Page 22 of Tristano

It’s what you do to survive.

So instead of focusing on him, I open the bottle, chugging down several swallows before putting the lid back on.

He grunts, leaving the room.

“Why did you do that?” Mandy asks.

I look over to her, my mind weary. “If we don’t get water every three days, we will eventually die. I bought us a chance to survive. I don’t know if it was a good decision or not. Based on what he said, we might be better off dead.”

I hear a few of the girls whimper at my words. They are bleak, but the truth is all we have.

We can’t live on false hope anymore.

All we can do is try our best to survive.

* * *

“Tris…”

It’s her voice I hear. Her voice calling out to me.

Grunting I wave my hand in front of my face, refusing to open my eyes.

“Tris…I need you.”

“Serena,” I mumble.

Something hits me in the face, jolting me awake.

I peel my eyes open and find Greer squatting in front of me.

“I need you,” Greer hisses at me.

“Why does your face look like that?” I ask as I take in her contorted face.

She reaches forward and slams her fist into my chest. “Because I’m having a fucking contraction, you asshole.”

“What!” I yell as I shoot up, making Greer sway back. As I stand, I grab her arms. “Are you okay? What do I need to do?”

She makes that ugly face again as she digs her nails into my forearms.

“Breathe…”

Once the contraction passes, she pants, “I need you to help me downstairs. Enzo ran across the street to grab me one of those fruit smoothies.”

“Talk about shit timing,” I mumble under my breath as I usher Greer toward the door. “How far along are they?”

“Close enough.” She cringes.

“You were already having them when you sent Enzo on the drink run, weren’t you?” I smirk as we step into the elevator.

Greer ignores my question. “I booked you a ticket to Chicago.”

I feel myself tense when what she says registers. “Why…”

Greer grunts and holds onto me with one hand and her stomach with the other.

These are too fucking close. If this elevator doesn’t hurry the fuck up, I’m going to end up seeing what’s between her legs, and not in the fun way.

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