S.H.A.D.E. [{ Completed }]✔ (#Wattys2018)

Start Anew

25.

There he is, getting out of the truck, pulling down the hood of his sweater so that his auburn hair is exposed to the moonlight.

Copper. In the flesh.

"We, uh," Scarlet says slowly, eyes moving back and forth between us, "We're going to go scout out the area." They leave, but neither Copper or I pay them any attention.

I stay in place inside the truck bed, a queasy feeling twitching inside my stomach, like some gross insect.

We just stare at each other.

He looks away first, bringing up a hand to smooth his hair which is a bit messed up from the hood. "This is weird."

His voice is not inside my head. It's freely resonating out in the real world. We are like real people now, having a conversation.

"You're... tall." The words come out small.

Copper looks back at me with a hint of a smile. "Thanks?"

I nod, then let my chin rest on my knees again.

"Aren't you going to ask me anything?" he says after a moment, slowly moving around in front of me.

There are plenty of things I probably should ask him. Why did he go silent? Did they come for him too, or did he know? Does he know who the spy is? Why didn't he tell me if he knew? What are we going to do now?

I open my mouth to do this, but out of nowhere, without any sort of warning at all, I burst into ugly halting sobs, sobs that consume my entire body and rattle my bones.

All I can see is Violet's hair waving as she falls to the ground, all I can hear is Al's pleading... and then his last breath.

My face is contorted in agony, and I feel the hot tears running down my bruised and filthy face. My hands are in my hair, holding my head, and I feel ashamed that I am crying right now. Me, who gets to live.

The truck shifts for a second, and then something warm is being wrapped around my shoulders. Copper has given me his sweater. He sits down next to me in the truck bed and puts an arm around my shoulder.

We don't know each other. We know everything about each other.

Either way, I let my head drop into his chest and wail until I can't breathe, until I am too exhausted to continue.

He says nothing, only rubs my back.

When I finally have myself under control, when my head is filled with a groggy pain from all the crying, I look up at him and ask, "What are we going to do?"

"What do you want to do?"

"I want revenge."

He shakes his head. "You can't. S.H.A.D.E is everywhere. They're probably zeroing in on us now."

I pull away from him, wiping at my stained cheeks. "They didn't deserve to die! If you thought this was futile, why'd you come get me?"

He merely shrugs, avoiding my eyes.

I'm disgusted. "What else will we do, huh? I have no idea who I am, and you..."

His head whips around at my tone, his eyes burn into mine. He sees it in my face, that I know. "How?" he asks.

"I-in my sleep. I just see things. Things that you saw... or see." I end with a defeated sigh. "I don't know."

He slumps, head falling back against the rear window, looking up at the stars. I think he's done with me for good.

"I'm scared, Ebony," he admits, and I'm taken by surprise.

It takes me a moment to respond. "For your family? Sofia?"

He nods, closing his eyes in pain.

Gently, carefully, I take his hand. "Hey," I say, and wait until he looks at me. "Let's go get them. Let's go keep them safe."