Page 36 of Crashing Waves

I nodded, holding his gaze for a single beat before getting back to my minimal packing. “Yeah.”

“What town?”

“Revere,” I replied, bristling with every personal bit of information sent out for everyone to hear. As if knowing my hometown would be enough for my friends to understand my father’s tyrannical control over my life.

“Ah, nice,” Justin said, like he knew what he was talking about, but I knew better.

Justin was from Oregon and had never been to this side of the States before arriving in South Carolina ten weeks ago.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Sid said, scrambling out of Matt’s grasp long enough to stand up, panting. “Maxine over here is from Revere?”

I eyed him warily as he came to stand beside Justin, his shadow taking up residence over my dull brown blanket. I didn’t trust Sid. Didn’t trust the way he needed to pick on anyone he found smaller than him, didn’t trust the way he beat even the bigger guys down until they were smaller too. He was a bully, no different from my father, and I had no room in my life for men like him.

“The hell does it matter to you?” Matt spit, straightening his shirt.

“What? I’m not allowed to make conversation with you pissants?” Sid asked with a roll of his eyes. He turned to me and crossed his arms over his chest. “I know Revere. Been through there a lot actually.”

“Great,” I replied, keeping my eyes on the bed.

“Yeah, my uncle lives in Beverly.”

“Cool,” I murmured.

“You ever been to Beverly?”

I sighed, busying myself by tightening the straps on my pack. “Uh … yeah, probably. I don’t know.”

“I’ve been going up to see him a few times a year ever since I was a kid. He used to take us to Salem for Halloween—you ever been to Salem?”

It was the first time in ten weeks the guy had spoken civilly to any of us, and it was pissing me off. He could’ve done this sooner, could’vetriedsooner, but he hadn’t. He waited until our last day to show any kind of interest and extend an olive branch.

What an asshole.

I rolled my eyes up to level him with my annoyed glare. “No, I’ve never been toSalem,” I ground out between clenched teeth, putting more emphasis on the words than necessary, just to drive home the fact that I didn’t want to act buddy-buddy with a guy who’d spent two and a half months ensuring none of us would ever want to be friends with him.

“Seriously? Oh, man, you gotta get over there. It’s wild!”

Justin blew out an agitated breath. “You know, Sid, I’m not sure anyone actually gives a fuck, so why don’t you—"

“Listen up, maggots!”

Our drill sergeant entered the barracks, and we stood at attention, as we’d been taught.

“Your transports have just pulled up. Grab your shit and get out of here.”

“Yes, sir,” we answered in unison.

“At ease.”

He left the room, and as if the intrusion of his presence had broken a spell, the conversation died between us. We moved in robotic formation—a habit that’d been hammered into our brains until it became second nature—closing our packs and buttoning our shirts. A silent hive mind. I hardly saw what was in front of me as I moved through the motions until I marched out of that room, down the hall, and outside to the van waiting to take me to the airport.

This was what I’d learned to love about the military. This was what I had grown to thrive on.

The ability to act without thought or emotion getting in the way.

***

“Max!”

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