Page 86 of Resurgent

“Gods, I hate you all,” I laugh.

Korr's mouth twitches. “No, she doesn't.”

I stand and quickly undo all but the small dressing Theo applied beneath the mountain of wrap. “Can I finish the exercise now?”

Three voices answer simultaneously, “No.”

I raise an eyebrow at Hunter, not daring to break eye contact…and when he sighs, I know I've won.

“Fine. But can you at least try not to get hurt again? I don’t think there will be any med supplies left for all the other recruits if you so much as stub your toe again.”

Ian and Theo share an embarrassed chuckle as Mattey and I take up our positions in the exercise once more.

Luckily, the rest of the afternoon passes without another incident and by sunset, I'm thoroughly exhausted.

The bruises on my side ache more than the wound itself, but my leg is another story. After hours of running, climbing, crouching, and hauling equipment, every muscle from my hip down feels like it has been wrung out.

I stretch beside the fire while the first sparks rise into the darkening sky.

“You alive?” Matt asks, dropping down beside me.

“Unfortunately.”

“Good.”

Across the fire, Theo’s talking to Ian until his gaze finds me, lingering a second longer than seems normal, but then he turns back to Ian, fully engaged in their conversation.

Eventually, someone starts passing around food, someone else starts telling a wildly exaggerated story about a training exercise, and the entire camp settles into that strange kind of exhaustion that makes everyone louder instead of quieter.

By the time the instructors finally order us to bed, I'm ready to collapse…until we discover the sleeping arrangements.

“Random?” Matt repeats.

Renwick nods.

Matt looks toward the tents, then back at her. “She's in tent six and I’m in tent seventeen.”

“Correct.”

“Absolutely not,” Matt says, as though he isn’t talking to an instructor.

Renwick sighs, “You don't get to choose.”

I laugh, “You're being ridiculous, Mattey.”

“I'm being responsible.”

Korr walks past us, “You're being annoying…but I agree with Reyes.”

“Thank you!”

“We’re not going to start rearranging recruits this late at night. Everyone will want to sleep by their friends.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of everything” Matt says, shooting us both a wink.

Within ten minutes, he's dragging his sleeping bag into my tent.

“You're unbelievable, but thank you.”