The Sentinels (Book One)

Chapter 17

Nella shivered and licked her dry icy lips. She reached back to grab her water bottle and noticed there was only a little bit left. Her head turned to Tai.

He had been watching, and was looking up at her silently, but she could see the plead in his eyes. He looked at the bottle and then to her.

"Here," she handed her bottle to him. The water inside was ice cold. "You can have the rest. You need to stay hydrated. Stay strong."

He took it with a small, dirty shaking hand and held the bottle to his chest. "Are you sure? What about you?"

"I'll be fine. I'm not thirsty."

Tai blinked and observed her for a moment, then pulled the bottle to his lips, his eyes not leaving hers. Then he turned forward again as they walked, emptying the bottle and handing it back to her apolagetically, as if feeling selfish.

She took the bottle and packed it in her backpack, resting her hand on his shoulders reassuringly, hiding the fact that she was dying of thirst inside.

Jax turned around ahead of them to check where the sun was at. It was behind the tree tops of the forest behind them, which was far off now. The sky was barely orange from the sunset. What once was a beautiful thing that people watched for fun was now just a gray misty sunset, the fog and dust covering the art, the atmosphere broken up.

"Are we going to set up camp now?" She asked as Jax turned forward again. "It's going to be dark soon."

"No."

Nella sighed. Jax was still being snappy. They had walked two hours longer than they normally would, and he wouldnt give in to rest. He was determined that they had "wasted too much time at Mr. Banker's place anyway," and she guessed he was right. But his additude and shortness with her was bugging her. Tai had been quiet the whole trip, not wanting to set him off.

Her stomach growled and she thought about the original plan, to eat a little bit that morning. But Jax had said no, and had stopped them from making the fire. She wished they could eat now, but she knew arguing with Jax wouldn't help, she wouldn't win. His headache is making his thinking blurry. He's not making rational decisions. They couldn't just set up camp without him and eat, because with him in a mood like this, she was afraid he would keep on going without them, and they would get lost. Plus, he had the matches in his backpack. She had run out of lighter fluid a while ago, and all they had left was the box they had gotten back at the barn, which Jax held on to.

Suddenly Tai tripped and stumbled, but Jax whipped an arm out and grabbed the back of his jacket before he hit the ground, pulling him up to his feet. Tai's face turned pink in embarrassment but Jax kept looking forward. What happened to all the teasing and playing with Tai you used to do? All this because of a headache?

A sudden thought hit her that made her feel her panic start to return. She was used to thinking of worst case scenarios. You had to, if you wanted to be prepared and safe in today's world. He regrets helping us and traveling with us. He wishes he was on his own again, and knows we slow him down. He wants to leave us. She looked up at him, but all she could see was the back of his head. Is that it? What if he leaves today? Or tomorrow? Just disappears? She shook it off, telling herself she was just overthinking.

Something in Jax's mind must have clicked, because he stopped and turned around. "Okay, we'll stop now."

His sky eyes flicked from the sun to her, then to Tai. Tai's dull brown eyes stared at the dust blankly. Everyone's just out if it today.

Jax knelt down and helped Nella pull the tarp out of her backpack. They didn't talk or look at each other, just worked. They set it up and paused when part of the thin sheet tore. Nella looked at it worriedly. They needed a new sheet for a tent, the tarp was too old. Carefully, they pitched the rest up the way they normally did, standing it up with a long stick in the middle and weighing it down with rocks around the outside. Then they took the floor tarp and flattened it out below the roof of the tent. Next, they threw their blankets inside, setting Jax's lamp with them for later. Outside the tent, they looked for small twigs that had blown there from the forest, and piled them for a fire. There wasn't much wood to burn, and the forest was too far away to travel to. The fire wouldn't last long, but it was something. Tai sat down in the sand and watched, dazed, as they worked.