The Tribe - A Whole New World

17. Dean

My heart thundered with the rush of adrenaline and the looming threat before me. On either side of Kane were his fellow Militia friends who'd been with him at the house and trapped within his arms was Skye. Anger pulsed with every beat.

'Let her go Kane,' I snarl, 'I won't tell you again.'

He laughs in response and I step forward. Instantly, Kane takes a step back, dragging Skye with him. For a moment, a flash of concern crosses his face. The other two of his friends line up next to him, readying for a fight.

'You're out numbered here,' Kane taunts, 'you can't win.'

'I'll go down trying. You remember how things happened last time, right?'

Kane's face morphs into a look of contempt. Last time he'd started on me, I'd tried to warn him, but he'd ended up losing. He had been fighting for the wrong reasons then and he was fighting for the wrong reasons now. We stare at each other in a standoff.

'You two are behaving like little kids!' Skye snaps, shocking both Kane and me. She wrestles in Kane's arms and he lets go. She stumbles away from him, standing between the both of us. 'The two of you, honestly, look like a pair of wannabe-alpha-dogs, fighting it out because of your egos!'

The purple-haired girl smirks as Skye huffs before composing herself again. Kane smiles at Skye, somewhat amused by her outburst. I can't help but feel embarrassed and a heat rises through me.

'You,' she says, pointing at Kane, 'don't you dare ever use me as your hostage or bargaining chip again. And you,' she says, turning to me, 'don't need to rush head first into a fight at the first chance you get. I'm not your damsel.' The three of us stare at each other. I hear Jade shuffle behind me, but she doesn't say a thing.

'Look,' Skye continues, 'here's the thing. These three helped me out when I was in trouble, believe it or not, and I promised them food and water in exchange for helping me get here safely. I wouldn't have made it back without them.' I stare between the three of them, uncertain. These three had helped Skye? I couldn't believe it, but then again, why would she?

'And you,' she snaps at Kane, 'need to get a grip. They're here now, you're going to get paid and then you can be on your way. Crisis averted.'

Skye shuffles awkwardly on her leg and I noticed the bloodied bandage. The look on her face was anguished, though she was attempting to disguise it. I could see how worn out she was, the fatigue in her features and the sweat on her face and coating her clothes. She looked like she'd run a marathon and was barely able to stand.

'Look,' I say, finally adding my voice to her reasoning, 'Skye is right, we're behaving like kids. If she made a deal with you and you've upheld your end, we'll get you food and water as promised. But for now, we need to get inside where it's safe.' Kane stares at me a moment more before relaxing.

'Exactly what I was going to say,' he answers.

'Great, this way then,' Skye responds and starts walking to a side entrance. The hotel looked completely boarded up and empty. Only the graffiti and nearby litter showed people had been here in the past few months. Skye pushes open a side gate labelled for staff only and we follow her through. All of us follow Skye in a line towards the rear of the hotel, walking through a grassed area. I was directly behind her, watching the lull in her step. The cut on her leg must be causing her pain. Guilt ripped through me. How could I have been so selfish, thinking of fighting Kane instead of the safety of other? He'd threatened to hurt her, but before I'd become involved, they'd been arguing, and it hadn't been anything more than that. I'd caused her to be put in a situation worse than what she'd been in, and she certainly was capable of taking care of herself. The fact she'd lasted nine months without help was evidence enough of that.

Skye rounded the back of the hotel which opened to vast gardens and outdoor areas, and even in one corner, tucked under a half-shaded area was a pool.

'Woah!' I heard Meg exclaim, and I shared the same sentiment. The gardens were in a poor state and slightly overgrown, but everything else seemed fine. The pool had a green tinge to it, but everything else was surprisingly clean. It was as if we'd stumbled across a great outdoor entertainment area and the only things needing to be done were gardening, sweeping and pool cleaning.

'We could go swimming!' Kaylee squeaked and she, Millie and Meg instantly dived into discussion. Skye turned and saw the excitement on the girls faces and her eyes instantly lifted in a smile. It was nice to see.

'Wait here,' Skye asked, stopping us from going further. Kane wandered off towards the pool, studying the nearby grounds. Beyond the pool, I could see the river, slowly running by. There were high fences to keep people out and plenty of trees, hedges and gardens to high the walls. There were even a few birds in some of the trees. It was peaceful. Skye moved to a nearby tree which stood tall and stretched out wide, offering shade to a part of the garden. Crouching down, she started digging. Within a few seconds, she was holding a metal box.

'Here, hold this,' she said, handing me the box. It was covered in dirt and cool to the touch, but it wasn't old or rusted. On the front was a lock combination and Skye started rolling numbers into place. With a click, it released, and the box opened. Inside was a mass of keys on a large ring and some documents. Skye grabbed the keys and frowned at the papers.

'What's wrong?' I ask, worried at her expression.

'Oh,' she says, snapping out of whatever it was she was thinking, 'nothing, it's fine.' She closes the box and rolls the combination, locking it again. 'Can you wipe down the box for me. I want to keep it.'

'Sure,' I reply as Jade comes to stand beside us.

'What have you got there?' she asks.

'Keys,' Skye replies, 'the owner told me before we left what to do if I ever needed to get into the hotel. I think... I think he knew he wouldn't be coming back and wanted to make sure I would be okay. He told me the combination to unlock and we picked out the location to hide the box together. He was the closest thing I had to a father, though he was more like a fun uncle really.'

She smiled, a blend of joy and sorrow playing on her features. Part of me wanted to hug her and take the pain away.

'I'm sorry,' Jade offers and Skye smiles.

'Me too. The keys open the staff doors. He didn't have to board those up since they can't be broken into easily. There's one around here, come on.'

We follow Skye to a door again marked for staff and she searches through the keys for the right one. Kane, Briony and Erryn linger nearby, standing away from the rest of the group. I brush off the remaining dirt from the box, curious about its contents. Jade turns to the three girls to grab their attention, dropping to match them at eye height.

'Okay you three, I need you to listen up. We're about to enter a big hotel. It has a lot of rooms and you could get lost, so stay with me at all times, understood?' The three girls nodded in agreement, though Millie shrugged her off as well. 'Good.' Skye unlocks the door and the hallway is mostly dark.

'We just have to go to the end of the hallway,' Skye explains, 'then there is another door which opens up to the main entrance area and once we're there, there will be plenty of light. The hotel is three floors of rooms, but the main entrance is open the whole way to the roof, and the roof is a massive glass ceiling. It lets light in all the time, so we will be able to see inside.'

'Sounds cool,' Kaylee says, bouncing.

'Really cool,' Meg agrees, and I can't help but feel a sense of excitement too. There had been so many ifs and maybes that Jade and I had encountered together. We certainly hadn't found anywhere that we could stay for longer than a few days and had always been on the move. The more the tribes had settled, the fewer places we'd had to stay, and the city was fast becoming a dangerous place. I knew better than to start hoping for something that I couldn't guarantee, but a part of me wondered if maybe we'd found somewhere that we could make our own. Maybe, just maybe, this place could be different...

'Alright,' Skye says with a hint of a smile, pushing into the hallway and distracting me from my thoughts, 'follow me.'