Traveler - The Price (Book 3)
Chapter 16

“As long as I’m breathing, I won’t give up.” With this thought I woke up since I had come back from the Underworld. First, I started saying that in my mind, but in time, I got used to whispering this every time I opened my eyes. I was a messed up person what I did, but somehow, everything was falling into place exactly how I wanted to. I couldn’t stay on the line, to do what someone told me, but I wanted to have my rules. However, my loyalty made everyone ignore the mess from my soul and love me.

That was a sunny and hot day. I was lying in the back of the car with my legs on Deby’s lap. Ivy was sitting in the corner, throwing me from time to time an angry look. Aaron was chewing a waffle, and Andy was driving, as usual.

“Open the window! It’s too hot in here!” shouts Deby to Andy.

“They won’t open, remember?” he says ironically. “We will make a break in five minutes if I replace a decent place to stop.”

“Ok” grumbles Deby.

Andy turned on the old car stereo, from which it started playing a rock song. We haven’t heard music in a long time, so it was something that felt good. The song was on repeat because it was the only one that could be heard clearly, and we already had learned its lyrics, so we were singing it together like some real artists we were. There haven’t passed more than two minutes of good mood, and I heard Aaron shouting:

“Stop!”

“What the hell?” says Andy stopping the car immediately.

“What happened?” I asked.

“There’s a woman on the side of the road” says Andy.

“And what are you planning?” I ask.

“What do you mean? We will ask her if she’s fine” says Andy.

“Oh, really? You hit me with the car, and it took you forever to come and see if I was alive or not, and now you’re playing the good citizens?” I asked ironically.

No one has responded me after that. The guys got down first, then Ivy and Deby. I got down the last one. I didn’t mean to be bad, but that woman had all the help she could get. I had a strange feeling. Or maybe it was just a revolt feeling because of my little incident with them from the past. They got closer to her and asked if she was ok. The woman was covered with a blanket, and she didn’t have clothes on her, nor shoes. I couldn’t see her face yet, but I had a bad feeling. We got closer to her too. She didn’t seem older than thirty. She was trying to act scared, but I didn’t buy that. She looked at me as if she knew me. But I had no idea who that woman was.

“What’s your name?” asks Andy.

“My name is Aurora” says the woman.

“Aurora, we will give you some of our clothes. Do you need a ride?” asks Deby.

“Yes! That’s great! I’m starving, I don’t have any clothes, and I need a ride. I want to get out of this place. Here are dangerous creatures!” she says.

That whole situation seemed exaggerated, and it was like I was the only one who had a real problem and a bad feeling about that.

“Wait a minute!” I said. “Do you take with us any stranger and offer her food and clothes? But more, a place near us?”

“Jo, just look at her for a second! I don’t think she can bring us any harm if we help her get on her feet again!” says Andy disturbed.

“But…” I continued.

“Does she seem like a bad person to you?” asks Deby.

I looked at Ivy, but she was sharing their opinion. Then I looked at Aaron, hoping that I could replace some support from him, but he took my hand and whispered: “It’s okay.” Seeing that I didn’t have any chances of saying my opinion, I left them and got into the car. I took the gun and put it on my waist. The guys sat in the front and the girls with Aurora in the back, next to me. Deby picked some clothes for her, among which was a T-shirt I liked, and Ivy handed her a can with food.

I had that childhood feeling when a new kid came in the neighborhood, and everyone wanted to get to know him better. I felt selfish, but I knew it had to be a reason for that feeling. I had never felt that way before, neither with Beatrice, or when I had met Ivy, nor when we had taken Julia and Aaron in our car. Something was incredibly wrong with that woman, or I was out of my mind.

“What happened to you?” asks Ivy.

“Honestly, I don’t know” she responds. “I was running to get away from some terrifying flying creatures, and the next thing I know is that I woke up on the side of the road, naked, dirty and hit. I walked like that for a while, until I found an abandoned car, from which I took this pillow. I stayed in it for one day, until I heard that wings sound again. I got scared and ran away. My feet were so tired, so I stopped on the side of the road, where you found me. I thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome!” says Ivy.

“It was a good thing that we have found you!” exclaims Deby.

Her story didn’t convince me, so I rolled my eyes.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” asks Aurora.

“I don’t replace so credible what you’re telling us” I say.

“Jo! Stop it!” shouts Deby at me.

“Whatever” I say.

We continued our way until Andy decided he had found a safe place for us to spend the night. Aurora had befriended fast with the others, a thing that was irritating me a lot. They gave her important details about our journey, explaining to her that we were going to save the world, even if I had insisted not to tell her so much. Ivy and Andy went to gather some woods to make a fire. I remained with the others. I sat near the car and Aaron came to me.

“What’s up with you?” he asks.

“Aurora… I think she appeared on our way out of the blue, and you take her in too quickly.”

“You took Julia and me in the same way” he said.

“Maybe I’m going crazy, but I feel something is not ok.”

“We will be careful” he says and kisses me on the forehead.

Andy lighted the fire. Deby and Aaron went in the car to sleep. Andy sat by the fire and Ivy with Aurora were next to him. I remained standing up. I had offered to keep the watch. I wasn’t feeling safe, and I knew I was right. My feelings weren’t deceiving me.

After two hours of staying guarded up, I leaned back to relax a bit. When I was stretching my arms, I heard a noise. I jumped on my feet. I headed to the place I had heard the sound. There, I saw Aurora on her knees, scattering in one of the backpacks. I hadn’t heard when she got away from the fire.

“What are you doing there?” I asked pointing her with the gun.

“Nothing” she replies.

“What are you doing with that bag?”

“Oh, fine. I was looking for a gun, you know, in case you try to kill me” she says.

“What? I’m not planning to kill you, but I don’t trust you! Who are you and what do you want from us?”

“Well, the thing is, my dearest Jo, you’re trying to kill me, but you will miss because I will protect myself” says Aurora.

“What?” I asked shocked.

At that moment, my gun shot her. I hadn’t pulled the trigger, so I had no clue how that had happened. She didn’t make a sound, no sign of pain, a thing that made me remain in a shock. The others woke up because of the shooting, and then Aurora started screaming and crying. I was blocked there for I had no idea what just had happened.

“She tried to kill me!” she shouted to Ivy.

“What? No! I didn’t pull the trigger! It was an accident! Something happened!” I defended myself.

Ivy pushed me aside and pulled the gun from my hands. Deby ran to Aurora, who was injured on her leg.

“What the hell happened?” asks Aaron.

“The gun discharged!” I shouted.

“You tried to kill me because you don’t trust me! Tell them the truth!” screams Aurora.

I felt I was getting on fire, seeing everyone believed her,

“You wretch! Now I’m going to kill you for real!” I shouted and ran at her.

Ivy caught me, and she was holding me tight.

“This attitude is not helping you at all, Jo! From what I can see, your story is a little bit twisted, not hers! More, she was near a backpack full of guns! She could have fought back, but she didn’t!”

I remained blocked there. Aurora was acting good, and I wasn’t standing a chance against her. Ivy pushed me aside.

“Get out of here until I take care of her! Don’t do anything stupid! The gun remains with me!” she says.

“I can’t believe this!” I shouted, and I walked away angrily.

Aaron wanted to follow me, but I pushed him away. I put my hands on my head. That woman was there for a reason, and that was to turn everyone against me. She had played her card very well, and I couldn’t get a credible story. The most intriguing part was the fact that she knew my gun was going to discharge in her. Maybe she had done that thing, but I didn’t have any proof. Why didn’t anyone believe me? They were my family, my friends, it was Aaron, for God’s sake! They should trust me without any arguments, and that was so disturbing. A thing was clear to me: I wasn’t going to sleep with that psycho near me.