Storm

THREE

I was beyond exhausted.

It was hard to believe that less than twenty-four hours had passed since we had gone to sleep on Pemberwick Island in a tent with a group of rebels led by Tori’s father.

So much had changed in a single day.

We decided to spend the night in the hospital and figure out what our next move would be in the morning. Luna gave us hospital scrubs to sleep in. My clothes were rank, but there was no way to wash and dry them. It didn’t matter. We could visit a deserted shop in Portland and take our pick of new clothes. Nobody would care.

The best part about the night was that we got to take showers. The hospital’s plumbing system still worked, for the time being, and I was looking forward to washing away the grime that had been building up since I took my last shower in the SYLO prison camp. The girls went first, then Kent went with Jon. I thought about bailing and going to sleep, but as tired as I was, I wasn’t going to pass up the chance at a shower, so when it was my turn I forced my sorry self to go.

There was a locker room next to the showers, so I dropped my new scrubs there, peeled off my old clothes, and dumped them in the trash. The only thing I didn’t toss were my cross-trainers. I didn’t want to lose those until I found new ones. I grabbed a towel from the stack near the door and headed for the shower.

The water was still warm. That wouldn’t last. Once it ran out, there would be no way to heat it again. There was no electricity and therefore no lights. Or heat. Or refrigeration. We didn’t have cell phones or radios or Internet or any of the other things we had always taken for granted. A hot shower was a luxury that wouldn’t be repeated until we reconnected with civilization.

As I stood there, enjoying the warmth, I tried to be positive. Our goal was to get to Boston and blow the whistle on those responsible for what was happening on Pemberwick. After that, who knew? One step at a time. Thinking too far ahead made my head hurt.

When I started to fall asleep standing up, I realized I had had enough. I left the shower, went back to the locker room to get dressed, and got as far as pulling on the scrub pants when—

“Oops, sorry,” Olivia said with an embarrassed giggle.

I spun to see her standing there with her hand over her eyes.

“Didn’t see anything,” she said with a chuckle. “Much.”

“I thought you went to sleep!” I said as I quickly pulled my scrub top on.

“I couldn’t. I want to talk.”

Standing there facing her was unnerving. I felt as though I was still naked.

She put her hands on her hips and struck a pose.

“Not exactly a stylish outfit.”

It didn’t matter that the scrubs were so plain; she looked great. Her short blonde hair was still wet. She had it combed straight back, which let her bright blue eyes sparkle in the light from the lantern.

“We’ll get new clothes tomorrow,” I said.

“And then what?”

“I don’t know. We should probably stick to the original plan and—”

“I’m scared, Tucker.”

Her voice was shaky. I was afraid she might cry.

“We all are. We’ll find your mother and get you home.”

She gave me a wistful smile and said, “Not so sure about that. I don’t think I’m ever going to see my mother again.”

“Don’t say that,” I chastised. “She probably went back to your home in New York. Or maybe she went to Boston and she’s planning on coming back here to find you.”

Olivia shrugged. She didn’t believe either of those possibilities. Her mother had left Pemberwick to go shopping on the mainland when the attack hit. Odds were that Olivia’s fear was justified.

“What about your father?” I asked.

She shrugged and smiled sadly. “He’s a long, long way from here.”

“So then we’ll get you back together with him. And your mother too.”

“Do you really believe that?” she asked innocently.

“I do,” I said.

I didn’t. I had no idea what was possible. I thought my words would comfort her, even if they were lies, but it seemed as though I was only making things worse, for tears grew in Olivia’s eyes.

“You’re such a good guy,” she said. “None of this should have happened.”

“You get no argument from me there, but it did. You’re not alone here, Olivia. We’re going to watch out for each other.”

She looked up at me with big, innocent eyes.

“Promise?”

“Cross my heart,” I said while crossing my heart.

She walked slowly toward me.

I took a step back and hit the lockers.

She came right up to me and put her arms around my neck.

I looked down into those big blue eyes. It was almost as terrifying as when we faced the black plane in the Old Port.

Almost.

“I really like Kent,” she said.

Odd thing to say at that moment, but whatever.

“Me too,” I replied, though I didn’t like him at all.

“But I can’t depend on him. I mean, it’s not like we’re a couple. Not really.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“It’s true.”

“Maybe you should tell him that.”

“Why? He wouldn’t believe me. Kent only cares about Kent. He thinks every girl is in love with him. You can’t rely on somebody like that.”

She stared up at me, expecting me to say something.

I had nothing.

“Why are you telling me this?” I finally asked.

“Because I want to know if I can rely on you.”

I didn’t know where this was going. Was Olivia being flirty just to make sure I’d take care of her? Or did she really like me?

“I… yeah. Of course you can rely on me. So can Tori. And Kent. We can all rely on each other and—”

She put her finger on my lips to stop the verbal diarrhea.

“I don’t mean to make you nervous,” she said.

Sure she did.

“I’m not nervous,” I said nervously.

Olivia laughed. She was flirting all right.

“You’re a good guy, Tucker Pierce. A really good guy. I think you’re going to come out of this okay.”

That was a weird thing to say. A second earlier she’d been acting all confused and scared, then suddenly she was speaking with total authority, as if she could predict the future.

Like I said, Olivia was an enigma. A dangerous enigma.

She stood up on her toes… and kissed me.

I was so surprised that I didn’t stop her. Okay, I probably wouldn’t have stopped her even if I wasn’t so surprised. I wrapped my arms around her back, pulled her close, ignored the horrible mess we were in for a solid four seconds… and then snapped out of it and pushed her away.

“You can’t do that,” I said. “Kent would kill me.”

“I told you, we’re not a couple,” she said petulantly.

“Well, he thinks you are, and that would be enough reason for him to pound me if he knew we were… we were…”

“We were what? Hot for each other?”

“Yes… NO! We’re not hot for each other.”

I slipped away from her and backed for the door.

“Look, you’re great,” I said. “You really are. You know I like you. Why else would I have been your tour guide all summer?”

“But you never tried to kiss me.”

“Yeah, well, you’re out of my league.”

“Seriously?” she said, laughing. “After what we’ve been through? You just got promoted to the majors, Rook.”

“Don’t call me that! It doesn’t matter how I feel about you, or you feel about me, or… or…”

“Or how you feel about Tori?”

“Don’t go there. She and I are really close and—”

“Do you feel about her the way you feel about me?” she asked slyly.

The truth was, I didn’t. Tori Sleeper was somebody I had wanted to get to know for years. She may have had issues, but that just made her more interesting and independent. It took a disaster to get us together, but after that we quickly came to rely on each other. It’s not an exaggeration to say we owed each other our lives. That’s a strong bond that I wouldn’t want to break.

Olivia, on the other hand, was funny—and hot. Seriously hot. The idea of being alone with a girl like that, kissing in a shower room, was something I could only fantasize about… until now. Did I feel the same way about the two of them? Not even close.

“Look,” I said, “we’ve got to watch out for each other, and complicating things will only make it more… complicated. Let’s just… just… pretend this never happened, okay?”

“Okay, except for one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“You didn’t answer my question. Can I rely on you?” she asked. This time she was deadly serious.

“Of course you can.”

“Good,” she said with finality. “Then you can rely on me too. G’night!”

With that, she turned on her toes and scampered back to the ER.

I was left feeling… what? Confused? Nervous? Flattered? I’d liked Olivia since the moment I’d first met her. But messing with her was like messing with Kent, and that could hurt.

Besides, I really did like Tori. I didn’t know for sure if she felt the same way about me, but there was definitely something there. It might have been because we were thrown together in scary times and we wouldn’t have anything in common once things got back to normal, but I wanted to find out. There would be zero chance of that if she caught me messing with Olivia. And Kent would kill me.

All told, fooling around with Olivia wasn’t worth it.

I went back to the ER and slowed down as I passed Kent’s bed, fearing he might be lying in wait, ready to pound me. But he was out cold, snoring away.

Everyone was asleep except me.

I got into my own bed, turned off the lantern, and lay there staring up at the ceiling. There were so many thoughts bouncing around in my head that I had trouble nodding off. I needed to focus on one single thought. That’s what I did when I couldn’t sleep. I forced myself to think of one thing and put up a barricade against all the other annoying worries.

In the past when that didn’t work, I would go for a midnight ride.

I decided to do both. I imagined sneaking out of my bedroom window, climbing down from the porch roof, hopping on my bike, and racing along the deserted, dark roads of Pemberwick Island. I pictured the beam from my headlight on the road ahead, scanning for potholes. I imagined the chilly breeze coming off of the ocean and the smell of sea air.

I also thought about Quinn. We always rode together. Thousands of people had been wiped out in Portland, but I didn’t know any of them. Quinn I knew. If he hadn’t suggested we take separate boats on our run to the mainland, Tori and I might have been the ones who’d been killed. I owed him. The best thing I could do to honor his memory was to survive and to make a difference. Quinn had dreams of leaving Pemberwick and doing something important with his life. In a way, he had done exactly that. Tori and I were living proof.

But that wasn’t enough. I wanted to make a difference. For Quinn. And for us.

That was my single thought. That’s what I focused on. Strangely, it calmed me. I didn’t know what I would find beyond Portland and what I would do once I got there, but I made a promise to myself that I would do whatever I could to make sure that Quinn didn’t die in vain. It felt good to have purpose and a goal beyond simply surviving. I was going to make a difference.

Quinn’s death would be avenged. Whoever was controlling SYLO would pay for the destruction of our lives and the death of my best friend.

But not right then. I needed sleep.

There was no telling when I’d get the chance to do it again.