Chapter Five: Aspen

Chapter Five
~ Aspen ~

I was completely exhausted, practically falling over where I stood. It had taken way longer to find the shack Will mentioned than I thought it would. At this point, the sun was long gone. And I was in deep trouble. I’d told dad I would return his key card in only a few minutes, and now it had been hours. I didn’t know if he’d be worried, or angry, or both. Either way, I didn’t plan on seeing him any time soon to find out.
“What do you mean you know where he is?” The guy to my left, the one who’d rudely pointed a weapon at me upon opening the door, asked with an edge.
I rubbed my arm where he’d held it moments before. I didn’t blame them for being hostile. I was actually quite shocked at E’s kindness after I’d shut her down when she asked for help. Hell, I’d practically called her crazy for worrying when it turns out she was right. Maybe. I still had no idea what was going on.
“You don’t know about the bounties?” E asked curiously, not giving me time to respond to the first question. She seemed genuinely shocked by the thought.
“Of course not. Dad doesn’t tell me anything important.” I took a moment to survey their little home. It was a complete disaster. Pieces of roof hanging down, walls chipping off kind of awful.
“Okay, if no one else is going to address it.” Another guy I hadn’t noticed before spoke up. He glared at me with intense chocolate brown eyes. He looked the most outwardly threatening out of the three of them, with dark spiky hair and all black clothes. “How do you two know each other?”
He’d asked the question to both E and I but didn’t look away from me. I could tell he was trying to be intimidating, and maybe that’s why he wasn't. For some reason, I felt safe here. I didn’t think E would let them hurt me despite her earlier comment. I was about to give him a short version of our history, but E beat me to it.
“That isn’t important right now.” So, she hadn’t told them about her past. Interesting. “Where is Will?”
I swallowed thickly. This is the part I was worried about. I didn’t know how they would react. I was so deeply tied to all of this. Would they believe that I really had no idea? I started to feel faint, a few dark spots dotting my vision. I hadn’t eaten or drank anything all day and had walked more in a few hours than the last six months combined. Before I knew what was happening, my knees buckled, and an arm wrapped around my waist almost instantly.
“I’m fine.” I deflected, yet the guy who tried to kill me earlier hoisted me up against him anyway.
He walked us both to a disgusting looking couch that had no legs and dropped me harshly down onto it. I was surprised that a cloud of dust didn’t fly up from the impact. My eyes rose to meet his as he backed up to join E and their other friend. His crystal blue irises held a fierce protectiveness I didn’t want to mess with.
“I need you to tell me everything you know about what happens to the sick.” I repeated my earlier demand, and the spiky haired guy laughed darkly.
“This bitch is crazy.” He said it more to himself than anyone else, and let his arms fly up in exasperation.
“Jax.” E hissed, walking away to snatch something from the other side of the shack. She returned a moment later and handed it to me none too kindly. Water. I gulped it all down greedily.
“We aren’t telling you anything until you answer my question. Where is Will?”
I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. We’d been doing this back-and-forth thing for several minutes now and I was growing tired of it. I came all the way here to get answers, not to sit around and bicker with a couple of strangers and my long-lost childhood best friend.
“In a cell. On his way to somewhere even worse very shortly. So, I suggest you give me the information I need so I can try to help him before it’s too late.” My voice sounded harsh even to my own ears, but I was over playing these games. I wanted to get what I came for and get the hell away from here.
A gasp of shock tore through me as the guy I still hadn’t been introduced to, pulled his knife free once again. In a flash it was against my throat as he leaned over me to meet my eyes. I stiffened and glanced toward E. Her face was a mask of indifference.
“Here’s what’s gonna happen.” He started, and my attention snapped back to him. He was so close I could see tiny specks of gold littered throughout his eyes. “You know where Will is, so you’re going to take us to him. Then, you’re gonna help us get him free and never bother us again.”
“That’s a great idea.” I hissed as he pushed the blade against my skin. “If you have a death wish.”
His glare deepened and I was sure he planned to kill me if E hadn’t spoken up.
“Grey, that’s enough.” He backed off at her command and I gasped in a full breath.
I rubbed at my throat, feeling it start to swell where he’d just had the weapon. I glanced between all three of them, wondering if I’d made a mistake in coming here. They didn’t seem eager to accept my conditions, which is the only way this was going to work. I was in way over my head and starting to feel overwhelmed. I had discovered a huge secret dad had obviously never intended for me to find out, walked for miles through a bug infested forest, and entered some kind of refugee compound. All in one day. Maybe I was the one with the death wish. Or maybe I was beginning to see in between lies.