The Event

8.

Nerves swam in my gut the next morning when I heard Brent unzipping his tent. I feared that he would be able to take one look at the ropes around Kayne's hands and legs and he'd know that I had messed up. Hell, I worried he'd only need to look at my face to know that I'd been an idiot. I know he wouldn't care that I had sort of gotten Kayne back, he would only focus on the fact that I'd let him trick me at all. I didn't need the group thinking I was anymore dead weight than they already do.

Thankfully, when Brent came out, he seemed to be in good spirits, for him anyway.

"Looky there, runt." He smirked at me. "Girl makes a good lookout." He said before he swished some water around in his mouth and went off to relieve himself. It was the closest thing I've ever gotten to a compliment from him.

"Why are you smiling?" Kayne asked suddenly, making me jump since he had been stone still and silent for the last few hours.

I blushed slightly as I turned to give him a look, narrowing my eyes at him. "None of your business." I snapped at him. "Am I not allowed to smile?"

Kayne shrugged as best he could in his restraints. "I just wondered." He said softly, leaning his head back to look up at the thin white clouds above us. "I like it when you smile."

I blushed deeper, and I was glad he wasn't looking at me now. I still turned my face away just in case. We hadn't spoken much last night after he'd come back. He didn't seem to sleep, but more or less he just went into a super relaxed state with his eyes open, but staring blankly away like he's doing now.

"You alright, Row?" Jeremy asked.

I hadn't even noticed him coming out of his tent. "Um, yeah." I nodded. "Just tired."

"I bet." He agreed as he patted me on the back. "Here," He said pulling his bag off of his back and digging through it. "Take my last power bar."

"No, Jer, that's yours." I shook my head at him.

Jeremy narrowed his eyes and grabbed my hand, putting the bar into it. "We will be back at the visitor's center soon. You just take it." He said folding my fingers around it and pushing it back to me. "I don't need the extra energy."

I shook my head at him, but then swiftly ripped into it, devouring the whole thing quickly. I had been going so sparingly on my food supply because I wasn't sure if we'd ever make it to the bottom of this stupid ass mountain, so having a whole bar might as well have been like having a four course feast. I washed it down with some water, then stood up and walked around our little camp a little, trying to get some of the stiffness out of my joints.

I bumped into Brent and he rolled his eyes when he saw that it was me. "Kid, you've got to learn to be a little more aware of your surroundings." He snapped.

"I'm not a kid." I reminded him.

He looked down at me and laughed. "Yeah, you are." He shook his head. "Did the prisoner give you any trouble?" He asked and I prayed that my face wasn't going to give it away.

"Nope." I lied. "Not a bit."

"Good going, kid." He clapped my shoulder before going over to poke at the fire with the rest of the group.

I had to hide my hint of jealousy as I watched everyone. They seemed so well rested while I could hardly get away with blinking without falling asleep. I shouldn't have been so stubborn about the stupid gun, but I just don't trust any of these people other than my brother, who is afraid of guns, and Tommy who would have been willing to keep it, but I didn't want him to be pressured by everyone else to give it up.