Riley
I wake up to the smell of something delicious and the sun shining through the tent. I look over to Ava's sleeping bag to see that she's not there. That makes my pulse rise. We just met these people, Thomas, Brenda, and Minho if that was even his name. So I'm not going to let my guard down even if they provide us food.
I tuck a knife into my boot before getting out of the tent.
"Ava?" There's a small camp fire going and all four of them are gathered around it.
"Yeah she's an independent girl she doesn't like to ask for things even when we desperately need it." Ava says to Minho.
I cringe when I realize that she's talking about me. She will never admit it, but she can sometimes be a major flirt.
"She does seem a bit hard headed." Minho says and everyone else mumbles their agreements.
"Excuse me?" I say loud enough to make myself known. I walk over to Ava and cross my arms.
"What are you doing?" I ask her.
"Riley calm down we were only just talking." Thomas interjects.
"The hell you are. Scoot over." Ava quickly moves over on the log so I have someplace to sit. I cross my arms over my chest.
"Chill I didn't tell them anything." She whispers into my ear.
"I don't want you talking to them. We have no idea who they are and what they're capable of. I thought you of all people would know that."
She just shakes her head and returns to what she was roasting in the fire. I take a closer look to see that it's fish. Why does it smell so good?
"It's seasoned. Frypan found some herbs so that's what we use most of the time." Thomas says apparently reading my mind.
Frypan?
"Who's this Frypan guy?" I ask.
"He's the cook I guess you can say. Our camp is here and the others are over there." He points his stick to the right of the fire.
Great there's more people.
He has an arm around Brenda and she leans her head on his shoulder.
Okay so Brenda and Thomas are an item and Minho hates me. How wonderful.
I look over at Minho and take in his appearance. He has on a dirty tank, jeans, and by the looks of it, he seems very muscular. He also looks like he's shooting daggers at the fire. Does my presence really annoy him that much?
"It's not polite to stare." Ava nudges me.
"I wasn't staring." I mumble as I look away.
Everyone's eating a moment later. My mouth waters but I refuse to consume anything these guys make me.
"What, are you just going to sit there and starve?" Minho speaks up.
"That was the plan." I give him a sarcastic smile.
"Suit yourself."
"Come on Riley, here." Brenda hands me a stick with a piece of fish attached to it at the end. I consider not trusting her for a moment but then decide to just go with it. It's not going to help either of us if I'm starving.
I'm practically drooling at the mouth as the fish roasts. I can't remember the last time we actually had something substantial to eat.
"So Riley..." Brenda starts.
"What?"
"Where are you from?"
"Does it matter?" I snap.
"Woah just asking." She lifts her hands up in a surrendering matter.
"Listen carefully. I don't mean to sound bitchy or anything but we didn't come here to get to know you guys. We just wanted to check out this area."
"Then why don't you just leave?" Minho interjects.
"Well maybe-"
"Riley stop." Ava grabs my clenched fist and I immediately loosen up.
"I think you guys should stick with us for a while." Thomas says carefully.
"I was thinking the same thing." Ava smiles at him. He blushes.
He freakin blushes.
Oh hell no.
"Whatever do what you want." I throw the whole stick, fish included, into the fire and try to ignore my stomach's pleas.
I storm away from the fire and approach the coast line. I sit down and let the waves touch the tip of my boots. The waves always relax me.
I may seem overdramatic but when you have everyone in your life betray you, let me know how you would react. I have a hard time trusting anyone. In fact, Ava is the only person on this planet who's gained my trust since everything happened.
Maybe I should give them a chance? It's better to have more people with you than against you right?
"Um Riley?" A voice behind me says. I instantly take my knife from my boot and jump up.
"Woah! Hey!" Minho shrieks.
"Oh. Sorry. Next time don't sneak up on me." I sigh while placing it back in the small crevice of my boot.
"How do you expect me to do that?"
"I don't know, call out my name when you're at least 60 feet away. Maybe even say 'Riley! I'm not sneaking up on you. Don't kill me.' Something like that."
He laughs, a genuine laugh. I tuck some of my hair behind my ears.
"You are one tough shank."
"Shank?"
"Long story." He says looking at me. I grow uncomfortable as he stares.
"Well, what do you want?" I snap him out of his trance.
"Oh um Thomas wants me to take you and Ava on a tour of this place."
"Really? A bloody tour?" I grunt with frustration. I can think of 1,000 other things I could be doing right now.
"Well come on I'm going to hate this as much as you will."
I reluctantly follow him back to camp where we pick up Ava.
"It's about a mile walk to the next camp." He tells us.
"Freakin fantastic."
+
"Sooooo..." Ava breaks the silence after minutes have gone by.
"What?" Minho and I say at the same time.
I roll my eyes as he smiles playfully.
"How do you, Brenda, and Thomas know each other?" she asks. That's actually a great question.
"Trust me it's a long story. How do you two know each other?"
"We-"
"Don't." I warn her.
"It's a long story." Ava laughs.
Minho walks slightly in front of us and I find it hard to stop starting at his back muscles. How the heck is he so buff? I know for a fact that he's not doing bench presses-
"Well um this is it I guess."
I stop in my tracks and take it all in. There's tents everywhere and people walking around leisurely without a care in the world. They all seem.. happy. Which is very strange to me. There are many campfires already lit despite how early it is.
"Woah." Ava mutters.
"How many people.."
"About 200. I know it shucking ridiculous but we make it work." Minho replies smugly.
I never thought I would see a place like this again. A place where people can be happy and actually live their lives.
"So are you just going to stand there all day?" Minho smirks.
"Shut up." I grab Ava's arm and pull her close.
"Don't talk if it's not absolutely necessary." I say sternly.
"Yeah yeah." She waves me off as she walks off behind Minho. I follow them cautiously.
"Minho! Look what shuckface decided to show up."
Shuckface?
"Hey Frypan." A dark skinned boy runs up to Minho and they hug each other. So this is Frypan the 'cook.'
"We were just running through meal plans and-wait who are you?" He stares Ava and I down and I narrow my eyes at him.
"They showed up at our camp last night. I don't really know much about them." Minho shrugs.
"Well aren't you nice. I'm Riley this is Ava." He shakes our hands. Maybe I should try to be more open to others.
"A couple of newbies huh?" He smiles.
"We should get going." Minho glares at me. Okay what did I do now?
"It was nice to meet you." Ava says one last time before Minho drags us off to a small tent.
"Elizabeth!" He calls out.
A woman in her late 30s comes out of the tent. She has short blonde hair and bright blue eyes.
"Minho." She embraces him in a hug. He looks uncomfortable which makes me laugh.
"Hey just checking up on you. How everything going?"
"Fine just great! Look at you. You're practically growing out of that top already. Here I'll get you a fresh one." Elizabeth dives back into the tent without another word.
I raise my eyebrow at Minho.
"Let me guess. 'Its a long story.'" Ava says.
"Yeah." He rubs the back of his neck in discomfort.
"Here you go dear. Let me know if you need anything else."
"Thanks. Take care okay?" He gives her another hug and that's when we decide to go back to camp.
"I'll start answering questions when both of you start answering mine."
"Rubbish." I say underneath my breath.
We walk along the grass instead of the sand seeing as our shoes were getting ruined. Ava and I talk about everything that happened. How did anyone else find the flat trans? Is everyone here immune?
Minho walks in front of us and shakes his head the whole time. He knows it's killing us to know the answers but he won't budge. Whatever, it's not like we need his help.
I watch him for the rest of the way until he finally decides to change that dirty tank of his.
He pulls the shirt over his head and I have trouble keeping a straight face.
Holy
Shit.
He's totally ripped. His back muscles protrude every time he takes a step. And I can't help but think that he has the nicest body I've ever seen.
"You know he's pretty hot." Ava teases.
"He's alright." I shrug. Minho might have a nice body, shit I mean a smoking hot body, but he's still a jerk.
That's when I straight up slam right into him which causes both of us to fall on the grass.
I land right on top of his bare chest and he holds my elbows for balance.
"You okay?" He teases.
"I'm fine. Get your hands off of me." I say rudely but I can feel the heat rising to my cheeks.
I lift myself up and walk forward leaving both of them behind.
I'm becoming too soft.
All of a sudden I see a flash of white out of the corner of my eye. I whip my head in the direction of the trees but it's already gone.
"Stop being paranoid." I tell myself.
I get back to camp right before it starts getting dark. Minho and Ava were still a safe distance away.
"Hey! How was the tour?" Brenda comes up to me.
"I've been on better." I shrug.
"Here eat this. You haven't eaten anything all day." she reaches out to give me some left over fish.
I'm about to protest but my stomach rumbles.
"Thanks." I manage a smile as I take the food. We end up sitting on a log in complete silence. I practically down the whole fish without a second thought. I'll probably regret that later.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"It's not that big of a deal-"
"Leave me alone!"
I whip my head around to see Minho and Ava approaching.
"Woah what's going on?!" I exclaim.
"It's just a question!" Minho yells at her. That's when I run over to them and shove Minho's chest.
"You do not talk to her like that." I warn him.
"I just wanted to know how she got that scar. It looks infected." he takes a step towards Ava and cautiously touches her back.
I can see the tears streaming down her face as she screams out in pain.
"She doesn't want to talk about it okay?"
"It's one shucking question!" he roughly grabs Ava by the arm and she shrieks once again.
And that's when I punch him right in the face. He falls on he floor and groans in pain as blood collects around his nose.
"Don't you ever lay a finger on her again or I'll kill you. I swear." I spit. I notice that Brenda and Thomas are both staring at us in shock.
"That goes for the both of you."
Hellllllooo I hope you liked this chapter. Please vote/comment so we know what you guys like or what we can improve on. Thanks for reading you Shank ;)
~Deisha