12
Even though tomorrow is never guaranteed, I still find hope in it.
Hermes was the city that never slept. Bright lights shimmered across the streets and climbed toward the cavernous ceiling like an echoing celebration.
Khalani watched from a distance as hundreds of men and women drank and laughed raucously, trying to drown their problems under oceans of liquor. There was something infinitely sad about the scene as they raced through the back alleys, using the darkness as a shield.
No one spoke as they drifted farther from the revelry and the people who believed blankets of pleasure were enough to mask their oppression.
For the majority, it worked.
But a select few remained who knew that golden greed was nothing to aspire to. One day, the people who abandoned their morals and cut down others to get ahead would pay the price.
It might not be today or even next week. Judgment may come late, but it always arrives.
“We’re here.” Spade raised his voice over the howling wind as he brought the transport to a screeching halt, silencing her thoughts. Khalani jerked in her seat, grabbing Serene for support, but Winnie merely let out a giddy laugh and hopped out of the vehicle like she was exiting a merry-go-round.
“You drive like a crazy person.” Serene panted, her hair sticking up like she’d just gotten electrocuted.
“When you know how to handle a vehicle, you like making the engine purr.” Spade grinned, lithely jumping out of the transport.
Brock threw Spade a cold glare as he joined them, hoisting the heavy duffel bag filled with weapons over his shoulder. Part of the deal with Desert Spring was bringing back guns, and Jack had spared what he could.
“Who’s taking the other transport?”
“One of our boys is waiting nearby and he’ll drive it to another safe house.” Spade straightened to his full height as they grabbed their equipment.
Khalani quickly slung a pack that was filled with food, water, and spare clothes over her injured shoulder. She groaned from the weight, but she refused to complain and let anyone else ease her burden.
Suddenly, the bag was yanked from her.
She spun and found Takeshi towering over her. He didn’t say anything.
Barely even glanced her way.
He simply unzipped her pack and began transferring items into his own bag. By the time he shoved it back at her, her bag weighed practically nothing.
“What do you think you’re doing?” She frowned.
“What does it look like?”
“Are you seriously helping me?” Khalani was unable to keep the shock out of her voice.
Maybe this was his way of saying sorry for dislocating her shoulder. Maybe she didn’t have to worry about her throat getting slit in the Death-Zone.
“Stop looking at me like that,” he scowled. “I’m doing this for my own sanity, so I’m not forced to watch you struggle and slow us down up there.”
He turned without another word, joining Spade at the sewer grate while he carried the heavy pack like it was a bag of feathers.
Just one good punch.
That couldn’t possibly make the situation worse.
“Winnie knows that look.” Winnie appeared to Khalani’s right.
“What look?”
“The look of someone in love, but they don’t realize it.”
“Doubtful,” Khalani scoffed, blood rushing to her face. “I’ll probably dream about stabbing him tonight.”
“I wasn’t talking about you, Khalani dear.” Winnie’s lips curled in a grin as she glanced at Takeshi. “I was talking about him.”
* * *
Spade led the way up the sewer ladders. As Khalani scaled higher and higher toward the surface, she was begrudgingly grateful for the extra weight taken off her back. But would she ever admit that to the man directly beneath her?
Not a chance.
She’d be lying though if she didn’t admit to perking her butt slightly on the way up. And when the faintest curse echoed under her, an evil grin crossed her lips.
If Takeshi was going to make her life a living hell, she’d grant him the same misery.
“This horrendous smell is never going to leave my hair.” Serene’s nose wrinkled as they continued climbing.
“You could always cut it off,” Spade responded. “Or dye it green to match the smell.”
“She’s not touching her hair,” Brock fired back.
“If I remember correctly,” Serene said, “you called me an ‘ignoramus blue pixie’ because you hated my hair.”
“What does that even mean?” Elise asked.
“It means that men are stupid and resort to name-calling when they’re too afraid to share their feelings.”
“Quite true, Serene,” Winnie chimed in. “Winnie doesn’t know how they’ve survived thus far.”
“You’re supposed to be on my side, woman,” Brock grumbled above her.
“Winnie is on your side. She’ll gladly tell you when your stubbornness and pride gets in the way of your intelligence,” Winnie said with a smile.
Khalani chuckled just as her foot missed a rung. She slipped, her knee banging against the metal. Before she fell to her doom, a strong arm banded around her waist.
Adrenaline pumped through her as Takeshi scaled up the ladder with lightning speed and secured her to his body.
The faint scent of soap clung to his skin, and her breath came heavier as he tightened his forearm around her.
His thumb lightly brushed against her exposed waist, her beige shirt riding up.
Khalani dared a glance below and her whole body shook.
“Don’t look down,” he commanded.
Takeshi probably didn’t even realize his thumb was circling her skin. The soft movement was maddeningly intimate in a way that she shouldn’t notice hundreds of feet above the ground.
“Keep climbing. I won’t let you fall.”
“Like I’ll believe that,” she muttered, but Khalani still clung to the metal bars with a death grip, her vision blackening until all she recognized was Takeshi’s sharp features.
“Believe this, Kanes. I prefer to kill with my hands.” He maintained eye contact as the sweet whisper of death escaped his lips. “I’d never let gravity take the credit.”
“That doesn’t exactly make me feel better.”
Khalani gulped as his thumb drifted up the side of her ribs, moving beneath her shirt, nearing her chest. Her erratic pulse jumped, and she knew he felt it beneath his fingertips.
“When did I ever say,” Takeshi whispered in her ear, “I was trying to make you feel better?”
The heat vanished. He deftly removed his fingers and pulled away, like the last thirty seconds were just a dream.
She took a deep breath, ignoring the simmering tension in the air, hoping the others wouldn’t notice. Neither of them said another word as they continued the climb, but Khalani sensed his lethal presence much closer than before. Like he truly would catch her if she fell.
But she wasn’t going to put that theory to the test.
Spade opened the crate from the top, and sunlight shone through, nearly blinding her. But the vision spurred each of them faster. When Khalani reached the top, Spade and Brock easily lifted her out of the sewer.
She emerged onto the grand ruins of Las Vegas, the sprawling buildings and abandoned vehicles surrounding them like a lost memory.
Khalani wished she could glimpse into the past and see what the city used to look like. When people assumed living in the middle of a desert was the start of something new and not a herald to their end.
Takeshi was the last one up and lithely pulled himself out of the sewer. The rest of their group looked dirty and disheveled, but he somehow managed to be just as composed and captivating.
His demeanor shifted, however, when he took in the ruins around him. His gaze rose to the sun…and he completely froze.
Khalani realized why.
If Takeshi didn’t remember the last three years of his life, this was his first time seeing the sun in all its glory.
The moment felt private, and she respectfully looked away, giving him space. She shifted her focus to Spade, who pulled a small meter from his pocket.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“It’s a Geiger counter,” he answered, his focus staying glued to the readings. “Used to measure radiation.”
“Didn’t Jack say you’d already measured that?”
“He did. I’m making sure there aren’t any changes.” Spade’s fingers shook as he placed the meter back in his pocket before glancing at Brock. “You have the radio?”
“Yes.” Brock pulled the small device from his pack as proof.
“Don’t forget to use it before you reach Apollo,” Spade said. “We must make contact before breaching the dome.”
Brock nodded firmly, clutching the walkie Jack gave him as if an entire army would have to pry it from his hands.
“All right. This is where I leave you. If everything goes to plan, I’ll see you all in a few weeks.” Spade’s jaw tightened as he scanned the abandoned city.
“Don’t worry about us.” Serene saluted him. “We’ve survived the Death-Zone once. I’m sure we can manage it again.”
“I wouldn’t be so confident,” Spade muttered before unzipping his backpack. “Before you go, here’s some extra for yourself.”
Their faces paled when he pulled out four more handguns. He handed the weapons to Brock, and Khalani’s eyes went wide when he turned to her first.
She felt the pressure of Takeshi’s gaze as she took the gun, testing the metal in her hand. The familiar weight and power sent a thrill through her.
Brock passed the other gun to Adan. For a second, Khalani thought he might give the last gun to Takeshi, undoubtedly the most skilled. But Brock still didn’t trust him, and he shocked them all by offering the weapon to Serene.
“Don’t make me regret this,” was all he said.
A bright spark flared in Serene’s eyes, and for once, she didn’t give a sarcastic retort. She nodded, quietly giving thanks as she accepted the trust and stowed the gun in her bag.
“Are you sure we need more weapons?” Elise asked warily, scanning between each of the shattered buildings in a daze.
“Of course,” Spade remarked, his grim expression worrying even Khalani. “Do you want to know why they called it the Death-Zone?”
“Because of the radiation?” Adan assumed.
“No. The radiation was everywhere on the surface. It’s said that those who cross the desert don’t even see the bodies of the ones who’ve fallen beneath their feet.
The sands have completely erased their memory.
They call it the Death-Zone because you’re walking over hundreds of people without realizing it. ”
Khalani chafed her fingers down her arms. Pressure cascaded down the back of her neck and rolled down her spine, like the souls of the dead were sliding their perusing gazes over her, waiting for Khalani to be swallowed and returned to the earth as well.
“There are no laws out here, only life and death,” Spade said, walking back to the sewer. And before he dropped to the underground city, he gave them one last piece of advice.
“And if it comes down to it, you better not hesitate to pull the trigger.”