The First ~10K~ (book 3)

5.) White Eyes

Ashlyn POV—

I woke up the next morning to voices. I looked through my tent flap and saw my dad starting a fire with Zoey. She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders while my dad kneeled down and blew at the embers. The fire slowly came to life as I stepped out into the brisk morning air.

My dad turned and smiled at me. "Morning, honey," He said.

"Morning," I yawned. "Morning, Zoey,"

"Morning," She replied. I sat down next to my dad, rubbing my arms.

"How are you feeling, Zoey?" I asked.

"A bit achy and sore," She said.

"I cleaned her wound up when she woke up and changed the bandages. It doesn't look infected or irritated so it should heal up quick without too much problems." My dad added.

It went quiet after that. My dad kept poking at the fire and staring into it, like his mind was full. Zoey wouldn't look at either of us and she fiddled with the blanket.

"You guys okay?" I asked.

They both looked up at me. Zoey quickly looked away and my dad cleared his throat.

"Of course. Why wouldn't we be?" He said.

I shrugged. "You just seem off."

My dad glanced at Zoey but she wouldn't look at him. She got up quickly and went in the tent, the blanket flowing behind her like a cape.

My dad looked back at me and sighed. He threw the stick down and rubbed his hands together.

"Dad?" I said. "What aren't you telling me?"

He closed his eyes. I fiddled with my thumbs, hoping he wouldn't get angry or upset.

"Zoey told me what happened to her," He replied after a while. "But it's not my place to tell it to you."

My eyes widened. What? Did this mean she trusted us? Or at least my dad?

"When?" I asked.

"Last night, while you were in bed." He told me.

I nodded. "Do you think she'll tell me?"

My dad shrugged. "It's up to her, Ash."

*

A few days passed. We had a few herds come through, not anything big. Zoey was starting to get back on her feet and she was starting to get more comfortable around us. There were a few occasional moments where Zoey and my dad got nervous around each other. I didn't think much of it.

Zoey still hasn't told me what happened to her. I honestly didn't know if she ever would. I tried prying it out of my dad, but he would either ignore me or get angry. I decided to give up and just wait. There wasn't anything else I could do.

I was in my tent, reading a book my dad found a while ago and thought I would like. I heard twigs snap outside my tent. My eyes flickered up to the flaps and I saw Zoey's face peering inside. She slipped through, smiling at me.

"Hey," She said softly. "Can we talk?"

I marked the page I was on and set the book down. I moved over a bit so Zoey could sit down next to me. She sat down slowly and winced a bit due to the awkward position her wound was at.

"Is everything okay?" I asked. For a moment I was worried something had happened to my dad, but that quickly went away. If anyone tried to do anything to my dad, they would be the ones dead.

"Yeah, yeah, everything fine," Zoey replied. "I just...I need to tell you something."

'Oh,' I thought. Now I knew what she meant.