What Walks Among Us (book one)

Going on a Trip

The next morning I was up bright and early, Cody and I jogged in blissful peace the whole time. Thankfully he never brought up last night, though I wasn't sure if he had knew what I was thinking, or it was simply because of the graceful exit.

Whichever his reason for not bringing up last night, I was grateful nonetheless.

That very same afternoon I was drying my hair from the shower I had just taken, and curled up with Chip on the couch when Sam walked in with Cody and they looked to be in deep discussion and I decided to just ignore them, as it probably wasn't my business.

Chip was pushing her head into my hand, giving me no alternative to petting her, as every time I would attempt to stop, she would start making noises and after a second it would wear me down. Which is why, amidst me talking to Chip and telling her how unbearably needy she was, I didn't hear when Sam tried to say my name to grab my attention.

"Kodi. Koooodi, Sunnnnshine.."

I glanced up after a minute of this, and found Cody looking at me, head tilted, and Sam was just smiling smally, his eyes wondering if I had been purposefully ignoring him.

"What? Sorry," I said quickly, "Chip was being needy.. nevermind, what did you need?" I squinted at him, hoping he wasn't about to ask just why I was talking to Chip like an actual person.

He smiled slowly, "Well, Beck told us about last night, and we saw you at the hot spring, and we were thinking that we could start training you for some other jobs to help out around the compound."

"Yes!" I said, standing up and dumping poor Chip on the floor, I cleared my throat and bent to pick her up, "I mean, yeah sure if that's what you guys want to do," I said, more offhandedly.

Chip glared at me, and walked off, towards the stairs. I sighed in defeat and straightened out again. Sam was grinning now, and Cody's eyes were filled with something that I couldn't quite decipher, but I saw the amusement sprinkled in.

"You'll be going on a supply run with me, Cody, Trish, and Tucker."

I knew I was staring at him with wide eyes, the last thing I expected was Cody to agree I should be allowed out. He was so hard on me while we trained. It was like he didn't see me, but what I could be, and while I was thankful for that inspirational motivation and support, I tended to not live up to his expectations. Whether it was how long and hard I could run, or how well I could aim.

I looked over at Cody for confirmation and he nodded, "Sam didn't think of it on his own. While we're all a little pissed you didn't bring a weapon with you, we are impressed you made it back and alive. The fact that you have had at least a dagger with you at all times since then is enough to prove that maybe that experience was needed. Now you're less likely to forget vital things," he folded his hands in front of himself, "Not to mention training. We've been at it less than two weeks and already you're improving greatly. More so than I could have hoped for," he cleared his throat and looked down, "So if you want to go you need to be packed within the hour. We leave right after we have a bite to eat for lunch."

He left then, and I was left looking at Sam with a mixture of surprise and delight. He winked at me, "Go get packed, I'll see you down here. I think Beck is seeing us off but you won't see Chester until we get back, and I am unsure about where your sister is. But this outing is a simple one."

I nodded and walked to the stairs, I was on the first step when Sam called out, "Oh Sunshine?" I turned, "Just because this mission is a simple one, doesn't mean it's low risk. Everything we do, every action, has a risk. Outside of that fence, everything is high risk."

****

At the fence we all met up. I noticed the girl, Trish, had short dark hair and even darker eyes. She gave me a once over and then turned away and asked Cody about something that was too quiet for me to catch. Beck was here, but only to say goodbye, as he wasn't allowed to come.