Stryker

 

 

Her head is down as she comes barreling down the hallway. I thrust out my hands to keep Lake from taking us both down. She smells sweet, like sun-warmed strawberries. My heart rate starts working double-time.

“Sorry,” Lake yelps. “I was, uhm, lost in thought.”

I make myself let go of her. “Anything you want to talk about?” My eyes shoot to the ceiling as a reminder to keep her response neutral.

Her eyes go wide. “No!”

Interesting. What secret is she withholding? Lake hasn’t told me anything about her life. But if I ask, then she’ll expect me to answer those same questions. I came here to escape my past.

And to prevent it from happening again.

“I mean, no, everything is fine,” she says, which is obviously a lie.

I can’t begin to describe the color of her hair. Every time she moves, it reminds me of staring into a midnight bonfire on my family’s beach, which only resurfaces the memories I’ve been trying to suppress. Alicia loved that beach.

I make myself look away. “I should get going.”

“Have you eaten yet?”

“Just finished,” I lie.

“Want to keep me company?”

I do, which is the problem. “Bjorn and I were in the middle of something, and I want to get back to it.”

Her smile fades. “I understand.”

I should leave, but it’s as if her eyes have a magnetic power and I can’t pull away. “What were you working on last night?”

Her face lights up as she tells me about George and the other octopuses, growing more animated when she shifts into the consistency of dead human brains.

“What does Bjorn have you working on?” she asks.

Lake thinks past herself. Alicia was like that, too. A shiver runs through me when I picture her face.

Lake is looking at me expectantly.

“We’re studying the Art of War by Sun Tzu. Bjorn has a brilliant take on it.” I’m not saying it for the benefit of those listening. He knows about my past, and he’s trying to make sure I don’t make the same mistakes again.

Lake’s smile warms away my shivers. “This is an amazing experience, isn’t it?”

“Sure is.” No need to scare her any worse until I know what’s going on.

Before they sealed my air duct, I discovered there’s a second team of scientists, and they’ve taken a lot of precautions to isolate us from them. Since Bjorn has no way of letting them know what I know, I asked him about them. For the first time, he wasn’t forthcoming, saying that it has nothing to do with our work. That worries me.

As Bjorn has been teaching me, I need to question everyone’s underlying motive. What’s the purpose of keeping them from us? I don’t want to alarm the others until I learn what they’re up to.

“You sure you don’t want to hang out for a bit?” she asks.

“Can’t right now. See you later,” I say to urge her along.

“Another time then.” She takes a few steps, then stops and turns to me. “Stryker, I’m glad we’re here together.”

My guts twist. I cannot allow myself to have feelings for Lake. My natural inclination is to push her away by acting like a jerk, but I can’t make myself hurt her like that. She deserves better. I have to cram what I’m feeling down deep, where I’ve buried everything else.

I force myself to smile. “Me, too. You’re a good friend.”

Five years is a long time to pretend you don’t care.