Silo

Chapter 20

Sleep was something that had evaded me since the storm hit. I'd doze off, one ear, one eye, one half of my body always on full alert. Not tonight. Tonight I slept hard, actually dreamed.

A soft jab to my arm jarred me partially awake and I rolled over, taking half of Meredith's blankets with me. She'd moved her make shift bed next to mine in the middle of the night, mumbling something about not wanting to be so close to the door. In my fog of exhaustion, I'd pulled her blanket up around her chin, yawned my promise to keep her safe, and fallen back asleep. Surprisingly, she was still there, a testament more to the fact that both of us were too tired to move rather than her sudden faith in my morality. Didn't matter. For once she'd come closer rather than running away, and I'd be damned if I was going to wake up without a fight.

"Jake, wake up." He shook me this time, and I had no choice but to open my eyes or risk him waking Meredith.

"What, Evan? What's going on?"

"Nothing. Keith wants you. Said he's tired of getting his ass kicked in blackjack and wants to play you."

I read between the lines, quickly realizing that Keith was getting antsy with the lack of action, and Evan needed me to back him down. Meredith murmured something in her sleep and rolled over. I wanted to lay a hand on her back, tell her everything was good and that I'd be right back. But I knew better. I doubted she would appreciate waking up to any part of my body against hers while she slept. . So, I just sat there silently, waited until she went lax beneath the blanket before I stood up.

Neither of my two choices sat well with me. I could leave Merry alone in here, comfortably asleep while I took my turn guarding the ventilation shaft. Or, I could wake her up, and drag her down there with me where I could keep her safe. I knew I'd said I wouldn't leave her, wouldn't trust her safety to anyone else. But, seeing her fragile body all wrapped up and lost in a peaceful world for the first time in days made me question that. I couldn't wake her, couldn't force her to come back to this hellhole of a life. Besides, if those assholes really did come down that shaft tonight I wasn't sure I wanted Merry around to see what I was going to do . . . who I was about to become.

Quickly, I sized up my best friend since second grade, my eyes trailing to the knife he still had sheathed. I took mine out and laid it on the crate next to the table then placed my loaded pistol next to it. "Stay with her," I said.

"You got it," Evan whispered, examining my pistol as he sat down. He took up position a safe distance from Merry's resting body, purposefully avoiding her. I chuckled as I threw on a sweatshirt and yanked my boots back onto my freezing feet. I wasn't half as worried about Meredith holding her own in our silo these days. After waking me up with my own boot and clubbing Keith in the head with Tyler's wallet, she'd become a whole hell of a lot more confident. If she woke up with Evan next to her, he'd likely be the one getting his eyes scratched out.

Grabbing the hunting knife Evan had been messing with earlier, I headed into the tunnel, my lantern illuminating the years of water damage seeping down the walls in rusty, brown streaks. The light of Keith's lantern was dim, and I could barely make out his shadow in the hazy corridor. If I hadn't known he was there, I might have missed him altogether.

"What the hell?" I said, raising a rope covered boot. I shifted my weight, stepping over a pile of line as I tried to wedge myself into the narrow space of unobstructed floor.

"Hey," he nodded in my direction, not bothering to raise his head more than a second from the rope he was trying to slice through.

"What are you doing with all this?" I asked, kicking away the tangle of ropes I'd nearly fallen over.

"Trying to set a trap," he muttered. "Damn rope is too thick. I can barely cut through it."

I glanced back towards the floor, the vague outline of a failed attempt at some kind of snare catching my eye. "Knife is probably just dull," I said as I dug mine out and handed it to him, hilt first. "Try this."