Chapter Seven
~ Aspen ~
That night, I got the worst sleep of my life. Shortly after E declared her brilliant plan, she went out to check that everything was okay around the site. That left me alone with Grey and, although I was exhausted, I didn’t feel comfortable letting my guard down around him. He was really intense and kind of scary, honestly. She got back soon enough, and I passed out on that dingy couch that had probably come from someone’s trash. Now, I was upright on that same couch, rubbing at the tight muscles in my neck. And, sadly, listening to a shack full of people bickering.“That will never work.” Jax sighed frustratedly, saying the same thing he’d been repeat
Chapter Eight :~ Lexa ~I didn’t slow down. I honestly didn’t know how. If Will had been there, he would have forced us all to slow down. He would have said it didn’t matter if we’re all dead. But the thing was, he was the one who was captured, he was the one who was going to be dead if we didn’t do something and fast. Ironic as it was, I pushed myself to fly even faster through the forest.I had covered those paths a million times. Most of the time without any shoes. I knew my way. But for some reason, I had a bad feeling today. The energy of the forest was off. There was something bad in the air. What it was yet though, I couldn’t tell.“Lexa!” Someone yelled.
Chapter Nine~ Aspen ~I moved through the trees quickly, coughing as smoke snaked its way into my lungs. I tried to cover my mouth as best I could, but it was my eyes that were getting the worst of it. I should’ve known something like this would happen. It’d been two weeks since I stumbled my way into these woods looking for an escape, and life had been anything but kind to us all in that time.I’d known it was coming. I heard dad talking about it when I was listening in on one of his meetings. When I was seen emerging from these trees, their suspicion that the sick lived here was confirmed. From that day on, they were talking about ways to get them out. To check them into our facilities. To put them in cages.I wante
Chapter Ten: ~ Lexa ~ I didn’t sleep a wink that night. Grey was curled up in my tent because he couldn’t sleep with “that thing” in his tent, and I had taken the first watch like I usually did. But instead of waking Jax and Grey up for their shifts, I just stayed up. I couldn’t sleep even if I wanted to. How could I sleep if Will was that damaged? I had gone over the plan a million times, as I paced the corridors of sleeping people. Their minds were probably as restless as mine, but at least they could sleep. Or at least many of them had been until about an hour ago. “What th
Chapter Eleven ~ Aspen ~ I stared straight ahead, unmoving. It was all I could do. It was all I’d been doing for hours now. My head was swimming with so many thoughts that it all jumbled together into indistinguishable white noise. A fresh supply of tears filled my eyes, but I blinked them away. I could practically still feel dad’s hand on my shoulder, squeezing firmly. “You’ve made me proud, Aspen.” He’d said. “She’s getting the help she needs.” It was all just so....there wasn’t even a word for it. At this point, I was mostly mad at myself for being naive for so long. This had all been happening the whole time, and I genuinely thought we were curing people. Or at least trying. It turns out I was very, very wrong. And stupid.
Chapter Twelve: ~ Lexa ~ The room was dark. Everyone was gone for the night. And for the first time in a while, I breathed. It wasn’t that bad yet. But they were rushing my ‘treatment’ along. I was a public enemy. I deserved to die. That’s what so many people had told me today. They didn’t even pretend to be treating me. They wanted something, but I hadn’t shown them that I was of use to them yet, which infuriated them. They knew I had powers. But they didn’t know how to access them without me being semi-compliant. And if there was one thing I was good at, it was not being compliant. I looked over at Will. He laid in the cell across from me, looking more dead than alive. His face when I had been brought in had def
Chapter Thirteen ~ Aspen ~ I marched into the room, practically seeing red. I don’t remember feeling this angry, ever. Five hours. I had been locked in that disgusting place for five fucking hours. I was proud of myself for finally getting out, yes, but my rage was much stronger. I didn’t stop until I was face to face with my father, the man I’d watched go crazy in front of my eyes. Or, rather, the man I watched finally unleash his crazy in front of me. “That’s my girl.” He leaned back in his wheeled office chair, hands clasped against his stomach, a proud smirk on his face. I wanted nothing more than to punch that smirk right off. My hands clenched into tight fists. A girl can dream.
Chapter Fourteen ~ Lexa ~ I swallowed hard. I had given an ultimatum and I didn’t know where it would stand. I was told we would talk more about it tonight, but that had been a long way off. All the staff had taken on a new form of cruelty since I had said my piece. But I knew my odds of getting Will out of here relied on this. When he was awake, he had done nothing but glare at me, but now he was asleep, and I was preparing to give him as much energy as it would take to help him get out of here alive. I was hopeful that S could help him find the others, but I doubted she’d be able to. “You’re bold,” Mr. Oakley stated loudly when he finally walked in. “Giving me, a highly ranked officia
Chapter Fifteen ~ Aspen ~ My body was stiff, each step taking more effort than the last. We were almost at the tree line now. The journey to get here had been rough due to the stubborn guy at my side. “Can you please just cooperate?” I gasped out, giving Will a pointed look. It was weird seeing him outside that cell. Good, but weird. He was a real person now, not just a caged stranger I’d been keeping alive for a few weeks. He seemed to be doing better somehow, with more energy than I’d ever seen. “Not a chance.” He quipped back