The Underworld Plan

Chapter 5

After my breakdown in the clothing store, our expedition team decided we had gathered enough materials and information to head back to the Gateway Tubes. We had been successful overall, which was really going to boost up our fame. Being the first to try this whole ransack-old-devastated-malls expedition meant that people actually cared how this mission went. After all, if all goes well, this mission can be repeated at malls all over the world, putting the Underworld resource crisis at bay for at least another year, if not more.

I had been hoping that nobody would try to talk to me about what happened in the store, considering how humiliated I felt about it, but when I see Jake walking up to me as we exit the mall, I can already tell what he wants to talk about.

"Alright, spill," is all he says.

"Spill what?" I try, even though I know the innocent act wouldn't work on a five year old at this point.

"Cassandra," he murmurs, looking at me with concern in his eyes that makes me want to punch him. I hate when people give me that concerned look, like I can't take care of myself. It's the same look I still get from my parents whenever Hailee's name is brought up, it's the look I got from my friends when I told them I was joining an expedition look, and it's the look that I have spent every waking moment with my group trying to avoid. I even rehearsed my story of what happened That Day to make sure I never gave Jessi the chance to give me that look.

"Don't look at me like that," I hiss, turning to walk away. Jake whips his hand out and grabs my arm, forcing me to face him.

"Like what? Like I'm concerned for your well being? That's how friends look at each other, Cassandra."

"No! You're looking at me like I'm some little kid going to fight a teenager, like you need to help me because there's no way I can take care of myself. News flash, Jake, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. You aren't the only one here who can hold their own in a Strength Group!" I yell at him. The rest of our team glances over at us, but only Jessi, Dalton, and Colton actually stop what they're doing and pay attention to our conversation.

"Yeah, because you could have done a real good job protecting yourself while you were curled up in th fetal position and trembling. What the hell happened in there, Cass?" he asks again.

"Why do you care, Jake?" I'm whisper. I want to take offense to his comment on what happened in the mall, but it's completely true. If I had been alone, I easily could have been killed in there. An animal could have announced that I was its dinner and taken a bite out of my leg before I even would have noticed.

"You know damn good and well why I care, Cassandra," he growls.

"Maybe I don't. Enlighten me, Jake. Why are you making this into an even bigger deal than it already was? Obviously, I had a meltdown, and I thought I also made it obvious I didn't want to talk about it. But I guess some people didn't get the memo," I hiss right back.

"You know I love you, Cassandra. You turned me down, remember?" he sighs, finally dropping my arm.

"And now I know it was the right decision. We aren't even dating and you're compromising this mission trying to get information out of me," I say before walking over to Jessi.

"That was pretty harsh," Dalton comments as I walk up.

"He needed to hear it. We have to get moving, and his interrogation is holding us back," I defend myself quietly. I know I really hurt him, Jake's biggest pride is putting his work before anything personal. As a matter of fact, it was fifty percent of his argument as to why we should date when he had asked me out a month into our job.

Our group finally falls back into our groups of two and begins to head back to the valley, but it's significantly quieter than it was on the way to the mall.