Kennedy Hoss of Musket

Chapter 25: Choppers

Song:

According to Crow's watch, five minutes have crept by. And according to the small number in the corner of the illuminated face, the temperature is also creeping up.

I slip off my pullover and dab myself with it, loving my camisole for keeping me cool. Suddenly, Crow starts singing.

"99 inches of steel in the wall 99 inches of steel, we all go down and wait around 99 inches of steel in the wall."

I whack him with my pullover and I hear him bump against the wall. He moves his watch beneath his chin and switches on the built-in flashlight, revealing his shadowy face.

"Mother- ow! Geez Kennedy..." He throws the pullover back at me and I unzip my pack to stuff it in. While I am doing this, Crow aims his light at a bottle of painkillers sitting on top of my things. "Hey what's-"

"Don't worry about it," I say, zipping my backpack closed.

Crow eyes me suspiciously. I shrug it off and pick at a piece of straw as if it's way more interesting than what could possibly be in my pack.

"Let's play something," I suggest after a while. Crow tilts his head and sits up.

"Like what?"

"How about truth or dare?"

He nods. "Do you want to go first?"

I nod. "Truth or dare?"

Crow thinks for a moment. "Uh dare."

"Hmm.... how about... lick the wall."

He presses his tongue to the wall and licks it, then pulls away.

"There's really nothing to do for dares, how about we just do truth?"

Biting my lip, I dread the questions to come. "Alright. Truth."

Crow shakes his head. "Alright, it's killing me, what's in your bag."

Slowly, I pull the zipper and let him shine his watch light into its depths. His hand finds one of the bottles of painkiller and he lifts it out to examine it.

"Painkillers?" He asks. I struggle to look at him. "Why are you hiding these?"

Taking a deep breath, I come clean. "Honestly? I've lived on my battery for so long and I felt so tough for it. But then you and Ana, you're already so tough. When I lost my battery I felt so weak. I don't want you guys to see me like that, like this, weak in pain."

"That doesn't make you weak," says Crow, "you didn't pick whether or not to have a battery. It was for your survival, so that's an exception. You're just as tough as we are."

I look at him and sigh. Exception, I don't like that word. All I wanted was to be tough, and to be strong for the Musketinians. Heroes have no exceptions, nothing holds them down.

"Alright, give me one," Crow says interrupting my thoughts. I take a minute to think.

"Okay... who do you like? Tell me about that."

Crow shrugs. "I don't really like anyone."

"What who's 'not really'?" I push. If he didn't like anyone he would have said "no", right? I knew Crow talked to a few other people, but most of the time he did I wasn't around. I wonder if anyone else sits with him on the fence.

"I don't know, just nobody." Crow presses back, taking a moment to pick at a hangnail. "Same question for you."

I shrug. "Same I guess." Deep down I hoped my answer would bug him, too.