The Deepest Red Read Online Free Page B

in the woods could master. Connor just growls and rolls his eyes dramatically. With a practiced motion she takes off the knife strapped to her back and drops the weapon to the ground, ignoring Connor.
    Stepping slowly toward me as if approaching an injured animal, she reaches out her hand for me to shake.
    “I’m Clover Robins and this is Connor Freeman.” I hear another grumble vibrate from Connor but when I glance his way his arms are folded in front, imitating a stubborn child. Weird much? I guess we know who wears the pants in this relationship.
    I dust the dirt from off my clothes and extend my hand to Clover. She now has the face of an overjoyed team mate.
    “My name is Millie Daniels,” I say with a wary expression.
    Clover’s face breaks into a big smile at my statement.
    “Yay!” She exclaims. “I’m so glad to meet you. We’ve been traveling for months and this is the first time I’ve seen another girl in forever.”
    She is glowing with excitement.
    “Calm down, she isn’t that great.” Connor’s deeply annoyed voice breaks through her enthusiasm.
    I turn to Connor and mimic his bored out of his mind expression.
    “So you’re admitting I’m at least a small percentage of great?” I aspire for the arched eyebrow but fail miserably.
    “Bats are great to eat mosquitoes, doesn’t mean I want them around,” he taunts.
    I ignore him and turn back to Clover.
    “Where did y'all come from and how long have you been here?” I question.
    Connor interrupts me with a condescending laugh. “Sure, let me confess to you our deepest darkest secrets while I’m at it?” 
    Clover punches him in the arm. “Shut up,” she warns.
    Connor lightly rubs at the tender spot, mumbling under his breath. Suddenly, his demeanor changes as he glances at the surrounding trees.
    “How about we do this exchange later?” He asks in a serious tone. A small cackle burst from Clover’s mouth.
    “Yeah, okay,” she states sarcastically. I realize even though I do not know her, I like her. We could’ve been friends if I didn’t plan to run at any moment. She seems sweet and innocent like Tessa, only with a faction of edge to her. She reminds me so much of my young protege that I find myself letting my guard down.
    When I first met Tessa, she was nothing but skin and bones. One of the scouting partners had found her alone in the red zone and took pity on her. This must have been about two years ago now. I was working in the infirmary at the time they brought her in. The first time I saw her, my heart clenched. She was such a small thing, so young and so frail that the first thing I wanted to do was protect her. I could see where bruises speckled her arms and thin scraps covered most of the bottom of her bony legs. I spent the next two weeks at her bedside, feeding her and taking care of her before my shift in the infirmary ended. Afterward, I would come in once a day to visit with her, attempting to give the child some kind of comfort, but she just laid there not saying a word.
    It was about six months later when Mrs. Emerson decided the patient was well enough to train that I finally heard her speak. Tessa was given to me to learn the basics of fighting and remembering how frail she was the first moment I saw her, I wanted her to succeed.
    When she saw me take down my training partner by swiping out his legs from underneath him and hitting him in the chest with my knee, Tessa gave her first smile. She walked over to me, looked up into my eyes and said “Show me.”
    After that day we spent two hours everyday after our community duties practicing. She got better and better with each training session and I loved teaching her. Soon Tessa began to open up and would talk nonstop about her chores or what she heard people of the community saying. She never did confide in me on what happened to her while in the red zone but again I wasn’t like most people. I never pushed her to tell me anything she didn’t want to tell.
    Now