Beneath the whispers

Chapter 25

“The only way we can make the villagers trust us is to convince them that we can protect them,” I say

Thelma is at one end, she had tossed her phone after it tripped off and Rose is looking out the window, for some reason, she seems to have accepted her fate and is now trying to be useful to us for a change

I haven’t spoken to Olivia since our little fallout and she seems to prefer it because she would rather stare at her nails than glance at me even for a second. Tony is not with us, he had left to get more coal from the tunnel

“You are right” Thelma snaps her words at me and smiles dryly. “We need to assure them that we can protect them”

“And the only way for us to do that is to be on standby for an attack with our deodorant sprays and a lighter. Tony used it to save me” that was clever by the way and I must have forgotten to give him the accolade

“I don’t use sprays,” Olivia says still avoiding my eyes so she looks at Rose instead and I almost laugh

“Good thing, I use two different sprays” Rose says with excitement. I did miss her cheerful pleasant voice.

This must be fate because I don’t know why we ended up with Rose of all the persons that could have signed up for this game.

But then, given the stupidity of the situation, we should all have something in common - That is a topic for another day

“We should also search the hotel, there have to be leftover belongings from the other people that had been here. We could find things that would help” Olivia says

“fine, Thelma, you and Rose search left, I and Olivia and will go right”

“Are you … sure?” Rose could not hide her concern “I mean, we only have a few hours till sundown and we don’t want you two bickering” and she had grown confident in just a few days

“we will be just fine” I shoot Olivia a glance and she still hasn’t looked at me “let's go” I say and leave without waiting for her to react

I hurry to the other side of the hotel and the stamping sound from the rigid sole of her sandal approaching me gives me a breath of relief – I am pretty sure this day will end well

Quietly, we both storm into each room and search through the room for supplies and most importantly deodorant sprays

This place has put me through a lot, from carrying charcoal around like a lunatic to searching for deodorant sprays from visitors without even knowing what is it that might have happened to them.

Most of the rooms were untouched and a few had occupants – mostly the teenagers from earlier and some villagers. We made a point of gathering them and making them help search along with a few motivational words

Out of what seemed like fifteen rooms, we only found one deodorant spray and the good news is that it had just been barely used we found six of the teenagers and two middle ages villagers.

The teenagers reunited with the ones that were still in our custody. The only odd thing here is that we never talked directly to each other during the long search together

When we return to Rose’s room, Tony is already sitting there and a pile of coal in front of him. He did go greedy with those

With a heavy breath I crash on the unmade bed and Olivia crashes in with me surprising Tony. Even though we hadn’t talked to each other, I still felt a sense of relief and for some reason more comfortable being around her.

Rose and Thelma stroll into the room “the crowd in my room just increased all the more” Thelma blurts

“we found some more people and made them realize that staying together is a power move” I respond, breathing out each word

“We need to stay together, I say we all stay in the reception, it is wide enough” Olivia suggests

“she has a point. We should set up the place, arrange the coal and get ready for tonight” Tony says

We all plunge into action, heading fast to the reception. We arrange the unused fireplace with sand and something that looked like parchment paper we had gotten from one of the huts.

After many minutes of trial and error, we succeeded in arranging the fireplace so the excess smoke leaves out the chimney

Thelma and Rose coordinated the people in the hotel and they all brought the beds in the rooms down to the reception, arranging them strategically so we can move around the area. In about an hour, we were done with the arrangement

After a long shower, I join everyone at the reception. We all agreed to wear black for the occasion – as I would prefer to call it.

I had on my black baggy joggers and an oversized t-shirt which is Tony’s by the way – I had borrowed it since most of my tops were too casual for battle. with my purple and black sneakers.

I am very well ready for the damn shadows ... Or I thought I was until I saw the others

Tony is on a leather jacket that covered one of his breathtaking flimsy tops and black trouser and shoes I cannot see clearly.

Olivia is in a black knee-length transparent top over black leggings that lap her thick thighs and black crops on her feet.

Thelma is in a skinny thick cotton overall and her hair is in a high ponytail, her black ankle boots complementing her whole look.

Rose’s mini glittering black gown on knee-length boots and old school police cap that she wore on one side over her silky hair gave her the badass look and she pulls the full stop on it with her bright red lipstick that matched the red waist bag she wore

And I am wishing I hadn’t judged my clothes too much. But then why are the boots with heels? – ugh, girls. I roll my eyes and walk up to them

“who is going to watch them while we leave?” I ask, interrupting Rose who obviously was going to raise that talk about my clothes

“I asked Mira” Thelma says and I notice the gum she is chewing and the others are chewing it too except Tony. He hands me a gum with a sigh

“Who is Mira?” I force the gum into my front pocket

“one of those teenagers, she is pretty brave and I felt she can handle it” Thelma adds, snapping her gum right after

“dude –” my lids break open at Thelma

“she volunteered to do it and besides, with the lights and burning coal, the shadows wouldn’t even get near” Rose defends her “we will be busy hunting their ass anyway” she adds as she hands me a deodorant spray and a lighter. “we only have two, you will hold one and I would the other one”

Ok, why is Rose the one to hold everything and how did everyone agree to this, did I somehow spend too long in the shower? I swallow my many questions and head out first.