Riders (Riders, #1)(85)

“I drowned,” he said. “Strange, right? That it had nothing to do with food? Not what you’d expect from Famine.”

“But it’s still like you starved,” Daryn said. “It was for air instead of food. But it was still a lack.”

“Yeah. I guess you’re right.” Gratitude flashed across his features. He showed everything he felt on his face. “I was dead for almost five minutes. That’s what I was told. Everybody was pretty surprised that I came back. It was so weird to see everyone crying. It scared me so bad it made me cry, too. I bawled. It was a super-soaked experience all around.”

“Ocean or a pool?” I said, like it was an okay question to ask. But nothing felt off-limits anymore. If you could tell someone you’d screwed up badly enough to get yourself killed, you could pretty much say anything to them.

“Lake,” Bastian said. “Lake Michigan. I was visiting a friend, and we were out there with a bunch of people on a breakwall near a lighthouse. The water was pretty rough. We were all saying how you could never survive swimming in there. That’s when I got this wild urge to show-off and I jumped in. Stupid. Really bad idea. I got caught in a rip current. It caught me like a hook and pulled me away. I couldn’t fight my way back. I just kept seeing the lighthouse move farther and farther away from me.

“By the time I saw the rescue boat coming my way, I knew it was too late. The water was so cold and my muscles felt like stone. I couldn’t swim anymore. I went under, and then there wasn’t anything. It’s a total void until I came back around on the beach. Behind the emergency crew, I saw my buddy and the people I’d been with. Everyone was bawling. All this crying was going on around me. That’s what I remember most. How scared and sad they were. How bad I felt that I was the cause of it. And then the relief of … living.” He lifted his shoulders. “So that’s me. That’s how it happened.”

Jode shivered like he was feeling the cold water himself. “And you, Dare?”

Derrr. He made it sound even more formal than her proper name.

Daryn shifted beside me. Her eyelashes were starting to look heavy. “I haven’t died yet.” She smiled. “I’m hoping to keep it that way for as long as possible.”

“That’s kind of not funny, Martin,” I said.

“Agreed,” Jode said.

“Right?” Bas said. “Don’t even say that. What would we do without you?”

She laughed. “Oh, stop. You guys would be fiiine.”

I nudged her arm. “Hey, seriously. We’re not letting anything happen to you.”

She leaned her head against my shoulder. “And I won’t let anything happen to any of you guys, either. I promise. Marcus’s turn.”

Marcus immediately bent over his knees and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck.

“You don’t have to go,” Bastian said. “No pressure.”

“What?” I said. “How is that fair? Yes, pressure. Start talking, Reaper.”

Marcus peered at me, and I saw something in his eyes. A rise to friendly competition, like we were playing horse. I’d made my shot. Now it was his turn.

He sat up, straightening his wide shoulders. “Beaten,” he said. “Fists, then feet. Then a brick. Then I don’t know.”

Shit.

He’d been beaten to death?

Bas had come halfway to his feet. “Marcus, you got jumped?”

“No. I went after them. But it was going on for a while.”

“Them?” Jode asked.

“Yeah, there was.…” Marcus flexed his fingers a few times. Unlike Bas, he rarely showed emotion on his face, but now I saw him struggle to keep it locked down. “There was five.”

“You went after five people?” Jode said. “Were you alone?”

Marcus nodded.

I shook my head. I had to give it to him. That took a serious pair.

“Why?” Bas asked.

No answer. We’d found the limit to what Death would share.

“Did you lay down some hurt, at least?” I asked.

A slow smile spread over Marcus’s mouth. “I did all right for a while.”

Of course he did. Guy was tougher than anything.

Daryn shifted beside me. Beneath the blankets, a soft hand slid into mine and squeezed. I wove my fingers through hers and squeezed back.

We were coming together, the five of us.

We were finally getting it right.





CHAPTER 50

A lot changed after that day. We started training better, working harder. Pulling together on all fronts. Jode had some ideas that we incorporated into our arms training. He’d read a ton of military theory and wanted us to practice in the same location, instead of splitting up, for better team morale. He also wanted us to incorporate strategy into our sessions, and to drill at night so we’d be prepared to fight in darkness.

They were great ideas. Ones I’d been thinking about, too. We used them all. But the main change to our routine after that night was the horses. I couldn’t avoid it any longer; the time had come for us to horse up.

We started first thing the following morning. As we reached our practice area on the riverbank, the sun was just coming over the mountains. Fog lifted off the water in big curls. It had rained early in the morning, and the grass felt spongy under my feet. We assembled in a circle, and it reminded me of our first day, though we weren’t the same at all. We were united now. A team.