“I don’t know. I just figured they weren’t around anymore. Are they still… are they still here?”
He smiles and turns to look back at some people gathered at the other side of the cave. “Sure are. There’s my dad—the one with the Navy ball cap. And that’s my mom. She brought you the towel and clothes.”
“Oh.” I push myself higher so I can see better. When they both smile at me, obviously recognizing they’re being talked about it, I smile back and then wave at them stupidly.
“You can meet them later. Right now you need to rest.”
“Maybe I don’t want to rest.”
“Tough.”
“Kind of bossy out here in the hills, aren’t you?”
“Definitely. They call me the Captain, you know.”
“They do?”
“Yep.”
I giggle. “Captain Silver Wolf Cade.”
“Now you sound delirious.” His tone is warm and fond.
“I’m not. I’m just… It’s been a really long day.”
“I know it has. So rest. Tomorrow you’ll be able to think better and you can decide how you really feel about all of this.”
“Okay. That sounds like a plan. Can I get some more of that water please?”
I drink water and eat some bread toasted over a fire, and then I doze off again. I’m warm and mostly comfortable now, so my sleep is more peaceful than it was earlier.
At one point, I half wake up—it doesn’t feel like too much time has passed—and I hear an unfamiliar voice laughing.
Then another guy hushes him. “Shut the fuck up,” that second voice hisses. “You’ll wake up the Captain’s girl.”
I have a private giggle before I drift off to sleep again.
The next morning, I wake up fuzzy and confused. My head is hurting, and my stomach is churning even before I sit up.
I lie very still for a few minutes, gradually opening my eyes. The sounds around me clue me into the fact that I’m still in the cave, and eventually the previous evening comes back to me.
Only then do I sit up slowly, blinking at all the activity happening around me.
There’s no way to tell what time in the morning it is since I can’t see the sky, but Cade said they had some sort of strike planned today. My guess is it’s still very early.
I feel like I woke at dawn with the world’s worst hangover.
Ironic, since I haven’t had a sip of alcohol since I finished my last bottle of wine before Impact.
I’m not in a fit state to stand up yet, so I sit silently, trying and failing to recognize any of the faces around me.
When a woman passes by, clutching a pile of clothes in both hands, I perk up.
That’s Cade’s mother.
My first instinct is a friendly greeting, as if I ran into a friend, but that’s ridiculous. My attachment is to Cade. My only interaction with his mother is the wave we shared last night.
She might not like me.
