Through Glass(56)

Of course, she didn’t seem as uncomfortable as I did. She was loose and joyful. Minus that brief moment from before when she almost seemed normal amongst the black that surrounded us. It made me wonder what I was missing.

“Sounds like green beans and corned beef hash. Wanna half it?” She held the cans up to me like I should understand the question, but I didn’t, so I only nodded and watched as she pulled a can opener out of another one of the large pockets on her cargo pants and began to dissect the cans.

“So, where are you traveling from?” she asked as she handed me the can of green beans and a fork. “Must be far; you seem pretty effected. I haven’t seen anyone as dark as you since the Tar cleaned out the capital.”

She looked up as she placed a fork full of Corned Beef Hash in her mouth, her jaw working to chew the food as she waited for an answer. I just stared at her, trying to make sense of the question in the first place.

“Silent type, huh? It must be far, you look a little haggard.” She chuckled through the food. “Blood Rose, right? Bloodens always look like hell. Of course it’s probably because they are so offset, that’s what you get for setting up an outpost on the edge by the first burn. Of course, you guys still have fresh fish so I can’t really fault you for that. I’d probably live next to the burn if I could get fish every once in a while. I bet the Grouper tastes just as good as I remember them, right?”

She looked at me in expectation, her face eager for an answer I had no idea how to give. Was she asking for a name of a city, a person? Was there an actual blood covered rose somewhere that I was unfamiliar with? I doubted it.

Blood Rose was the name of nothing familiar to me and it didn’t match the literary family names from before, making the whole thing more curious. I clenched my jaw at her as I stared into her, hoping to be able to discern some form of an answer from her, but nothing came. I nodded my head at her once, hoping it would do it and thankfully, she seemed pacified.

I was beginning to wonder how long I could keep this up or even why I cared so much to keep everything a secret. I didn’t trust her, but I could just tell her a few things. She seemed trusting, however I couldn’t ignore the silent alarm that was going off inside of me in warning.

“Makes sense,” she continued as if I had spoken, as if I cared about anything she said. “That’s like a four week trip on foot. And with no food or steady light, the buggers are already getting to you.”

She looked at me in expectation again. I wished she wouldn’t, I wished she would just accept me as being the quiet type and let us move beyond it. She obviously seemed content to hold up the conversation on her own anyway. If I didn’t need to talk, then I wasn’t going to do it.

“If you don’t eat that, the darkness is only going to get worse. Don’t eat the food, remember.” She pointed her fork at the can in my hands before returning to her own food, the grind of her fork against the tin loud in my ears.

“I sure hope you aren’t this much of a pleasure to be around all the time. I don’t need a hotter to mess up my day… I’ll kill you before that happens.” She laughed again, but the sound was becoming strained. Almost like I was scaring her. I wanted to say that was a good thing, but I could see the darkness seep back into her eyes. She wasn’t kidding, as much as she would like to put it on. She would kill me. And with my injury I would have no other choice than to let her.

I dipped the fork in the can quickly and speared four beans before plopping them into my mouth.

“That’s better,” she said, her voice calming. She was obviously still content to keep the conversation going on her own. “So tell me, Lex, how is Blood Rose? We didn’t expect anyone from your sector to join in the next burn. You guys sometimes don’t get our messages straight after the Tar severed the line four years ago. We weren’t even sure you got it…”

I didn’t hear anything else she said. I could see her mouth moving, her eyes shine in the firelight, but two words had stopped me dead. My hands tensed around the can I held, my fingers hard against the grooved tin.

“Four years?” The words were out before I had a chance to stop them, my voice high and panicked. That couldn’t be right, could it?

Bridget’s fork dropped back to the can, her jaw moving slowly as she chewed, her eyes digging into me. That same feeling of warning came over me, Bridget’s eyes spelling fear and hatred in one glace. The firelight froze against my skin as my confusion mixed with my fear, begging me to run. I ignored it, pleading with myself that she was safe, that she was human. Her eyes narrowed for just a moment before she swallowed and that same bright smile lit everything up.

“Did I say years?” She laughed, her voice tight. “I really meant months.”

She smiled again, but even I could see the lie, the flash of danger and expectation that had covered her face for that brief moment of time; the knowledge only strengthening my distrust and fear.

“That makes more sense,” my own lie was out before I could stop it. My words tip-toeing around something I couldn’t quite explain.

It was a game of cat and mouse, although I wasn’t quite sure what role either of us played. Bridget clearly feared me in one way or another. In that one flash of her eyes I had seen her plan my death. Me? I felt the same about her, although I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t trust her and while two years ago that wouldn’t have been enough to justify someone’s death, now it seemed more than enough. It scared me that the thought had come so readily, but just like everything else, it was becoming expected and as I sat there, I found myself planning a way to defeat her, even with my sore body.