Chapter Nineteen

Darkness had descended early that night and for once Amber was grateful for it. Moving under the cover of darkness was far safer for she, the Gaians, and the Mall Rats as they made their escape from the Gaian village and from the traitorous Lioness. The pain of Lioness’ betrayal still hurt deep, but Amber would have time to grieve over that later. She must first focus on getting her tribe, her tribes, to safety.

When Pride had returned to the village with Panther and Cloe following close behind, Amber had instantly knew that someone was wrong. She was thankful that she had listened to her gut instinct and urged the Gaians to hurry up. When Panther and the others had returned, they were more than ready to leave.

And now they were feeling, like thieves in the night. No one dared speak, each person focusing on making as little sound as possible, as if their lives depended on it. She had sent Pride and Panther on ahead to scout out the trail in front of them, making sure the Chosen had not already discovered their whereabouts and were circling around them. .

Meanwhile Hawk and Ocelot brought up the rear, making sure no one began to lag and that the Chosen did not come up on them from behind. That left Amber with the Mall Rats, Manatee, and the younger Gaians in the middle, safe from the danger, or at least she hoped so.

“We’re nearly there.” Ebony had fallen instep alongside Amber, her voice so low and soft that Amber nearly couldn’t hear her. “Another ten minutes or so.”

Amber nodded, shooting Ebony a smile. Ebony returned the look, then glanced over her shoulder to where Bray was. He was making the most noise and yet even he had realized the seriousness of their situation and was moving more silently than he ever had before in his life.

The next ten minutes passed agonizingly slow as they continued on their way through the woods. Then suddenly the forest opened up and the racetrack was before their eyes, large and illuminated in the moonlight. It looked almost magical, to Amber, and she had a good feeling about the place.

“We’ll be safe here.” She whispered to no one and everyone. Everyone seemed to agree as they hurried to the track, no longer concerned with positions. For one brief terror-filled moment Amber thought they might be walking into a trap, that the Chosen would be laying in wait for them inside the race house, but it was empty and vacant, just as the adults had left it when they died.

“It’s perfect.” Cloe murmured, glancing around. “There should be enough rooms for all of us, right?”

“Well, not quite all of us, Cloe.” Ebony grinned. “We’ll have to share, but this is a pretty large place.”

“If I remember right,” Lex was talking now and Amber realized that this was not the first time the dark haired Mall Rat had been inside the large spacious race house. “There are three rooms on the top floor and three rooms on the bottom. Everyone will only have to share with one other person, except one room.”

“I’ll room with you, Cloe.” Robin spoke up, giving the older Mall Rat a tentative smile. “If that’s alright.”

“Sure. That’s great.” Cloe grinned.

“Eagle?” Pride looked at Amber with expecting eyes and Amber felt her stomach drop.

“I, well…” Amber trailed off, searching Pride’s eyes for understanding, but not finding any.

“Amber and I will be rooming together.” Ebony jumped in and saved her. “Amber’s the only one who can put up with my snoring.”

“You don’t sno—“ Cloe was rudely interrupted by Ocelot’s gentle elbowing in the ribs.

“Well, then, Hawk, how about you and I?” Pride turned his hurt-filled eyes away from Amber and to the slightly shorter Gaian. Hawk nodded and Amber watched as the other roommate combos began to form. Dal, Moose, and Manatee would share one room, Ocelot and Panther in another, leaving Lex and Bray to take the last room.

“Alright, I suggest everyone get as much sleep as possible tonight.” Amber reassumed her leadership role. “We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.” Everyone nodded and quickly hurried off to their assigned rooms, the men taking the bottom floor and the ladies taking the top.

~*~*~

“And one more was added to our number.” Ebony grinned a bit as she climbed the stairs up to the room she would be sharing with Amber. “It’s good to see Cloe again. Maybe in the morning she can bring us news of how things are going at the mall.”

“That would be nice.” Amber commented, but Ebony could tell her friend was distracted. Amber pushed open the door to the bedroom and stepped inside, Ebony following. They could see well enough with the bright moonlight streaming through the unshielded window, but even still the room was dark and gave Ebony the chills.

“Oh, a bed.” She suddenly smiled, noticing that there were two. One for each of them. “And all to myself. No more getting kicked in the middle of the night.”

“Hey, I don’t kick.” Amber protested. “No more than you snore.”

Ebony grinned. “Well, I had to save you somehow. You did not seem like you wanted to be sharing Pride’s bed for the rest of the war.”

Amber grimaced. “No, I didn’t. Thank you for that, Ebony. I still haven’t figured out a way to tell him.”

“Tell who? Pride?”

“Yeah.” Amber let out a long heavy sigh as she flopped down onto her bed. She began to pull at the bobby pins that held her Zulu knots in place and unleashed her long golden blonde hair into kinky twists falling about her face.

“What is it that you want to tell him?” Ebony walked over to her bed and discarded her long black leather duster. She had borrowed much from Minxy, the former leader of the Gaians younger sister. Amber had assured her it would be alright, but Ebony still felt a bit strange wearing the bright red leather. It wasn’t very subtle.

“I need to end it with him.” Amber told her, her eyes speaking volumes. “I just don’t know how to do it.”

Ebony nodded. Somehow she had sensed this coming for a long time. When Amber had told her about Pride, Ebony had happy for her friend. But then she realized Amber was only using Pride as a place to pour all the leftover emotions from Bray. She had used Pride unintentionally, but used him nonetheless. And now it seemed that Amber was beginning to realize that.

“He loves me, you know.” Amber commented, her voice thick with emotion. “And for some reason I thought that if I just went along with it long enough I would start to love him too. But I can’t. I just can’t.”

“Why not?” Ebony, playing the devil’s advocate, queried. “Pride’s a really nice guy. And kinda cute in his own sort of way.”

“Hum.” Amber puzzled. “It’s not that. It’s, well,” Amber hesitated, looking at Ebony with serious eyes. “I guess I really blew it with him. I kept putting him off telling him I needed more time, but he kept getting impatient, and well, finally I consented. But I wasn’t really over Bray. I wasn’t over Bray until yesterday while we were talking.”

“So what you’re saying is that you feel guilty for becoming involved with Pride while you still had feelings for Bray. And now that you’re over Bray you’ve discovered you have no real feelings for Pride save for guilt.”

“Exactly.” Amber let out a long sigh. “So how do I tell him that without hurting him?”

Ebony said nothing. She couldn’t. There was nothing to say. Both girls knew that Amber would have to hurt Pride and that she was only making it worse by putting it off. Ebony saw a desperate man in Pride. He would do anything to claim Amber as his own, even if it meant public humiliation when Amber turned him down again and again in front of everyone.

“We should get some sleep, Amber.” Ebony smiled at her best friend, feeling sorry for the blonde. “Everything will look better in the morning.”

“Promise?” Amber looked at Ebony with a vain hope in her eyes.

“I wish I could say yes, Amber.” Ebony smiled a little. “I wish I could.”

~*~*~

Cloe followed Robin up the stairs, her mind occupied by unpleasant thoughts. Just knowing that one of her friends could have betrayed her to the Chosen unsettled Cloe enough so that she knew she would not sleep well that night. She found herself questioning everyone, even Ellie and Alice.

“Are you alright, Cloe?” Robin asked her, her voice tentative.

“Yeah, I’m alright.” Cloe nodded, letting out a heavy sigh. “I’m just tired, that’s all.”

“Me too.” Robin nodded. “But I always have a hard time falling asleep in a new place.”

Cloe smiled. She had once had the same problem, but after the virus had killed her parents and she found herself falling asleep in a different place every night it slowly began to stop bothering her. “You’ll be so tired you have no choice but fall asleep.” Cloe laughed. “I know I won’t.”

Robin giggled a little. “I hope you’re right. I’m exhausted.” Robin plodded over to one of the beds in the large room and set herself down. “So where exactly did Panther find you? I thought she was only going on a scouting mission.”

Cloe shrugged her shoulders. “Just outside the mall, actually. Two Chosen guards were going to take me to the mines.”

“The mines?” Robin’s eyes widened with horror. “But what?”

“I’m not really sure why.” Cloe replied. “I guess they suspected me of being involved in the Resistance.”

“The Resistance? What’s that?”

“Some of the Mall Rats who are trapped inside have started up a small group that is standing in resistance to the Guardian and his Chosen. They haven’t done much. Just started to spread anti-Chosen propaganda, but any little bit helps.”

“So were you a part of them?” Robin asked, stifling a yawn.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Cloe shrugged again. “I was supposed to be handing out some of the flyers on my next work shift. But they took me before I could.”

“Wow, Cloe. You’re so brave.” Robin whispered in awe.

Cloe smiled. She didn’t feel brave at all. “Well, I guess. Thanks, Robin.” But Robin had already fallen asleep.

~*~*~

Hawk had fallen asleep the instant his head had hit the pillow, but Pride found he could not sleep at all. He was troubled by Eagle’s rejection of him once again. He knew that he probably shouldn’t have attempted to pressure her into sharing his bed while they were staying at the racetrack, but he had to ask. If only to see the anger expression on Bray’s face.

Bray. The thought of him made Pride extremely uncomfortable. Even if Eagle said she no longer loved him, it was obvious that Bray was still deeply in love with her. Eagle may never return Bray’s feelings, but deep inside Pride knew she would never truly return his either.

“Oh Eagle.” Pride murmured softly, rolling over onto his side in hopes of finding sleep on that side of the bed. “Why couldn’t you love me? Why?”

But silence was his only answer, just as he knew it would be. It didn’t matter. He knew why Eagle would never love him. She wasn’t ready. Or at least she hadn’t been. Maybe she was ready now, but it was too late. Pride had rushed her and destroyed any possibility he had at winning her. It wasn’t fair, and yet Pride knew if he had it all to do over again he would do the same.

Pride closed his eyes, determining he would fall asleep. He knew that Eagle would awaken them very early in the morning and hopefully they would start to plan their offensive. Pride was a bit tentative when it came to trusting Ebony, after all, she had once been a Loco, but Eagle trusted her, so somehow Pride knew he could too.

The last thoughts lingering in Pride’s mind as he slowly drifted off to sleep were of Ebony and how amazing she looked in Minxy’s clothes. Minxy had looked great in them too, but Ebony somehow made the red leather come to life. Ebony. She was beautiful, wasn’t she…

~*~*~

“I don’t see why you’re still moping about, Bray.” Lex scowled at his roommate. Somehow he had known that he would be paired with Bray, and the thought irritated him. Lex could not stand being around Bray, especially not when he was in such a surly mood. “You’ve got your girl. She’s just upstairs. Tai-San is all the way back at the mall.”

Bray scowled at Lex, but said nothing.

“Come on, Bray. This routine is getting really old.” Lex crashed onto his bed, eyeing Bray out of the corner of his eye. “What is it that has your knickers in a twist?”

“Nothing. I’m fine, Lex.” Bray stated angrily. “Just leave me alone.”

“Fine.” Lex shrugged, rolling over, closing his eyes. Mentally, he whispered his goodnights to Tai-San, hoping that somehow she would hear them and know he was thinking about her.

“It’s just,” Bray began, breaking into Lex’s thoughts. “Seeing her again has done funny things to my brain. I realize I’m still head over heels in love with her and yet she doesn’t seem to want to have anything to do with me.”

“What are you talking about, Bray?” Lex rolled back over and frowned at the brown haired Mall Rat.

“Amber.” Bray sighed in exasperation. “She doesn’t want to have anything to do with me. Haven’t you seen how she has gone out of her way to avoid me?”

“She doesn’t go out of her way to avoid you, Bray. You’re just imagining things.” Lex assured him, though he could admit to himself that Amber did seem to try and stay as far away from Bray as possible, at least when he was conscious.

“I’m not, Lex. I know I’m not.” Bray frowned. “And at first I thought it was because of Pride. I don’t know if you knew it or not, but she and Pride sort of had a thing I guess. Or have a thing. It’s so hard to tell.”

“Yeah, I knew.” Lex shrugged. “So what does that have to do with you? It’s obvious that their relationship is cooling. Plus, I don’t think Amber really ever liked him.”

“That’s what I thought at first to, but…”

“But what?” Lex prompted Bray, feeling his patience growing thin with him.

“She told Ebony she doesn’t love me anymore.”

“What?” Lex’s eyes widened in surprise. A few months ago he would have told Bray that he shouldn’t believe anything Ebony said, but Lex had seen how close Amber and Ebony had become. After the whole story of how Amber had survived Eagle Mountain had come out, Lex began to realize how. “Did Ebony tell you that?”

“No.” Bray shook his head. “If she had I wouldn’t have believed her. I heard it from Amber’s own lips.”

“When? How?”

“She and Ebony were talking in my room. They thought I was sleep.”

“You were eavesdropping.” Lex shook his head in disapproval. He had stooped pretty low to get his girl, but he had never once eavesdropped on a conversation between her and her best friend. Things that passed between females lips were sacred things. Lex would have thought Bray knew that.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Bray shrugged.

“So did she say why she doesn’t love you any more? Did she say it was because of Pride?”

“No.” Bray sounded angry now. “I have a feeling its because of Ebony.”

“Ebony?” Lex was getting more and more confused by this and all he longed to do was fall asleep, but he knew Bray in a mood like this. He would not shut up and give him any peace until Bray had said his fill.

“Yeah. That witch. Ebony loves me and Amber feels loyal to her or whatever.” Bray stated darkly. “I don’t understand it. I thought they hated each other.”

“Ebony saved Amber’s life, Bray.” Lex scolded him a little. “Just like she saved yours.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Who do you think took you down from that burning pile of sticks, Bray?” Lex asked him, then not waiting for a reply answered his own question. “It was Ebony. Any fool can see that Ebony’s in love with you Bray. So why don’t you cut her a little slack.”

“I can’t, Lex.” Bray scowled. “She’s the reason Amber’s not here in bed with me.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that.” Lex murmured under his breath so that Bray could not hear him. Then, loud enough for Bray to hear, he stated, “I wouldn’t worry about it, Bray. What is meant to happen will happen. It’s not worth keeping me up all night to moan about.”

“Oh, I’m sorry Lex. I didn’t realize.”

“That’s alright.” Lex shrugged him off. “Just let me get some sleep, alright? And promise me you won’t do this to me tomorrow.”

“I promise, Lex.” Bray sighed heavily.

“Good.” Lex rolled back over and covered his head with his pillow. That way he couldn’t hear Bray’s words even if he wanted to. “Goodnight!”