Sheltered

Chapter 31

"That took a while." Sav smirks as Olivia shuts the door behind her.

"Mhm." Oli mutters distractedly.
She climbs up the rickety ladder up to her bed, and hurriedly writes on a small notepad.

Savanna's face falls expressionless.
"What's wrong?"

"Savanna... you really need to stop digging in business that isn't yours." Olivia snaps, and continues writing.

Sav furrows her eyebrows, chewing on her lip.
"Okay."
And leaves the room.

Olivia doesn't raise her head as the heavy door swings closed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, Griff." Savanna steps into Ian's office.

"Savanna." Griffin nods his head without looking up from a small laptop.

"So um..." Sav hesitates. "Oli was acting kinda weird. Is um- I everything okay?"

"Yes." Griffin replies flatly.

"Are you sure?

"Savanna." He snaps his head up to look her in the eyes. "It's none of your business. We both have work to do."

Savanna swallows the lump in her throat, taking a deep breath.
"Is it about Ian?"

Griffin's face softens at the sound of his brother's name. A long pause follows.

"Yes." Griffin says, his voice splitting.

Savanna's heart drops.
"What is it?" She spits out, her eyes beginning to burn.

Griffin blinks several times.
"He's missing, Sav." He states firmly.
"I'm not sure how, or why... but we sent a group of trackers down there."

"...Okay." Savanna whispers.

She quickly walks up to where Griffin is sitting, and embraces him in a tight hug.
"Um... thanks for- for letting me know."

With a weak smile, she backs away from him, turns around, and sprints out of the room.

I have to do something...

As the words run through her mind over and over, she checks her small watch.

8:49 p.m.

"Okay."
She runs down the hall, through a door, up the ladder, and opens the hatch.

As Sav climbs outside, she breathes in the cool night air. A tear falls from her face as she covers the hatch with mud and leaves.

Her heartbeat and panting are the only sounds filling the dark, empty forest.

~~~~~~~~

"I need to go downstairs." She sputters, looking the old man straight in the eyes.

"Why you in such a rush?" Bill grumbles.

"It doesn't concern you, does it?" Savanna spits out.

The grey man raises his brows. "Watch your tone." And nods toward the hatch leading downstairs.

The wooden stairs creak as she runs down, the odd smell of twisted smoke filling Sav's breath.

"Military dogs. Trained"
A heavy, fully tattooed man sits next to a pen, three snarling German shepherds inside.

"Blades n' shit"
A quite manly looking woman stands behind a small table, long knives and darts forming a line.

Savanna walks toward her.
"How much for that?" She asks, pointing to what looks like a black kitchen knife.

"What do you got?" The woman croaks, her warm breath filling the air in front of her.

Savanna reaches into her jean pockets.
"Four bucks... and uh..." she wiggles her fingers in her pocket. "And this." She pulls out a tiny bag of what looks like old, dried up plants.

The woman snatched the bag from Savanna's hand, and slides the blade toward her without a word.

"Okay..." Sav whispers to herself, grabbing the handle as her heart pounds.

I should use oregano as payment more often... she thinks to herself, trying not to laugh as she sprints away.

"Excuse me?" Savanna mumbles to a sleepy-looking, muscular young man. His head is down as he slouches in a chair, shaggy black hair covering his eyes.
"Mhm?" His deep voice comes from beneath a cigarette.

"So um, do you have anything that would be useful for a... um- like- a trip?" Savanna stutters.

The young man smirks, raising his pale brown eyes to look at her. "What kind of trip, lovely?"
His voice echos in her mind.

He's Australian. Sav thinks to herself.

"I'm not really sure yet." She responds, her voice quaking a bit.

He raises an eyebrow, drops his cigarette as he stands, towering above Savanna. He grimaces as he smashes his cigarette under his shoe.

"Might have something... one minute, doll."
He mutters.

Savanna watches intently as he pulls a few small paper bags from a larger one.

With a wide smile, he pulls out what looks like a thin, dark green shotgun.
"Dart gun." He grins. "This guy'll take down a grown man in five seconds."

Savanna eyes the gun curiously.
"I don't... I only have ten dollars."

The young man's deep laugh pierces the air.
"What's your name, sweetheart?"

"S- Savanna." She stutters.

"Nice to meet you, Savanna. I'm Lucas Williams." He smiles.

"Um... you too." Sav says as politely as she can.

"Tell you what, Savanna." He smirks. "You don't owe me a penny." He hands her the dart gun.

She takes it hesitantly. "Thank you?"

"Just... maybe meet me sometime, yeah?"
Lucas mutters, a soft look in his light eyes.

"Yeah, of course. Thank you so much." Sav starts to walk away, and he grabs her wrist lightly.

"Sunday night, meet me here... 8:00." He grins.

"Oh- yeah okay." Savanna chuckles nervously, breaking her arm away.
"Thank you, Lucas Williams."

"Luke." He says with a wink.

Savanna nods at him, and runs back up the stairs.