Take Me Tomorrow

Chapter Nine: Ask What You Want

We walked for an hour in silence, dipping in and out of the swaying trees with their dancing shadows. We crossed an abandoned field of long-dead wheat before we darted across a cracked parking lot, only to meet another field. I hadn't even known the fields existed. They were tucked away between neighborhoods, once used for farming but now used for undocumented backyards. As much as I hated to admit it, Noah knew what he was doing, and he knew Topeka better than I did. By the way he paused at intersections, I had to bet that he even knew other ways to walk around the city undetected. Tonight, he picked the best one for his uniform's green color. If it weren't for the fact that he was wearing a uniform, we wouldn't have had to hide the entire time, but I was trying not to think about it. If I did, I would be too tempted to ask questions, and questions would only lead me to frustrated half-truths, so I bit my tongue and followed.

When we reached the edge of the tree line, he stuck his head out, exposing himself. He could've been caught, but he didn't ask for my help. In fact, he ignored it, and I ignored him. Noah was someone I wanted to hate but someone I had yet to gain the ability to hate. One second, he was an outlaw, and the next he morphed into the boy next door—quite literally. We didn't just have the same friends; he lived on the same street as them at some point.

The sudden sound gained my attention. The slight rumble of the road, the electric whir of a government car, the consistent squeak of a barely warped axle. I grabbed Noah's shoulder before he accidentally jumped out in front of it. "Wait," I hissed. Seconds later, the pearl-white sedan drove by in a slow crawl. How he hadn't heard it or seen the headlights was beyond me. When it passed, I let him go with a slight shove. "Be more careful." My reputation was on the line too.

He tipped his chin at me, as if me saving us both from handcuffs could be thanked with a simple gesture. "Who trained you?"

"Don't," I said, sharp.

Now was not the time to talk, if there ever was one. Especially when it came to my past.

Noah wasn't the only one with secrets.

On the outside, I may have looked like an average sixteen-year-old girl from a single-parent household—not unusual after the massacre—but my dad had taught me lessons the State never would've approved. How to use knives as a weapon, for one.

"I've seen you steal a car," Noah pointed out.

"So?" I wasn't about to talk about illegal activities with him, even though he had clearly seen how I had borrowed a government Jeep. If we had been caught, it was a felony. It was a one-way ticket to the lumberyards, but only because I was a minor. If I were a legal adult, it would've been straight to Phoenix, where the jails were kept.

"My mom trained me." He stuttered over the word "mom" as if he hadn't said it in a long time. I understood the feeling.

I wanted to say "Why're you telling me this?"but instead I marched out of the tree line to cross the street. Screw hiding. I could get home faster if I went alone. Only, Noah had other plans. He followed me.

"Why don't you leave me alone?" I asked, aggravated.

He sighed, dragging a hand through his not-blond-now-brown hair. "Because I know how painful it can be to know enough to askwhatbut not enough to ask why."

"Really?" Sarcasm laced my tone. "Because it seems you know everything."

"Except that you were going to attack me," he pointed out. "I didn't even see that coming with tomo." He chuckled like the entire incident was part of a comedy routine.