad or lieutenant present is only permitted if I’m complying with Nolan’s regulations,” he says nonchalantly. His scarred eye is more noticeable with his attire.
“Great, and I’m stuck with those regulations why?” I retort, though I really don’t mind being with him. I’ll take my chances alone with Cameron than with the rest of the cadets.
Cameron smirks. “Baggage.”
I roll my eyes but can’t not smile at his comment.
Everyone is staring at us as we stand beside the drill sergeant.
It only sets their hatred more. They think we’re getting treated better with transport.
Maybe we are. We get to ride separately while they’re all forced to be together with all the meatheads.
I’d rather walk than be forced to ride in a train car with Wraith and Arnold.
Adams addresses the rest of the cadets to prepare to board the train and has soldiers start leading them out toward a door in the back of the facility.
I make eye contact with Damian and Bree as they follow the line leading out.
Wraith isn’t too far behind them. His eyes shift distrustfully to Cameron before a hardened look falls over his features.
His broken arm is his own fault, but he doesn’t seem like the type of person to own up to that.
Somehow, I doubt it’s going to give him much trouble in the trials.
“Where does that back door go?” I ask, thinking that there must be a stairwell back there that leads up.
Cameron steps in front of me so I’m forced to look at him.
“That door leads to the transport subway. It will take us out of the base and to the trucks waiting on the other side. We can’t have a hundred or so criminals walking through the military base upstairs without raising flags.
” He chuckles and plants a hand on top of my head.
I shrink under the weight of it and glance up at him as he messes up my hair.
I swat his hand off my head, but before I can move away from him, he snags his arm around my shoulder. My face only reaches his chest, so that’s where I’m sandwiched for now.
Adams watches us closely, then he waves us over as the last of the cadets funnel out of the arena.
“Alright you two, since Mori is considered a high-risk soldier, you will be riding in the back compartment with the doors locked. It’s going to be around a ten-hour trip. Once you reach the vehicle checkpoint, you’ll be moved in an armored transport vehicle the remainder of the way.”
Cameron taps his fingers over my arm carelessly like he’s already bored of this, but my heart is thundering in my chest. That’s a long time to be alone together.
“Where exactly are the trials being held, sir?” My voice is surprisingly steady.
Adams looks at me like I’m daft. “Obviously, I won’t tell you the precise location, Cadet Maves.
But we have land in the northern Rocky Mountains here in Alaska.
Heavily wooded and easily contained. There is only one road going through that entire area.
This time of year the entire mountainside gets shut down due to bad weather, so we get the go-ahead to use it,” he explains as he nudges us along.
Cameron glares at him, but moves with me, finally dropping his arm from my shoulder. The weather up here is far more extreme than what I’m used to in Montana. It’s November and the boat getting here was awful enough. Now we have to go outside and fight in it.
“You know, you two actually might make a good fit.”
We both snap at him, “What?” Our eyes meet, Cameron’s annoyed, mine surprised.
Adams lets out a belly laugh. “Well, you both just have an ominous air about you, but when you’re together, you almost seem like two normal people, bickering and annoying the shit out of each other.”
Cameron grimaces and glances down at me like he hates the idea of it. Would it really be so bad to be normal? Jesus.
I turn away from both of them and walk steadily ahead, choosing to ignore that comment and Cameron’s expression.
The second we step through the doorway we’re met with a train, as promised.
The walls in this room are dark gray and absorb the light from the warm-light bulbs that hang from the ceiling, leaving the space particularly grim.
The train is slick black and built aerodynamically for high speeds.
Everyone else has already boarded; we’re the last ones.
“Here’s to hoping you’re right about us getting along,” Cameron says as we walk up to the side of the last compartment.
Adams nods in farewell. “I’ll see you both at the trials.
Oh, and one more thing Emery.” He extends his hand, holding a blindfold.
“You’ll need to wear this until you reach the outside of the base.
Your compartment is the only one without a functioning blackout window.
We don’t want you seeing some of our secrets down here as you pass through.
” He winks and it’s the most human I’ve seen him.
Great.
I’m blindfolded and locked in the last compartment with Cameron. As we wait for the train to start moving, the reality that after today half of the cadets in the Under will be dead sets in.
They only have to survive each other.
I’ll have to survive both them and Mori.