Red

33

VAN'S POV

Bondy, Bob, Benji, and I notice a group of people further off in the distance. They were lit up by a fire. "Think Sam could be there?" I ask quietly.

"We'll have to check," Benji says, letting out a sigh. I know he felt preoccupied thinking about Daisy, worrying that Mike's group would come back for her, and I know how he felt. Even though Larry was at the plane with Tris, I couldn't help but feel anxious not having her here.

I pat Benji's back. "C'mon. Let's get closer," I say. I start making my way closer to them, trying my best to be as silent as possible. Everyone else follows closely behind me. Sam was there. What confused me was that he was there with people from Mike's group, and he was giving them a handful of our water bottles.

We creep up behind a large boulder and I peer around to see what was going on. "See him?" Bondy whispers.

I turn back to them. "He's there with Mike's group," I say quietly. "He's giving them our water bottles." Out of all people, Sam was not someone I expected to betray out group. He seemed happy there, and I know he felt something for Tris.

"You sure?" Bondy says. He didn't believe me. I don't blame him, though. He had been talking with him quite often, they seemed to be friends. I wouldn't even believe myself if I hadn't seen it.

"Take a look," I say, stepping away so they can see.

Bondy looks back at me. "What're we gonna do 'bout that?" He asks me. He's disappointed, I know he is. I can hear it in his voice.

"Confront him, all of them," I say. What bothered me most about Sam betraying us was that he was close to Tris. If we hadn't found this out, he could have had the chance to hurt her.

I start walking out from behind the boulder. "Hey!" I tell, my voice deep and loud. The group of about five men, including Sam, look back at me. I make eye contact with Sam. "Should have known better than to trust you, Sam," I tell him.

"Listen, mate. This isn't anything. I don't want to be hear as much as you don't want to see me here," Sam tries to explain, but I'm not going to just automatically believe him. The other men stand up and start walking over to us.

"Get outta here," one of them says. "No one invited you." He starts slowly walking up to me until we were only inches apart.

I look him dead in the eyes. "I don't need your invitation to call you lot out for what you did," I say.

He pushes me back, but I catch my balance. "We did nothing wrong," he chuckles.

"You fucking disgust me," I tell him, pushing him back harder than he had. "All of you do." I look around at the other men, stopping on Sam and staring at him for an extra long time.

Before I completely have time to process what I was doing, I throw a punch at the face of the man standing in front of me, sending everyone else into chaos. Bondy, Bob, and Benji all got on someone else and started to fight.

The guy punches me back in the face and I knee him in the stomach, sending him down on the ground. I would probably have a bruise on my face tomorrow, but that was the least of my worries.

I get on the ground and the man grabs my shoulders, forcing me to lay with my back pressed to the ground. He leans over me. "You really act like you own this island, don't you?" He says.

I grunt and push him off of me. "I do when the only other people here are immature children like you," I say, my voice cynical. Sam comes over and gets in between the two of us. I shove him away. "Sam, you really fooled me at first. Thought you were a good guy, I really did," I tell him while walking toward him. I spit out the taste of blood that filled my mouth.

"I-I am a good guy, Van. Let me explain," he says. His hands were up in surrender. He looked genuinely scared of me. But I couldn't just forgive him, I wouldn't.

I grab onto his arm. "You better have a damn good explanation," I say. The other man grabs me from behind and pulls down on my shoulders. I react immediately, twisting around and pushing him off.

Sam comes over to me and the man and shoves the man up against the a nearby tree. "Listen, mate. I gave you what you wanted. You keep up your end of the deal and drop whatever we're fighting about right now," he says. I've never seen Sam act so aggressively. This is a whole new side of him.

The man smiles. From where I was, I could see some blood on his face, and I knew I probably looked the same. I walk over to the two and help Sam hold the man against the tree until he replies. "I suggest you talk," I say.

He continues to remain silent. I bring my hand up to his neck. "Van, don't-" Sam starts.

"Sam, don't speak," I cut him off. He doesn't bother replying. I didn't know what to think of Sam and the moment, and I most definitely wasn't going to let him make decisions for me.

My grip around the man's throat tightens. "Alright, alright," he gives in. "Deals a deal." I hold him against the wall for a few seconds longer, debating whether or not I should just kill him here. I decide against it, figuring it would be best to avoid any more fights tonight.

I take my hand off of him. "I don't want to ever see you again. Get out of here, you and your mates," I tell him.

"You stay away from me, I'll stay away from you," he says walking away. He grabs his other mates from off of Bondy, Bob, and Benji and walks off, with a pile of our water bottles that Sam had given me. 

We all stand there, an uncomfortable silence taking over, as we each think about what had just happened. I'm the first go speak up.

"So," I say, startling everyone with my voice. "What was that Sam? You're giving resources to the enemy now?" I turn toward him.

"No, they told me their plan earlier today. They told me they were going to take her tonight, unless I gave them water bottles. I should have told you, I know. It was stupid of me to go off on my own," he rambles. He looks up at me and shakes his head. "I wasn't doing any of this to help them."

"Who's 'her?'" I ask him, scared because I already knew what he was going to say.

"Tris," he tells me, running his hand through his hair. "They say she's the most beautiful, the youngest. They're sick, all of them. I couldn't risk them coming for her." After hearing that, there was nothing more I wanted to do than go back and make sure Tris was okay, that she was comfortable and asleep.

I nod my head, not really sure how to take this. "Listen, Sam," I start. My voice was now less tense than before. I scratch the back of my head. "You're a good person, but you've gotta let someone know when someone tells you something like that."

"I know, I know," he says. "I'm sorry, you know. If I could go back in time I'd change everything."

I nod my head. "It's fine, Sam, really. And, I'm sorry for assuming the worst of you," I tell him, regretting the fact that I had so easily dismissed Sam as a traitor.

"Don't worry about it. Just glad it all ended fine," he says.

"Yeah, us too," I say, referring to Bondy, Bob, Benji, and myself. Bondy would have been devastated if Sam had turned out to be on Mike's side. "Let's head back. It's already way too late to be outside."

I start walking back in the direction of the plane. Sam walks next to me and the lads walk together behind us. We wouldn't reach the plane for probably another twenty minutes or so. We were pretty far back in the woods.

"Hey, Van?" Sam asks me, his voice was quieter, like he didn't want anyone else to hear except me.

"Yeah?" I ask him. We continue walking as he speaks.

"Are you and Tris, like, I don't know... you two have something going on?" He asks, trying to come up with the correct way to word his question.

"No... no we're not," I say, though I wish we were. I wish I could call her mine, or even just say I wish I could call her mine to someone else. "Why do you ask?"

Sam hesitates. "Because I think I love her," he admits.