chapter 14

When I woke up, the sun was hidden by gray clouds and it was about to rain. The sound of thunder woke me up with a jump.

"And she has risen from the dead," Trevor said quietly. I looked down at my hands and the red area from last night was now a light purple. And then I noticed that Trevor's hand was still tangled in mine. I looked at him with a small smile on my face.

"Where are we?" I asked, looking around to see green trees surrounding us.

"We just left Memphis. I needed to take a bit of a break and I didn't want to wake you so I found a rest stop and stayed there for maybe 5 or 6 hours," He said, looking at me with a smile.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"1 or 2 PM. I got some food if you're hungry," He said, nodding down towards the brown bag with grease stains. I unhooked my hand from Trevors and picked up the bag, looking inside to see its contents. It was a burger with some fries.

"Thanks. So how long until we get to the post office? We need to print out those papers for you," I said, picking up a fry and putting it in my mouth.

"About 30 minutes. After that, we can find an abandoned house somewhere and spend the night there. We could all use a little bit of time to rest," He said, putting his hand back on the steering wheel. He looked down at my wrists and then back at the road.

"Do they hurt?" He asked, in a sweet voice instead of angry.

"Not as much as before. I think since I heal faster, the pain comes faster and stronger," I said, eating the fries one by one.

"I hated that guy. From the moment I saw him," He said with a hint of anger he was trying to hide.

"I'm sorry. I should have listened to you about him," I said, looking at him.

"Aren't you supposed to sense these things?" He said with a teasing tone.

"I don't know how it works. All I know is that when it comes down to me I don't feel anything," I said. He looked in the rearview mirror and looked at me with an evil smile on his face. I understood exactly what he wanted to do and I returned his smile.

"1...2...," He whispered and on three we both shouted "Lydia!"

She jumped at the shouting and looked at me and Trevor laughing, with wide eyes.

"I will beat both of your asses as soon as we stop," She said in a mean tone.

"You can try," Trevor said in a teasing older brother tone. She rolled her eyes and yawned before asking where we were.

"Just left Memphis. The post office is 10 minutes away. Do you have everything ready?" I asked

"Yeah, it's identical to the other volunteer forms I could find," She said, stealing a fry from my bag.

"Ok, be ready to go in and print them. You're only going to have 15 minutes to get everything," Trevor said. She crawled back into the back and started typing on the laptop that she had right in front of her.

I took a deep breath and turned to look out of my window. I always loved thunderstorms. The smell of rain, the noise from the thunder, the light from the lightning. I loved everything about rainy days.

Once we reached the post office, Lydia jumped out of the back and ran inside to the printer that was plugged in. Trevor kept his eyes on her until her back was facing us.

I heard Trevor's seat belt unbuckle and he leaned over to me, taking my face into his hands. His soft lips pressed up against mine. He was so gentle with how he handled me. He kissed me passionately and I could tell that he wanted more. I inhaled the leather and rain scent he gave off and I craved more and more of it but also tried to savor it. My hands went to his soft, brown hair, which felt so light. He pulled away resting his forehead against mine but I wanted more. I needed more. I closed the distance between our lips and kissed him the same way he kissed me. I let our foreheads rest against each other and I opened my eyes to look into his dark brown eyes. We were both out of breath.

"You...have no idea how long I have wanted to do that," He said, his voice deep and soft.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted it," I said, letting the smile creep up on my face. He put a strand of hair behind my ear, while I let my hands fall down to his face and then to his arms. He pulled his hands away from my face as soon as we heard the back door open.

"That was faster than expected," He said with a hint of disappointment.

Lydia came to the front and handed him the file that she printed out. "You're going to say that you have a temporary Identification card and are still waiting for the permanent one. You're going to have to tie Amber and I up saying that you're transporting us," She explained.

"The official document doesn't look like this?" I asked, holding up the paper that had all of Trevor's information saying that he isn't a pure or was never tested.

"No, the official document is kind of like a tiny book with Fallen Labs logo stamped on the front. This is only the temporary document," She said.

"Ok. It will work. Lydia, see if you can try to find an abandoned house that isn't in a neighborhood. We need to stay hidden for now," Trevor said, backing out of the parking lot.

Lydia went to the back and started typing. "There's one about an hour away. It's in a forest," She said, looking at Trevor and then back at the map on the laptop.

"Ok. Let's go then," Trevor said, looking over at me and smiling. I turned to look at him instead of Lydia and returned the smile. He reached over and took my hand and placed a soft kiss on the back of it. And I tangled our fingers together.

* * *

An hour passed and we arrived at the house. It had a trail so we could at least drive up to it instead of walking considering that the house was deep into the forest. It was still bright when we got inside the house but it also started raining when we were inside for only 5 minutes. There was still furniture inside the small house and the lights and water worked perfectly fine. But the stove was gas so we were stuck eating twinkies and cheese sticks. Lydia ran to the first room that she saw and I could hear her snore as soon as she hit the bed. I walked around the house to see if there was any food that wasn't expired when I felt someone sneak up behind me and put their arms around my waist. I rested my head against his chest.

"You don't need to worry about food. I grabbed enough to last us a couple of days and we will be in California by then," He said.

"I can't believe we have gotten this far in a week and half," I said, thinking about how far California is.

"Why don't you get some sleep?" He asked.

"I'm not tired," I said, giving a smile at the warmth spreading through my body while his strong arms were around me. That's when I felt the shiver go down my spine. I looked behind Trevor and then around me.

"What is it?" Trevor asked, still having his hands on my waist while I turned to face him. I looked up at him.

"I got the same feeling," I said, quietly. That's when I heard something crunch outside of the house. And I know Trevor did too. We both turned to where we heard the sound and then looked back at each other.

"Do you have your gun?" He asked me. I nodded and then got it out of my waistband. He took his hands off of my waist and went to where Lydia was sleeping and woke her up.

"One hour. That is all I want of something or someone not waking me up," She said, her voice muffled against the mattress. She got up and met me in the kitchen.

"Stay here with her. I'm going to go see what the noise was," He said. I grabbed his arm before he could go any further.

"I'll go. I'm the one that can heal faster than you. If anything, I should be the one to go," I said. He took a moment before nodding, telling me that I can leave. I let go of his arm and went outside, holding my gun tightly in my hand. I looked around and couldn't find anything that was moving. I went around to the back of the house and looked around before noticing something moving in my peripheral vision.

I walked slowly to the right side of the house, trying to find the moving animal. I clicked the safety off and had my finger close to the trigger. I heard another noise and this time it was a branch snapping. I walked around to the front of the house and I narrowed my eyes to see what made the noise, but I couldn't find anything in the miles of green in front of me. The shiver came down my spine again and started to spread fear to every other area in my body. I kept looking and looking until I felt something hard hit me in the back of my head.

My vision went blurry for a few seconds and all I could hear was a ringing in my ears. I could feel the cold rain fall onto my face while I was on the ground. When I could manage to get my eyes to focus, I propped myself up on my elbow and saw Luke standing over me, pointing a gun at my head.

"Hey princess. Miss me?" He said. I heard the door from the house open. I turned to look and so did Luke. Lydia was standing in the doorway and Trevor was standing in front of her, soaking in the rain.

"What do you want Luke?" Trevor asked in an angry tone.

He kept the gun aimed at my head. "Well isn't it obvious? I came for the bitch. But it looks like you took two with you when you left," He said, looking at Lydia. I looked up at him and tried to move away from his aim but he turned back around to look at me, putting the cold barrel against my head. Trevor stepped forward.

"Don't try anything Trevor. You know I will shoot her," He said, picking me up and putting me in a headlock.

"Ok here's the deal. I take you, your little girlfriend and the other one that's trying to hide behind her, I guess big brother, to The WildFires and get $10,000 for you and your sister and $50,000 for this one right here when we exchange you to Fallen Labs. I mean, I assume your sister told you what The WildFires really were," He said.

"Trevor, what is he talking about?" Lydia asked. After everything, we never told her what Lisa said to us before Trevor killed her.

"Seems like you didn't tell everyone in the group," Luke said with an evil voice.

Trevor narrowed his eyes. "Amber?" Lydia said, looking at me.

"The WildFires aren't really a gang. They are part of the experiment. They take kids that they find and then put them in dangerous situations to figure out what side-effects we have and then they give us to the labs for money," I explained. Her face went sad. She just found out what her sister really wanted. Money in exchange for her sister going to the labs. That was the worst thing to do to your family. After a few seconds, Lydia's face went serious and Trevor looked at me. I shook my head as little as possible so Luke wouldn't pick up on what I was trying to tell him.

Trevor gave me a look telling me not to ask him what I was trying to ask him. Go get Lydia out of here. Don't worry about me. He looked at me but ignored what I was telling him.

"We aren't going anywhere with you," He said, looking back at Luke.

"Well, that's not a problem. Your girlfriend here gets me more money than you and your sister. And I know that she will do anything to protect the people she loves. Including her little brother. Tell me, where did you send him?" He asked, looking back at me. I could feel anger bubble up in my chest when he mentioned Jared. I felt like I could tear him into pieces. Trevor shook his head telling me not to do anything stupid.

"Now, you either come with me or I shoot you and frankly darling, I'm fine with either option," He said. I saw Trevor's glance go somewhere on Luke's body. He looked at me and I saw him grip his gun. He looked back at the spot and I realized what he was thinking. If he shoots Luke's shoulder, he will let me go as a reaction of the pain. I looked at him and he read my expression. I nodded my head as little as possible and he aimed his gun at Luke.

"Are you forgetting that I have your little bitch at gunpoint?" Luke asked.

"Oh I'm aware. And that's why I'm doing this," Trevor said, turning his aim a little to the left. He pulled the trigger and I heard the gunshot ring through the air and pass next to my ear. I felt Luke let me go and I stumbled forward to where Trevor was standing. He caught me before I could fall.

"Are you alright? Did he hurt you?" He asked, panicked.

"I'm fine. He didn't do anything except hit me in the head," I said. He looked over at Luke and gripped his gun while I looked at Lydia, apologizing for not telling her. She gave a faint smile and mouthed "It's ok," before I put my hand over Trevor's and took the gun from his hand.

"I want to do it. It started with me and it should end with me," I said. Trevor nodded and let me out of his grip. I turned around to face Luke and aimed the gun at him.

"You have put me through hell and back and I'm not letting you hurt anyone else," I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

"But I have something you need," He said, looking up at me and gripping his shoulder in pain.

"What's that?" I said, in an angry tone. An evil smile creeped up on his face before answering.

"An antidote," He said.

And those were the last words I heard before the gunshot rang through the air. And then the fire started in my shoulder.