OXRO: Insubordination

Chapter 19

Fake the lie until it becomes the truth. His heart was racing with the swiftness of a thousand wild horses. He sat in the front seat of the late model sedan keeping his tone steady and surging with fervor. Ethan and Oliver nodded along to his words as if he was a fearless leader. He didn't know if it was just because they'd just woken up to the reality of the truth or if he was getting better at being a Rho. Honing his skill of manipulation.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Oliver asked, holding up the baseball bat like it was a melting popsicle. He was sure water was still in his lungs and his throat was irritated from coughing and gasping air after being nearly drowned but he'd remembered. He remembered everything. And one of those things was that the Hunters didn't hurl baseballs at them. They shot bullets. "Wood doesn't stop hot lead."

Denver eyed Oliver sharply from the rearview mirror with an audible huff. "Where's my appreciation." He twisted in his seat to glare back at the wet-headed boy and than at Ethan at his side. "While ya'll were blissful in dreamland I was making plans."

"And all you got was this," Ethan held up the field hockey stick like it was a discarded drumstick. He continued just as Denver's hard glowing eyes leered at him, "Don't bite my head off. It's just the facts. We need guns. And we need to move. I can go find them." He glanced at the clock on the dashboard. It had been five minutes. Five minutes too long. "Tracking is what I—"

"No one is leaving the damn car." Denver scoffed. "Fuck!" He gripped the sides of his face slightly shivering, not knowing if it was from his rain-soaked clothes or the fear bubbling under his skin. "Asia will be here. She'll be here. The last thing I need is for you two jackasses to run around this campus when she does."

"I'm not a jackass." Ethan pointed the stick rigidly at him.

Denver humphed pushing the stick away from his face, "We're all asses for getting caught. If I wouldn't have gotten shot we wouldn't."

"True," Oliver added sitting back, looking about the darkness cloaking their little sedan. "We should've left you."

"We should've left you!" Denver hissed back."If Asia and I would have gone straight to Vulcan's Landing after getting the message—"

"Fuck you!"

"Ollie Black, always the selfish dick."

"Stop. Stop!" Ethan raised his voice commanding the attention and silence from their bickering. He stroked his temple feeling a headache brewing. "No one is leaving anyone behind. Let's all keep our cool."

"And who are we supposed to do that?" Oliver asked, peering out the window to see if something was lurking in the darkness. He didn't feel safe sitting in the parking lot in the parked car.

Rain pounding against the car's roof filled the silence that fell upon them. A silence that was strained with the fear and urgency that kept their mouths closed. The nightmare of Tranquility Woods and the Hunters haunted their memories. They were no longer the naive co-eds that went on a Spring Break trip that unholy weekend only afraid of telling their parents they'd earned a 'D' on a mid-term. They feared a different persona. One that reveled in spilling their blood and claiming them as their captor.

"Have..." Ethan started as a heaviness rested in his chest. A pain fiercer than gnawing on his head from the cocktail Denver shot him up with. He didn't want to ask for fear of the answer it would yield. He didn't know how he'd take getting the three-letter answer he needed to know. "I can't remember, but it's Leslee..." He grinned his teeth together swallowing hard to build up the courage to add that ghastly word with her name. "Is Leslee dead?"

Denver shook his head slightly, "I don't know."

"I guess that's better than yes." He muttered the fear dwindling just a bit as hope rose. "Leslee's brave and smart. I'm sure she's safe." He held his chest as if his heartbeats depended on her safety. "She has to be."