Ballistic: Icarus Series, Book Two (33 page)

“No, I’ve already given him a chance,” Tessa spat and jerked her hand away. “I want the truth.
Now
.”

Thankfully, most of the inhabitants of Carousel F had already wandered off in a daze, struggling to process our tales of the outside world. A few, like that judgey blond woman, had loitered about with more questions than there could ever be answers. Eventually, even she slunk off to gather her thoughts.

“I w-w-was a ruh-runner,” Devon’s shoulders sagged, and he took a step back. “B-before.”

“A runner?” Tessa scowled and moved toward him, closing the gap he had created. “As in a
drug
runner? You know how I feel about drugs.”

“N-no d-drugs,” Devon stammered wide-eyed, his eyes shifting to Tessa’s scar. “Y-you g-gotta believe me.”

“Do I?” Tessa forced a laugh and roughly swiped a stray hair out of her face with her wrist. She cocked her head at him, her eyes narrowed in accusation as she poked him in the chest. “You a smack-head, Devon? You chasing the dragon or something?”

“N-no!” Devon dodged to the side and flung his hands in front of his face. “N-no drugs, T-tessa, I ssswear. M-mostly ssstolen t-tech or suh-sometimes g-g-g-guns. Neh-
never
drugs.”

“Damn it, Devon,” Tessa spun away with a stomp. Devon flinched. She paced back and forth a few times before storming back toward him. “You should have told me.”

“I f-figured you’d f-find them on www—wuh-wuh,” Devon ducked past her. His hand banged against his ribs, and he swallowed hard, “on one of y-your mmmed hunts. Yuh-yuh-you’d check the p-planes and ffffind the g-g-guh…the g-guns, and I wwwouldn’t have to b-be puh-part of it.”

“Six days, Devon.” Tessa sighed, her chin hanging to her chest. Her fists were clenched at her side. “I’ve gone out there every day for almost a week with little more than a stick to defend myself. I’ve scouted that refugee camp, broken into almost every business within a five-mile radius, and raided countless houses. I’ve fought and killed lurkers. I nearly died four separate times while trying to find a way to protect all of you. Now you are telling me that there was an arsenal sitting right outside our walls this whole time?”

Devon nodded and bit his lip.

“Why would you keep something like that from me?” Tessa fumed stepping toward him.

“I—.” Devon began, but swallowed his words and stared down at the floor.

“Why, Devon?” Tessa shoved him.

“I’m s-sorry, T-tessa,” Devon said, his eyes brimming as he backed away.

“I saved you.” Tessa’s voice caught in her throat. “I risked my own life to save yours. I brought you in, gave you food and shelter, and took care of you as if you were my own. I trusted you, and you lied to me. Sorry doesn’t undo that.”

“I w-was…” Devon’s eyes darted back and forth as if searching for an answer. “I was, uhh.”

“You were what?” Tessa crossed her arms.

He rocked slightly on his feet, tugged at the hem of his t-shirt, and dug his fingers roughly into the skin of his arm. His feet shuffled restlessly, sending a loose pebble across the slick tile floor. His thick brow furrowed, throwing shadows over his sullen eyes. A war waged behind them, and heavy lines trenched their way across the young man’s forehead. I couldn’t imagine what it was like to have the words but not be able to set them free.

“I…I’m not g—” Tears brimmed in Devon’s eyes.

“Out with it, goddamn it!” Tessa shouted at him.

“I-I’m not g-g-good,” Devon blurted, clenching his fists.

“What?” Tessa sighed, and her anger visibly deflated as she slowly made her way toward him. She reached out to him, but he flinched away. When she finally spoke, her words were soft. “You gotta help me out here, Dev, because I really want to understand.”

“Y-you were nice to m-me, Tessa.” Devon’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “Y-y-you t-t-treated me luh-like a puh-person. L-like I m-m-mattered.”

“You do matter,” Tessa said, exasperated. “Why would you think otherwise?”

“N-no one h-h-has ever…I thhhh….I th-thought if y-you knew—.” Devon took a deep breath and cautiously raised his eyes from the floor. “I d-didn’t w-wanna be that g-guy anym-more. I t-told them I w-w-wanted
out.
I w-w-wanted to ssstart over, and—.”

Tessa cut him short, smothering him in a hug. Devon hesitated but only for a moment, and then quickly wrapped his arms around her waist. When she finally released him from the embrace, she took with her the weight of his burden. Relief flooded his eyes, smoothing the lines in his face and making him look almost child-like.

“A new beginning comes with a price, Devon. I paid for mine,” Tessa said running her fingertips across the scar on her cheek. She shoved the picture back into Devon’s hands. “You will, too.”

Chapter 29

The Sword in the Stone

“You must have hit your head harder than I thought,” Jake said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I thought we agreed to stick together from now on, Liv.”

“This is different,” I said, tightening the laces on my boots.

“We’ll be back before ya know it.” Ty clapped him on the shoulder and walked past us toward the pile of weapons, which Squints had laid out on the table.

“Famous last words,” Jake rolled his eyes, unsuccessfully masking the worry they held. He lowered his voice. “You know, I could go with you, Liv. You might need me out there.”

“I need you
here
, Jake. You are the only one I trust to guard the emergency exit,” I grunted. My ribs protested wildly in my chest, but there was little I could do about that. I forced a smile. “Remember, you keep this door bolted until you hear the password.”

“Liv, this is stupid,” Jake said, his eyes burning. “I can help. Send me with Ty and Ballard. I will make sure they don’t miss anything.”

“You know better,” I shook my head. “You don’t send the brains of the operation out on recon. You are way too valuable for grunt work, Jake.”

“That’s total crap,” he whispered, his eyes drifting back and forth from me to Ty. “You just don’t think I can do it. You don’t think I can handle it.”

“Jake, come on,” I sighed cradling my ribs as I rose to my feet. “It’s not—.”

“You know what? Don’t bother trying to stroke my ego,” Jake said, raking his fingernails through his hair. “Just do me a favor and don’t get yourself or anyone else killed, okay? And hurry up out there, please. I’ve got a really bad feeling about this storm, Liv.”

“If it’s not one storm, it’s another,” I muttered under my breath as he walked over to Ty.

“Here,” Jake said, handing Ty the notebook and pen he had liberated from my brother’s desk. “Get to the look-out point Tessa told you about, sketch the layout, note the guards, and get the hell out. This is recon, not rescue, got me? Don’t be a hero, and don’t do anything stupid.”

“I under—,” Ty began.

“Don’t. Do. Anything. Stupid,” Jake repeated, jabbing Ty in the chest with each word. Ty nodded, and his smile fell. Jake spun on his heel and walked away in a huff.

He wasn’t the only one that was unhappy with our plan, or with me. Riley had made it perfectly clear that she, too, was tired of being benched. I didn’t doubt her ability to handle herself. She had more than proven herself over the last few days. In fact, her help would have been more than welcome, but I had a gut feeling that Tessa’s people were going to need Riley far more than I would in the coming hours.

A muffled grunt and a tug at my arm pulled me from my thoughts. Squints pointed at me and cleared his throat, nodding as he placed the handle of a shiny, new wooden Louisville Slugger in my hand. There were strips of multicolored fabric around the base of the bat forming a grip. An eight-inch circular saw blade was embedded in a vertical slot at the end of the bat. It formed a halo of razor sharp teeth. A massive bolt held the assembly in place and jutted out the other side another three inches.

I swung the weapon in a circle at my side, testing its weight. It was heavy, but not so much that it felt cumbersome. I ran my fingertip lightly across the beveled edge of one of the blade’s teeth, christening it with a drop of my own blood.

“Nice,” I said nodding in appreciation. “It’s like something out of a video game. Thank you.”

Squints waved away my gratitude with a grunt. He shook his head as if annoyed, muttering to himself as he staggered off to divvy up the rest of his makeshift weapons stash. The guy was weird, no doubt about that, but he definitely had a knack for making something out of nothing.

“Good talk,” I said, shaking my head at his retreating form.

“Tessa wasn’t kidding about him,” Zander said brandishing a two-foot section of lead pipe with large meat cleavers jutting from each end. The blades faced the same direction, and the dim light flicked off their sleek edges as Zander spun the weapon in his hands. “This thing is pretty bad-ass.”

“You think that’s cool? Check this baby out,” Ty grinned.

In his hand, he held a long, wooden staff. In its past life, it had done little more than mop up after airsick travelers or clear the floors of litter. After a few of Squint’s creative modifications, it was sure to create greater messes than it had ever cleaned up. The bottom of the shaft had been honed to a dangerously sharp point. A noose-like loop of metal chording sat stiffly atop the staff.

“Watch this,” Ty smirked. He pulled a small wooden handle that dangled near the middle of the bow and the metal noose cinched. “I got me a
wrangler,
y’all.
I’m the post-apocalyptic animal control.”

Bella’s ears perked, and she turned towards Ty, her head cocked to the side. She sniffed at the air, sneezed, and then shook her head, clearly unimpressed. With a swift lick at the palm of my hand, she trotted off to where the children played at the far end of the carousel.

Tessa smiled and ran her fingernails down Bella’s back as she passed by. Devon shifted away, cowering behind Tessa as though Bella’s wagging tail were a sign that she might attack at any moment. If this kid was dodgy around a three-legged teddy bear of a lap dog, he was in for one hell of a reality check on the outside.

“Hey,” Tessa said, sliding her sunglasses down over her face. “Everybody ready?”

A bright yellow fire ax dangled from her hand. Its red, silver-edged blade was sheathed in a clear plastic sleeve. Squints had fastened a long leather belt to either end of the handle like a guitar strap. Tessa slung the strap over one shoulder, and the ax hung diagonally across her back, the blade facing away from her.

“Ballard’s not here yet,” I said absently running my fingers over the
Louisville Slugger
that had been burnt into the end of the bat. “I figured he was with you.”

“He’s w-with M-Tamsen,” Devon smirked, tucking a long pry bar into the back of his belt.

“Of course he is,” Tessa shook her head. “Liv, do me a solid and go and peel Ballard off the redhead, would you? I think he’s milked his boo-boos enough for one day. We need to get going before we lose the light.”

“No problem.” I scooped my pack up off the floor and handed my bat-blade to Zander. “Keep an eye on Louie for me, would you?

“Louie?” Zander arched a brow.

“What?” I chuckled. “Knights always name their sword.”

“Well, then. Louie and I will wait patiently until you return,” he smirked at me. It seemed like ages since I’d seen that crooked smile of his. I missed it.

One of my favorite memories of when I was a little girl was the bedtime stories my father used to tell. My favorite was The Sword in the Stone. In his version, it was a young girl named Aurora with messy brown hair and bright blue eyes who pulled the sword from its enchanted prison. Instead of being happy at her good fortune, the girl was scared. She hadn’t asked for the weight of a kingdom to be placed on her shoulders and wanted desperately to put the sword back. She even thought about running away.

In the end, Aurora’s friends convinced her to be brave and face her destiny. She grew up to become the mightiest knight the kingdom had ever known. She slayed dragons, killed monsters, and faced any evil that threatened her people, until one day they made her queen of all the land. She ruled over her loyal subjects for a hundred years, bringing peace and prosperity throughout the land with Excalibur by her side.

“Why did Aurora name her sword, daddy?” I asked my father one night. I had heard that story a million times and had always wondered.

“Knights always named their swords, baby girl,” my dad had said as he ushered me up onto my pillow. “Come on, now, it’s time for bed.”

“Why, daddy?” I asked. “Why do they name them?”

“Come on, Liv,” Dad smiled, his eyes twinkling. “Quit stalling.”

“I have to know, Daddy,” I insisted. “Someday, I want to be strong and courageous like Aurora. If I am going to be a knight, I need to know these things. Why did she name her sword?”

“Giving something a name gives it power,” he replied, tucking the covers up around my chin. “When Aurora named Excalibur, she gave the blade a soul.”

“Hmm.” I narrowed my eyes. Even then, I was never satisfied with the half-truths that so often accompanied fairytale. “Why would a knight’s sword need to have a soul, daddy?”

“So that no matter where their battles may lead them,” he sighed kissing my forehead, “they will never die alone.”

If he were here now, he would tell me to be brave like Aurora. He would tell me to fight against evil. If I were going to save my brother, I’d have to slay a few dragons. I set off at a jog toward the infirmary with my father’s ghost on my shoulder.

Chapter 30

Everclear and Present Danger

Despite everything we had told them and the inescapable truth that existed beyond these walls, I sensed very little fear from the residents of Carousel F. Like the audience after a horror movie, as soon as they watched the credits roll, the scary part was over for them. They went back to their seemingly normal existence.