Rebel Rising: A Dystopian Romance

"Any chance you can swim?" Coal looked doubtfully between Laurie and me like he already knew the answer to his question. In a city built entirely of concrete and steel there wasn’t much opportunity for swimming unless you happened to live in one of the upper levels where they were rumoured to have private pools.

"No," Laurie replied as I shook my head.

“Do you possess any useful talents?" he teased as he started to pull off his boots, followed by his shirt.

I tried to think of something snarky to say in response, but the power of speech seemed to have abandoned me again as he undressed and my gaze caught on his cut abs and the swell of his biceps. He was like, next level hot, the kind of hot I’d only ever seen in ads for the Body Perfect building back in the city. If a Viking god made a baby with Queen Cleopatra and that baby had been blessed by Aphrodite then maybe they’d hold a candle to his hotness. But I wasn’t sure. My teeth sank into my bottom lip as my gaze trailed down his body, snagging on the way his pants hung low on his hips and the deep V that led beneath them…

Coal turned to look at

me, tipping his head to one side as I felt a blush colouring my cheeks. He offered me a cocky smirk and his gaze slid over me slowly and my blush deepened beneath his attention.

I cleared my throat and dropped my gaze to scrutinise my boots when I couldn’t face the dark promises in his gaze anymore.

"I’ll swim this stuff across first. Wait here while I unload Sleeping Beauty and I’ll come back for you,” Coal said as if nothing had just passed between us. “Come on Kaloo."

We watched as he tossed his clothes into the leaf with Taylor and waded out into the lake. Kaloo ran headlong into the water too, dragging Taylor on his oversized leaf which bobbed along behind her as they swam out towards the waterfall.

“You can close your mouth now," Laurie teased, smirking at me.

“What?" I asked innocently.

“You know what," she said and sat down on the bank. After a moment, I joined her, choosing not to comment. Had I just been ogling the half naked man? Yes. Was I going to apologise for it? No. That memory was going up in Maya’s memory hall of fame with burning candles all around it and mood lighting. Maybe even a bit of music playing too…

We sat in silence, looking out over the lake for a few minutes as the weight of the decisions we’d made today hung over us.

“Do you think we’d know if we were contaminated?" Laurie asked, a note of fear creeping into her voice while we waited on the lakeshore.

“I'd like to think so... What are the symptoms?" I picked up a twig and used it to trace patterns in the damp, sandy bank.

“I don't know."

I pursed my lips at her answer. Why didn’t we know that? We’d been locked up inside that city for our entire lives, warned about the dangers of the outside world and the contamination which resided out here. We were shown footage of what the twisted creatures the humans left out here had become when the contaminant was set loose all those years ago. We knew that exposure caused you to lose your mind until you were consumed by rage and could act on nothing more than the most primal of desires. But how did that begin? Was it a slow process? Or did it happen in the blink of an eye? And how was Coal living out here just fine and dandy with no signs at all of becoming one of them?

"I'm sure we would have noticed the signs by now if we were infected," I reasoned, wondering if I really believed that or if I just wanted to. We looked at each other uncomfortably for a long moment and I chewed on my bottom lip.

“What are we doing out here?" Laurie asked, a desperate look filling her gaze. She was clutching the back of her neck nervously and I had to admit that I had no fucking idea.

“Sitting in the sand and waiting to cross a lake," I joked because I didn’t have a better answer. We’d just up and walked out on our entire lives. I didn’t even know what to think of the situation we found ourselves in. Yesterday I couldn’t have imagined this and now I was living it.

"You know what I meant." She tossed a pebble into the water and it splashed loudly into the silence.

"It's about the best answer I've got." I shrugged unhelpfully and she nodded, looking out over the lake again.

Laurie scuffed her boots in the dirt as we waited and I watched as Coal and Kaloo reached the waterfall on the far side of the water and disappeared beneath it.

Something rustled in the bushes behind us and we leapt to our feet, whirling around to look out at the trees. I drew my pistol and Laurie took a knife from my belt, holding it ready before her. The leaves trembled and my finger itched for the trigger. A second later a bird burst through the foliage and headed for the treetops, squawking its protest at our presence as my heart damn near exploded.

I let out a shaky laugh as I clutched at my chest and Laurie rolled her eyes as we slowly sat back down on the sand.

“What's taking him so long?" Laurie hissed.

“Maybe he's not coming back,” I joked.

“Thanks. That makes me feel much better." She scowled.

"Why would he drag us half way through the forest just to ditch us?" I reasoned with a shrug.

Laurie opened her mouth to respond but a soft splashing announced Coal and Kaloo returning and I looked up to see them swimming through the water like it was the easiest thing in the world.