Blazen

The decoy

"So you were the one running around the desert screaming "help," all the time?" Josh asked Sam.

She nodded her head, her mouth full of fruit.

"So... You were like... A decoy?" He asked her

"Right again," Sam answered. "I tried getting them follow my voice one way, and I would head the opposite way."

Josh nodded. "Smart thinking."

Josh had already devoured his fruit, and downed his drink in record time. He was hungry I get that, but for some reason I wasn't.

I just sat quietly. I didn't feel right. I felt like I wasn't in my skin.

"Hey, why are you so quiet?" Sam asked me.

I shrugged.

"He's just all butthurt about being a wolf beast. But I think it suits him. Being the odd one out, but at the same time smart, but still weird and hated by everyone..." Josh said mockingly.

"Shut up asshole!" I snapped at him.

"Make me, wolf boy!" Josh said trying to get me to fight him. But I knew better than to fall for his stupid tricks. He just wants to fight to prove to Sam he's all tough.

Instead I smiled and watched him take another fruit. He took a huge bite and chewed it heavily. The fruit were prickly pears from the cactuses around the desert valley.

"Don't choke..." I whispered in the most fake-sincere voice I could conjure up.

Almost immediately he started coughing and spitting out his fruit. Sam and I both laughed as Josh turned red, trying to punch me. He finally got the seed out of his throat and gave me a death stare. I shrugged and smiled.

I looked at Sam, who was giggling and smiling. She had beautiful eyes and her laugh was infectious. And I couldn't help look at her lips. She bit one when she smirked.

Sam turned and caught me staring.

I quickly looked away and cleared my throat.

She giggled and leaned back, still smiling.

I smiled too.

Josh, now fully recovered from choking, glared at me like he wanted to kill me. He rested his arms on his knees.

"At least I'm not a wolf freak..." He muttered under his breath.

My smile disappeared as I stood up. Forget using my wits, I'm gonna break Josh's face in with my fist.

Everyone always forgets I was on lacrosse back in school. I have muscles, I just never use them.

Josh stood, ready to fight me.

I drew my arm back ready to give him a good one when Sam jumped in the middle of us.

"WHOA WHOA WHOA! Calm down guys! What are you trying to do?"

I lowered my fist a little.

"JESUS calm down! We don't need your testosterone fueled fist fight! It's not gonna make anything better, and you know that!"

Josh backed down, and I did too.

But Sam kept going.

"Thomas, I thought you were the smart one!? Don't be stupid and waste time like this! Get your head out of your ass!"

I looked down feeling a bit ashamed and embarrassed.

Then she turned to Josh.

"And you! You don't need to be such a bully all the time! Seems like the only muscle you don't use is your brain!!"

Josh clenched and un-clenched his fists a few times but calmed down eventually.

Sam sighed.

"Besides," she said, "I don't know why you're calling Thomas the freak wolf boy... You're the one who got scratched by them. For all we know, you could be the wolf-man."

Josh's hand flew up to his face. He ran his fingers over the scratches on his cheek.

"Wait..." I asked, "you think HE'S the wolf!?"

Sam shrugged.
"Well it's gotta be one of you. But seeing as Josh was with me all last night, odds are it was you."

"Oh," I said disappointed. "Right."

Josh crossed his arms and made a smug face.
"I'm just perfect. Nothing wrong with me. Just lucky I guess," he went on mockingly.

I ignored him. But Sam did remind me of something. The night I went into the wolf camp I heard the one wolves say to "use the boy," then afterwards Josh got the scratches on his cheek.

"Okay I gotta take a piss, be right back." Josh said picking himself up and walking off behind the Hollywood sign.

I turned to Sam.
"Hey, I need to talk to you about something. Actually, I need to talk to you about a lot of things."

Sam nodded.
"When?"

"Tonight. I'll take the first watch. As soon as Josh is asleep, meet me out here by the rock."

Sam nodded and turned to go to the tent.

"Oh and hey," I said grabbing her shoulder to stop her, "you can't tell Josh."

"Alright, I won't." She said softly.

Josh returned shortly after and we all started cleaning up the camp and organizing the boxes and crates and putting them into the tent. Josh kept working on the sand cave while Sam and I worked on making another tent. It was more of a canopy really.

Later we all went to gather more cactus fruit, and Sam showed us a little desert oasis she had found for water. It was impressive. She knew so much about surviving here.

It felt nice being like this. Working together, having a little fun. The mood was seemingly lighter now too. Sam was great. I liked having her around. And even though Josh and I wanted to kill each other constantly, she kept us at peace. And it was... Nice.

It almost made me feel like we had a shot at getting out of here.

But of course I over thought the situation.

I thought about Sam being so good at surviving.
It meant she's been here for a long time. And that meant she hadn't found a way out yet. And that means maybe there was no way out. And that meant we could be stuck here. Forever.

I didn't like the thought, and I tried pushing it out of my head. But I just made things worse. I overthought about the wolf camp, and the wolf creatures, the pictures, the meat, the cracks in the ground, the maps with the strange markings, and Josh's scratches. I overthought everything. And it was killing me.

In short, my head was spinning with all the thoughts.

As we walked back from picking fruit I let my mind wander, trying to lose some of the less than positive predictions I had made about this situation.

I was so dizzy from it all. It was too much and I felt so tired. There was so much pressure on my mind that I almost missed the fact that it was already getting dark and there were wolf tracks all through our camp.