Through Glass(57)

I smiled at her and shoved a full fork of green beans in my mouth, hoping the show of faith would be enough to pacify her.

She smiled back, her lips a pencil thin line as she devoured more of her own food. I looked at her for a minute before returning to my own, the calculating silence between us unnerving.

It stretched as we ate and I was more than content to eat as slow as I could. The end of the meal creeping up like the end of my life.

A shallow buzzing filled the silence and Bridget jumped, her hand flying to her pocket and pulling out what was unmistakably a cell phone. I stared at it, my mouth falling open like a moron when she pushed a button and pressed it to her ear. The screen lit up against her skin.

“Bee,” she said, the soft sounds of a voice filtering through the air afterwards.

My eyes widened as I watched her, the small working box pressed against her ear. She had a cell phone, a working cell phone. A phone with electricity and light and connection to more people that were alive. I stared at her with my mouth gaping as she talked, my mind slowly working around what I was witnessing.

She was part of a bigger group, she had said that, but my untrusting nature hadn’t let that sink in. There were more, probably lots more. Somewhere with light and safety. I felt my heart jump at the thought before the look on Bridget’s face wiped the eager excitement from me.

“Were we expecting anyone from the beach?” she asked, her eyes lifting to mine for a moment before she smiled at me. I closed my mouth quickly, sure I hadn’t moved it in time.

“Yeah, I’ve got a hot one.” Her tone had changed, her eyes flitting away from me.

Hot. She had used that word before, the tone degrading like she was talking about rats. This time, though, I knew exactly what she was talking about. Me, and judging by what she had said earlier, she had every intention of killing me.

“Nah, it’s not bad. I’ll be home before the days out.”

I slowly reached away as she spoke, careful to keep my movements slow so as not to attract any information.

So much for assuming she was safe. I wrapped my fingers around my rail, keeping my hand low so as not to insight a fight that I was still holding out hope would not happen.

“Love you, too, Tee.” The light on the screen extinguished the moment she was done talking. Her hand moving to put the phone back in one of her massive pockets.

I watched every movement, not willing to take my eyes off her. She didn’t look at me, she just replaced the phone and brought her hands back to her lap, both thankfully empty. I didn’t take my hand off the rail, I would attack her unarmed if I had to. I would definitely need the upper hand against her, I already knew that for sure.

“So tell me, Lex, how long have you been roaming?” She didn’t even look at me as she spoke, her eyes still focused on the fire in front of us.

I didn’t say anything. I glared into her as I pumped my hand into a fist around the bar, letting my fear and tension release itself in the subtle movements of my hand. I could feel the tension grow in my jaw, the subtle fear growing into something bigger.

“It’s okay, Lex,” she soothed, her voice mellow like she was talking to a wounded animal. “I’m not going to hurt you. They just want me to bring you home.”

I knew her voice was meant to be calming, but everything about it sent me into a tighter defensive mode. She thought I was dangerous. I wanted to say that was wrong, that she was foolish, but I felt dangerous. My muscles tightened, my jaw clenched and I fought a need to kill her.

Maybe I was dangerous.

“They?” I asked, the word distorted through my clenched teeth.

“Yeah, the leaders. Azul.” There was that word again. It sparked something deep inside of me, like I should know what it meant, but I couldn’t remember.

“Azul?”

“Yeah, well, it’s what they call themselves anyway,” Bridget said. She was trying to keep her voice casual in an effort to calm me. I couldn’t say it wasn’t working. I didn’t feel quite so dangerous, but I still didn’t trust her.

“Azul,” I repeated, getting used to the feel of the word in my mouth.

“They lead the survivors, lead the war against the Tar. Azul is supposed to remind us of the blue sky, the sun and what we are working towards.”

That’s what it was; Azul was the Spanish word for blue. I had chosen French over Spanish, but living in Texas, a basic knowledge of Spanish was required. It felt weird that I had forgotten something that was so simple.

Blue.

The word triggered something, a more recent memory. The writing on the wall. The mad scribblings of a crazy man who had somehow kept me safe, kept me alive, even if he couldn’t do the same things for himself. Now, sitting in front of me was a girl who said she knew of them, that she was with them.

“Follow the Blue,” I whispered, my eyes trailing away from her toward the roof of the grocery store. Even without a roof, the air above me was as dark as it would be outside.

“Yeah, for being hot you sure know a lot about the charter. Where did you find it? Did someone tell you about it?” I didn’t miss the hidden curiosity in her voice, the worry at what the truth was that was hidden behind her words.

I looked at her closely, my eyes narrowing dangerously as I continued my attempt to regulate my heart beat.

I had sat here since the moment I woke, begging myself to trust the girl who sat across the fire from me, but now she was asking questions, questions I wasn’t sure I could trust her with the answers to. I still held the rail in my hands, I remained ready to strike.