Feral

Chapter Nine

"So you don't get us stuck in the future, this was all your fault."

It'd been a while, a long while, since either of them had said a word. If she was honest, Paige thought Atticus was asleep. Don't get her wrong, if a friend was suffering a head wound she'd wake them up and make sure they didn't make it worse. If it were a friend.
She'd gone through the RV in those hours, from bottom to as close to top as she could reach, falling from the sideways cabinets when she'd run out of handholds and tried to jump the last few feet. Atticus hadn't budged, hidden in the dark, and she'd assumed he was either being a jackass or actually was asleep. Of course he'd managed worse than her expectations.

"My fault?" Paige spluttered.

"Yes, your fault." Leather moaned as he sat up from the chair. "You're the one who fell for their trap."

In the dark she could match him without a red face giving her away. "And you're completely blameless?" He snorted in the dark. "You seemed to know what they were doing. Perhaps a word of warning next time? You know what woulda' gone a long way, a 'hey Paige, it's a trap'."

A dark lump shook his head. "And what if there were more guys waiting in the grass? Does calling their bluff when there could be fifty guns aimed at you sound like a good plan? Oh no, I forgot, a good plan for you is to go running off and get caught up in danger. Again."

"You could have done something." She glared where she hoped his eyes were. "You knew they were Scavengers. You knew that Scavengers existed, and you knew there was a possibility we could run into them. What else are we going to run into? Are you going to tell us, or let us find out?"

"It's not my job to tell you every little thing," he spat like he was scolding a child. "What you need to know is where to walk and when to stay away from danger, and you'll do that by doing what I say when I say it."

She couldn't believe him. It was difficult before, but this was a new level of asshole. "Yeah... no. That's not all I need to know." His dark shape stiffened in the gloom at the mocking low voiced imitation. "I need to know more. In fact, I need to know everything if I'm going to be stuck with you. I need to know you're not going to leave my friends to die. I need to know when you're about to get knife happy. I need to know when something is a trap. I need to know where we're going, and I need to know I'm not going to die of thirst because my protector doesn't trust me to carry-"

"You know what?" Atticus burst out. He leaned into the pale circle of light, lips pulled back and sneering with dark hateful eyes. "You're nothing but a little bitch!"

Paige's jaw dropped then clenched shut again. "Classy." He could do a lot of things, but she wouldn't give him the power to offend her.

"Believe me when I say I don't care," he snapped. "I'm not talking about the girl who whispers behind the chubby kids back or corners people in the bathroom. You're a self entitled, spoilt, bratty, scared bitch who wants everything done for her. It's not a problem until it effects her, and I don't have time to run around after you!"

"You don't need to run around after me!" Paige hissed. "I can take care of myself! I made it all the way to Kansas without your 'help', murderer!"

"Really? And what were your ideas for getting us out of here? Can I boost you up? Can I break down the door? I'll believe you can take care of yourself when you actually do something other than follow a straight line!"

"I didn't ask for you!" No matter where she went it happened, from presidents to prisoners. Everyone thought she needed watching over, coddled, chased by a thousand Mrs. Kaspbrack's and their smothered cloying embrace. "I didn't want you with me. I didn't ask Jasper and Travis to come all the way out here and find me. I wanted to do this on my own! No one else was supposed to get hurt!"