In the Land of Giants - Book 2 of the Acropolis series

Chapter 3

  "Allers! Come on, rise and shine!"

Everett's eyes snapped open as a heavy hand rapped against the front door. He glanced down. Nikki's prone body was half-draped over his, her thin, nude limbs looking more pale than usual in the light from the window. She was sleeping straight through the knocking, her brow furrowed slightly as though she were dreaming. The sheets were coiled about their feet, shrugged off in their sleep at some point. Near it was the small box that was Everett's alarm clock; he had given no thought to winding it up before falling asleep.

"Everett, front and center!" The voice shouted again, and now Nikki was slowly coming to life as Everett reached for the blanket. However, he hadn't quite covered anything at all when the door opened with a hollow bang and Bear's sturdy figure stepped through. His eyes caught theirs just before Everett brought the sheet over their chests, and he backed away immediately. "Sorry, sorry! Take your time!" He shouted, the door thudding closed behind him.

Everett turned his head to see Nikki do the same, the bright lights of her eyes catching his and her thin lips breaking into a wide grin. They both fell into fits of laughter as they stood up and retrieved their clothes from the floor, pulling them on and shaking with more chuckles before going out the door.

Bear was standing at the bottom of the staircase, an unlit cigar in his teeth and his arms crossed, staring at the ground. "Good morning, sir." Everett said to him, and he nodded and avoided their gazes, oddly sheepish behavior for such a stern figure.

"Mm." He grumbled. "Uh, Allers, you'll be going with a driver in Spalding's cargo truck. Miss, will you be all right in the flatbed with a few Chitters, keeping an eye on things?" He kept his gaze on the ground as he spoke, an incredibly unusual thing for him to do.

"No problem." Nikki said casually, leaning her head back to gather together her dreadlocks in preparation for tying them into a tight bun. "Guess I don't have a choice, since you woke me." She added with a sarcastic smile.

Everett noticed Bear glance over at her, eyes straying briefly to the exposed bit of her stomach below her shirt, and he looked away again, sticking the cigar in his teeth and working it around his mouth nervously. Everett smirked, but said nothing. Nikki seemed to have an uncanny ability to make people uncomfortable. Appearing not to care when they saw her naked was only one more way that Everett was just now learning about.

"Let's get to it, then." Everett said, volunteering to take the lead since Bear seemed to have been sent into a state of sputtering anxiety by Nikki's smoldering calm. "It's a long drive."

Bear nodded and began to trudge in the direction of the base, gesturing for the two of them to follow behind him. "I'll make it faster than you'd think." He grumbled.

The base was divided between two activities: six vehicles being prepared for transit, and cleanup from the previous night's celebration. Everett raised an eyebrow with surprise to see Spalding himself wide-awake, laying across the metal plate that was the improvised hood of a buggy, his legs crossed. In his hands was a scuffed acoustic guitar, which he strummed lazily, singing something in Spanish with a quiet rasp that was almost – but not quite – soothing. Everett briefly wondered just how many instruments the man played.

"You're up awfully early." Bear called to him, and Spalding struck a sour note on the guitar before setting it aside, wincing at Bear's voice.

"Hey, come on, cabron, keep it down. My head is killing me." He looked up and offered Bear a strange, devious smile. "I haven't slept yet. Most of us haven't."

Bear raised a bushy eyebrow at him. "What have you been doing?" He asked.

"We ate the worm." Spalding said, slapping his knee as though amused with himself. "Hard to sleep when you're busy drinking, smoking, and fucking, my friend." He grinned wider as he hooked a hand on his belt. He glanced at Everett and winked, and Everett only stared at him, not wanting to respond.