Born Savages - Cora Brent Page 0,17
Mina explains as she slumps against the car with a sigh.
“You are tall,” August agrees. “How old are you now?”
“Sixteen,” Mina answers.
“Seventeen,” Oscar corrects.
“Ah,” nods August. “That explains it.”
The scowling woman grabs August’s arm and leads him to the far side of the car. Oscar can hear her hissing. He sees August’s hard glare in response.
“Enough,” says August and leaves her to glower alone as he returns to his sister’s side.
Mina looks uncomfortable as she stands in her brother’s shadow. When her absent gaze lands on Oscar it’s full of apology. This unnerves him.
Oscar looks around. This neglected collection of buildings in the middle of nowhere is not exactly the heaven that Mina remembers. Except for the Savage family it seems there is nothing and no one for miles. It doesn’t appear that will change anytime soon.
“Welcome to paradise.”
Now that he’s been introduced to a few of them, Oscar can figure out who the rest of the Savages are. The bitchy woman who perches atop her stilettos and regards Oscar like he’s a wild animal that’s just crapped in her roses is Lita, August’s wife, matriarch to the gang of wild teenagers. He knows that sullen Montgomery of the Brothel is the eldest, Loren who calls herself ‘Ren’ is next in line, then the twins Spencer and Ava. Finally Brigitte, who smirks at him through a curtain of red hair, is the youngest.
Atlantis Star looks like a place people might end up if they are running from zombie invasions or hellfire Armageddon. The end of the proverbial and literal road. Oscar wonders how long they’ve all been stuck out here and why the hell they came in the first place. It’s the opposite of glamorous.
August barks that Spencer needs to help Oscar with his bags. Spencer doesn’t seem pleased but he obeys after one more regretful glance at the waiting horse.
“Thanks, but I got it,” Oscar growls as he heaves two large duffel bags over each shoulder with a grunt. There was more that he’d left behind in the storage basement at school. He suspects he won’t ever see any of it again but that’s fine. He knows instinctively that he will never be returning and anyway he doesn’t need the burden of a whole mess of stuff.
In Oscar’s opinion that’s the biggest problem with people like his mother. Too much fucking stuff.
Atlantis, on the other hand, seems to have very little stuff. It’s a scorched ghost town in bleak condition. A rusted pickup truck sits in front of the house. Beside it is a silver Lexus.
Spence had shrugged and wandered back to his horse when Oscar refused his help but Ren falls in step beside him.
“You can’t walk out of here you know,” she says cheerfully. “Consequence is twenty miles away.”
Oscar stares at her, thinking she must be speaking in rural American slang terms that haven’t found their way across the ocean. “The consequences are twenty miles away?”
“Consequence. It’s a town. It has a traffic light and a gas station and a bunch of really unhappy people who barely move between May and October. That’s all there is in this area. At least it’s something though. I drive the girls out there to catch the school bus to Copper, which is another ten miles past that and the only high school between here and Phoenix. But at least it’s summer now so I don’t need to worry about it.”
“Shit, you serious?”
“Always.”
Oscar processes her words. “Why don’t you go to school with your sisters?”
Ren plays with the ends of her dark hair. “Online school. Spence does it too supposedly, although I damn well never him sitting down at the computer. We get shitty Wi-Fi out here by the way. A gust of wind knocks it out for an hour. Monty dropped out last year and spends most of his time stealing Dad’s old pickup so he can whore it up with whatever female is dumb enough to plant her face in his crotch.”
Oscar lets out a chuckle. The girl is weird, but there’s something innocently charming about her. “You sure don’t hold back, do you? Where the hell are we going, anyway?”
“Over there.” She points. “You’ll be staying at the little house right behind the brothel.”
“Words I didn’t expect to hear when I woke up this morning.”
“Ha! I’ll bet. The house was originally built for the caretaker or something. It’s where the boys sleep. Well, sort of. Spencer camps out in the desert half the time even though Lita keeps