An Unkindness of Ravens: Monsters. Survivors. One Vindictive Game. Welcome to the End. by J.G. Buys

Author:J.G. Buys [Buys, J.G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: J. G. Buys
Published: 2023-07-17T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

CAIDEN

“Ow!” I let a curse drift out with the exclamation, rubbing at the back of my head. Apparently, Amaya could find speedbumps on a frigging highway. I swore that if she gave me a concussion, I was stealing her knife and stabbing her.

Reed’s tinny voice was floating through the truck, a continuation of one of the road trip songs he’d belted out earlier, before Amaya had almost thrown him out of the moving car. Feisty and Samira sat with their backs to the rear panel, my legs straight between them as I rested against the tailgate. They were engaging in soft conversation, mostly just Feisty whispering things to her friend that just so barely didn’t get snatched away by the wind.

“Where’s she taking us?” I shouted, blaring out another curse as my tailbone hit mercilessly against the metal.

River lifted her head, eyeing me, before shouting back, “There’s a warehouse in the middle of Carson! It has a bunch of supplies, and there’s a house nearby we could bunk in!”

I nodded at her, and she resumed her conversation with Samira. I swiveled a little where I sat, ensuring my wing bones weren’t poking into the relentless metal, and turned my head to the sky. It was pitch black now, holes poked through the cloudy roof overhead in glittering stars of light.

It was so big. Endless. I felt like a moth trapped in a Styrofoam cup, with only my tiny air holes for company. I felt a little useless, honestly, and wasn’t that a weird feeling? Being thrown into the middle of something you had no place in, being mostly innocent in the midst of it all, only trying your best, and still feeling so damn powerless.

“Hey, big guy!” River kicked my hip playfully. “You all right there?”

I tilted my head down and frowned at her. “Yeah! Fine!”

“Just checkin’! Looked like you were goin’ to cry!” She smiled, kicking against my hip again.

I squinted at her, before yelling back, seriously, “I won’t cry!”

“Yeah, all right. Whatever you say!”

“I’m not going to cry!” I turned my gaze to Samira. “Tell her I’m not going to cry!”

Samira tilted her head at me, before shrugging. “You might cry. Your eyes are all red!”

“That’s from exhaustion! I haven’t slept in two days!”

The wind buzzed next to my ears, sweeping away some of River’s next words. “—want to cry, that’s fine!”

“Can you stop talking, now?” I shouted back at her, closing my eyes and laying my head against the metal. Another dip in the road caused the metal to zip painfully against my skull, and I sat straight with a yelp.

River let out a bubbling giggle. I frowned at her, but when I slid my eyes to Samira, her features were also scrunched up, as if she was trying to bite back her own laugh.

I glared at the both of them for the remainder of the trip.

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