The Risen: Courage (22 page)

I watch him relayer his mache as the rest of the group finally comes in from the winter chill. Their rambunctious laughter abruptly stops when coming face-to-face with the one problem no one wants to talk about. I don’t even pause as I continue to take the peace offering, placing the leather vest over my own winter coat. Chapel had told me privately the reason Rhett had taken this same vest from me was because I dared to wear it. He saw it as an insult to the man it had belonged. Once upon a time, this would have been seen as a sin. Now, we have bigger sins being committed against us and greater rules being broken to harm us. Him taking the vest, I was told, was like a hairline fracture to the backbone that supported us. Him returning it is his way of trying to cast what has now become completely broken.

“Cute,” Lawless says as I adjust the vest while he walks passed. Leaning close into Rhett, he asks the man, “but where the hell is yours?”

We have watched everything burn around us, destroying us from the inside out. We have burnt our friends, our loved ones and bridges all with the intended goal to make things better. It would be so much easier to let it all burn down around me, to let the wind float the ashes to someone strong enough to carry them when the flames finally die, but it’s not in my nature. I can’t stand by and let the flames take us. I don’t know if I will have the courage to fix this, rising like a phoenix from this disaster we have allowed to happen to us. I only know that I’m not willing to let go. Not yet. I will fight just one more time. We survive because we have each other. It’s not because of me or them or anyone else alone. It’s because we take care of each other. Rhett taught me that in a blood-soaked hall when the weight of my doubts was enough to crush me. I had warned Selma that I always take back what belongs to me. Standing in that same hall, Rhett very much belongs to me and to mine.

CHAPTER
27

F
inally we are sitting as one again in our hidden little music room. The men are spread out around the room like beasts weary of the other being in their space. They watch with just as cautious eyes as we graze on the stashed food they have been hording from their runs. Aimes and I sit in our own little area relishing the chocolate bars they found on one of the last runs. We are keeping our heads low fully expecting the shrapnel to be sharper than the actual blast when the first rounds are fired. Men forgive easy, but it is one hell of a battle to wade through first.

“So,” Marxx is the first to break the silent standoff. His voice is rough with the anger he has over Rhett’s latest actions. So, it’s not surprising when Marxx steps up to the gun range first. It’s also not surprising to see Chapel slowly adjust himself between them and us. “Did you know what they do?” Marxx asks. It’s the only question he really cares about.

Rhett doesn’t move to acknowledge the question asked of him. He fidgets with the wrapper to whatever imitation of nutrition he picked from the pile. Every second he stalls the room grows that much more dangerous with tension.

“I asked you a question.” Marxx is standing now, not taking kindly to being ignored.

Lawless pushes from the wall he was leaning on. He is either ready to join Marxx or poised to intercept them both. He also could just be trying to get a better view of the show.

Rhett answers with his attention still rapt to the shiny wrapper. “I heard you.” The room waits for more, but that is all he is giving.

“Did you?” Aimes asks before Chapel or I could stop her. She has her own answers she needs him to answer for her sanity, but this is the only one she can ask publicly.

Ignoring the men for Rhett is most likely a source of enjoyment. Ignoring the tiny voice of Aimes, shielding the real questions they both know will be asked as some point, robs his composure. The wrapper is not nearly as interesting as it once was. “I thought it was more Jesus play. I didn’t think it was literal.” Rhett sighs leaning back into the plastic chair making it moan around him as if it knows what story he is about to tell. “Travis said something about rebuilding the world with just the strong and the devout. It made sense. I’m tired of having to carry people who don’t want to carry themselves. Like J.D. said, we do all the stuff around here and they just sit back letting us take the blame when it goes wrong. Travis said they have a way to prove it by using the “love of family”. He puts the children’s fates in the hands of their parents. If the man is brave enough, strong enough, he will prove it.” His head hangs low letting his dark hair cover his shame. “I didn’t know it was real.”

“Where are they now?” Chapel asks. He isn’t very interested in what has happened as much as he is worried about what might.

“Hunting demons.” Rhett smirks as he recalls something that was said. “They think of those things as demons; people that are possessed by the Devil. Killing them is how to prove you are in the Army of God. Here I was just thinking it was a fun past time.” Rhett isn’t exactly exaggerating. He very much enjoys having free reign to kill as he likes. It’s just another layer of his ever-disturbing charm.

“So it’s started?” Chapel asks again, tempting to once again be bitten.

“Yeah, it’s started. Once we brought April back, Selma and Travis became very secretive. They knew we had seen the tree and their time was running out. I guess they like to go a little more slowly with the whole mind game theme. When you three left this morning,” he pauses giving Aimes a steady look over our rapid departure, “it really set Travis to task. I didn’t even know that black book of yours had so many chapters until this morning’s preach-a-thon.”

Chapel’s mind is already skipping ahead to the days that may come, but replies anyway. He says, “Maybe you should read it sometime.”

Rhett laughs an amused chuckle telling the man, “Nah. It’s all a bunch words left only to interpretation by the one reading it out loud. The articles in Playboy, pretty much straight forward.”

“Glad to see you’re admitting to your reading level.” Aimes isn’t content with how well this reunion is appearing to go. Her posture of crossed arms and her pressed lips further tells how disappointed she is in the lack of male angst.

Rhett’s gaze swings back to her with his searing blue eyes, “I’ll admit to many things if you’d like.”

His dare drops her jaw and pulls the strings of her spine straight. Their little play has the whole room’s attention now.

There isn’t a way she can deny his sentence without admitting to the subtle warning. The way the other men’s eyes twitch from Rhett to Aimes, I don’t think she has a chance either way. When their eyes come to rest on me, I realize that I don’t have an escape either and my wrapper is very interesting. You just can’t find shiny paper like this anymore.

“You two finally are going to admit it?” Lawless is smirking from his wall, upping Rhett’s dare.

Aimes’ eyes grow wider as the male’s smiles take over the room. They say women “kiss and tell”, but no one brags like a room full of bored men.

“The whole time?” she asks the room that has become filled with mirth.

“He never said the name, but with Hells being out and the school being thin, it wasn’t hard to guess,” Marxx offers.

She flops back into the chair aghast at being a source of their male-tinted banter. “You told?” If her eyes could grow any wider, I’d be worried about socket damage.

Rhett smiles fully now. The smile that sends shivers to all the wrong places, or the very much correct places depending on your feelings towards the man. Watching Aimes melt in her chair with his smile, I think everyone in the room knows what’s melting.

“Sweetheart,” Rhett starts, pulling the words out into an almost syrupy drawl. “I didn’t tell them anything then and I didn’t admit to anything now. You did that all on your own.”

He has a point and you can almost hear the light switch turn on as it hits home with Aimes. “So wait,” she says with the furrows framing her forehead with her thoughts, “you’re saying since Hells was not available, then it had to be me? If Hells was up and around, it never would have crossed your minds it was me?”

My wrapper is just levels upon levels of interesting and I stare at it, lost in the amazement. I might have to slip lower into my chair to fully enjoy the sight of it.

“No,” Lawless’ voice is deep with menace, “ it being Hells never would have crossed my mind one way or another.”

I’m still staring at the wrapper of long gone chocolate but I can still feel the weight of the room. I slip a little lower into my chair pleading with the pain it causes me to be understanding. Searing stiches or the focus of many stares? Sorry, but the stiches are out of luck.

“Now if Dolph were to mention something, he might have concerns.” Rhett stands under the disguise of stretching, but he’s really prepping for a reaction from Lawless.

Lawless doesn’t jump on the bait, but he’s ready to and he lets the other man know it. “Is that really smart from a man whose fate hasn’t been decided yet?”

“It’s not my fate I’m warning you about, Brother.” Rhett looks to me and I have no idea where he is taking us now. “Since we are holding confession, you going to tell him?”

“Tell him what?” I’m not being sly. I really am without a clue as to what he is asking about.

“Selma saw you and Dolph. She told me all about it.”

“Her and Dolph what?” Now, Lawless is jumping.

I’m still scrambling. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Rhett stares at me as well as Chapel, my keeper, as he tries to read me. “You told Dolph no, but not until after you let him do some exploring.”

“Why did she tell you this?” Chapel has stood, placing himself closer to me as he asks his question.

Rhett shrugs, but the motion doesn’t match his expression. “She said she had proof that Hells wasn’t the girl we think she is. We all think of her as being our little combat doll, but the whole time she’s making her own way on her back.”

“You think that’s true?” Chapel asks the room letting his eyes stop on each male. I guess I should be thankful he didn’t feel the need to look to Aimes even as I do.

“Payback is a bitch,” Rhett says recalling a little domestic meltdown inspired by J.D.’s plotting.

“Men are really this stupid?” Aimes is asking me as she rolls her eyes over their indecisiveness. “Just climbing out on a wild limb here, but did she tell you this the day you hit Hells?”

Rhett pauses and the look of his gears having to turn to remember is slightly comical. “Yeah, I guess.”

“The same day that Hells threatened her?” Aimes pushes further.

Rhett stands silent knowing where his ship is finally taking him – sinking.

“You idiot, Hells is her only real threat. She knows that. She saw how it affected you when you hit Hells and took the chance to weave this tale while you were being stupid. She wanted you to have a reason to be mad at Hells to keep you from talking to her. It’s basic high school reindeer games. Now let’s all laugh and call you names.” Aimes looks to Lawless who sill stands ridged with his imagination holding him prisoner. “And if you believe it, then you are even more stupid than he is. So much for not running anymore?” When Lawless looks shocked by her words she wears a smirk similar to the one Rhett was adorned with when the ball was in his court. “Yeah, you boys aren’t the only ones who talk.”

“If their plan is to do this thing of theirs,” Chapel pauses not even able to put words to the evil, “they would have to make sure we were out of the way for it to really work. We don’t have kids for them to use against us.”

“We are the only ones not swallowing the punch, too,” Marxx adds.

“…and if Travis really believes that Hells is the root of us, it would make sense to try to dissolve our trust with her. It would divide us pretty fast.” Chapel continues to debate more to himself than for anyone else in the room. Lawless still remains silent.

“Maybe, but I still think she is just playing the jealous new girlfriend.” Aimes clings to her ideas, not from pride, but from fear of how much deeper their plans might reach if Chapel is correct. “Leslie was right there with her. I’m sure she’s very sharing with her opinions of the matter since she is still trying.”

Law’s eyes swing to me again and I only arch an eyebrow to serve as my question. We have the world trying to eat us, a group trying to hang us so I really don’t care about the daily telephone game Selma has tried to play. He softly shakes his head and for now it’s a good enough answer for me. Perhaps I’ll help Leslie into a circle under a tree.

“So nobody is sleeping with anybody and everyone is sleeping with someone. Great, glad that’s all worked out. Can we just figure out what we are going to do before they pick a tree?” I ask fully bored with it all and fully expecting to hear anyone’s voice other than the one that answers me.

“Since the last tree in this place provided such happiness, who would be willing to pick another?” Selma asks, spinning the room to her direction. She is framed in the doorway with her simple blue jeans and white sweater offering a sweetness of the all-American girl.

“Why are you here?” Rhett starts to walk to her with the training she has instilled in him. J.D. would have had a field day with them two. Sometimes, I really miss that man.

“I was looking for you. I was starting to worry when I couldn’t find you,” Selma says placing her palms on either side of his face when he reaches where she is standing. She is melting with worry and it smells like burning plastic.

Rhett is very aware of us watching him. He is being forced to finally declare a side and like I said, J.D. would not have missed this chance to make the big man break if he were here. The prince isn’t going to either.

“Let one disaster into your door and more follow. You can also follow her back out. Don’t worry. We’ll come find you to tell you the results of the vote.” Lawless folds his arms across his chest as he relaxes back against the wall.

This is Rhett’s last chance for survival with our group. If Lawless declares him dead, dead he will become. I’ve seen the missing persons report showcasing members of their club and their shrugs with blank stares that accompany when the police asked about it. I just never wanted to believe it. It’s easy to look away when your back isn’t shoved into a corner.

“Last time I checked, this school was ours. That includes this floor and this door as well.” Selma smiles at Law and I have the spider sensation crawling along my arms again.

“Last time I checked, this school belonged to Simon,” he tells her, still a relaxed gentle stance upon him.

“Simon really isn’t in the position to be running anything. You should know that since it was your circle here that made him that way.” Selma spins her webs again trying to reopen sores that have since tried to scab and heal.

“Even they don’t play that card anymore. You’re going to have to try harder than that,” I hear myself say in defense of the man and it brings me right into the middle of her attention.

“Helena, how nice to see you up. Dolph was just asking about you,” she tries and I can’t stop the laughter from erupting from my throat. Aimes is right.