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We don’t dip down into the cul-de-sac the MOHAI sits in, but Trent helps me find it with the binoculars as we pass. I can’t see anyone on the outside, but the building is intact and they’re not flying a Hive flag, so I breathe a little easier.
When we pass by The Hive, a few men come out to stand on the dock and watch us go by. Their expressions are unreadable.
“And this is why they’re parading Westbrook’s head,” Ryan tells me from his spot on his chair. His eyes are closed against the sun. He looks so peaceful I almost worry about him.
“Why?”
“It’s a warning.”
“Hmm. They couldn’t have sent a letter?”
He smiles. “Who can afford postage these days?”
Next stop is the stadiums. That is a totally different experience than cruising by the empty MOHAI or the indifferent Hive. People come pouring out of the stadiums to swarm the shoreline. They scream and shout, clapping and waving to us like we’re heroes. And maybe to them we are. The Colonists here have been set free by the people on this boat. They’ve gotten their lives back and I’m glad I get to see this. It gives me hope that maybe this wasn’t all a mistake. I’ll never regret what we’ve done, but the sour taste I have in my mouth over what happened in the southern Colony is sweetened a little by the joy we see from the Colonists.
No, not Colonists. The people. The men and women re-released to the wild.
Trent shoves his binoculars against my chest roughly. “Don’t lose these.”
“Oh, okay,” I say, unsure why he’s brusquely pawning them off on me.
When I get my answer, I still don’t understand.
Trent goes back a few steps, crouches down, then sprints forward. He leaps into the air, up and over the side of the boat, and right down into the cold water of the Sound.
“Trent!” I shout, rushing forward to look over the edge.
I wait for a few breathless seconds but he finally appears, his blond hair bright against the dark water. He takes long, powerful strokes away from the boat, swimming for the shore.
“Did he jump?” Ryan asks, sounding shocked.
I turn to face him, my mouth hanging open. “I—he—”
I lift the binoculars to follow Trent as he swims the distance to the shore. I’m nervous the entire time. When he finds land and begins to stride purposefully out of the water, I breathe a sigh of relief.
Then I gasp in shock.
“What?” Ryan demands. “Is he okay?”
Trent walks onto the shore, pushes through the crowd patting him on the back, and makes his way directly to a girl—a tall girl with chestnut brown hair and a sweet smile.
Then he straight-up kisses her.
“What’s happening?!” Ryan shouts at me, getting a
“Trent kissed a girl!”
“Very fu
I turn to Ryan, laughing. “Come here. I know it hurts to stand, but you have to see this! Trent is kissing a girl!”
Ryan moves quick for a guy with a stab wound. He takes the binoculars from me, finds where I’m pointing, and nearly drops them into the water.
“Holy shit,” he mutters numbly.
“Right?”
“Who is that?”
“Amber.”
“Who’s Amber?”
“My friend from the kitchens in the Colony. Trent has met her like one time! Maybe two.”
“I guess he liked what he saw.”
I snatch the binoculars back. “Quit hogging them. I want to see this.”
“Pervert.”
“Yes,” I whisper happily.
I watch Trent bend Amber over backwards, dipping her until she’s nearly horizontal. The best part about it? She’s holding onto him tightly. She’s kissing him back.
“Joss.”
“What?”
When he doesn’t answer me I lower the binoculars.
His warm eyes are glowing with excitement. “Let’s do it.”
“Do what? Jump overboard?”
“No,” he laughs, “the woods. The park. Let’s really do it. Let’s live there. Together.”
The air is too thin. It pinches in my lungs, getting lost down in my stomach and making it bubble nervously.
“You don’t want that,” I protest weakly.
“Yes, I do,” he replies seriously. “I want that more than anything.”
Me too, I think.
So why can’t I say it?
“I’d make a crap roommate.”
He grins. “No worse than Trent.”
I take a step closer to him, my hand gliding along the metal railing toward his. “I can be a jerk.”
“I can handle it.”
I slide my hand closer. My fingertips brush against his. “I can’t cook.”
“I’d never ask you to.”
He slips his fingers between mine, weaving them together.
I blink rapidly. “I can’t live in Crenshaw’s house. I don’t think I can ever set foot in there again.”
“I’ll build you a new one,” he promises, tugging me toward him.
I go willingly, stepping into his space. “I’ll help.”
He smiles. “Is that a yes?”
I take a deep breath, pulling in the air, the sunshine, the water, his eyes. The world. I let it in and I let myself be in it.
I nod my head. I smile.
“Yes.”
He looks so ridiculously happy then, and my heart clenches with a strange joy knowing that I did that. I make him feel that. He looks relieved and light. He looks young, the way he’s supposed to be, the way we’re both supposed to be, and I feel it standing there smiling with him. I feel so many things I never thought I would or could.
I feel loved.
Free.
Wild.
Alive.
Thank you for reading the Survival Series!
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If you’d like to read more of my work, go to the next page for Chapter One of my highly rated Sci-Fi Romance novel, Sleepless.
Prologue
Nick
The first time I saw her, I was dead.
I was rolling down the river with two coins for the Ferryman, heading out onto the infinite, black sea. Worst of all, I was going without a fight.
How she found me is still a mystery or a miracle, depending on your perspective. Any way you slice it, I’m lucky she was there, though showing gratitude for it wouldn’t come easy for a long time after. How she put up with me for as long as she did is pure miracle, no mystery about it. She’s as close to an angel as I’ll ever get. Whenever I think of her, I always remember the way she looked there by the river; long auburn hair, glistening hazel eyes and a T-shirt that read Zombies Hate Fast Food.
When she reached out and took my hand, it shattered my world. Her eyes and the warm press of her skin against mine changed everything. Suddenly I was gasping for breath, fighting for life, and as she lowered her face to within inches of mine, I felt my heart slam painfully in my chest. She parted her lips, making me believe she would kiss me goodbye. If that had been the last sensation I experienced in this world I would have died a lucky man. Instead, she whispered one word against my mouth. One word that would press air into my lungs and pull me back from the void.
“Breathe.”
Then she was gone.
Chapter One
Alex
I wake with a start. My eyes immediately find the black sparrow decals flying across the white paint of the wall beside my bed, calming my racing heart. I trace one with my fingers, smiling at the familiar feel of its edges. This is what I always do. This is how they tell me that I’m home.
I actually hate birds. They’re too quick and erratic with their sharp claws and beaks. They’re like flying, disease carrying knives. But more than anything I hate them because they remind me of the Dragon.
“Are you here?” Cara calls.
“Present and accounted for.” I drop my hand from the bird just as my bedroom door swings open. My sister stands in the doorway. Watching.