The Elements Trilogy: The Primaries

Chapter Thirteen: Fire

Troy swung the door shut behind us, and as soon as he turned around, I slapped him across the face. He stumbled backwards, and fell against the door, clutching his cheek.

"That's for smacking me in the ass!" I shouted.

"Would you rather have died?!" Skylar snapped back.

"He could've warned me!" I exclaimed angrily.

"Then you wouldn't have been as surprised, and we'd still be stuck in there!" She shot back.

"Guys..." Diamond said nervously. "Something's wrong with Troy."

My eyes darted over to Troy. He was leaning up against the door, eyes watering, hand held up to the place where I slapped him, staring off into space.

"Honestly, Troy, it couldn't have hurt that bad." I said guiltily.

"Troy? Troy, what's wrong?" Skylar knelt down next to him.

He suddenly snapped back to reality, glaring at me. "I turn to steel." He muttered.

"What?" I didn't hear what he had said.

He stood up, not moving his hand away from his face. "I SAID, I TURN TO FUCKING STEEL, EVIE!" He ripped his hand away his face, and we all gasped.

My stomach dropped. On his cheek, instead of just a red mark of my hand like there should have been, the mark of the slap had turned to steel in the exact replica of my hand.

"I did that?" I whispered, horrified.

He nodded, so much hurt and anger in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

"It's okay." he looked down at the ground. "I guess I should have told you."

"Hey, it could be worse." I offered.

He looked up at me, questioningly.

"You could have my ass print on your hand."

At that, he laughed, his mood seeming to switch instantly. He picked up two tents with ease, and at that exact moment, someone began pounding on the fire exit door.

"Earthhh!" A make voice purred. "We have a surprise for you!"

Diamond jumped. "Let's get out of here."

"Hell yeah." Evalynn said, shuddering.

"Right behind you guys." I added.

We all fell in line behind Skylar. Even though I hated her guts, I have to admit; she had balls.

***

By noon, it was sweltering, and we were all sweating and starving. Skylar made us wait until 1:00 to stop and eat, wanting to put as much distance between us and Diamond's assassins as possible.

I groaned as I slid my backpack off my shoulders and sat down on a log. My feet were killing me.

Skylar sighed. "What all did we manage to get from the store?"

"The tents. A lot of the food, rope, a pot, a few blankets and two pairs of hiking boots. Some matches, three flashlights and about 4 cans of bug spray." Diamond set all the stuff out in front of her.

"You guys are forgetting the two most important things that girls need. Luckily, I brought them." Troy laughed.

"What could you possibly have that girls need?" Skylar snickered.

"Well for starters," Troy dug into his backpack, and pulled out something that rattles. "Midol," he tossed it to Skylar, and reached into his backpack again. "And tampons." He threw a pack of tampons on the pile of other things.

Diamond blushed a furious red, and Troy grinned like an idiot.

"You're an ass!" Skylar shrieked, but she was grinning hysterically.

We all fell into a fit of laughter until something hit me. "Do we have anything to drink?"

Silence. "Holy shit." Evalynn murmured. We all desperately searched through our backpacks and in the pile of food, but there was no water or drinks anywhere.

"This is bad. This is really bad." Skylar moaned.

"What are we gonna do?" Evalynn asked. The question was directed toward Skylar, but it was Troy who answered.

"We eat. We walk. We set up camp. We're bound to run into a river or stream, or even a town sometime soon. Evie can boil the water, and we have matches if she can't get her fire going. We WILL find water."

I knew the chances of me getting my fire going by myself anytime soon were slim. And I also knew we were in the middle of the Pennsylvanian forest. Who knew how long it would be till we found a town?

We all knew this to be true, but no one said anything. We simply ate in silence, and began trudging along again. Second day in, and we were already falling apart.