Page 58 of Unrest
Each day I woke hoping the unsettled, floating feeling would subside, but it never did. Remy had taken to crying out in the night, and her eyes unfocused throughout the day. I had a constant stomach ache, and I hated that I couldn’t keep track of Rylen with our crazy schedules. I worked off and on with medical duties in the day and watch duties at night.
A month passed after learning of the aliens from Bael. A month with otherworldly strange vibes hanging over us, keeping us edgy.
At breakfast, Matt handed Remy and I paper roses from across the table.
“Aw,” said Remy, smiling down at hers. “You made this?” He nodded at her.
“Thank you,” I told him. The smile felt strange on my lips.
“You know today is Valentine’s Day, right?” he asked.
“Is it really?” J.D. asked. “God, I always hated V-day.”
“Me too,” Mark said. “Blowing a whole paycheck just to try and get laid.”
“Didn’t work, did it?” Tex asked, winking. “Gotta act like you don’t give a shit.”
“Aw, that’s not true!” Remy threw her napkin at him across the table.
“Isn’t it, though?” Texas Harry had a full, scraggly beard now, and it suited him. Nobody here cared if anyone shaved or kept their hair short, though many still did out of habit and respect for “old” ways.
A bizarre sensation of reminiscence filled me as everyone laughed—a longing for our old world—and I quickly shook it off. Those kinds of feelings and thoughts only hurt my psyche. Still, I kept staring at the rose, intricately folded and detailed.
“Aren’t you just a romantic,” Josh joked.
Matt shrugged. “Us short guys have to work extra hard.”
Everyone chuckled again, and it was a nice, warming sound. I looked over at Rylen just as he looked at me, and our gazes caught, making my breath halt and my chest ache. I missed him. He wasn’t even at breakfast most days.
The others must have been thinking the same thing, because Josh said, “Dude, what the hell do they have you doing back there every day?” He inclined his head toward the door in the corner. The door that gave me shivers every time I passed it.
“This and that.” Rylen finished his coffee.
Texas Harry leaned in and whispered, “You met him yet?” We all knew who thehimwas, and we turned to Rylen, waiting. He’d gotten a haircut and shaved, looking fresh-faced and handsome despite the gray crescents under his eyes.
“Only seen him through glass.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
“Please tell me you get to watch him being interrogated,” Texas Harry said with a dirty grin. My stomach turned.
“Ew.” Remy looked at Rylen with question in her eyes.
“He’s pretty much already told them everything he knows,” Ry said, and I noticed that wasn’t an answer. “He was intercepted before he got to see their operation on Earth. They had minimal communications on the vessel with their people here because their comm gear was partially damaged when they entered the Milky Way. We know they have a leader they call the Bahntan, and their leaders are always female.”
Weird. So weird. Hearing these things made me feel like I was at a Star Wars convention, and I had to remind myself this was not play. This was very real.
Matt finished up first and left the table. I nearly groaned out loud when I saw Linette heading our way with a coffee in hand. She kicked Matt’s chair closer to Rylen and sat down right next to him, not looking at any of the rest of us.
“You joining us on the run or not?” she asked him, sipping her coffee as she watched him over the brim. My permanently unsettled stomach felt like a hole was burning through it as she eyed him.
Rylen let out a breath and ran a hand over his head. “Yeah, I’m in.”
I didnotlike the sound of that.
“Run?” Texas Harry asked.
Linette turned to him. “We’re taking a single convoy to the outskirts of Salt Lake City for resources tomorrow. Got room for one more. You interested?”
“Hell yeah,” Tex said.
