Page 40 of Like A Moth To A Flame

"Why do you drive these cars and not the electrical kind on the mainland?"

He has his mask back on that reads,Fuckedwith the F backward. He points at the radio. "They can't track these. They don't have GPS or chips."

"Is that why they really banned them?"

"Part of it. But mostly, yes. They banned them because they do fuck up the planet, but the batteries they need to build to operate the electrical shit is just as bad. It heats the planet either way. Solar is better, and there are other ways to generate energy. Natural resources that can be recycled safely are good for the planet. The judges don't like it because they can't turn a profit. They want people to pay for things that are accessible for free and let the AI tell them what’s good for them. It's all about control."

The solar-powered boats. They make sense. You don't have to pay to operate them. Why don't they use solar power for everything? It allows citizens time to come up with the money to get new cells or generate lights to power them.

"What made you want to help the people? You could easily be like everyone else who lives on the island and not care as long as you’re rich."

"My parents. They started to help people on the mainland by sending them fresh food that was not altered or synthetic. The alternate foods contain harmful chemicals, but people buy them because it's what they can afford. It causes cancer and other types of diseases, but the need for people to consume to survive doesn't give them much of a choice. My parents bought an island to grow fresh and organic food and other resources to help the people. They hired people with certain skills on this island to send medicine for the sick. But someone got wind."

"They murdered them. It wasn't an accident, and they wanted you to die along with them."

"Now you're catching on. I wasn't supposed to survive."

"But you did."

The sun rises as we drive through the city full of broken metal. Automated machines pick it up and place it in other piles.

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean they won't try again."

"What are they doing with this place?"

"They're re-building a place where machines run everything, and only the people who survive will be able to work the limited jobs available. There aren't enough jobs on the island that allow people who won't spread disease to work. They’re building hubs all around the world just like this one. Controlling the population. Controlling how people think. Their choices. Like ants on a farm."

"And you're freeing them."

"Yeah. I'm trying, but I need to let them think I'm one of them. It is why I live on the edge of the island alone and don't allow anyone in. But we will have to go and mingle. I have to make them think I'm incapable of continuing what my parents started."

I glance at him, admiring him more for what he’s trying to do. "I told you I want to help."

He changes gears, and the car increases speed. "You are. You're the most important part of the whole thing."

* * *

He pulls upat the dock. I wonder how he has been able to move like a moth, hidden in the dark where no one can see him or realize he’s even there.

"Come on. We don't have much time."

He grips my hand, helping me out of the car and shutting the door behind me. I pull another one of his shirts he gave me down my thighs, almost reaching the tops of my black boots. Thank God he was able to get me short shorts to put on underneath.

We reach the boat, and Ciro and a couple of other guys are loading the second boat with boxes. Sydney, Sarah, and Blair give us curious glances, but I don't say anything. Let them think whatever they want. It doesn't matter. I'm here, and there is nowhere to go except with Killian.

"You had fun last night?" Sydney asks, giving me a wink.

The expression on Blair’s face tells me that Killian was telling me the truth. He didn't sleep with her. At least not last night.

Killian comes up behind me and snakes a hand around my waist, placing his chin on my shoulder, and responds, "We did and this morning."

He pulls away, walking over to the other boat, and right when I'm going to follow him, Sarah steps forward with a sly smile. "I hope you can handle him. He's the type who needs to be satisfied, or he'll get bored like he always does."

I raise my brow because I'm tired of this shit. "I think it's the other way around. I'm the one who gets bored easily."

Blair slides another box onto the boat and straightens, pulling her top that is tied in a knot at her waist while giving me a bitchy look. "That's good to hear because you may be married to him, but it's all for us. Kill doesn't have time to fall in love. He isn't built like that. Remember that before you fall in love with him, thinking he will love you back."

My stomach drops because we're nowhere near there, and our conversation in the car held a truth to her words. He said I was the most important part, and nowhere did that include falling in love.

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