Submit (Book 1, The Karyln Trials)

Chapter Twenty-Four

     "Do you need us to stop for a minute?" Eve rests a hand on my shoulder and the boys stop walking ahead of us. We've been walking for hours, Eve and I behind the boys so we can keep an eye on the pair and keep them from throwing punches. Their throwing of nasty comments however, is something we don't bother stopping.

August moves to walk over to me but I put my hand up, if he gets much closer then I will need to stop, to empty my stomach. I clench my jaw until he's stepped back, and I swallow the lump in my throat. "I'm fine, after the burn salve and all the pain medication I downed this morning, I can hardly feel a thing."

When I had woken in the morning, August had been changing his shirt while standing in the center of the tent. While on a normal day, I would've been flustered at seeing his bare muscles, I was struck with a world tilting sense of nausea, he was too close. I had begged him to get out of the tent, just for a moment so I could get ahold of myself, but it didn't end there. Since I woke up, I was constantly chased by my nightmares and can't seem to keep a level head unless August and Lincoln were both at least ten feet away from me at all times.

"Well, even if you don't want to stop, we need to for a moment so I can reclean that wound on your cheek." Through all of the chaos since my test, I had forgotten about my cheek until yesterday when Eve was working on my leg some more, she had asked if I needed any salve on my cheek as well.

"Why? It's nothing serious, just a flesh wound."

"That may be true, but it's been a windy day and all the dirt and sand being blown on your face can't be good. Let me clean it again, and we'll be on our way."

"Fine, but make it quick."

Eve urges me to take a seat, saying that since we're stopped, I might as well rest my leg. I draw up my right knee and lean against it gently, watching my teammates while Eve searches through the first aid kit. I scan our surroundings as well as the people around me, seeing them through new filters after the past twenty-four hours.

Eve hasn't left my side since we all got up this morning. She's been my support and my caretaker. I've caught her glancing at my Scanner, checking my vitals to make sure we don't need to stop. She has been hovering around me, always on edge, seeming as if afraid that the seams holding me together will fray just a little too much and break altogether.

Lincoln has been under excessive surveillance by both Eve and August. If he made any move as to so much as look at me, Eve would tighten her hold my arm and August would turn blue in the face. To say this was the least expected situation I anticipated us being in, would be an understatement.

Then there was August who has been battling the urges to pummel Lincoln and to hold me close. I can feel a weight fall onto my shoulders with each broken look he sends my way. When he looks away, I watch as his shoulders slump forward, a hallow pit always forming deep in my stomach.

I long for nothing more than to run to August and feel his arms around me. The need to hear his heartbeat with my ear pressed against his chest claws at me, but the taste of bile keeps me from getting too close.

I look at him now, he paces about ten steps away, keeping a glare pinned in Lincoln's direction while Eve gently wipes my cheek. I follow August with my eyes, looking around Eve when I need to.

"I can tell that you know he's hurting as much as you are." Eve stepping in my line of vision again and I bite my tongue to keep from yelling at her. Instead, I give her a pointed look through my lashes. "Why not explain to him how you feel after what happened?"

I scoff and push her away, rising to my feet and motioning to the boys to start walking again. "Don't you think I want to?" Eve and I grab our bags and continue our trek. We have three more miles to go before we planned to stop and set up camp for the night. "I wish that I could tell him that he was the only thing keeping me sane in this place. That without him I wouldn't have been able to pass my test! But I can't, you want to know why?"