Achan was pissed, to say the least.
His eyes had hardened the minute he spotted Jack following me, and stayed like that up until now.
We were on the outskirts of Houston, and Achan and I were talking by my truck, while the rest of the group was talking to Jack over by Ben's truck.
I was trying to keep the conversation down to a low whisper, but Achan kept yell-whispering. His weird yell-whispering along with the highly over exaggerated hand gestures kept drawing the rest of the group's attention over to us, which was the opposite of my intentions.
To be honest I had kind of zoned out of the conversation. He kept listing new ways Jack could sabotage this "mission."
"We don't know who he is, or what his motives are. What if he tries to kill us in our sleep?! Or steals all of our stuff and makes a quick getaway!"
In my mind I crossed each excuse of the list. It was highly doubtful he could do any of that stuff; Jack was outnumbered and out skilled. But other than that I wasn't paying attention.
My gaze had trailed past Achan and over to Jack. His silver hair glinted in the sunlight, and I couldn't hear what he was saying (thanks to Achan's "whisper"), but he made everyone burst out laughing.
"I just don't understand why you're all of a sudden being so irresponsible." Achan's voice cut into my thoughts, and got my attention. I cut my eyes back to him.
"Irresponsible? It was your idea to bring a group along; I was just going to take Anna and go. You and Ben and Gabe decided that the more people there were the better! So why is adding one more person all of a sudden a bad idea?!" He opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. "Ah, nope! Don't want to hear it! It was a rhetorical question. Now, if you have a problem with my decisions, leave!" I whipped my arm and pointed at nowhere in particular.
I stood there, fuming. I was only about 5'7, but I felt like I was 8 feet tall. I opened my mouth to say something else, but then realized how quiet it was.
I looked over Achan's shoulder to see everyone staring at us. When I stared at them, they all turned away and tried to pretend that they weren't looking though. Anna actually put her hand on her chin as if she were lost in thought. It would have been funny if I wasn't made at Achan.
I shook my head and returned to the conversation.
"Okay, I'm sorry. But Jack's coming, like it or not." I crossed my arms, signaling that this conversation was over, and walked past him, so that I would have the last word.
In all honesty, Achan was right. It was a rash, illogical decision that could hurt us later on. But I seriously doubted it. It was almost like I was meant to run into Jack.
I didn't know why I got so mad about it though. He was being (somewhat) logical; Jack could be untrustworthy. But the alternative option was sending Jack away, and I couldn't do that. I don't know why, I just know that I couldn't.
As I walked over, I realized that Anna wasn't with the group anymore.
"Where's Anna?" I asked, my voice getting higher and my pace increasing. "She was just here!"
"Calm down Elsa, I'm right here!" I looked around, but Anna wasn't there.
"Up!" I heard her squeal. I looked up, and sure enough, there was Anna. Attempting to climb a tree.
"Anna, what are you doing up there?" I asked while shaking my head, but smiling a little. She was so innocent, so childlike. A person like her shouldn't be in a world like this.
"I'm climbing! The air seems a bit thin up here." Kristoff walked over then, and looked between Anna and the tree, as if judging the distance.
"You're like, 6 feet in the air." He said.
"Anna, come on, we're going." I turned around, and pointed at Jack. "You're in the truck with me."
Achan started to protest, but I held my hand up, ending it before it even began. I gave him a hard stare.
"So," I addressed to everyone, "do we want to keep going south, or turn and head back up north?"
"South's pretty bad territory. Lot of gangs, and they get into a lot of fights." Jack said, flicking a leaf of his shoulder. He said it casually, as if it were nothing out of the ordinary. I wondered where he lived before Houston.
"Well, as fun as that sounds, I think we should go north." Gabe added in.
"Catch!" We all turned as Anna flung herself off the tree, into Kristoff. Thankfully, he was paying attention, and caught her.
"Thanks! That was like a crazy trust exercise!" She patted his chest, then hopped down. He stared after her, until he caught me shooting daggers at him. He coughed and looked away, blushing.
"Uh, anyways," Gabe continued, as Anna walked up nonchalantly. "North is where the GEDO and the government's HQ are located at, and maybe the closer we get to them the more answers we'll get? I don't know, it just sounds safer than heading down into gang wars," he finished with a shrug.
"No, good idea. Answers sound good." I assured him.
"Yeah, but what kind of answers?" Sven asked.
"Answers to anything! Find out if anyone knows more about experiments, or the supposed experiment we're in. Maybe meet more people. I said it before, the bigger the group, the safer we are." Gabe stated.
"Strength in numbers," Ben said with a nod of approval.
At that I retreated into my thoughts as the rest of them talked. I had a crazy daydream of just barging into the government headquarters and demanding to know what happened to my parents, and why. Completely taking the place by storm with this huge army. Getting even. Getting revenge.
But it was just a crazy fantasy… right?
"Okay, so north it is?" Achan was looking at me, waiting for my final say so.
"Yes. North it is. Let's drive until it starts getting dark, then find somewhere to set up for the night." I walked over to my truck, still lost in my daydream.
The more I thought about it, the better it sounded. It was the closure I had been wanting since the day my parents died. Maybe if I could get enough people together, I could do it.
I could get revenge, and maybe even end this stupid experiment.
Because I knew that what happened in the grocery store was probably the first and easiest part of this whole experiment.
While I was scheming and daydreaming in my mind, physically I had gotten in my truck and turned it on, and was sitting very still while clutching the wheel.
I noticed what I was doing and let go, then gave a sideways glance at Jack, who had gotten in the front seat.
"Wait, Anna-" I turned around to see if she wanted the front, but somehow she was already knocked out in the back, with an empty bag of chips on the floor.
"You're cleaning that up." I muttered under my breath as I turned back to the front.
"What?" Jack asked.
I only sighed in response. I checked to make sure all the security was on. I checked the fuel gauge for about the thirtieth time today, but the needle hadn't moved from F the entire time we had driven, and I had put a lot of miles on the truck today.
I had my doubts, but somehow the scientists pulled it off. I wasn't sure how, but I was sure that I probably didn't want to know.
Once it was all up and running, I put my foot on the gas and pressed down slowly, easing the truck out of the shade and headed towards the road.
Beside me, Jack whistled. "Woooow, this is a nice truck. How much did this cost? Man, you must have been rich!" He kept looking around excitedly, and I had to keep swatting his hand away from the control panel.
"Do you want to shoot Gabe and everyone else behind us into the sky?! Cause that's what that button will do!" I yelled after about the 20th time I had to hit his hand away.
"Well I don't know about Gabe, but I wouldn't mind doing that to Achan." He turned around and looked in the back window, and waved to their truck.
I turned back onto the highway (Jack taught me that name, though I'm not sure how he knew) and started going north.
"What's wrong with Achan?" I asked, turning to look at him.
"Keep your eyes on the road, your majesty. And are you kidding? For one, he obviously doesn't like me. And two, the guy's head over heels for you. Honestly, it's getting old, and I've known him for less than an hour." He pointed to a button. "What's that do?"
"Tell you what. You get out and stand in front of my truck and I'll show you what it does." I said, my hands gripping the wheel tighter.
"Is it a visual kind of thing?" He asked, apparently not getting where I was going with it, and I sighed.
"It's the button to the machine gun. The button below it locks it on target and shoots - no don't press it!" I hit him fast in his ulnar nerve with my knuckle without taking my eyes off the road, and his arm jerked back.
"Ow! What was that for?" I gave him an exasperated look as he rubbed his elbow.
"Hey, Jack. I have a question for you." I turned back and focused my eyes on the road.
"…Yeah?" He sounded a little wary.
I smirked at that, and asked, "Do you know the quiet game?"
"Fine, fine. Okay." He sighed. "But can I ask something first?"
"Technically you already did, but yes, on one condition. Stop touching my truck."
"Deal. But ok, what's the deal with you and him?"
I cocked my head. "What's the deal? There is no deal."
"But he wants there to be a deal?"
"I thought it was one question!" I sighed, and checked the rearview mirror to make sure Gabe was still in range of the force field. "I- I guess he wants there to be one? I've had to refuse him repeatedly, but I don't know if that-"
Jack cracked up at that, and for some reason my face went red. "What?" I demanded.
"Your highness, you are blind. Do you know anything about guys?" He turned in his seat to look at me.
"Well, I know you're incredibly obnoxious, and you're a guy."
"First off, I'm a man," he corrected me, and I smiled. "And second, he likes you. A lot."
"Well, isn't that nice to know." But it came out more as a question. But I've said it once and I'll say it again. The language of love is foreign to me. Of all the languages I know, that is definitely not one.
"You could do better." I could see that he was still looking at me in my peripheral vision.
"Excuse me?" But I didn't mean it to be rude. I was more taken aback. I looked at him quickly, and he was smiling, but not his up-to-no-good smile.
"Just saying." He put his hands up in surrender, and then stretched and put his hands behind his head, and leaned back.
I wasn't sure what to say exactly, so I just asked, "Why do you call me that?"
"What? Your majesty? Or your highness? Cause really it's just a spur of the moment pick between those two."
I gave him a look, and he gave me an innocent smile.
"Really?" I asked.
"Well, yeah. It is a spur of the moment. Or just whatever word more I like at that time. But to answer your question, it's cause everyone treats you like one."
I scoffed. "No they don't."
"Ha. Achan practically asked for your permission to go north, and no argues with you when you tell them what to do. It's like you're the queen. What you say goes." He finished.
I was about to protest, but it was kind of true. I realized just how bossy I was, and how no one seemed to have a problem with it. And not even just today, but my whole life.
"Well that's what you think…" I said quietly, but it was halfhearted. I really just wanted the last word. Jack seemed to realize that, because he just laughed quietly and turned to look out the window.
I looked at the back seat real quick, and saw Anna still fast asleep. I didn't know how she did that. I was incredibly envious of her for it.
We drove for a while like that, in silence. Jack would occasionally look over, and I kept going over what he said earlier in my head: You could do better.
I didn't know if it meant anything, or suggested anything, so I just settled on it was a blank observations. No biased opinion in there.
Yeah, cause that's the language of love. Cold facts and observations, I thought to myself, and smiled a little on the outside.
After an hour or so of silence and thoughts (with Anna not waking up once), Jack turned to me and asked, "So where do you go? When you shut down I mean."
He said it softly, so it didn't really disrupt the silence. But I flinched anyways, like he had yelled it.
"When I shut down?"
"Yeah. Like, I haven't known you that long, but it's like every time you start to get emotions, you shut down. You're back to that robot version."
"You're getting awfully personal for not knowing me that long," I said, with a hard edge to my voice. I tried to turning it back to him.
"No, personal would be, 'Tell me about your parents.'" I drew in a sharp breath, and he quickly apologized.
"Sorry, I'm… I'm so sorry. I wasn't-I wasn't asking you-"
I cut him off. "I know, that was me. Just… an overreaction."
He didn't say anything to that, and we sat in quiet for a few moments.
I analyzed his apology. He sounded so sincere, like he knew what happened to them. But of course he didn't. He probably just assumed something happened. It was common to be an orphan nowadays.
"I know what it's like though…" He trailed off, and stared straight ahead.
I paused, unsure if I should go on. After a moment, I eventually said, "I'm sorry."
I looked over at him, but he was already looking at me. I drew in a quiet, sharp breath. He looked like he was about to cry. His eyes were glassy, and they were open, but not just physically. They looked like they were ready to pour out his past all of his secrets along with his tears.
I looked away, but only because I had to drive and focus on the road. But I still pictured his eyes. They were beautiful, and that was in no way due to their physical form.
"I don't even remember them," he whispered. His voice was chocked up and emotional, and I knew somewhat how he felt. It was hard.
He turned and looked out the window, and his body language read, I'm not talking anymore.
I obliged, because I remembered how many times I had wanted to do that when people tried consoling me about my parents.
I pitied him though. As much as he probably didn't want it. At least I had memories of my parents. I had fragments of comforting hugs and warm smiles to help when I needed them. He had nothing.
We drove for about 45 more minutes before it started to get dark. It was 5:27 p.m., and I put on my taillights and blinker. The GPS said we were close to Oklahoma City.
That was a strange word. Oklahoma. I wonder why the people that picked these names picked them sometimes.
As I pulled off of the highway, I slowed down and looked around. The road was torn up in several places, and there was debris everywhere. It was just piles and piles of buildings exploded and torn apart, their rubble scattered everywhere, as far as the eye could see. There were a few buildings still standing, but they looked as if they could crumble at any second.
I was thankful my tires were near impenetrable, but I wasn't sure about Gabe's. I parked, and turned the truck off.
"I really am sorry." I whispered. I heard the doors slam open and closed from Gabe's truck.
Jack turned to look at me. "I am too." His eyes were on me, but far away, as if he were somewhere else.
I unlocked the doors and turned the security systems and everything off for now. I sighed.
I supposed that I would have to get out and discuss with everyone else the shifts and sleep schedule and arrangement and all of that.
I opened the door reluctantly. A part of me wanted to stay in my truck forever, talking to Jack, drifting in and out of comfortable silence.
It was strange. He annoyed me so much, but yet I wanted to keep talking to him. It was incredibly illogical and completely against my nature. But I couldn't help it. I'd know him for less than six hours, and it was like I'd known him for a while.
I climbed out of my truck and walked slowly over to where everyone was grouping up.
I remembered how he said I shut down, and I realized he did the same thing in a different way. I did it with my emotions, but he did it with his eyes.
I guess everyone had their own way of disappearing for a while.
Thank you everyone! And I know I'm kinda updating chapters quickly, but this is a fun story to write! Anyways, thank yall again! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!(: Love yall!(: