Chapter 16: Miss Bubblegum

This whole shit was fucking a mistake.

My elbow was rested against the car window of Aubrey’s Land Rover that had been following behind two humvees, their wheels kicking up dust as we edged away from camp.

The wind brushed my hair slightly. The car rattled like it was about to fall apart, every pothole shaking dust from the ceiling onto my lap.

Aubrey sat at the wheel, drumming her fingers against it in rhythm with the horrendous noise she dared to call music. It was Lila’s favorite band…Static Jacks, maybe? I’d almost forgotten Aubrey was a die-hard emo chick. Maybe that’s where Lila got her aesthetic.

I’d probably be bumping to it right now if I didn’t feel like we were driving straight toward our own fucking funeral.

“Can you turn this shit off? I don’t think now’s the time for—”

“Last time I checked, you don’t own this car.”

I scoffed, slumping back into the seat.

“And I play this type of music when I wanna get pumped,” she added, flicking her hair back with a smirk. “I played this on the way to save you two.”

The way she was acting made me feel melodramatic about this whole thing.

As of right now, there was a change in our initial positions from the last time I was in this car. I sat shotgun. Terri and Lila sat at the back— a pile of bags separating the 2.

Lila was still under the impression that she left that weird note in my bed.

Speaking of which…I still haven’t even found out who that really was— and Lila growing quieter by the day didn’t ease my mind at all.

There was silence, safe for the sound of a hardcore guitar riff playing from the speaker. I heard Terri humming slightly to herself from the backseat.

Like we weren’t trailing behind two humvees toward what might be a place already swarming with lowlifes.

Whatever.

“I don’t get it. Why the hell are we even going back to the warehouse where me and Lila almost got killed?”

Aubrey sighed— the loud and theatrical kind like she had any right to be annoyed with me.

She finally lowered the music— leaving only the hum of the engine and the static crackle of the radio.

“You ask a lot of questions, don’t you, Carter?”

I raised a brow at that.

“The Crucible has no leads on finding you, or their stolen weapons,”

Her eyes never left the road.

“But they do have one anchor point. One common denominator.”

Her fingers tightened around the wheel.

“That warehouse.”

I folded my arms, unease crawling up my spine.

“Think of it as uprooting a plant before it begins to grow. If we stay dormant, we’re basically handing them a map to our doorstep.”

I opened my mouth to argue—

Before the humvees ahead slammed to a stop.

Aubrey cursed under her breath and braked hard. My shoulder smacked the door. Terri lurched forward. Lila grabbed the seat in front of her.

“Fuck’s the hold up?”

Then we heard it— a voice in the distance. Female. Strained. Pleading.

A hitchhiker?

Aubrey swung her door open with a slam. I followed, hopping out as Terri and Lila trailed behind.

“You think we have time for this shit?” Aubrey barked.

One of the soldiers gestured her over. He had one hand lightly on the back of a blonde woman with streaks of blue in her hair. Her clothes looked like she crawled out of a burning building and walked twenty miles after.

Poor girl.

“Make room in your car,” he said.

Aubrey nearly choked.

“Are you serious? We don’t have time to help hitchhikers! We’re on a serious mission—”

“Commander’s orders,” he interrupted calmly. “We help anyone in need that we can. Her sign says ’Anywhere South.’ That’s the direction we’re already headed.”

Aubrey stared at him, waiting for him to crack a smile.

He didn’t.

“If we don’t pick her up,” he added quietly, “we’re leaving her to die. We’d be no better than the psychos out there.”

I leaned against Aubrey’s Land Rover, watching as another soldier checked the woman’s corneas for the red infection glow.

Clear. Great. No excuse to leave her behind.

I sighed in resignation, ready to slide back into the car— Before my I noticed her gaze lingering in my direction.

My stomach knotted— my pulse jumping when her eyes met mine.

She was looking at me.

They glinted with something strange. Something I couldn’t put my finger on.

Her smile bloomed with something too warm. Too intentional.

Then— she leaned in slightly and blew me a kiss.

What the fuck…? Did she know me or something?

I blinked, unsure whether I should feel flattered or alarmed.

Outside, Aubrey pinched the bridge of her nose like she was seconds away from throwing a tantrum. The soldier whispered something to her— pleading, almost like doing this one good thing would remind him that he was still human.

“Just do this for me. Please.”

Aubrey groaned, dragging a hand down her face.

She rubbed her short dark hair, muttering something that sounded like a curse.

Then she finally stepped aside.

The stray girl approached the Land Rover’s door, eyes hopeful, exhausted… and something else I couldn’t place.

Something I probably should’ve paid more attention to.

She climbed in, settling between the bags with a soft, breathless smile. Her scent cut through the dust and sweat lingering in the Land Rover.

Her perfume was faint but crisp, unnatural and impossible in this heat.

“Hiii! Oh my gosh, thank you guys so much for letting me ride with you,” she said brightly. Her voice was bubbly, sugary sweet, the kind you heard from cheerleaders who pretended not to hate each other.

She brushed a strand of hair back, and not a hint of sweat or grime clung to her body despite the appearance of her clothes.

Wait, what?

“Thank you for putting yourselves out of your way…I thought I was gonna die out there!”

Barely any of us responded.

Terri hugged herself— shifting away from her slowly as bags crunched under her weight.

Lila’s eyes snapped toward her like knives, pupils glinting with disdain.

She didn’t speak, but the glance she shot the girl was enough. A silent promise that any wrong move would be met with violence. She saw the subtle gesture the stranger had made toward me— the eerie smile, the kiss blown in my direction.

For a heartbeat, the air between them seemed to crack. Lila’s jaw tightened, fists clenching at her sides, and her pupils narrowed to sharp, predatory slits.

And yet… the blonde only smiled, twirling a streak of blue in her fingers. Faintly mocking, almost amused, as if she knew exactly what she was doing— as if she found Lila’s anger entertaining. Her hand lifted in a delicate, almost teasing wave.

I’d seen enough.

I turned back to the road ahead of me as Aubrey pressed the gas petal lightly. I slumped back into my seat.

This was so fucked up.

I tried not to think about it. The way this girl sounded rehearsed. Like she’s practiced this personality in the mirror.

….Maybe Lila’s suspicion was justified.

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