Page 77 of Lost

“So, why do you care whether or not I’m wasted?”

“Because I know you’re better than this.”

She snorted. “That was a crazy thing to say.”

“Why?”

She opened her mouth to answer him but was interrupted by a stream of red vampyres rushing past their vehicle to surround the flatbed.

“Shit. It’s starting. I can’t look.” She bowed her head, staring down at her feet. “Tell me when it’s over.”

“Okay, but I’ll also tell you what’s going on. It’s how my sister used to watch horror movies with me when we were little.”

Her eyes cut to his. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, I used to love horror movies. My sister hated them, but she wouldn’t let me watch them alone because then I had bad dreams and got into bed with her. So, she’d sit with me, but she’d cover her eyes with her hands. She asked me to describe what was going on because she said it was less scary when I told the story to her.”

“Okay, I’m willing to give it a try. If you keep filling up my glass.”

“Will do.” Kevin refilled her glass and began his commentary. “They’ve surrounded the round bales. Stark’s keeping his arrow aimed at the first one, and Dallas—” Kevin paused then and grinned at Aphrodite. “Hey, even though I couldn’t laugh when you said it in front of Stark, I want you to know your nickname for him cracks me up.”

“Oh, you mean Lieutenant Dickless. I don’t consider it a nickname. I consider it a fact.”

Kevin snorted a laugh, then went back to describing what was happening. “So, Lieutenant Dickless has a longsword and is approaching the first bale. Ah, shit. He’s going to stab it into—!” Kevin sucked in a breath.

“What? What happened?”

“He stabbed it into the bale and nothing happened. Now, he’s stabbing it over and over again. It’s just a bale of hay. No one’s inside!” He thought Aphrodite would be glad, but she kept drinking and looking down at the knee-high boots she was wearing. “Um, did you hear me?”

“Yeah, I heard. Keep watching. Not all the bales have people in them. The Resistance wouldn’t be such a pain in Neferet’s ass if they were stupid.”

“Oh, good point. Okay. Watching. They’re moving to the next bale.” Kevin held his breath, then let it out on a sigh. “That’s just hay too. Now they’re going to a bale on the end.”

“That’s not good news. I know. I was hiding inside that one.”

“You?”

“Not literally. When I have a vision I always see it from the point of view of someone who is dying—usually horribly. That’s why it’s hard for me to give specific details, because I feel what the dying person feels.”

Kevin’s stomach roiled. “That must be awful.”

“It’s worse than that.”

He looked up. “Crap. They’re at the next bale. Okay, he’s stabbing it and—shit. He hit something.”

“Not a person, though.”

“No. He hit something hard, and just the tip of his sword disappeared into it.”

“It’s because it’s not a real bale. The inside is hollow and wheel-like. There’s a door on the side to get in and out. They somehow stuck the hay to the outside of the wheel. Inside can hold, oh, about four big people, or a couple of adults and three or four kids. Hey, I’m going to close my eyes and cover my ears when they start screaming.”

“They found a latch and they’re opening it.” Kevin swallowed down the urge to puke. He wanted to cover his eyes too. And then relief flooded him. “It’s empty!”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, look!”

“Nope. Not until they check them all. At least half of the bales on this flatbed and the other one are filled with people.”