#us56

John sighed. “I can’t argue with her. Najia brought up a good point last night. The Dwarves and the Gotoro aren’t our enemies. They’re not our allies, either. We need to change that if we want a chance of surviving this.”

“You want to team up with them?” Sam asked

“Did you forget they tried to kill us?” Shane hissed. “Kidnapped Najia?”

“All they want is the valley,” Najia said, her voice hard. “Once they realize that it’s not as safe as they had hoped, they may move on and focus their energy on other resources to take down the Shadow People.” She felt Shane’s hard gaze on her, but she focused on the map before her.

“So,” Shane started. “You’re just going to go up to them and hope they’ll welcome you with open arms?”

Najia met his gaze. “I’m sure they will be thrilled to see me.”

“Oh yeah,” Alex said. “Real thrilled that we ambushed them and stole you back.”

“This is suicide,” Shane said. “They’ll never go for it.”

“Then we wait to die,” Gil said.

“We can’t send Najia right to them,” Shane said.

“We can’t exactly send an army with her, either,” Abigail pointed out. “It will look like an attack.”

“Like we have an army,” Sam muttered.

“Just a few of us will go,” Marlon said.

“Unarmed,” Gil added.

“No.” Shane’s voice was forceful. “You’re kidding.”

“If we don’t present ourselves as a threat, they’ll have no reason to attack,” Gil said.

“We give them what they want and make things easy,” Marlon said. “The valley will be useless to them, anyway.”

“I’m going,” Shane said.

Najia pinched her lips together as she met her grandfather’s gaze.

“Me too,” Sam said.

“No way,” Abigail said. “You’re not leaving me behind in this. I want in.”

“We can’t all go,” Najia muttered.

“A group of eight random people will hardly be a threat to them,” Sam said.

“Fine,” John muttered. “But I’m not dragging any bodies out of there.”

*****

Shane threw his bag in the back seat. It slid across, hitting the door on the other side.

“There are guns in there, you know,” Najia said as she walked by him.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Shane slammed the back door closed.

Najia put her hands on her hips. “I didn’t know we were married and I had to run every decision by you.”

Shane pushed passed her and opened the driver’s side door. “How long were you hiding this from me?”

“I wasn’t hiding anything from you,” Najia hissed. “It’s none of your business.”

“It is my business,” Shane growled. “Because if you get killed, John’s just gonna shove that damn rifle up my ass.”

“At least you’d go out with a smile on your face.”

“Ha!” Shane slid into the seat and slammed the door shut.

Najia rolled her eyes and tapped on the window. It rolled down, but Shane did not turn to face her.

“Should I ride with Alex or…”

“Get in the fucking car,” Shane muttered.

“Watch your fucking language.”

The window rolled up. Najia slid in beside Shane and sighed.

“Stop being so dramatic,” she said.

“Stop making these ridiculous plans.”

There was a tap on the window. Shane rolled it down as Marlon smiled in at them.

“If the Mr. and Mrs. are done arguing, we’d like to get going.”

Shane started the engine. “Piss off.”

“Hey, Shane,” John’s voice called. He stood beside the truck, stroking the rifle in his arms, and smiled at him. “Jane’s never been up someone’s ass before, but she’s all for trying something new. Don’t get her too excited now, ya hear?”

“Get bent,” Shane muttered as he rolled the window up once more. He glared at Najia. “See? Always looking for an excuse to shoot me. This is the last time you’re leaving the valley.”

Najia leaned back in the seat and smiled.

“I’m glad you think that’s funny,” Shane muttered. He followed the truck and the Hummer down the dirt road and through the valley.

“That last one was pretty good.”

“Hilarious.”

“I’m hoping they get better over time. It was starting to get old.”

“We could write a book,” Shane said, waving his hand in the air. “101 Ways to Kill Shane.”

“Chapter one: Shot Gun Blast Up The Ass.”

“Don’t forget the classic Shove The Rifle of a Barrel in Shane’s Face.”

“Oh man,” Najia said. “That would be a hell of a book. I’d read it.”

“Ten bucks says he threatens me at the Gotoro base. Maybe this time Betsy gets some oral pleasure.”

“I’d take you up on that if I had cash.”

“Okay,” Shane said. “One kiss, then.”

Najia turned to him. “Oh, that’s how we’re playing this?”

Shane smiled but did not meet her gaze. “Yeah. That’s how we’re playing this.”