Chapter Two:
~ Lexa ~
“Mom? You’re not trying to cook again, are you?” I heard a familiar voice call out, as I spun a steak knife in and out of my own fingers. It wasn’t as balanced as one of my throwing knives, but still, it felt comfortable to be spinning. As comfortable as one could be when they were at death’s doorstep.
“What the hell do you want?” S exclaimed in surprise and horror, sizing me up.
I smiled, slightly. “Good to see you, S. It’s been a long time.”
People always told me I was too good at my job. I was too good at being cold. Too good at being friendly. Too good at being whatever it was I needed to be. But no one really understood that this was how we survive. There was no other way, but to be the best.
“It has.” S responded, sounding cold. “What brings you back now? After all these years?”
“Oh, you mean, since your family killed my mom?” I answered bitterly.
“I had no say in that.” S snapped.
She was a little more fiery than I remembered. Her blonde hair was straighter than ever, and it looked lighter too, her eyes though were still a harsh green that could see through anything. I had to tread more carefully.
“Relax,” I forced myself to let out a little chuckle. “I’m not here to stir up the past. I’m here because I need your help.”
I watched her struggle with how to react to my explanation. I could tell it wasn’t what she was expecting. But since in this community no one just showed up in people’s houses for fun, especially not wanted ‘criminals’, I don’t think anything that could have come from my mouth would not be surprising.
“The famous, elusive, Lexa, needs my help?” It was her turn to laugh, and I felt my stomach churn. I really needed her to buy into my cause. “I don’t think so.”
“Listen, S, it’s important.” I put the knife down. I could feel a change in the energy around us, I was on high alert.
“You left, remember?” S snapped.
“I left, so I could live!” I retaliated.
“You wouldn’t have died!” She raised her voice too. “You were a child. It’s against the law.”
“Keep your voice down!” She wasn’t understanding. “I was a ‘sick’ child with a traitor mother, you think that would have gone well for me?”
I watched Aspen take a breath and closed her eyes, but she didn’t answer.
“What can I possibly help you with, E?” She finally asked using the nickname we had given each other, many years ago. I felt for the first time in a long time a little bit of hope that maybe, just maybe, there was still a little bit of hope still to be had.
“Someone I care very much about has been taken.” I explained, fighting the urge to pick up the knife again so I’d seem non-threatening. It was important since I so desperately needed her help.
“You mean they’re being cured?” S looked at me, her expression puzzled. “That’s a good thing, E.”
“People who get ‘cured’, never come out, S.” I was losing patience, and I was losing hope. “And Will... Will doesn’t deserve that.”
“Treatment takes a lifetime,” S tried to reason.
“Then it isn’t much of a life.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I know I have to save Will. And I know I need your help to do it.”
“My answer is no. It’s always been no, E. I don’t know why you can’t get it through your head, but sooner or later you need to realize that I will not help you. These people are getting the help they need. I will not let you jeopardize that or put more people at risk.”
“The only people at risk are the ones being taken and the ones who will be taken.” I responded coldly. “I should have never come here.”
“Then why did you?” She called after me as I moved toward the back door.
“Because you used to be my best friend, and I thought maybe you might still have a little humanity left in you. I guess I was wrong.”
“Yea,” She seemed to hesitate though. “I guess you were.”
I slammed the door as I left the house. It was risky to be out in daylight, but I didn’t care. I didn’t have much of a hope without Aspen’s help. She was the only person who could get me where I knew bad things were happening, but with her refusing to help me, there was little I could do, but report back to my camp that I had been defeated.
My stomach churned. I didn’t want to imagine what they were doing to Will. He had been my best friend for as long as I had been on my own. He had been the one who helped me keep the others like us safe. He had helped keep me safe. And now, without him, I was falling back into my reckless habits. Like breaking into people’s houses, begging for help, when there was next to no chance of it.
“Lex!” Jax called out when I finally entered the section of the woods we called home.
“Hey,” I replied, ducking under a tree branch and up to our little pathway.
“Any luck?” He asked, putting down the basket of food he was carrying.
“Nope. It looks like I’ll be going in blind.” I replied.
“We.” Grey interjected as he came out of the little shack we had called home for nearly as long as I could remember.
“What?”
“We. You don’t think we’re letting you go after Will alone, right?”
“Well…” I started. “I’m not willing to put you all in that much danger. I need you here to help take care of the others.”
“No Lexa. You need us to help you not do anything rash. We plan and we prep. And we go after Will, together.”
“But…”
“Together.” Grey stated firmly, despite my argument.
Despite my feelings on the matter, it wasn’t an argument I could win.
Chapter Three~ Aspen ~I stood there, stuck in my spot as I heard the back door slam behind her. I simply couldn’t move as I processed our heated conversation. Where the hell did she even come from? I wish she could see that there was nothing to worry about. If her friend was in our hands, he was on the right track. Soon, he would be cured and could move on with his life. He would be better for it. Still the panicked, desperate look in her eyes had me on edge.If she had come all this way, after so long, just to ask for my help when she knew she wasn’t going to get it, she had to be out of options. I was shocked enough from seeing her after so long, but to hear that she has such a negative impression of my family, of me
Chapter Four ~ Lexa ~ We sat around our little unsteady table, laughing like we did most nights. There was barely enough food to fend off our hunger, and what we could save, we had to; winter was coming. Sooner or later food would become even scarcer. It wasn’t like we had any money to just go to the market, like the people who lived outside our woods. It wasn’t like we could get jobs. Not in this country. We were all wanted. Every single one of us within these woods. We all had escaped prosecution. We all had a kill order on us. But we chose to live our lives unafraid. Me, Jaxon, Grey, and Will had all made the decision a long time ago that we were our people’s first defense. Many of the people we were protecting were grown-ups. But they were scared, so they let kids take over. Grey’s little
Chapter Five ~ Aspen ~ I was completely exhausted, practically falling over where I stood. It had taken way longer to find the shack Will mentioned than I thought it would. At this point, the sun was long gone. And I was in deep trouble. I’d told dad I would return his key card in only a few minutes, and now it had been hours. I didn’t know if he’d be worried, or angry, or both. Either way, I didn’t plan on seeing him any time soon to find out. “What do you mean you know where he is?” The guy to my left, the one who’d rudely pointed a weapon at me upon opening the door, asked with an edge. I rubbed my arm where he’d held it moments before. I didn’t blame them for being hostile. I was actually quite shocked at E’s kindness aft
Chapter Six ~ Lexa ~ “You’re being soft.” Grey growled at me. “I’m being human.” I answered, trying to think of what our plan could be. “Lexa, you won’t let them hurt her, right?” Gracie asked, moving from her hiding spot. “Gracelyn, you aren’t supposed to get up until we say it’s safe.” Grey reprimanded, sounding so fierce the little girl practically dropped back into the hole. “It is safe, Grey.” I told them tiredly. This day had
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