Most humans hated ash. I don't know why, they just did. It was nice to know there were a few out there who got what we went through, who cared.
Sam pulled the Humvee into a dark garage and I saw two oddly familiar faces there. It took me a few moments to place where I remembered them from. My eyes dropped down to the blanket covering Katelynn. Right!
They had been on the news when all hell broke loose. They were her parents. The garage closed then, enclosing us in darkness. Kyle and Markus held their guns close, with the safety off. Ryder popped out of the car and opened the back door, pulling the blankets off the girl. As she sat up, she surprised me with a hug.
Did her skin already look a little less pale? Her eyes a bit less silver?
"Thanks," she whispered, and then jumped out into her parents' arms.
Ryder addressed her family and the few surrounding sympathizers. "She's been inoculated with the cure and will be human within the next few weeks. Don't ask me how, I can't tell you. Until then, you must take precautions with the sun, and she might need some final blood to help her heal."
He dropped a bag from our precious supply into one of the humans' hands.
Katelynn's parents looked at Ryder in shock and broke down into tears. The mother wailed, clutching her daughter closely. Tears sprang up in my eyes as I realized what a difference my blood had made in this girl's life. Never again could I just sit on the sidelines and hide. I had to figure out a way to take who and what I was and use it for the greater good.
I wasn't used to humans looking at us with anything other than contempt. Most of these sympathizers just looked utterly baffled, but there was no hatred.
"There's a cure?" rang out from more than one of them.
Ryder nodded, but his expression did not soften. He would not reveal my secret, and we'd be long gone by the time the humans could quiz Katelynn. "No more questions. Thank you for arranging this meet-up with the girl's family."
Despite the fact they looked like they wanted to protest, the humans just gave us lingering stares before turning and retreating. The garage door opened and Ryder shut the back hatch, getting into the car, and we were gone, heading down the long driveway and back out onto the road to Mount Hood.
Ryder turned to the driver. "Okay, Sam, I have trusted you this far, but now I need to know where we're going."
Sam gripped the wheel, staring out onto the main road. "We drive to Bend, take a private plane from there to north Canada, and then charter a helicopter to our final destination."
Ryder frowned. "And where is our final destination?"
Sam met Ryder's eyes for a moment, but then shook his head.
"I can't tell you, brother. You'll just have to trust me a little while longer."
Jayden caught my eye and we both scowled. Sam wouldn't be leading us into a trap, would he? But Ryder nodded. Clearly he trusted Sam with his life. With all of our lives.
After a three-hour drive, my ass was asleep. My leg was partially healed and we had already gone through fourteen bottles of blood. As we pulled up to the small airport in Bend, Oregon, I was getting an uncomfortable and heavy feeling in my stomach about Sam's secrecy. Were we all just expected to follow him out of the country into Canada with no other details and a dwindling supply of blood? Apparently so.
There was a small white plane waiting in a massive hanger. The boys began loading our supplies into the cargo holds while Ryder came to help me get inside.
"Who's flying this thing?" I asked.
"I am," Sam said, as he took my other arm and helped me up into the plane.
I raised an eyebrow. "You're a pilot?"
"Yes," he said, in his limited word usage way.
In such close proximity to Sam, with beams of sunlight filtering across the space, I could see he had the lightest smattering of freckles across his nose. Just another thing I hadn't known about him. After getting me up the small steps and into the plane, I was deposited into one of the large tan leather seats scattered about the main cabin. There were about ten chairs in total, so it was not a very large area.
I grabbed Sam's hand before he could leave.
"I'm a girl with daddy issues, Sam, so I don't trust easily. Why aren't you telling us where we're headed?" My pulse was racing as I prayed this didn't turn into a big confrontation.
Sam looked sadly at me and kneeled down, coming close. "I have no way of knowing if we are being overheard. What if the Quorum sewed listening chips into our clothing? Our duffle bags?"
My stomach rolled at the thought. Oh God. Were they on their way here now? I wanted to rip my clothes off and check the seams or something.
"There are some things in life worth risking everything for. I'm willing to risk all of you not trusting me or being mad at me if it means I can keep this secret destination safe."
Ryder's hand grasped Sam's shoulder. "You've never steered me wrong before. I trust you."
I squeezed Sam's hand as the rest of the boys began to file into the small plane. "I trust you too, Sam."
I realized that was totally the truth. These boys were my family now, and if you couldn't trust family you were screwed. Sam nodded and went into the cockpit. Ryder kissed my forehead before leaving so he could slide into the co-pilot chair beside Sam.
Jayden plopped down in the seat next to me and leaned over on my armrest and whispered, "Sam's a pilot? Good lord, that boy is sexy." Jayden fanned himself and I smiled. Resting my head on my BAFF's strong shoulder, I drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 14
The jerking of the plane jolted me awake. As I twisted my head to catch Jayden's eye, he made an exaggerated movement of wiping my drool off his shoulder.
"You're lucky you're cute, because I don't even let Oliver drool on me."
I brushed a hand across my mouth, which admittedly had a bit of drool at the corners, before reaching out and smacking his arm. "Shut up. What's going on?"
Looking out the window, we had landed in a mountainous, green, and totally scenic place. Must be Canada. The small tarmac we were rolling down seemed to be leading straight into a private plane hangar.
Sam smoothly guided us inside and then Ryder jumped out to close the huge hanger doors. It was darker inside now, but that didn't stop me from pressing my face to the window. Through the small opening I caught glimpses of a large industrial space. Movement drew my attention as a beautiful woman with long strawberry blond hair strode across from where she must have been waiting against the far wall. Craning my neck to see more, I saw a line of plastic shopping bags along the wall.
After finishing all of his flight things, Sam exited the open-doored cockpit and spoke to all of us.
"Let's move. We need to be in and out of here quickly."
I rolled my ankle in a circle and was amazed that it barely hurt. Standing up and testing it out, I was able to walk on it with only a slight limp.
Ryder, who was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, reached out for me and helped me down. We then strode around the front of the jet and I let out a stifled gasp as Sam crossed the space to the woman and she threw her arms around him. He pulled her close, even lifting her up off the ground. Whoa … Sam was never openly affectionate.
Kyle was grinning widely. "I knew it. There were no fishing trips," he whispered to me. "He totally has a love nest."
All of us were transfixed as Sam spoke in hushed tones with the girl and she nodded, hugging him again and then leaving. He turned and crossed back to us. Jared and the guys had already started unloading our stuff, but Sam stopped them with a single shake of his head.
"Leave it," he said.
We all froze, waiting for him to clue us in on what was happening.
He pointed to the blood cases. "Drink up. It will have to last you the rest of our trip, because we're taking nothing else with us."
Jayden's mouth popped open. "My clothes?" He looked mortally offended at the idea of leaving his designer outfits behind.
Sam shrugged. "Will be incinerated."
"Monster," Jayden whispered, his entire face crumpling as Oliver rubbed his shoulders.
Ryder gave Sam a discerning look then, no doubt trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
Sam, ignoring our glares, began to undress. His hand waved at the line of shopping bags. "My friend has bought us new clothes. Nothing from the Hive goes to our new location."
I raised an eyebrow. Damn, this was one paranoid dude, with a very detailed escape plan. Ryder caught me taking a quick peek at Sam's shirtless form-seriously, it was purely professional interest because he was always so covered up, even in the weights room. Ryder quirked one side of his mouth before pulling his own shirt off.
Sam was forgotten as I allowed my eyes to slowly roam down Ryder's chiseled abs and tan smooth skin. Good Lord, he was a piece of work.
Everyone was in varying stages of undress now, and Jayden's wide eyes met mine.
"This is what I imagine heaven is like," he said.