Cheating Time (36 page)

He and I respected each other. I understood
his loyalty lay with Rorie, and he knew I'd just had my heart
broken and handed back to me without so much as a thank you very
much.

After a quick trip to the supply tent, he
left me outside the shower room. Today, there were a lot more
people up and about, getting cleaned up so they could put their
best foot forward for Barone.

I'd caught glimpses of several of the women
who were unceremoniously ducking in and out of the showers without
making the first effort geared toward grabbing a towel and covering
themselves. Several of them were MediTech nurses. Others were
MediTech EMTs.

During our survival training, Dad had told
me if I were ever in trouble, I should be on the lookout for these
camps. He explained they were set up every fifty miles and all
housed one physician, usually one in training. The resident in
training was in close MicroCam communication with his or her
faculty physicians, all of whom were centrally located within the
major cities' hospitals.

With the MicroCam, residents in training,
those like Thorne, could slip on a pair of special glasses that
allowed the faculty physician who was miles away to see what the
residents were seeing and direct that resident as he or she treated
patients. It was the only way for people in these outlying camps
and communities to get the care they needed.

In addition to the resident, there was a
team of MediTech nurses and EMTs. Much like the residents, they
were stationed within the camps for two-month rotations.

The final team of people stationed for
one-year tours were the dozens of Surrogate Soldiers who were
charged with guarding the camps from the Shadow Soldiers who
periodically made their way over the dividing wall. It rarely
happened, but when it did, it was bad because the Shadow Soldiers
took anything they could get and they were prepared to murder
anyone who stood in their way.

As if suddenly noticing a stranger in their
midst, the female nurses' and EMTs' movements slowed while they
caught clandestine glimpses of me, the one person among them who
was too self-conscious to strip naked and wander freely around the
shower room.

In my defense, I was the only one who was
covered in horrific snake bites, though even if my body were in
immaculate condition, I wouldn't be nearly as comfortable wandering
among these strangers in my birthday suit.

"They're not going to quit staring until you
strip naked and satisfy their curiosity," someone said from behind
me.

I spun around and came face to face with a
raven-haired girl who could easily star in Tawney's favorite love
story. Her full lips were naturally red and her eyes were
unnaturally blue. She was much shorter than me, a little bit older,
and a whole lot tougher.

"What are they curious about?" I asked.

She blew out a breath as if she couldn't
believe I was so dense.

"They're trying to figure you out. You're a
girl but a girl that has the same flawless beauty of a Surrogate.
The only Surrogates we've ever seen or heard of are men. Then
there's the Surrogate who follows you around like a lost dog, the
one you convinced to work in the kitchen yesterday. We might not
know much, but we know most Surrogates think a little too much of
themselves to stoop to the level of kitchen help. Especially when
that means taking orders from a Genetic Anomaly."

"You don't know anything about Jayden or
Rorie," I challenged.

Jayden may have hurt me, but she was right.
He'd spent the entire day helping. He certainly didn't have to do
that. Suddenly, I was conflicted again.

"You got that right. Then… there's Dr.
Angleton. Dr. McGorgeous as we like to call him. He's had every
female in the camp throwing themselves at his feet for the last few
months." She bounced her eyebrows. "Myself included. And while he's
willing to roll around in the hay a bit… you know, let off a little
steam… it's obvious he's more of a one-night stand kind of guy than
a happily ever after. At least, that's what we all thought until
you showed up nearly dead. He barked orders at us until he finally
decided he could singlehandedly save you and demanded we leave the
infirmary. I guess he was right," the woman said, staring at me
from top to bottom.

"He's the resident here. It's his job to
save people who are dying," I explained.

"Yeah. We've seen him with other patients.
He's detached and professional. Don't get me wrong. He works hard…
He just doesn't go ballistic. He for sure doesn't spend three days
in a row sitting at their bedside, looking like a man who might
lose the love of his life," she said, chuckling.

"I'm sure you're exaggerating."

The girl looked offended. "I'm Jenny
Compton, by the way." She extended her hand for me to shake. "One
thing you'll quickly learn about me is I don't exaggerate, lie, or
take bullshit from anyone."

I wasn't sure if she was trying to
intimidate me, but I knew she wasn't the kind of person you shied
away from if you wanted her respect. I threw my hand out and gave
her a firm handshake, making sure she pulled back first. There was
a glint of admiration in her eyes when she saw I wasn't a pushover,
that I wouldn't roll up into a sniveling ball of tears with the
tiniest bit of bullying.

"I'm Carles Enoche," I said with
confidence.

Under normal circumstances, her eyes were
large. When I said my name, her eyes popped open to the size of
quarters and her mouth dropped to her chest.

"
Holy shit!
You're
Aspect Nation's Firstborn
.
Your mother is Selma Enoche.
Jesus!
No wonder Angleton has spent his every waking minute sitting by
your bed. No one wants to be the person responsible for
you
dying on their watch," she
exclaimed.

"If I had died, it would have been because
of my stupidity and a bed of snakes, not because of anything Thorne
did or didn't do," I said.

"Whatever you say. As if the loyal Surrogate
wasn't enough, now you have Dr. Angleton leading you around camp,
whispering sweet nothings in your ear, and holding your hand like
the two of you are lovebirds. Again, nothing about that is
consistent with the studious resident we've all come to know and
love. The only person he's ever really paid attention to before you
is his sister. The rest of us are just necessary evils in his
eyes," Jenny said.

"I'm not sure you and I know the same man,"
I said, wrinkling my brow.

"Yeah… I don't think that's the problem. I
think he's sweet on you. Just like that tall, dark, and lovely
Surrogate. That brings me back to the reason we're all curious. We
want to know what you have that we don't."

Suddenly, I felt braver. "If you think I
offer something underneath my clothes that none of you offer, you
are correct."

Jenny's eyes squinted because she
automatically assumed I was being conceited. When I stripped naked
and revealed the dozens of puncture wounds covering the bottoms of
my legs, the tops of my arms, my entire back and neck—all of which
told me I'd curled up in a ball and let the snakes have their
way—there were gasps from all corners of the room. I refused to
look down. I wouldn't join them in their gaping.

I didn't need to. I knew without looking
that the wounds were blackened from poison at the center of every
puncture and that there was a rainbow of bruises that circled each.
The inner ring the darkest purple with a lightening of the color
the farther away from the wound it got, ending with a
greenish-yellow bruise.

I also knew—so did they—these puncture
wounds would leave scars. Months from now, they would be small,
perfectly round skin deviations, but I lived in a world where
physical perfection was more important than a next breath to the
most narcissistic among us. In fact, some of the most educated and
ignorant people of our nation assumed these types of irregularities
could be transferred to their children; therefore, they refused to
be paired with a spouse who had the slightest defect, even those
blemishes coming from trauma, scars that could never be genetically
transferred.
Ever
.

"Oh my God! Those are hideous!" exclaimed a
blonde-haired beauty who walked into the room while I stood in the
middle of the women, confirming for them I did in fact have
something under my clothes that they didn't.

Stunned that anyone would put sound to such
impolite words, my glare found the face of the one person willing
to say what everyone else was thinking. Like Jenny, this woman, who
looked barely older than Jenny and me, was a natural beauty. She
reminded me of a California girl, complete with a dark tan, long,
straight, and sun-kissed hair, and the type of hourglass body that
would have men at a beach fawning all over her.

I was vain enough for her words to hurt and
belligerent enough to make sure she never knew. "Well, it's a good
thing you don't have to worry about them. Isn't it?"

As if pleading her case to her peers, this
girl looked around at the group of people who'd gathered around to
watch the freakazoid show. "Thorne. Thorne is too good to waste his
time on this."

She waved her hand toward my legs, the area
where the majority of the bites were concentrated.

Jenny stepped next to me in a show of
camaraderie I'd never expected of anyone outside of my family.
"You're just jealous, Kali La Colombe. We all know you and Dr.
Angleton have spent more than one night moaning and groaning in
your tent. He's probably not paid the first ounce of attention to
you since Carles has been here." Taunting Kali further and
endearing her even more to me, Jenny said, "It probably kills your
soul to know he's purposefully chosen Carles—even with her
wounds—over you, the epitome of perfection."

Kali glared toward Jenny, took a few
intimidating steps her way, and lorded over her. It was like an
Amazon woman intimidating a tiny fairy.

"How dare you tell everyone about my
personal life? We may be tent mates and you might be trashier than
a Surrogate, but that doesn't give you the right to tell everyone
all the secrets you have in that tiny little brain of yours," Kali
spat through lips that were the color of wet sand.

This time, it was I who bristled. I wasn't
sure if it was the way she was trying to bully Jenny, the fact that
she'd confirmed she and Thorne had had sex… frequently, or the
obvious prejudice she had for Surrogates. I may be pissed off at
Jayden, but there was no universe within which he should be treated
like the shit on Kali's shoe. None.

"Rorie couldn't possibly approve of you and
Thorne being together. Not someone as prejudice as you," I
retorted, offering her the same contemptuous glare she was levying
onto Jenny.

"Rorie? There's no one at this camp with
that name."

Sure she'd won our war of words based on the
ear-to-ear sneer and eye roll, Jenny's tent mate turned her back on
me and began disrobing.

Over her shoulder she said, "Do you think
you could get covered up so I don't have to keep looking at that
shit?"

Jenny saw I was about to hop on Kali's back
and pull every last strand of hair from her head—one at a time—and
reached her hand out to mine, shaking her head in a way that told
me she didn't consider disputing Kali worth my time. My head knew
she was right.

My heart had other
plans.

I leaned over to her shoulder. "Do you
really think Thorne would do anything more than fuck someone who
doesn't even know his twin sister's name?" I snarled.

Her eyes nearly popped from her head. I knew
recognition had sunk in. I smiled, turned, and ducked behind a
shower curtain.

I may have had the last word with Kali, but
she'd wielded a serious blow to my ego. I wrapped up in a towel,
covering as much as I could of my body and the bites. The second I
was out of the cold shower, hiding in the corner and avoiding
everyone's gaze, I tugged on my new T-shirt, jeans, and socks
before slipping on the boots I'd claimed the day before.

Clean and covered, I felt like a new person
while I brushed my hair and pulled it up into a tight ponytail. The
last thing I did right before leaving the shower room was glance
around and catch one final look at my new mortal enemy, the woman
who'd kill me in my sleep if ever given the chance based on the
snarl on her upturned lip.

I cringed when I realized she and I were
leaving at the same time, that we were going to be walking out
together
. I refused to slow or
cower or move to the side for her. Kali was a bully. If I ever gave
her an inch, she'd take a mile, and she'd love every concession I'd
be forced to take once the precedence was set.

I was keeping a close eye on her when we
walked out into the light of the morning. When a grin bigger than
the state of Texas broke out on her face, I glanced in the
direction she was skipping. As soon as I saw who was the light of
her eye, Thorne, I knew she was laying her claim.

With her body wrapped around him and me now
knowing the two of them had had sex on a regular basis, I was more
than just a little uncomfortable. I wanted to duck back into the
shower room and let them ride off into the sunset. I wanted that
more than anything.

When I tried to dash around the corner of
the building, Thorne stepped around Kali, ignoring her and the hug
she was smothering him with.

"Carles, wait up," he shouted.

I pretended I hadn't heard him. Rather than
wait or slow, I took off in a full-out run. I wasn't sure where I
was going; I just knew I wanted to be away from him and Kali.
And Jayden.

Damn! Soon, there won't be
anyone I can tolerate.