Traveler - The Price (Book 3)

CHAPTER 7

Jo: When I looked in the mirror I saw a total mess, a tormented soul hidden behind a beautiful but insecure face. My memory was coming back slowly, but I still felt a part of me was missing, and that was unpleasant. With every memory that was coming back, I was living those feelings at the highest intensity. Andy had explained why everything was over between us, but it was evident he was not telling me everything. They were all hiding something. It was something strange in all of that, and I constantly had an uncertain feeling. Besides that, I felt regret in his voice.

When I got down the stairs, I saw all of them gathered in the middle of the room. 

"We're going to town for supplies," says Ivy. "We were heading there when we found you. Are you okay to come with us? Or do you want to stay here with someone?" 

"I'm coming!" I said determinedly. 

I went to get my backpack, which Deby had prepared for me, and I found a little man made of springs hanging on it. Something seemed familiar, so I picked it up, and I smiled. I had a safe feeling when I touched it. I hung it up from my backpack, and I walked after the others. 

The road wasn't long, but I wasn't staying very comfortable, so I rushed to get down from the car first when Andy stopped. I blocked at the door. There passed in front of my eyes a lot of images, sounds, lights. That was how I remembered Aaron and Julia jumping in front of our car. That day was now fresh in my mind, and I realized that Aaron pissed me off from the start.

"Are you ok?" he asks me when he saw I wasn't moving.

"Yeah," I said, and I walked forward, without looking at him.

It's restless to feel some things again, as it is the first time. Something was struggling inside me, and it was not the hunger. A weird energy was trying to get out, and I felt I was ready to explode. I followed Deby in a demolished store. When she opened the door, a cloud of dust had raised. She made a sound of discontent and started looking through the shelves, knocking down what was useless. She saw I was staying and staring at her, so she handed me a bag.

"I thought I don't need to make you the training," she says. "You put in there whatever is not expired and you think is useful."

I nodded my head, and I started working. When I filled the bag, I wanted to get out of the store, but the door opened, and Aaron was thrown through it. A woman was coming angrily at us, and I was just standing there, with a knife in my hand, which I wasn't sure I was able to use it yet. I saw Ivy and Andy down outside. 

Aaron was trying to get up, and I was not sure what I was supposed to do. Then I felt someone grabbed me. Deby threw me aside, and she knocked down a shelf of boxes over me. I managed to see how she and Aaron put down that woman, but not for a long time. She was ready to attack them again if Andy didn't shoot her when he got the chance.

"You can come out now, Jo!" shouts Deby at me.

I got up from the rubbish, and I looked at her angrily.

"What the hell was that?"

"It was a nymph," she said. "She was probably looking for me because she didn't know that you are alive."

"No, the fact that you pushed me there and threw that shelf over me!" I said revolted.

"Oh, that. Well, I didn't want you to lose your leverage. I thought it's not ok if she saw you, in case I couldn't get rid of her."

I made a face, and I joined the group. 

"We're not going back to the cabin," says Andy. "It's too dangerous. They found us."