The next day is a long and wet one. I hate the rain. I'd rather be swimming in water than being drenched in it from above. The air is a lot cooler, though. It's actually pretty chilly, so we decide to stop by a store to buy warmer clothes.
I browse the coat racks and come across a cute purple jacket, which is warm enough to wear over my tank top. I also buy a pair of skinny jeans and some socks to go with the purple converse I found.
Ash walks out of the store to me wearing a black leather jacket, which sets off his green eyes beautifully. Keagan follows him with a coveting look on his face as Ash puts his arms around me. He has bought a black jacket with turquoise accents.
"I could get used to this bad-boy look. It's sexy." I grin and lace my fingers with his.
"You look gorgeous." He presses his lips to my forehead.
"I love you." I stand on my tiptoes and kiss his lips.
"I love you, too." He hugs me tightly.
Keagan groans and turns to look the other way.
"What's wrong?" I look at him, my lips tugging into a frown.
"Nothing important. Why? You don't actually care, do you?" He rolls his eyes.
"Yes, I fucking care. You know I do. What's wrong?" I cross my arms.
"Nothing." He fakes a smile.
I decide it's best to drop the subject. He is so stubborn.
Ash rubs my arm to comfort me. "Let's go before any spies see us."
We walk down the road until we get to a tiny cafe and my stomach grumbles from the scent of biscuits. "We need food."
We walk inside and I long for Anastasia's biscuits and gravy. I won't find it here, though. A heavy-set, red-head named Renee walks up to us. "Table or booth?"
"Either will be fine." Ash puts an arm around me in a protective manner. Why is he being like that? Is something wrong?
We walk to the booth Renee puts our silverware on. "What can I get you?"
"Can I get some hash browns and a ham and cheese omelet? Oh, and some orange juice?" My voice almost goes inaudible as I notice her eyes. Anastasia's eyes. That's what was wrong with Ash.
She repeats what I said to confirm it and then moves on to Keagan and Ash, who both order the same thing as me, but they ask for coffee instead of orange juice.
As soon as Renee galumphs away from our table, I look at the boys. "We need to eat everything on our plates. If you can't eat it, get it to-go. Just hurry."
They nod in agreement, Ash being more enthusiastic than Keagan, as Renee returns with our food. "If yall need anything else, just holler."
We nod as we scarf down as much food as we can. The omelet is amazing and the hash browns are mouthwatering, but I can't eat it all. I still have half of the omelet and two-thirds of the hash browns when we all agree that we're full. I guess our stomachs shrank from not eating for so long.
"Renee, do you think we could get three large to-go containers?" I put the money on the paying counter.
"Coming up, sugar." She disappears into the kitchen and comes back with the containers.
She starts to give me the change back but I tell her to keep it as a tip. She graciously thanks me and then we're on our way.
The sun has come out and the humidity makes the temperature skyrocket. We stop to change in the woods. As I shimmy out of my shorts, Ash sneaks peeks.
"Oh, stop it!" I playfully smack him and he grabs my butt.
"I'll do what I want, you sexy thing." He laughs at me and pulls me into his arms.
"Will you put sunblock on me?" I kiss him softly.
He grabs the sunblock from my bag and lathers it onto my skin, massaging it into my sunburn ever so gently. He kisses across my back and I can feel his breath on my neck.
The moment is over before it even began. Spies explode from behind the trees, surrounding us. I quickly get my gun and take out the tree in front of us. Ash takes out five more, leaving Keagan to take out the final two. They barely even put up a fight. Monroe really needs better spies.
We take off and end up about three miles from the West Virginia Territory, which is still an Ag-Ex territory. My stomach rumbles again and we sit down to enjoy a little of our breakfasts. We still don't finish our food and there's more than enough left for dinner.
We get up and walk five miles and six more spies greet us. Two for each of us. I shoot at a girl with lavender hair and the bullet bounces off with a metal clang. I've heard about these spies, but always thought they were a myth. Androids. Robots. They're almost impossible to kill with weapons. You have to short out their circuits.
I look around for a water source and spy a pond about a half a mile away. I run to the edge of it and three androids follow me. I splash water at them, sending them to the ground in tremors. I look over at Ash, who continues to fight off two identical robots with sage green hair.
Another robot comes my way and I throw some more water, shorting her out. Ash gets free from the twins and runs frantically to me. They follow in high pursuit and I splash water all over them. They're on the ground within seconds.
I smile to myself, but the smile disappears when I realize that I don't see Keagan anywhere. I look at the ground, in search of his body. One sticks out like a sore thumb. This one isn't twitching like the rest. He's bleeding.
I run to him as fast as I can. Blood seeps into his shirt sleeve. A bullet has grazed his arm, which should be easy to treat. I've seen my uncle treat bullet wounds all the time.
I take the first-aid kit out of my bag and get out the spray labeled Bullet Wound. As soon as I spritz it onto the bloody graze, it clears up a little, but I spray the rest of it onto the wound so he doesn't bleed again. It disappears, leaving a small scar.
"Mercy?" Keagan's voice is but a croak.
"What, honey?" I touch his face.
"Your knee is crushing my balls." He looks down.
I quickly remove my knee from his groin and help him up. "Sorry about that."
"It's okay." He smiles for the first time since we left home.
Tears flood my eyes before I realize it and I wrap my arms around him. "Dot scare me like that ever again. I thought you were dead."
His arms wrap around me tightly. "Far from it, sweetie."
"Don't call me sweetie." I push him playfully.
I hear footsteps behind me and I splash water on it from a puddle without even looking, thinking it's an android.
"What was that for?"
I turn to see Ash. "My bad!" I try to suppress the rippling giggles that are burbling up my throat. Keagan is rolling on the sidewalk, laughing uncontrollably. I can't help but cut loose with an eccentric giggle.
"Very funny." He splashes me.
The water gets all over my clothes, chilling me to the bone when the wind blows. Keagan drapes his jacket around me.
"Keep it." He smiles.
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