Marked

“Oh my God, Ray, you’re okay! I really thought I’d never see you again!” Simone wrapped Rachel up in a bone-crushing hug. She smelled of vanilla, the way she’d always smelled even back at the compound. Seeing her familiar face took a huge weight off of Rachel’s shoulders, momentarily allowed her to forget about Ruth and Nicolas only to focus on the relief she felt that her best friend was alive.

“How did you get here?” Rachel asked, stunned. Simone pulled back and shot her a small smile.

“Once Michael was rescued and got to the ship, he told the others about us and they came to get us. We were all hiding out in the woods after we couldn’t get in contact with you—oh my God, I thought you were all dead.”

Rachel took in this bit of information. “That’s even more reason to apologize to Michael,” Rachel said. “For everything we did to him. He’s not a bad guy.”

“I know,” Simone nodded. “I don’t know what came over me when I started hitting him. I guess I just wanted Abby to pay for tricking us and giving us a false sense of security...and he was the only thing that would hurt her...but it was wrong,” She sighed.

“We’ve both done things we’re ashamed of.” An image of the poacher she’d killed flashed through her mind. She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat and sat up, swung her feet over the side of the tiny, white cot, and looked out the window. “Doesn’t mean we can’t try to be better from now on.”

The rocking of the ship had long ago made her sick, but the nausea was easier to focus on than her thoughts. Outside, the setting sun made it look like someone had taken a paint brush to the ocean and colored it with soft pinks and oranges.

“What happened to Abby?” Rachel asked.

Simone made a face while scrunching up her nose with disgust. “They’ve got her here. They’re keeping her in a jail cell at the bottom of the ship or something like that but never mind her, what about Juan? Is he okay? I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’ve missed that idiot.”

Rachel forced out a small laugh and ran a hand through her tangled hair.

“Juan is fine, Hector checked and he was among the rescued--”

“Wait--what, back up. Hector, the Hector, is here?”

“Yeah we found him in the capital—well, actually, he found me, but— ”

“Oh my God he’s alive! What happened? Where was he?”

Rachel gave her the shortened version, of how Hector had rescued her from the elevator shaft along with a few other people from the ship and then saved her from Nicolas and even carried her through the city. She was careful to leave out the part about Nicolas being her father—she wasn’t sure she was ready to admit that to anyone just yet.

“A guy who will carry you in his arms for miles—he’s a keeper.” Simone sighed dreamily. “Did you kiss? Tell me you kissed.”

A blush slowly colored Rachel’s cheeks. Back in the compound they’d talked about boys before plenty of times but it had mostly consisted of Simone re-telling her make-out sessions while Rachel listened silently—for it to be her turn felt a little out of place.

“Yeah, we kissed and then I professed my undying love for him and made a complete fool of myself —with tears and everything.”

“Aw,” She sighed. “I bet he thought it was cute; I mean you are pretty cute.” Rachel gave her a small shove and grinned.

“Oh, shut up.”

“Your love story sounds way cuter than mine.” Simone pouted. “I’m jealous.”

“What? You’re seeing someone? Since when?”

“Well, yeah...” Simone trailed. “Since a few nights ago and technically we’re not seeing each other, but we’re like, you know...I mean we kissed once. That’s it.”

“Who is he? A guy from the bunker?”

“It’s kind of crazy how it happened but after you guys got captured in the capital, the rest of us went out in the woods, all lost and scared and crap—hey, can you believe no one in the bunker knows how to start a fire? So naturally I was the only one there who had any clue what in the world they were doing. But it’s not like I have any idea on how to lead people, so after I started the fire, we all just sat there twiddling our thumbs for the longest.”

“So what happened?”

“This guy shows up—his name’s Gabe—he was on his way back from a mission at the capital and he found us all out in the woods, scared and freaking out. You should’ve seen how he took charge, Rachel. Ah! It was so freaking sexy.”

“Wait, so this guy just showed up out of nowhere?”

“Well not out of nowhere silly. I guess his mission was coming to an end or something like that,” Simone waved her hand in the air dismissively. “When he didn’t find anyone in the bunker he went outside to search and that’s when he found us. He found shelter and then we were rescued by these people and now I’m here, with you.”

Rachel smiled at her friend even though she was wary of this new stranger. This guy had come back from the capital in the middle of an attack? How long did it even take for someone to reach the bunker after leaving the city? Keeping her suspicions to herself for now, she gave Simone a big hug.

“What was that for?” Simone laughed.

“I just want you to know that I love you.” Rachel replied.

“Oh, honey, I love you too and we’re going to be alright now.” Simone patted her back and sighed, “Yeah, I think we’re going to be okay...”

Rachel didn’t believe that, not for one second, but she kept her mouth shut and held on tight to her best friend.

...........................................................................

Everyone was inside celebrating.

White, red and blue streamers hung from the ship’s ceiling; they were gathered inside a large room on the topmost part of one of the ships, the one that least looked like it was headed straight for battle. Music drummed happily through speakers; she could feel the base inside her body like a second heartbeat, pumping her blood, making her restless.

She saw Juan among the crowd, mercifully safe and sound, laughing and joking with a few other guys from the bunker that had also been freed from the camp they’d been in, awaiting their turn to be Marked.

Then there was Simone—she always did love a good party—who was accompanied by the mysterious Gabe, his platinum blonde hair shining white under the fluorescents, his smile almost as brilliant.

She thumbed mentally through the rest of the people that mattered to her. Yalina and Michael were nowhere to be seen but she rested easy knowing that they were somewhere on the ship—she’d checked with Debra during her mandatory psychological evaluation and she had confirmed they’d all made it out.

Doctor Everest had treated her foot earlier that day and left her with a cast around her foot that was itchy but at least she could walk without it hurting much. That only left Hector who she hadn’t seen since the infirmary.

He’d taken off as soon as he’d heard that a group of children had been extracted from one of the orphanages the poachers used to ripen their children and she hadn’t heard from him since.

That left her all alone, with too much time think. She watched the sea of people, of brilliant colors and laughter and happiness. Most of the bunker people were there, a few mountain survivors too, all celebrating their newfound freedom alongside their newest hosts, the people of the ship.

She leaned against the refreshment table, popped tiny hotdogs into her mouth, not really tasting any of them as they slid down her throat.

Rachel dusted her hands against the yellow sundress Simone had forced her into wearing. She couldn’t wait to change out of it. The straps bit deep into her shoulders, the skirt was itchy and she thought it made her look like a newly hatch chicken, anyway.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught someone staring. It was two girls, standing a few feet away but maybe they weren’t looking at her.

“That’s the president’s daughter...” Nope, they were definitely staring.

“Can you imagine what that would be like...” The other asked, shooting her a sidelong glance. Looks like word travels fast around here. How had they even found out? She hadn’t told anyone—but that didn’t mean Ruth hadn’t let something slip out.

“Her parents are crazy. Do you think she’s crazy too?”

Sighing, she peeled herself from the table, grabbed a glass of bubbling liquid from a passing tray, and downed it. With a clang, she set it back down on the table and went outside.