...
I weigh one lazy hand at the bottom of the wheel, watching the road with bored eyes and a numb ass. Thai and Scor fell asleep a while ago, but I can't get my head straight.
I keep one eye on the crack-ridden mess of tar ahead, scanning for Zero tribes or the sparsely distributed potholes that litter this stretch of the Army highway. They tried to reclaim this zone, put in good roads and everything, but the base near here fell to Zeros last year.
My attention gravitates to the rear-view mirror, where I watch as Reid's chest moves stiffly.
"Scor," I murmur, low and discreet. His blonde eyebrows bunch, gesturing me away before he tucks his face back into the crook of his shoulder.
I reach over and pinch his knee, and he jolts, eyes flying open as he waves his gun around.
I snicker, "Yo, yo," I try to calm, but he slackens in his chair then serves me a nasty curl of his lip.
"Jesus fuck, dickhead." He cusses, voice thick with sleep.
I bite my lip, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"Should be." He whimps.
"Trent is playing nice but we gotta get straight on what we gon' do 'bout him." I say.
"Maybe I'll get him whipped on me so he won't kill you." He cracks a wry grin, rubbing his eyes.
"If you wan' warts then sure." I imagine the case of warts Mal had.
He rolls his eyes, moving on, "Bad blood about the secret boyfriend you popped, right?"
"Stabbed, but same difference," I scratch my cheek, watching the road.
"That's kind of hot. Secret boyfriend."
I wrinkle my nose, "Yeah, more like Trent was groomed at fourteen by a disgusting, twenty-eight-year-old brute."
Scorpius's face drops, "Oh, jesus fuck, that's horrible... surely you did him a favour then?" He thinks for a millisecond, "Oh. Figures this Trent bloke don' see it that way yet. You reckon he gon' try kill you?"
I nod in answer and he leans forward, adjusting his seat casually.
"Yeah right then, he starts up and I'll pop him. That bitch Blu already gives me the shīts. Ordinarily I'd vote to drop their ässes, watch 'em try play nice with the KillTagz," the killtagz are the slave tribe that runs this part of the REDZONE, "but can't do that cause the army could pick 'em."
I nod, "I reckon we talk to Thai and Elias too, don' think it's good for us to start calling shots like we're some big-dick leaders or nothing, but," My attention slips when Reid flinches in his sleep, "uh, if any of them pull the pin we gon' pop 'em before it blows. Set?"
Scor nods like he agrees, but his attention moves to Reid who's body weighs heavy on Thai's legs. She shifts in her sleep, uncomfortable, but the movement stirs him. "Well, his veins aren't purple no more. Means he's getting close to the end. Med kit is in the back, you can play nurse when we get there." He says, reading my thoughts, "Anyway I set it up with Dexo and Wolf that they're gon' meet us tomorrow at the gorge then they're gon' take us to meet the zecs," executives. "Same deal from before you were plucked, we give 'em what we got and they take us in... we'll be living in their territory but it'll keep me out of mums way so I can get with it." Scorpius hasn't seen his mother, Maddon Voytah, for the last six years.
"What about the others?"
The burns welded into Reid's thigh are feral and unkempt, but, what's worse are the mirage of bruises all over him. It looks like four guys took to beating and kicking him, and Wilkes definitely had another go at his ribs because they're as black as his tattoos.
"Heratix gon' want new grunts," Scor shrugs. "They'll take anything as long as we give them their guns back."
I glance at the road for a moment, but Reid kicks the door lazily in his sleep, catching our attention as his chorded arm snakes across his middle. I frown as he curls his fist mid-air like he's trying to grab his weapon, but in the absence of a gun he flinches awake and jerks himself upright with rapid lungs, "No."
His burst of aggression jolts us and Scorpius's hand flies to his seat belt, like he expects he'll have to unclip it to hold him back.
"No fück you for bringing him into this!" Reid argues, and I gulp to catch up.
The person in his hallucination replies and he grits his jaw, trying to sit up but the commotion disturbs Thai. She blinks, disoriented, but then he grunts out a pained noise and she jumps into action, trying to wrangle him back. He fights her, "Tokyo!" his dark eyes fix on Scor like he's about to kill him, "Perth gon' fuck-."
Perth?
"Reid, what do you—." Thai begins but I shush her, grasping her leg.
"Let him talk—." I start but then Reid grabs my hand, the angle straining my shoulder so bad that I cry out, "Oi—."
"Let her go, mate—." Scor tries to soothe, but Reid breaks free, "Yo!" Scor bleats.
Scor shoves him off, grabbing his throat, but I cry out, trying to pry my arm free, looking between them and the road.
"Get your hands off her." Reid grips me tighter, making no damn sense, "You're fücked in the head," He taunts, but Scor shoves him again.
Reid loses it and they burst into another brawl, the passenger seat the only barrier between them, "Vi," Thai warns, pointing ahead.
"Reid!" I exclaim when he jerks my arm. The car swerves. Scorpius lunges to help me, each of us with a hand on the wheel and the other on Reid. My heart hammers.
"Fück is you doing?" Blu shouts from the boot, making it worse.
"Vi, there's someone on the ro—. Vi!"
I rip myself free, barely steering clear of the... Zero. A woman stands in the middle, her leg twitching as she angles her birdlike nose at us. The black makeup smeared across her face makes her look like a soul-eater. I regain control of the vehicle and swerve to dodge, then whoosh, she disappears behind us.
"I had to! You were gon' fuckin' kill me!" Reid grates out, unable to get free of Scorpius, but the vehemence in his features makes my heart stop.
"Reid," I try to break the dog-mad glare on his striking features, but he glowers at me defensively.
His expression confuses me. What is he seeing? Who is he defending? From whom?
Thai interrupts. "Had to what, Reid?" Panicking, she coaxes him into releasing Scor by prying his hand free.
"Thank Jesus fuck." Scor jerks his chin with a shitty expression.
Reid's attention switches rapidly like several people are screaming in his ears. "Mum I know," He grates, "I know he don' swim but Kade gon' sit at the edge, I'm coming."
Thai looks at him, aghast, and my grip on the wheel pulses. Is he dreaming that his mum is trapped in the reservoir? I'm coming.
Does he realise he's out? That he's not gon' die tonight? I hate the guttural feeling that grips me like I'm sick with guilt or something.
"You can't have her though. Please," Reid's face twists in pain, gripping Thai's hand.
"They're not gon' get her." She soothes, but it seems to confuse him because he wrinkles his face up, looking at her. Finally, like a cloud parting, Reid's head comes clear. He looks at their hands and his confusion turns sour. He releases her quickly like she's grossing him out.
Who did he think she was?
She seems confused by his callous release of her, not really offended, just confused.
Reid blinks like he's trying to focus his eyes, "What'd I say?" He rasps, but then he looks around, breathing faster. Abruptly, he strains to sit up.
"Hey, hey," she tries, but his strength falters and he hisses, collapsing on his elbow so he can cradle his rib. Even with my eyes on the road, I can tell how weak he is.
Unable to help myself, I reach around, and in sympathy for my uselessness, Scor takes the wheel. When Reid sees my face his battered features subdue, and his eyes find mine, opening his mouth like he wants to say something, but nothing comes out. My lips part.
Thai jumps on the chance to tame him, "Lie back," she declares, nudging his elbow so she can lower him. He slumps into her lap, seething out a tight breath from the jolt to his ribs, and I turn back to the road.
"No," he groans suddenly, like he's realised something. He tries to get free of her, "Thai no, don' touch me, you gon' pick it up."
She wrinkles her face, "W-Wha-."
"She can't get it by touch," Scorpius interrupts, and Reid snaps his eyes to him, sharp and full of dislike. But slowly, his confusion dissolves.
"We got out," Thai tries to orientate him, but he just closes his eyes like the energy it takes to breathe is too much. "You understand that? Reid?"
Silence descends, and I watch in the rear-view. Myers fixes her with a death glare from hell, but I realise, mutely, that his eyes are glassy with pain. His expression breaks my heart.
"Reid, please, do you understand what I'm saying? You're not going to die." She awaits some sort of reply, but he just lays there, halfway dead.
"Scorpius, can I do anything for him?" She asks, her voice peppered by the ache of helplessness.
Scor grimaces, shaking his head slightly. We fall silent again, surrounded by the sound of the road under us. A good lapse of time passes.
"How long till it stops?" Reid finally splits the hum of the car.
I hesitate to reply, so Scor recovers for me, "How's your rib?"
Reid's angular features are shrouded by a litany of bruises and scrapes, the purple smattered across his cheek blending with the dark circles under his eyes.
He looks dangerous... He looks like he's from Lake Darling.
Reid fixes Scor with a glare like he don' know how he recognises him—like he doesn't remember attacking him mere moments ago. "Pain hurts for real." He mutters.
Oh thank god if he's in pain then the mania definitely isn't permanent.
"Then you'll be good by tonight. But you need to sleep." I murmur, glancing at him in the rear-view mirror. My shoulder aches like all hell.
Reid's dirty-green eyes catch mine, but they're hollow of anything except exhaustion and hostility like he knows he's vulnerable.
"Am I gon' dream?" His hoarse voice weakens like he can't bear any more. The weight of his gaze pins me in place.
"You'll come good," I look away.
Silence. A spell of long, tense, quiet pervades, in which Scorpius's laser gaze weighs on my cheek as he scrutinises me. His Mania makes him so keenly empathetic that he can feel tense emotions. He once described it as a thickness in the air that sticks to his skin and gives him goosebumps that prickle like needles down his arms.
"Oh and I found," Scorpius remembers, opening the glove box, "two pens, an' this." He shakes a tattered book in his tattooed hand.
"Oh sweet. Can I use it later?" I grimace as I attempt to raise my hand to the top of the steering wheel.
Scorpius doesn't bother answering, "Your arm givin' you grief? Is it the same shoulder you did in that chase through Holders?"
My hand drops, "Yeah. Fuckin' thing has popped out twice since then, but it's worse this time." I admit. "It'd be fine if you stole an auto." I try to joke.
"Auto's for pussies," Scor quips as he leans in his seat, goose necking at the blur of scenery passing to determine where we are.
I read his mind, already opening my mouth to tell him we can't risk switching drivers this deep in KillTag territory, "It's not safe."
"Nah, we're sweet. You can, do whatever the fuck you wan' with this," he shakes the paper, eyebrows drawn like he thinks I'm weird. Just like that, Scorpius opens his door despite the fact we're belting down the highway at one hundred and thirty KM/H.
"Yo!" Scorpius dangles one foot over the tar as he bolsters the door open with his body. Air thuds the cab, "We're changing drivers! Use that rifle if Zero's come!" He tells the others before he slams the door. "Alright. Let's go."
I grumble a complaint, though if I'm honest a wash of relief hits me.
...
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