Our Darkest Memories

5. Convinced

I did a small calculation in my head. The Yellow had been here for a week now. He said that the red would have waited two or three days before walking in a slow paste. It wouldn't be hard to catch up with her, but we would also have to find her.

"We should probably be back within a week," I decided. It would probably be less than a week, but in case it would take longer, Clancy wouldn't have to worry.

He nodded absentmindedly.
"You can get some food and water bottles from the kitchen. I'll alert them. We probably don't have gas money, so if you run out of gas, you probably have to tap it from another car. If you don't know how, Buz will know."

I felt relieved hearing that. While giving him a grateful look, I walked towards the door to leave.

"Morgan?"

I turned my head to face him.
"Just be careful. Reds can be very dangerous. I don't care what he or she looks like. Handle them with caution."

A smile formed around my lips, trying to reassure him. He was worried. For me.

"Of course. See you next week."

I rushed out so I could get to my cabin to pack my stuff. While exiting, I saw someone leaning against the cabin from the corner of my eye. She immediately came up when I walked out the door. Ignoring the girl that I knew was Nadia, I jogged towards the guarding post I knew Buz was located at.

It wasn't too far away, and when I got there, I felt his eyes stinging on my back while I looked around. It wasn't surprising that he wanted a different position. His post was pretty close to the bathroom and I could smell it.

"You have nerves showing up here."
He almost spat the words at me, but I decided that I wouldn't pay attention to that.

"We are going on a mission, me and your team," I announced while trying to not look at the gun he was holding.

No idea how they got hold of the guns, but they were definitely useful in certain situations. They were also really good to threaten someone, so me standing here talking to Buz with a gun was not the best combination of circumstances.

"You want to come on a mission with us?" he snarled. "Don't make me laugh. If you were to come on a mission, you would only mess it up. What kind of mission is it anyway?"

I felt a little offended. I didn't expect any nice words or compliments coming from Buz's mouth, but still. It's never nice hearing someone basically say that I'm not very good at doing... things.

With a tone that made me sound superior, I explained the situation. When I mentioned that we could use the jeep, his face cleared.

For some reason, Buz had an obsession with cars. I don't know where it came from, but I have overheard him several times talking to his friends about cars. Apparently, he loved driving them, so just to annoy him, I claimed the car, even though I didn't like driving.

"I'm driving," I stated.

His face turned grumpy, his nose wrinkled.
"I don't think so."

"Sadly for you, you don't have a say in this. Do you know where the red is? I don't think so, so I'm driving."

His face turned red, but then he abruptly turned around and walked away. I grinned, happy that I made him so mad.

While whistling a song, I went back to my cabin and grabbed a vest, jeans, and an extra shirt. After putting them in a small, blue backpack, I walked towards the building that was used as the kitchen. Buz had seemingly told his team what we were gonna do because three other boys were stuffing a few food packages and six water bottles in a sports bag. From the pointy shapes sticking from the back, I concluded that they had also packed guns.

The three boys and Buz looked up when I entered. I recognized the skinny, blond-haired boy as Mitchel, the small, brown-skinned boy as Aaron, and the pale, freckled boy as Lee.

None of them said anything until we were done packing. While walking out of the camp, some people were watching, including an angry Nadia. I averted her gaze.

We went in the direction of the road that was not too far away from the camp. After maybe 20 minutes of walking, we finally reached the jeep. It was a brown color, but to make it even less noticeable, it was covered with mud and there were many leaves, twigs and other things draped over it.

After removing most of it, we finally put our bags in the trunk and stepped in the car. I took the driver's seat, while Buz sat next to me in the passenger's seat. I turned the key that I had previously picked up before leaving the camp, in the ignition and laid my hands on the steering wheel.

The car made a humming noise and I sat still for a moment, not sure what was holding me back from immediately pushing the gas pedal.

I vaguely remembered driving a car before, and I knew how to do it. Where did I learn to do it, though? I shrugged my shoulders because, for some unknown reason, I didn't want to think about that. I guess I just figured it out on my own.

After a moment of uncertainty, Buz started to complain about my inability to drive, so I hesitantly put my foot on the right pedal, causing the car to roll forward while I steadily gripped the steering wheel.

This was gonna be a hell of a ride, I knew immediately. Mostly the hell part.