The Fence

Chapter 49: Together

I feel guilty.

I didn't mean to make Grey come out and tell me what he almost did to himself. It was bad enough that I had made him worry when I freaked out in him. I had so much on my mind. I don't think I was really upset about having panic attacks. I think it was more...thinking that Ky had something to do with the explosion. If he did have something to do with it, could I forgive him? Could I look at him? Would I want him to be demoted?

I would ask him later. Pine was leading us back to where the squad was, and I didn't want to leave a bad impression on him. If he was Neveah's best friend, then surely he's an okay guy. Yet, I didn't know him.

"I think everyone will be happy you're safe, Kirbena," Pine says absentmindedly.

"You do?" I ask, not sure if I was really listening or not.

"Mhm. From what I hear, they all love you."

I grin. It made me happy that my squad wanted me to be okay. At first, I didn't think that was going to happen. I remember the tense relationships we all had before we joined the military. Neveah didn't even think we were going to see each other again, but it turned out, all of us were still together.

"I believe it," Grey murmurs behind me. I look at him from over my shoulder. "If you join our squad, you'll love Kirbena too."

"I hope I join your squad," Pine sighs. "Then I'd get to be with Neveah and Luci."

"Do you know them?" Grey asks.

"Mhm," Pine repeats. "Neveah was my best friend in high school before Luci. When he came, I backed off."

This makes me frown. "Backed off? Why?"

"Because Neveah wanted to be with Luci. There wasn't much room for me. I was just a lonely third wheel and I didn't really know what to talk about."

"Oh, that must have sucked."

Pine sighs, and for the first time he looks kind of sad. "Yeah, it did. But I think it made Neveah happy. I was the one who left him so he wouldn't have to leave me."

"I don't think Neveah's like that. I think he probably wished you were still his friend," I say. We were entering the woods now.

"Maybe," Pine agrees. "We're almost there."

Grey had never let me go beyond the tree line, so I never even got close to it. I usually only go as far as the pond. Trees were a whole new thing for me. I bend down and pick a leaf off the ground, and turn it over in my fingers. It was very pretty.

"I could teach you how to make a bracelet out of the stems," Grey murmurs in my ear. I jump, not realizing I had stopped walking all together. I look back at him, and he wears a smirk.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I used to make them all the time when I was little. We'd travel down from the mountains to the forest and collect a bunch of stuff."

"Wow," I breathe. Scavenging wasn't a foreign concept for me. Being from Caste 7, I wasn't raised with very much food. Ky and I used to go around looking for leftovers at cafes or begging for food outright. "That would be cool. I mean, there's plenty of leaves!"

Grey chuckles and walks ahead of me. He probably was going to catch up with Pine, who hadn't realized we'd stopped and was now very far ahead of us. I hustle after him, not wanting to be left alone.

When I'm finally caught up with them, we are at the site. The trees had opened up into a grass filled clearing, and a large pile of wood was gathered in the middle. A tarp was currently laid over it to keep the remainder of the wood dry. Tents were everywhere, all made out of tarpy material. Each squad had about 4, depending on the size of the squad. They were clustered closely together and separating each squad from another was a wide enough walkway to make a path. Pine led us to a few closer to the pile of wood.