Read Online Contain by Saul Tanpepper - Free Book Online Page B

help in the self-defense
department. And by a little, I actually mean a lot.”
    I ignore the jibe and turn to Bren,
hoping for an explanation. But it's Hannah who steps forward to
offer one. “We're training for when we leave.”
    Bix sucks in a sharp
breath.
    Jacob Rollins nods. “In case there's
any more Wraiths out there.”
    “ I keep telling you people,
there are no more Wraiths! But there are other things a lot more
dangerous.”
    “ Bears?” Jareth
asks.
    “ People,” he
replies.
    “ And when were you planning
on leaving?”
    He shrugs. “I don't know. I have no
definite timeline, Bolles. All I know is that we can't stay here
forever.”
    Once more I turn my gaze to Bren.
“Does your father know about this?”
    She shakes her head.
    “ Well, nobody's leaving.” I
look back at Jonah, who cocks an eyebrow at me, as if he knows
better and is just humoring me. “My father has the door
codes.”
    “ Door codes?” He sniffs.
“You really think that's going to stop us if we decide to leave?”
His voice rises in exasperation. “You can't hide in here forever.
The food's going to run out and—”
    “ Ah ha! I knew it was you!”
Bix shouts. He steps forward and grabs Jonah's shirt and shakes
him. “You're the one who stole the food! Admit it!”
    For the first time, Jonah looks
surprised. His face blanches and his mouth pops open. But he
doesn't give us the satisfaction of confessing. Instead, he plants
a hand on Bix's chest and pushes him away.
    “ Stolen food?” someone
behind me asks. “What are you talking about?”
    I sigh and shake my head. I hadn't
planned on announcing it. I'd wanted to speak with my father about
it first, come up with a plan for figuring out who might be taking
it and why. But the revelation that Jonah is planning a mutiny
actually does provide a reasonable explanation for the missing
food.
    Jonah clearly is following the same
line of thought, because he shakes his head. “This has nothing to
do with any stolen food, Bolles,” he growls at me. Bristling from
the accusation, he edges closer, probably wanting me to react and
attack him like I did up in the common room. But I won't give him
the satisfaction. Not this time.
    “ Let's go, Bix,” I say, and
grab his arm. “Let's get out of here.”
    “ This isn't over,” I warn
Jonah. Then, to the rest of the group: “You want to follow him to
your deaths outside the bunker, well, maybe I won't be able to stop
you, not if my father loses the vote. But I can guarantee you one
thing. We still know very little about the Flense. You go out there
now, you will die. All of you.”
    I start pulling Bix away, but he can't
just leave without having the last word. “I guess now we know who
our real friends are!”
     

“You've got to tell your dad.”
    Bix is right, of course. Now that
Jonah knows about the missing food stores, word will quickly get
around to the rest of the group, and it'd be better if my father
heard it first from me. But how exactly do I tell him? The food is
my responsibility. It's not hard to imagine his
disappointment.
    At the same time, Jonah's plans to
leave the bunker is the more pressing matter. By opening those
doors, by taking away—
    Bren
    — half our group, he'll put
us all at risk. There's barely enough people now with enough skills
to keep things running. We can't let him have the—
    “ Access code!”
    I stop and swivel around to face Bix,
and he charges into me before catching himself. He backs up a step
and frowns.
    “ Excuse me?”
    “ Besides my father, I'm the
only one who knows the code to that room. Whoever stole the food
would have needed it to get in. How'd they get the
code?”
    “ Seriously? Dude, I've seen
you punch it in enough times that I could probably get in if I
needed to. I wouldn't be surprised if Bren knows it.”
    My initial reaction to this is denial.
As her boyfriend, my instinct is to protect her. And myself. I
don't want to believe she'd do something like that to me.