Page 35 of Savagely Yours
Then, he smiled.
I didn’t.
After this, I knew I would think about him for several days, dreaming about what never could or would have been, until my new purpose eased him from my mind and heart for good. As the embers of my dying feelings created mounds of ash, I would nourish my pain by facilitating an uprising. I would show the jackasses who’d created this rebirth of feudalism that I was not only essential.
I was also lethal.
Law school had taught me more than how to navigate the justice system. It taught me how to be a master strategist, how to analyze power structures while employing tactical maneuvers to exploit weaknesses in bureaucratic systems. Given how quickly this place appeared to have been erected, all it would take was a well-placed shot in its vulnerable exhaust port to send the whole thing up in flames.
Jeremy walked up, stealing my attention from Dez, and set his hands on the bin. “Let me help you with this,” he offered. “And let’s make it quick. I think I’m being watched or followed. Or both.”
We entered the saloon doors.
I glanced back at Dez one last time. As pissed as I was, I needed that last glance. However, the spot where he’d stood moments ago was now empty.
CHAPTER EIGHT
LARKE
I followed Jeremy to our usual meeting place behind the loudest, most obnoxious dryer in the empty laundromat. Because he looked skittish, I made a mental note to suggest that we change the location of our future meetups. Jeremy was too essential a cog in our plans for us to lose him for any reason.
At the moment, he and Ana were the “voice” of our burgeoning revolution. I used my expertise to play a more behind-the-scenes role, organizing and coordinating communications. We had a greater chance of success by allowing those in charge to think that they were unstoppable, all too ignorant to pay attention to the dangers that lay hidden in silence.
“Change of location for tomorrow’s meeting,” he said. “Old one is no longer safe.”
“Not safe for tomorrow or unsafe indefinitely?” I asked.
“Indefinitely. Some Class Threes were sent to the old location to do a security sweep, which isn’t what they usually do. And I think somebody’s watching me. So, we have to be even more careful than we’ve already been.”
“And our cover?”
He patted one of his uniform pockets. “That’s fine. I mean, they take daily inventory, so there’s no way they don’t know some of the uniforms are taking extra rations, and that some of those extra rations are being used as payment for…favors. At this point, I think it’s expected as long as we don’t cross any major lines.”
We paused.
The first few minutes into our conversations, we always paused, watching each other and silently testing whether the trust we’d built in only a few weeks was growing stronger or becoming tenuous. While rebellions would always be necessary to kill tyranny, they were stressful. Each time a new face showed up, our antennae rose. Someone with good intentions could turn on us in a heartbeat if offered the right privileges.
“Larke…” He sighed. “There’s something I have to tell you. Something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”
My heart sank. “You’re bowing out.”
“No, not at all. Look, I’ll be honest. I’m a straight, White guy from the Bible Belt who served in the U.S. military and came from a relatively well-to-do family. When the pandemic started, I only got worried when I realized it affected everybody equally. This time, I didn’t have any social armor. There was no group to scapegoat to remove the target from my skull. I’m not proud of it, but that was how I was taught to see the world—that I was special. Everyone else was another.Then I got to Totten, and they gave me Class Four status. They showed me where the ‘low-class folks’ live so I could see how good I have it. In essence, I got my armor back, and I was fine with that for a while.”
“So why help?” I questioned. “You do have it pretty good.”
“Yeah, but you don’t. Ana and everyone else I’ve met so far don’t either. I’m still a product of my faith, and the things they’ve asked us to do? I don’t want to get to the end of my life and be faced with the realization that I’m seeking entrance into heaven,and the only thing I have to show for my existence is a lifetime of being a coward.”
I squinted at him, head shaking. “Mmm…no. Men don’t have moral epiphanies. Who is it, Tamra?”
He smiled. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Kendra? Sabine? Is it Leigh? I can see you having a thing for Leigh.”
“A guy can change without there being a woman involv?—”
He fell backward.
At least, I’d assumed he fell backward until I noticed he was still on his feet, pressed against an adjacent dryer, Dez’s hand around his neck.
