BLUE IRIS

Colt

"I COULDN'T believe she did this?" Frost shook his head after seeing the aftermath of what Cora had done to the garden.

"Remind me again how old is she. A preschooler?" Darick started picking the remnants of the plants. "Tsk tsk. Pretty much nothing left to fix. I wonder how long did it take for her to destroy these."

Iris was pretty shaken. I totally understood her outburst earlier because the garden had been a big help to fill our empty stomach. Since she felt better, she spent most of her time in this garden, and only to be ruined by Cora in a fucking heartbeat.

I watched her disheartened and hadn't said a word as she just pulled off roots in frustration and continued the task at hand.

"Squeeze some of the ripe tomatoes, I need those seeds," she finally spoke.

"Yes, ma'am," I answered, and I wished she turned to look at me, but that didn't happen.

"I'll be right back, guys. I have an important thing to do." Frost strode away.

"What's so important, Frost?"

"To do the right thing!" he yelled.

"What was that all about?" Lois asked, placing the fruits she able to grasp beside me.

I knew Frost had a soft spot on Lois, and she was also concerned about him.

Darick yanked his shirt off. "Move to the side. I need to dig the soil while the sun is still not hot."

"I heard what happened. Here, use my mattock," Dr. Hull offered his tool to Darick. "I'm sorry to hear about your garden, Iris." "Thanks, Dr. Hull. It's pretty bad."

"Maybe there are seeds next to the pet shop."

"Really?" Iris' blue eyes lit up. "I didn't get a chance to check it out. I guessed planting had not crossed my mind at that time." "I think there is." Dr hull nodded.

"Great. Thank you, Dr. Hull. I'll go and check with Frost later." I gripped his shoulder.

"Guys, we have a problem."

Groaning, I stood as soon as I heard Frost at my back.

"What is it?" We still had an unsolved problem, and here came the other one. Just fucking brilliant!

"Cora is gone. She used the main gate this time and left it open." Of course, since there was no guard today.

Frost propped his hands on his hips, feeling confused and disappointed.

"What about her things?"

"Gone."

"That's good news!" Darick snickered.

"She'll die out there," Iris berated him.

"And we are all safe inside." Darick shrugged.

"You can't be serious," Iris said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Well, I am. I can't believe you still want her back after what she did to this." Darick pointed down to the ground. He had a point, but we couldn't wish Cora dead because of what she did. She deserved to be grounded, but leaving her outside alone was too cruel.

"You know she won't survive out there alone, right?" she said.

"You did," Lois pointed out.

"Did you inform Gael?" I asked Frost.

"Yeah, I told him everything, but he didn't seem surprised though."

"How so?" My brow cocked. It didn't seem like Gael.

"Because of this." Darick showed the bullet on his hand he just fished out from his pocket.

"Where did you get this?" I picked up the 9mm bullet from his palm.

"My thigh."

"And?" Lois asked him.

"Cora shot you, and you didn't tell anyone?" I asked him annoyingly.

"I was not sure if it was an accident, or she did it on purpose. When she threatened me not to tell you or anyone especially Gael, that's how I figured out she was the shooter."

"You could have told me, Darick." My jaw clenched in anger. How could he keep this from me and Gael?

"Then what? You'll shoot her?"

"It depends on Gael or what's her reason. I'm sure she has one because we don't just shoot someone for fun, do we?"

"I was busy tossing supplies to my backpack. When I called her, she didn't answer. It was dark, then I heard footsteps and murmurs, so I hid behind the shelves, then a single shot echoed inside. A moment later, I realized I was shot, my blood was gushing through my jeans."

"I'm sorry, Darick." Tears filled Lois' eyes.

"Have you recognize the voice? Male or female?" I asked.

"I don't know, but I was sure we were not alone. I think she was talking to someone. Either she was asked to shoot me, or she gave her gun to someone instead. Then she rushed and cried, saying she came right away the moment she heard a gunshot."

"She could have killed us all in our sleep." We turned to Gael's voice who was walking limply toward us. "I think she was recruited by a group and needed to prove herself before they took her in."

"Well, damn. That's some kind of a next-level way of recruitment if you have to kill first before you're in," sneered Frost.

"You seem so surprise, playboy billionaire. Mafias and cabals did that," Lois replied, rolling her eyes.

"In your fiction book, Heloisa," Frost scoffed.

"Well, Templeton Gunner Frost III, may I remind you everyone wants power. Remember what they did to Iris?"

"She's right. Ever heard of human trafficking? Some cartel sells organs and not only drugs. Right now, they sell humans. I'm afraid Cora's life is in danger." Iris was damn admirable. Despite what Cora had done to her, she still didn't wish Cora would be dead.

"Gael, what's your plan?"

"You need to go to that campers and bring her back."

"Campers?" Iris inquired.

"Near our hunting zone."

"You didn't go hunting, Colton." Her tone was firm, eyeing me suspiciously.

"We're leaving in a minute," I informed Gael.

"I'm coming with you," Iris insisted.

"You can't. Those men could be your previous captors." Gael stopped her and left before Iris got a chance to reply.

"Good. Let me check out if it's them."

"Too risky. I had the training, Iris, and you just have to trust me on this."

"You can't be serious going out there just the two of you even you have training. You need my help, Colton."

"Why do you have to go and bring her back? She left because she's a terrible person. Do you think she's willing to come back?" Darick was on point, but if Gael ordered to bring her back, that was what we were going to do. "Gael didn't point out dead or alive, right?" Lois asked.

"Alive, Lois."

"He can't be serious," Darick disagreed.

Frost cleared his throat. "I honestly don't feel like going back there even if it's Gael's order. If I know she already sold our soul to the devil."

"Let me come with you. I might be able to identify those men. I might know them." Iris's proposal was appealing, but I would not put her life in danger.

"Iris, no ID-ing, and you're not coming with us. That's Gael's order. You'll stay here inside the camp." I looked directly in her eyes. "You will not go out no matter what happens."

"You're scaring me." Horror filled her eyes all of a sudden, and I felt my stomach knotted.

"I can only do my job if I know you will keep your words, twig. Promise me."

She nodded despite her disagreement. "Okay, I promise."

"Good. I need to get ready." I grabbed her hand to the armory.

"Can I help?" Darick followed.

"Just look after my girlfriend while I'm away."

Frost whistled. "Now that's what I'm talking about."

"Got it, man!" Darick shouted.

Lois giggled. “Let's go clean up the garden, Darick."

Frost brought his backpack and put some ammo for him and mine. I yanked my gun, checked the magazine, and slipped two to my back pocket. I always had a boot knife, just in case, it was needed.

I could feel the worry in Iris' eyes. As much as I wanted to promise that I would be back alive, I didn't want to end up breaking it.

What happened today, I didn't see it coming-no one did. Cora came for breakfast as if nothing happened. She truly knew what to do-to lie and manipulate people.

"You two just be careful."

"Yes, ma'am. Don't worry about us. Just do what he asks you to do, and I'll watch his ass there." It was a relief that somehow Frost made her smile.

"We'll be back as soon as we spotted Cora." I kissed her forehead.

"My cue." Frost left the armory, leaving me and Iris alone.

"Be careful out there." Without hesitation, she kissed me. Hard.

My heart melted that she felt the same way as I did. I returned the favor; capturing her lips, kissing her hard, deep, and fierce, delving my tongue inside. If something happened to me today, I'd die happy with the sweet intoxicating taste of her on my tongue.

My heart almost combust with its strong beats, and I knew she could feel it against her palm spread on my chest. My hand dove at the back of her head as I unleashed the feelings I had for her through the kiss.

"Point taken,” she whispered when our lips pulled apart.

"Good."

***

HALFWAY TO the stream, a dark smoke soared the sky. If my calculation was right, it came from the campers.

And I was damn right as we reached closer.

"They're gone, burned the tents down to clear their trail," Frost declared.

"Let's cross. We might find something to help us locate Cora."

We crossed path the water, just ankle-deep. Gael might be right-they were recruiting members. Based on the fire, it lit up pretty recently. If we were just quick enough to get here, we could still catch Cora. "Son of a-!"

I turned to Frost. He was standing in front of a dead body. I walked closer with my heart hammering in my chest. The corpse was resting against the tree with a bullet hole on the forehead. "Jesus!" Dread recoiled in my stomach. When I looked at Frost, we both felt the same.

Cora is dead.

I blinked the image off that started to replay in my head.

Gael was covering me as I ran toward the Humvee the moment those men were down. Blood spattered all over the windshield. Bullet holes everywhere, but I was aiming for the machine gun. Gunfire continued. A loud crash shook the ground. The fire erupted in a distant truck, and the smell of charred metal and burning tires assaulted my nose. Smoke soared in the air pretty fast. Keeping low, I quickly ducked to its side and succeeded to jump up at the back.

Automatic M16 fired against them, and I watched them fell to the ground. And so as the woman.

"Colt! Colt, are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm good." I wiped off the sweat on my forehead.

Cora may be cruel to Iris and betrayed us, but she didn't deserve to die like this. I felt bad that they betrayed her despite she had proven something.

"What did they want from her?" Frost asked.

"I've no idea. We need to bury her."

"How? And they might come back for us."

"We can't just leave her here, or do you wanna carry her back to the camp?"

"Shit. Honestly, I feel bad. I'm afraid she might have shared some information with them."

After burying Cora, we left right away.

"I hope she kept her mouth shut and thought what Gael had done for her. If we only followed her the moment she ran away, we might be able to save her life."

Frost gripped my shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up, Colt. She'd been betraying us, and we were just protecting our group while she was busy on her own business."

***

We failed.

I failed to save Cora.

I FAILED Gael. And I was still trying to sink in the fact that she was dead. She may make a terrible decision by choosing to trust those people, but she could be still alive if she just had a little patience on us. Bad for us, we didn't catch the people who did this to her.

That could be a message, or she might have done something that forced them to kill her. Or she might have failed them. Whatever it was, Cora was still gone, and nothing could bring her back. "Did you find her?" Lois met me half-way to the armory.

"No," I answered shortly. I didn't want to tell her until I informed Gael and let him break the bad news to others.

"She might have gone far already before you arrived there."

I shrugged.

"It's alright, Colt. None of these is your fault. Gotta go."

"Hey." I stopped her.

"Yeah."

"Where's Iris?"

Her face lit up. "She's with Darick. It's been a while since I saw your eyes lit up."

I smiled. "Glad you two get along."

She laughed softly. She didn't like Cora and some girls back in our old camp. But with Iris, I felt their instant connection.

"She's genuinely kind. I warned her not to break your heart." She poked my chest. "And if you're planning on breaking hers, you better stop it right now, Colt Danger Snow because I will stab you in your sleep."

"Is that so? I think I can handle you just right." I ruffled her dark brown hair, causing her to punch me on my abdomen. "Even I'm in deep slumber." I taught her some basic self-defense months ago, and she gave up, saying she had no chance. "I know, silly. And she likes you too."

"And I like her a lot." I laughed and shook my head. I couldn't believe I just voiced out my feelings toward Iris to her roommate.

"Not so obvious, lover boy," she sang. "Anyway, you better go. See you around, big bad wolf."

I felt my heart start thumping when I reached Darick and Frost's cabin. The door was ajar, and I peeped through it. Iris was on her yoga pants and a large shirt that she tied a knot at the back. I could see the round of her ass, and it was hard not to ogle when I already imagined how did it feel on my palm as she wrapped her legs around me.

I pushed the thought off in my head. Damn it, Frost! You're such a bad influence when it comes to women. He plagued my brain with dirty images of Iris.

"Keep on your stance, Iris. Remember to balance your weight otherwise your opponent will easily knock you down through your foot. And focus! Let Snow out of your mind for a while." Darick kicked her left leg to test if her body weight was balanced.

Huh! Seriously, Takaga?

"What makes you think I'm thinking of him?" she asked, annoyed, and seemingly embarrassed.

"You're smitten, and I can see it written all over your face."

Pretty much we're the same, twig.

I didn't even realize I was already grinning. Shit! I had it bad. Pretty bad. I badly needed a distraction, and somehow it was working and forgot what happened earlier.

Iris groaned stubbornly.

"Okay, remember to protect your head especially your face all the time. It's a semi-crouch." Darick fixed her fists vertically at her eye level and at least six inches away from her face.

Iris was wearing old gloves Darick had leaned her. "Okay, like this?"

"Yeah. Don't ever get distracted. Once you do, your opponent gets a chance to punch that pretty face, and then you're done. Keep your chin tucked to your chest. Remember you can't say wait, or hold up, break, or surrender. When you defend yourself from the opponent, treat him or her as a monster, a murderer who wanted to end your life."

Iris nodded.

"This world is full of bad people, Iris. Protect yourself, be sharp, and stay focus all the time. When I and Colt, or Frost are not around, at least you know how to fight back."

"Got it."

"Okay. Now lower your head, arms up, and don't forget your stance."

Iris did as he said left foot forward and right at her back.

"Now, jab. Punch me," Darick ordered.

"What?" She looked at him. Darick was a few inches shorter than me, but he was strong and knocked down a few guys.

"Punch me," he repeated.

Iris did a straight punch with uncertainty.

"Hit my face as if you mean it, Iris! Remember I am the monster who wanted to take advantage of you! He wanted to hurt you, the people you care, who had Colt's head, and Lois' hair at his grip-"

Iris punched him stronger than the first one. I didn't see that coming. I chuckled inwardly. She only needed a little motivation, but Darick was fast and able to block her blow. Good start, twig.

I heard a gasp from Iris when she hit Darick's palm instead of his face.

He was fast, I gave him that.

"Yeah, just like that, but stronger, Iris. Give me your best shot. Remember you can't run to me, or wear gloves, or wrap your knuckles to protect them. Make sure to keep your thumb out, and don't bend your wrist otherwise you will end up with a sprain, or worse broken bones."

"Again!" She did it again. "Again!" She did it faster and stronger repeatedly until Darick was satisfied with the outcome.

My heart swelled with pride.

"I didn't expect that looking after my girlfriend is ending up teaching her how to punch."