Maverick (A G.I. Joe Fanfiction)

Chapter 11: Timber

I really like having animals in my books and when I found out Snake have a wolf in the comics I got a lot of strange looks at the library at school. -Carrath

At the touch of his finger against my shoulder, my hands shoot up. I seized his wrist and turned onto my back, making it look as if I was still asleep while I moved him into the light of the four candles I'd left burning. However, I don't need to see his face to know who he was, he had already touched me.

"I was screaming, wasn't I?" I asked, opening my eyes to see Snake-eyes black-masked head nod. "Sorry." I looked away from him, but he turned it back and shook his head.

"You shouldn't be sorry for the thing you can't control," I heard a familiar raspy voice comment.

I released Snake's wrist and brushed a few locks of hair out of my face before reaching for my iPod. It was six A.M. on the dot, the normal time I would have waken up at if I was going for a jog or to the gym to spare with Mark and Uncle Ben. With my ankle the way it was, I would have to wait a few more days before I got back to doing any of that again.

"If you want breakfast you might want to get dressed," Storm recommended, rising out of the high back desk chair.

"Right," I agreed, kicking off my covers and throwing my legs over the side of the bed. "You two go ahead, I'll find my way there." That earned me a doubtful raised eyebrow from Storm. "You can't question the abilities you haven't seen."

"We were going to leave Timber to lead you anyway," Storm revealed, his gaze sweeping down my legs.

"Timber?" I asked as I inspected my ankle.

"He's a friend of Snake's," Storm replied, closing the door behind Snake and him.

Well, that was vague, I thought as I strolled over to my closet. I yanked free a gray sleeved baseball-shirt and a pair of jeans from their hangers while I ran my fingers through my hair. After I tugged on the top and jumped into my pants, I jammed my feet into a pair of black Vans. Once my shoes were on, I redid my hands with the remanding medical supplies Jane had gotten for me then grabbed my glasses, wakazashi, and iPod off the bedside table. Before heading for the door, I did a once through my hair with the comb and scooped up my backpack off my deck. As I opened the door and stepped into the hall, I positioned my glasses onto my nose and placed everything else but my iPod in my backpack. When I turned away from the door, I briefly spotted a glimmer of something in my peripheral vision before it vanished down the hall and around a corner.

"Timber," I called, starting down the hall at a jog.

I held tight to an exposed pipe as I speed through the turn and come to an elevator. Inside the elevator, to my puzzlement, was something gray and black and stood on all fours. I rolled my eyes and shook my head as I boarded the elevator. The wolf turned his head and looked up at me as if he were asking, "Where to?"

"HOLD THE ELEVATOR!" My foot jams itself between the closing metal doors just as I heard a flute-like voice holler out the command. "Thanks."

"Welcome," I said, catching sight of cargo pants tucked into combat boots. "Going to breakfast?"

"Yeah," she said as the doors closed and the elevator moved up. "Flint is cooking this morning."

"Flint?" I asked, looking up at her brown-eyed, red-haired and lovely face.

"Oh, that's right. You're the new girl, you haven't gotten to know all of us yet."

"Not yet, but the few I have I can honestly say I like."

"That's good to hear. I'm Lady Jaye by to way."

"Maverick."

"I know. Welcome to The Pit"