Revolution (Collide, #4)(68)

He shook his head a little, but kept driving. I wanted to ask him about Lillian. I wanted to know how she was doing. I hoped she wasn’t worried about me. But worse, I hoped she wasn't worried about him. No, I refused to bring Lillian up to him again. He was probably thinking about her already anyway. That thought had me itching to punch him.

He said he'd kissed her, but she hadn't kissed him back. I know it. She wouldn't do that to me.

I pushed all that aside and thought about the task at hand. The mission of the day. The Gremlin was a horrible excuse for a war vehicle, but it was all we had. I chuckled. We looked so pitiful driving down the road with no windshield. Two guys who obviously had no love for each other.

The last city sign pulled my attention to the road. The map we snagged from the other station showed we were close. I really hoped this worked and I wasn't wasting all this time with Daniel when I could be home instead.

He had been very tight-lipped about how he knew what we were doing or where we were going and all the details. He seemed confident though. I suspected that maybe Marissa had had a vision. Maybe that was why he was being so quiet about the details. Maybe we were going to die. It had to be done, but we weren't going to make it. Or maybe I wasn't. Was that why he was letting all my cracks on him go? Because I was going to die and he was giving me a final kindness before taking my girl from me after death?

I groaned and covered my eyes with my palms.

My stomach growled, too.

"There's food in the backpack in the backseat, remember?" Daniel reminded me.

I yanked the bag forward and glared at him as I looked at what he brought. "Beans? Really?"

"It was the only thing to take and be undetected."

"Ah, so no one knew you left," I guessed. "Well, it makes more sense now."

"We're here," he said and pointed in the sky to the radio tower. "Eat your beans fast."

I opened the can with my pocketknife and scooped my fingers inside. I chewed and spoke at the same time. "You're not having anything?"

"I won't need anything," he said cryptically. "You know," he started and took a while before he spoke again to finish, "we weren't always this way."

"What way?"

"The Lighters. We used to be a normal, functioning society. But some of us got greedy and wanted more. Earth has always been their target and we've come here many times, but always failed until now. This is as close as they've ever gotten to taking you over. They're cocky and they're ill equipped to handle a planet of this magnitude and complexity. They won't survive, even if they did push humans to extinction." He looked over at me. "If we can pull this off, and you can fight the war that needs to be fought, you'll have your planet back. Just don't give up, or all of this," he points at us, "was for nothing. Your humans will need you to help lead and guide them."

I rubbed my thumb over my bottom lip. "I've got no plans to lay down and die. You know something I don’t?"

"No," he said too quickly.

"Uhuh. Fine. You don't have to worry about us, slick."

"What is with you and the nicknames?" he growled.

"It's a military thing, I guess. No, scratch that, it's a human thing."

He chuckled humorlessly. "Which I'm not a part of. You know," he said and gave me a death glare, "if I didn't have something to do here and it wouldn't upset Lillian so much, I'll dump your human behind out here and go back to the bunker. I could live your life and be perfectly happy for the rest of mine."

"Let's go, bucko," I goaded. "Anytime."

"I take back what I said. I do hate you," he said in a voice that resembled the Lighter I knew he was. "With everything in me."

"Whoa," I laughed. "What brought all this hostility on all of a sudden?"

"You don't deserve what you have. You're always joking and so smug. Lillian is a fool. A beautiful fool that kisses like an angel, but a fool."

"Shut your mouth about Lillian." Was he trying to pick a fight with me? "You can crack on me all you want, but don't talk about her."

"Sadly, there isn't time to debate further. We're here," he said and pulled into the rickety station parking lot. He stepped out and slammed the door. I just rolled my eyes at him. He was so strange.

The parking lot was empty in the middle of the night, so we didn't need to worry about running into anyone. The door lock was easily picked and we entered. The equipment was pretty ancient. It wasn't like anyone would want to steal it anyway, but it suited our purpose. I found the control panel while Daniel watched and looked around like he was waiting for something.

"Dude, what is with you?" I asked before groaning as my hand slipped and banged into the panel door.

"Nothing. I'm just wondering if I should rethink my part in this plan."

"What plan?"

"This one. It's close to over." The cryptic message hung in the air.

"Well, I'm not going to pretend to know what you mean, but-"

We both turned our heads towards the door as it banged open. Daniel slammed the control booth door shut, but it was made of half glass, so that wouldn't stop them for long.