Page 9 of Wrong Squad, Right Mess

“Did you know I grew up around animals?” Kenyon walked beside me, helping me over fallen logs and rough terrain. He didn’t move as fast as Ingram and Carter, and was more talkative than Shear, which all made him a better companion.

“That makes sense,” I answered. “You seem like the type who would like that.”

“I always want to get a pet, but Carter is pretty anti-animal. Plus we often end up gone, so I mean, I get that. Still, there’s nothing better than getting home and having something there waiting for you. My mom always said a house wasn’t really a home if there wasn’t a pet.” He paused, as though realizing he’d just monologued for a while. “Did you have any pets growing up?”

I thought back to before it had all changed. “I had a bird. It was a little parakeet, and it liked to hangout on my shoulder when I was home.” The little green and yellow bird had been a birthday present when I’d turned ten, and its chirping had always made me smile.

Though going back hurt as much as it helped, the memories were even more dangerous given where we were. It felt like reaching for that happy life, when at the very place that had stolen it all away.

“I never got any regular birds,” Kenyon said, not calling attention to the nerves of mine he must have seen. “We had chickens and turkeys, but those aren’t the same thing. One of the roosters, though, was always mean to everyone else, but it loved me.”

I turned my gaze toward Ingram, who strolled ahead, attention pinned to the distance, no doubt looking for danger. “Maybe you’ve always been good at getting along with assholes.” I paused, then laughed. “Even me.”

“You’re not an asshole.”

“Of course I am. Come on, my nickname is Blizzard. That’s not because I’m seen as sweet.”

“Yeah, well, but that’s just because people don’t know how to deal with you. We took in animals sometimes at my house. My mom’s soft-hearted and she just couldn’t resist a sad story. We got this mule who hated everyone. Even me. We were told it was dangerous and would never recover, but my mom would take in an angry rattlesnake if she thought it needed a home. It took time, sure, but in the end, that mule became one of the best animals on the farm. It was the sweetest thing after it realized it was safe.”

“I’m not a mule,” I reminded him.

“I know that, but it’s still the same idea. Look, I get why you’ve been not that chummy with the other espers. I can’t really blame you, not after, well, everything. Still, you aren’t the same with us as you were with them.” He paused, frowning. “Well, you better not be the same, at least. My point is, sometimes we’re just reflections of what we’ve been through, right? Of what we’re going through, of who’s around us.”

I sighed, wondering just how a person could have that much faith in anything. Then again, he’d been like that the whole time. He’d been quick to accept me from the start, to overlook all my shortcomings, to welcome me back no matter how much I swiped and snarled.

In many ways, I saw that with the squad, too. Kenyon was the heart, the one to draw them together, to accept bad behavior and help them all move past it.

The truth was that these men were prickly, they were selfish and temperamental and ten gallons of crazy in five-gallon buckets. People like that didn’t fit together easily, were quick to cut each other rather than meld.

Kenyon was the reason they had peace, that they’d garnered anything that resembled a real life. He took all the sharp edges, all the bad attitudes, and formed them into a family—fucked up though they may be.

“Can I come meet your mom sometime?” The moment I asked, I wished I could suck the words back in. It felt presumptuous, too sudden. Why hadn’t I taken my own advice by not asking for things that I might not get?

“That might be a while,” he hedged.

“Right. Not a problem. I understand.” I laughed, the sound uneasy, trying to wipe away my stupid mistake. Of course, he didn’t want to introduce his mother to some random girl he was sleeping with. Who would?

“No, it’s not like that.” He caught my arm when I sped my steps, trying to escape the awkwardness. “She’s often off traveling with my dad. They got the kids out of the house and sold the farm, so she’s not exactly someone we can go visit. But, she comes by a lot when she’s in the state, so I’ll make sure she stops in when we’re back.”

“Oh.” My response was stupid, but it felt like a sudden wave moved off me. He wasn’t ashamed of me. He didn’t try to hide me away or keep me from meeting those important to him. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

“Fair warning—my mom’s like a hurricane. She usually shows up, cooks for us all, does everyone’s laundry, lectures us all about something, then breezes out. My dad just sits there watching her with this big, goofy grin on his face.” The smile that Kenyon wore as he said that made me think I’d seen the same smile, that it probably ran in the family. “I always wanted that sort of home, you know? Something happy. It could be chaotic, a little crazy, but I wanted it to feel like a break from the rest of the world.”

I again peered away from him, to the others. Carter was there at the front, constantly glancing back to check on us. Shear walked near the back, likely more in his own head than anywhere else, and Ingram darted here and there, often slipping into the shadows only to return a minute later.

I slipped my arm through the crook of his. “I think you made that sort of place.”

And I really wanted to help protect it.

We took another step when a scream barreled through the space, one that chilled me, one that I’d made before.

It was a sound created from pain and fear and desperation, and it never signaled anything good.

Chapter Six

Carter

The scream came from a human—I knew that much. Monsters didn’t make that noise, and neither did corrupted.