Altered by Susanne Valenti

Author:Susanne Valenti [Valenti, Susanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-03-09T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Lincoln

The fire crackled away and Katy drifted off, her hand still curled in her brother’s. I smiled to see the rare moment taking place between them. Though they fought like cat and dog I'd always been able to see the love that lay beneath it all. Even if Katy had lost sight of that recently, it would always be there. Love. The bond that binds family. The one mine had come without.

The rest of the group settled down around the fire too and I laid Katy's clothes over my pack beside the flames to dry them.

Kai fell asleep within minutes, using his pack as a pillow. I'd always envied the way he could just switch his brain off and be asleep at the blink of an eye. Santos quickly followed suit, leaving me with Hawker to keep watch. I knew I really needed to sleep but the idea still didn't appeal to me. I'd made a promise to look after Katy and Reese and I didn't want to take my eye off of them again. Especially as they'd both ended up in the river the last time I had.

I took my jacket and gently laid it over Katy as she slept. She shifted slightly at the disturbance, reclaiming her hand from her brother's. She was so peaceful in sleep, her brow free of the furrows that had been so present during this mayhem.

I moved away from her again and took a seat by the flames. Hawker was out patrolling the trees around us to make sure no more contaminated animals were heading our way.

Demi was laying with her head in her boyfriend’s lap as she slept. Her arm was tightly hooked around her rifle and shotgun like a child would cuddle their teddy bear. I wondered why she was so attached to them. I could understand the usefulness of carrying a weapon but she clung to her guns like they were people.

Hawker returned and dropped down next to me with a small smile. “All quiet out there at the moment,” she confirmed. “But I still haven't managed to gain contact with anyone either.”

“Do you think there's something wrong with our satphones? Or even with our comms?” I asked.

“I…” she didn't seem to want to share her theory but I wanted to hear it. Even if she had nothing to back it up, Hawker was pretty good at making educated guesses.

“Go on,” I encouraged.

“I don't think there's anything wrong with the phones,” she said as she pulled hers from her pocket and quickly dialled a number. After a moment, my own phone started to buzz in my pocket and she killed the call. “And the comms are pretty infallible. So I don't think there's anything wrong with them either.”

“So why no answer from above then?” I asked. “You don't think we're getting the cold shoulder? Being cut off on purpose?”

“I doubt they'd just cut us loose. Why waste four Marines like that? Even if they just told us to await new orders, it would still be worthwhile to keep us in touch with them.

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