Page 56 of The Pale Rider
“And then?” I demanded.
What was with his whole snuggling and stealing kisses? Why did he tell me we couldn’t have sex until I remembered him if he was just babysitting me until he could dump me back at home? Was this some plot to fuck with my head so I wouldn’t leave?
Aeron just grinned at me.
“Well, I was hoping that painting might come true like the rest of your paintings do.”
I punched Aeron in the arm. He was back to being a dick, but I guess I could admit I liked it when he did.
“So, what? We have an orgy in the Oval Office, and you dump me back at home, then we all go our separate ways?”
Aeron nipped at the tip of my nose.
“No, I’m saying after the orgy, you will want to keep us and will have to get a bigger apartment.”
“Go to bed, Aeron.”
I didn’t even know his team. I was developing pretty strong feelings for Aeron, but I also knew I had pretty strong opinions on cheating.
I wasnothaving an orgy in the Oval Office. I didn’t care what that painting said. I was probably just high when I painted it.
Chapter 33
W
e actually did it. We managed to travel through a bombed-out landscape with mutated corpses who wanted to eat us with just a sword, a blue baseball bat, and a crazy horse. We didn’t do it alone. Gabriel’s Haven helped, and so did the entire state of California. That right there told me the world was still worth saving. I’d been scared, hungry, and dirty, but the worse thing that happened to me was a long line of stitches in my arm.
Still, I was nervous. Did I have some sort of online relationship with Leif like I did with Aeron? I couldn’t remember anything about my chats with Leif. If he had been looking for me as hard as Aeron and we had something going, he would be excited to see me. And I would crush him by not remembering a single thing about it.
It was easy remembering with Miss Mabel. All I had to do was see that kind, beautiful, lined face, and I just remembered. I didn’t have that with Aeron or Leif. I’d never met them in person. The only way I remembered things with Aeron was when he told me something, and it triggered a memory. I was pretty sure that kiss that unlocked some of my memories was our first kiss, but I couldn’t even make logical sense of how I remembered things.
As much as I wanted to chit chat when we rode before, I just wanted silence right now. I wanted to be alone with my thoughts. When they were driving needles into my skin and taking my blood, they did everything they could to terrorize me. There were always flashing lights and had recordings of screaming playing. They couldn’t even hear my tiny screams because they were playing it so loudly.
I just knew they weren’t doing that because they enjoyed torturing children. There was a purpose. Wouldn’t the same thing need to happen to make a cure? I didn’t know the first thing about the science behind any of this.
I noticed the landscape started changing the further we got past the burned zone and closer to San Quintin. San Quintin didn’t just set up a wall around the city. They’d booby-trapped everything within the vicinity.
I saw some same wood traps with sharp spikes. I also noticed Meremoth wasn’t walking straight. He was walking like a drunk horse.
“Aeron, I know you’ve got a weird horse, but what is he doing?”
“They covered the pits. They’ve got deep pits dug all over the place to trap Rage Heads, murderers, and thieves. That was my idea. The big wooden pikes were Leif’s design.”
“But we saw them in Washington State.”
“Because I taught this to the good people. Some wicked people saw and built their own. Armed soldiers will meet us when we pass that crumbled statue. Don’t worry. They are on our side.”
“Are they going to Lady Scientist me like your friend Martinez?”
“He’s an ass, but I’d trust him at my back in battle. Don’t make any sudden moves when we get close to that statue. They will shoot to kill if they think you are a threat.”
I had a healthy appreciation for not getting shot to death, so I tried to lay Smurfette across Meremoth, where she was less visible. I was holding my breath when we got to that statue. All I could see was a pair of legs. The rest of the statue was in rubble by the base.
Don’t ask me where they came from. They just sort of appeared out of nowhere, but ten soldiers surrounded us with guns pointed right at my chest.
“State your business!”
“I need to get this woman to Leif. She’s part of our team.”
