chapter 20

I could barely manage to open my eyes when I realized what just happened. I didn't hit my head so I was awake to feel the spinning of the car, the glass scratching my skin, but worst of all, the pain racing up and down my leg. I knew it wasn't broken or else I would be crying right now, but something hard and heavy was lodged into it. Maybe a piece of long metal went into my leg. I looked at my leg and saw a big scrap of metal sinking the sharp tip into my shin. It was too deep to pull it out. I looked at my arms and saw a few scratches that were bleeding and then I felt the warmth on my forehead. I didn't know how big the cut was but it was bleeding. I looked over at Trevor and his eyes were closed. He had a deep cut on his cheek and arms and a red area on his forehead indicating he probably hit his head. I looked around carefully and saw Lydia in the back. She wasn't unconscious or badly hurt.

"Lydia? Are you ok?" I asked.

"Yeah. Nothing hit me just a few glass shards." I turned back around to see 2 figures getting out of the silver car. Their boots were heavy and slowly walking towards us. I grabbed the gun that was laying on the roof and quietly handed it to Lydia.

"Whatever you do, do not move or make a sound," I said through gritted teeth. The boots stopped at my broken window and the figure opened the damaged door with ease.

"Well what do we have here?" The lady said. She was Australian. The figure standing next to Trevor's window crouched down to look at him and stood back up without even touching him.

"The other one is gone," He said. I felt panic in my chest when he said those words.

No. He can't be. He didn't check for a pulse. Trevor can't be dead. My thoughts screamed.

"Doesn't matter. I saw this one on the database and they're offering $150,000 for her. Enough to get us both out of here," The woman said. She reached down to unbuckle me and grabbed me, pulling me out without acknowledging my scream of pain. The pain was spiking in my leg from the metal in it but she didn't care. She dragged me out and gripped my arm hard, forcing me on my feet. She walked me towards the silver car, slowly, considering that every step hurt and I couldn't go any faster.

"Hey, Kate," The man said eagerly. The woman stopped in her tracks, swinging her red hair in my face when she turned to face the blonde man.

"Looks like we have another one in here," He said, pointing to the back. She let go of my arm and walked over towards the blonde man standing in front of the back. Lydia. I couldn't let them take her. I stood up straight instead of leaning against the car and tried to run the best I could over to the red haired woman and blonde haired man. I managed to punch the woman, knocking her down to the ground and swing my good leg against the back of the blonde man's knees. The red haired woman grabbed me in a bear hug, trying to pin my arms to my sides but I managed to get my right arm free and elbow her in the chin. Lydia crawled out of the back and handed me my gun and stood behind me. The blonde man managed to get up and point a gun at me. And so did the red haired lady.

"Run," I whispered to Lydia. And she did as I told her to. She ran and the red haired woman and blonde man didn't chase after her. Instead they stood there pointing their guns at me.

"You aren't getting away like your friend," The man said with a faint southern accent.

"You can try to take me but it won't be fairly easy," I said. I put my finger on the trigger but I didn't have a fast enough reaction time to what had happened in only a few seconds. The blonde man lowered his gun and charged at me, stealing the gun away from my hand and pinning me to the ground. I tried to break my hands free but he was too strong. The red haired woman walked over to me and crouched down next to my left leg that still had the metal in it.

"You are going to come with us to the lab and then they are going to give us our reward. Sound like a plan?" She asked so sweetly in her accent but I knew her words were meant to be as venomous as a snake.

"No," I said in an angry tone. I narrowed my eyes at her and then she gave a fake sigh like she wasn't about to enjoy what she was going to do. She put her hand on the big piece of metal and then dug it deeper into my leg. I couldn't hold back the scream.

"I am going to say it one more time. You are coming with us and you will go to the lab," She said again in a stern tone. She said it 2 more times and either dug or twisted the piece of metal in my leg every time I said no.

"Sam, tie her up and bring her to the car," The lady said, getting up from her crouching position and walking over to the silver car. I struggled against the man on top of me, to the point where he almost fell off. When he felt me slipping away a little he let go of one of my wrists and punched me across the face 2 times before I gave up.

He put my wrists together and tied them with a rope, and a very secure knot.

"Tell me what it's like in hell," He whispered. After he got the last word out I heard the loud bang ring through the air.

"You tell me," a deep voice said from behind the man.

His dark blue eyes went wide and scared. He fell right next to me instead of on top of me and when I looked up, I saw Trevor holding his gun in one hand and the left side of his body with the other.

He's alive. They didn't check. And that's what saved him.

He pointed his gun towards the silver car and pulled the trigger, sending a bullet for the red haired lady in the car. He let the gun clatter to the floor when he rushed over to me as quickly as he could and untied my hands. I couldn't help but look at him. His eyes were serious and focused.

"Lydia?" He asked.

"She ran off. Probably hiding in one of the cars on the side," I said looking at him. He didn't even look up at me until he finished untying the rope. His eyes went from the cut that was all bloody on my forehead, to my eyes, to the red mark that was on my cheek from the punch and then back to my eyes.

"Stay here ok? I'm going to go look for Lydia," He said, grabbing his gun and standing up, walking into the general area Lydia ran off in. I finally managed to muster up the courage to look at my leg after the damage that the lady did. The piece of metal was a little more than halfway in my leg. I could still feel the pain racing up and down my leg. This was going to hurt for much longer than I wanted it to considering that my healing process is slowed down thanks to the poison that entered my system almost a week ago.

I managed to crawl inside the back of the van, grabbing all of our bags and the laptop. Trevor came back around to the van and I handed him the bags so he could put them in the car that he found. He threw them all in back of the black pickup truck Lydia managed to hotwire. Once he put them there, he came back and helped me up carefully, slinging one of my arms across his shoulders and putting one of his arms around my waist. He helped me into the passenger seat of the truck and closed the door. He hopped inside the truck and got out of the crash site within seconds.

"Lydia, see if you can find an abandoned hotel. There's going to be food and medicine there and we need time to rest," Trevor said. Lydia checked the laptop to see if it still worked and the screen did. The only damage it actually took were a few dents to the outer area of the laptop.

"There's one 10 minutes ahead. It shut down a few years ago and nobody has bothered to check it since then," She said. Trevor looked back at the road and listened to the directions Lydia gave him. Those 10 minutes, were the quietest it has ever been in the car with the 3 of us inside.

* * *

"Lydia, why don't you go inside and take the stuff," Trevor said. Lydia nodded in response and got out of the car and walked into the empty hotel. I looked over at Trevor and saw him shaking his head. Almost as if he was apologizing for something.

"What's wrong?" I asked, trying to figure out what he was thinking about.

He didn't respond at first. He only turned his head and looked at me. After a few seconds of taking in my injuries he finally said something.

"I should have gotten out sooner," He said. I didn't understand what he was saying at first and then I realized that he was actually awake before he came out.

"How long? Before you got out." I asked.

He stayed silent and gave me a look.

"When Lydia ran off is when I first woke up," He said. I didn't understand what he was looking for. Anger maybe. But I wasn't angry, I understood that he had to wait for the right moment to attack. I gave him a faint smile before reaching for his hair and fixing it.

"Trevor, you did what you had to. You couldn't have just attacked, we were outnumbered. Don't be mad at yourself for that," I said, trying to reassure him that he did the right thing waiting.

"Are you ok? I never asked."

Even though my leg was throbbing and my forehead, leg, and arms were still bleeding I nodded to his question. He gave a faint smile before opening his door and getting out, walking around to my side to help me out of the car. He opened my door and I swung my legs out, letting him wrap an arm around my waist and wrapping my arm around his shoulders. We walked slowly inside the hotel and into our hotel room that was thankfully on the second floor and had only one window that was facing away from the street. We walked into the room and Trevor sat me on the bed. He crouched down to look at my leg and see what he could do.

"I have to get the piece out. Then I'm going to have to stitch it up," He said in a calming tone, trying to prepare me for the pain that was about to come.

"Ready?"

"Yeah. Just do it already," I said, closing my eyes so I don't have to look. I felt the piece of metal stiffen as he touched it and then within seconds he managed to pull it out. I couldn't hold in the scream that came out. He grabbed a cloth that he got out of the bathroom and wrapped it around my leg to stop the bleeding. Once he finished tying it around, he put a hand in my hair softly stroking it and told me I could open my eyes. I let out a breath and opened my eyes. Trevor's hand fell from my hair down to my hand. I relaxed a little under his touch and gave him a faint smile.

"Are you ok?" I asked him. It just hit me that he killed 2 people. The last time he killed someone was when Lisa tried to take me and Lydia but even if we were in a life threatening situation it's always on your mind that you killed someone.

He stood up from his crouching position, sitting next to me on the bed. He looked at the towel he had in his hand before looking up at me.

"I've seen enough violence to get past the blood on my hands. I've learned to live with it," He said. I searched his face to see if he was lying or telling the truth and he was telling the truth. But there was something else on his mind. He looked back down at the towel in his hands.

"What's really on your mind Trevor?" I asked, putting a hand on top of his. He took a deep breath before answering.

"I just think that it would have been best to go to Mexico with your brother. You, me, and Lydia. We would all be safe. Away from this. We could be happy together. It's just been on my mind since our conversation yesterday," He said. He looked at me with a stern look on his face. He was serious.

"What about the L-13's? If we went to Mexico we couldn't do anything about the Labs. We would still be in danger whether we leave or not," I said. I knew what he really wanted though. He wanted to have a semi-normal life with me and Lydia. He wanted to take care of his sister and send her to school and have family time with her and he wanted to have a normal relationship. One where we watch cute movies together and go get ice cream together. Deep inside of me I wanted the same thing but I knew that we could never have that because of who we are.

He didn't respond.

"I know that you want something different from this. I do too but we can't just leave the rest of the population to rot here. I feel like I have to do something to help and I know you do too or else we wouldn't be going to the L-13's," I said. He turned to look at me with stern eyes and a faint smile.

"I do. But I also want you to be safe. But we do have to do something about this. I'm done hiding from the labs and The WildFires," He said.

I felt like for the first time I saw the soft side of Trevor. All the nights we spent talking, he always had this kind of armor up. For the first time I actually saw Trevor. He was still strong but he showed me what he really wanted. He wasn't sad or angry. He was disappointed in what has become our lives. And I understood what he meant because it was the same feeling I had for the past 10 years.

"Listen. Once we get to California, we can go to the L-13's and have a life. We can take shelter there, we can help them take Fallen Labs down. We can be semi normal," I said, laughing a little.

Trevor gave a small chuckle before asking, "What is normal?"

"We can figure that out once we get to California," I said, giving him a small smile. He stood up from the bed and walked over to the bathroom, turning the faucet on and soaking the towel with water. He came back and sat down in the same place before putting the cold, wet towel on my forehead. I felt a sting when the towel came into contact with my skin and as a reflex, I lifted my hand to his.

"Sorry. I have to clean it up a bit to see how deep it is," He said, looking at my cut instead of my eyes. I kept my hand on his, relaxing under his warm skin connecting with mine. I searched his face and all I saw was focus. His jaw was clenched and his eyes weren't wandering like always, they were set on one point.

"How do you know all of this?" I asked. I never knew how Trevor knew all of this information on how to tie stitches or know how deep the cut is in order to know if I do need stitches.

He finally looked down at my eyes and wiped off the rest of the blood from my forehead.

"My mom was a doctor. She wasn't always around the house but when she was, she always taught me how to take care of myself. I always hurt myself playing outside or working in the garage and she figured that it would be useful for me to know how to take care of me or Lydia," He said.

I looked away from him for a moment. His words reminded me of my mom. She was a nurse in a small clinic but she knew how to do everything. One day when Jared fell from the ladder going up to the tree house, a branch cut his arm and mom didn't want to risk me getting taken so she had to give him stitches at home. There are moments where I completely forget that life existed with her in it but when I do remember, it's like a truck hitting me in the gut every time. I miss her, a lot, but I've been able to manage the pain that comes with remembering her.

I looked back up at Trevor and in the path that my eyes took I got a glimpse of the spot covered with blood on his side. I only saw it pass by as my eyes traveled to his but I couldn't help but ask.

"Does it hurt?"

He shook his head. "It's not that deep. Just a scratch. It will be gone in maybe a week and a half," He said, getting up and walking to the bathroom. I attempted to get up from the bed and put the majority of my weight on my good leg. I let a little wince of pain come out of me but other than that, I managed to walk slowly to my backpack that was in the chair, across the room. My jeans were all bloody and my sweater was as well. Surprisingly though, my converse were completely fine except for a few black marks from the road.

"Hey, Where's Lydia?" I asked, taking off my shoes.

"Probably fell asleep on the first bed she saw. She's been staying up all night almost for a week now trying to figure out what information The WildFires have and who the labs are looking for. Just been keeping tabs on them but it takes her hours to break into their systems," He said, coming out of the bathroom without a shirt and pressing a damp towel to the cut on his side.

"You never told me she was doing that," I said. He looked at me up and down before meeting my eyes again. He was hiding something.

"I didn't think you needed to know."

I stayed silent for a moment. I didn't know whether to react to his statement or ask what Lydia found out. I went with the second option.

"What did she find?"

He walked over to me and sat on the bed that was across from the chair I was sitting in. He stayed quiet for a long time before I asked again.

"Trevor? What did Lydia find?"

"The labs. They know about Jared and since The WildFires have access to their files, they know about him too," He said. I could feel panic start unraveling in my stomach.

"What does that mean Trevor?" I asked.

He took a deep breath before answering. "You're one of the few people that have sped up healing which is the rarest side-effect. The labs think that he might be like you so they are trying to find him and inject him with the old vaccine instead of the new one so that they have someone like you to study."

I could feel my throat closing up not allowing me to breath easily.

"And The WildFires?"

"They are also trying to find him so they can give him up to the labs. Fallen Labs put a reward up for him," He said quietly, trying to calm me down.

"How much?" I said, trying to make my body feel again but it was all numb.

"$60,000," Trevor said.

My heart dropped at the number. My aunt was never married so she had the same last name as my dad. Even though our last name was basic, The WildFires or Fallen Labs could easily send people to the homes of others that had the same last name as us. I got up from the chair, ignoring the pain starting to burst from my leg as I limped to the door. Trevor was faster than me so he managed to shut the door before I got out.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"Where do you think! I'm getting my little brother and taking him to California with us. He would be safer there. They can take care of him, train him. He won't have to be a part of this world," I said, trying to push past Trevor.

"What good would that do him? If you bring him to California with us then he is going to be a part of this world. The WildFires can find him in California, he could go on a mission and get hurt. He wouldn't be safe with the L-13's," Trevor said, putting his hand on my arm. The anxiety in my chest was telling me to run and go get him but Trevor was right. If I get him, he could end up dead with the L-13's. He would be safer in Texas or in Mexico. He could run from here. He could end up dead either way but which one was less riskier. Being with a sister who was worth $150,000 or going out of U.S borders?

"What if something happens? I know you say Mexico is the best place for him but what if something happens in the next 3 weeks? They can find him in 3 weeks, kill him," I said.

"They could kill him in 3 days if he is with us," Trevor said. He shook his head and lowered his arm to his side.

"I didn't want to tell you for this reason. You've been having doubts about sending him away and this would just make it worse for you. But Amber, you need to think about this. We can go and get him and make him a part of this war that we are in or give him the chance to live in Mexico until things clear up here," He said. I looked away from him to think and saw myself in the mirror. My mid-length hair, the cut on my forehead, my dark eyes scanning my figure, taking in my fair skin and bleeding leg.

What would Mom and Dad do? was the thought playing in my head. I ripped my eyes away from the mirror and my broken reflection. If I bring Jared into this, he could end up looking like me. Cuts and bruises on him almost every week. But if I let him go to Mexico, he could be clean, pure...Happy. I looked up at Trevor and took a moment to really think about my answer.

"Ok. You're right," I said, nodding my head a little trying to agree to the words coming out of my mouth. That's when I felt the numbness go away. I felt the throbbing and pain race up my leg again. The adrenaline that was in my body before, left within minutes and left me with a terrible pain on my head and in my leg. I looked down at my leg before limping back to the chair I was sitting in before.

"I just...don't want you to make a choice that you will regret. If your sibling dies on your watch then it puts a different weight on your conscience," Trevor said walking back to the bed. He spoke from experience. Watching your own sibling die was terrible and killing them yourself was something that I could never imagine. He didn't look at me, just at his hands.

"I'm sorry. About Lisa. I know you wanted your sister back," I said in a small voice.

"That thing wasn't my sister. She died 3 years ago in the warehouse. She may have looked like her but it wasn't her. It was a monster," He said, shaking his head and looking at me with an angry look.

"It doesn't matter Trevor. I know that in some part of you, you still felt the same love for her. Even if it meant only seeing her face, you still didn't want to kill the person she became," I said. His face softened at my words. His eyes searching my face before he got up from the bed and walked over to me. He sat down on the arm of the chair I was in and put a hand on my bruised cheek. His warmth felt so nice on the site of the punch. Even though the man punched me almost an hour ago, it still felt stiff and only hurt a little. I closed my eyes, relaxing under Trevor's touch.

"I did want my sister back. I do want my sister back. But not just the way she looked. I want her there as well. Her personality. I grieved her 3 years ago, and that is when my real sister died. There's no point in grieving a fake version of her," He said. His voice was deep and sweet as always and could always make me melt inside. Under his touch and listening to his voice, I felt myself relax everywhere and I felt like I could fall asleep right there. He pulled his hand away from my cheek and I opened my eyes to meet his dark ones.

"Why don't you go clean up a bit and once you're done I can stitch you up and you can get some rest. Ok?" He asked. I gave him a faint smile before carefully getting up and limping to the bathroom to take a shower. I closed the door and took off my bloody clothes, folding them and placing them on top of the toilet. I turned on the shower, letting the water run for a few minutes to heat up. I looked at myself in the mirror again but this time, with better light. My fair skin was stained with dirt, my cheek was red, and my hair was longer than I remembered. In the lighting of the room, it looked like it was reaching my chest but this was the first time in 3 months that I realized, my last hair cut was almost 6 months ago. I looked away from the mirror and walked into the shower, letting the water wash away all of the dirt and blood that stained my fair tone. As soon as I felt that everything washed away, I grabbed some of the shampoo that the hotel had and rubbed it deeply into my scalp, washing away every evidence of something happening today. I did the same thing with the body wash and conditioner. Once I finished with my shower, I grabbed a towel and dried my hair, letting the ends start forming the waves it usually created. I wrapped the towel around my body and limped out of the bathroom. I inspected to see if Trevor was in the room and it was empty. He probably went to go check on Lydia.

I quickly walked over to my bag and took out the first shirt and shorts I could find. It was a Blink-182, black shirt and black shorts. My dad always had the heater in the house on so I would always die in my old PJ's. I would always have to sleep in tank tops or without pants and it got to the point where I had to wear shorts every night. I felt uncomfortable in tank tops as I grew older so I transferred to large shirts, hiding every aspect of my body instead of showing my figure. As soon as I finished getting dressed, I turned around and saw Trevor leaning against the opening and with a small smile peeking on his face.

"Are you just going to stare or are you going to say something?" I said in a sarcastic voice. I walked over to the bed so my leg could rest and because the pain was starting to become more intense. He walked over to the bed and just stood in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Did I ever tell you that you are beautiful?" He said, laughing a little.

"I don't know, maybe I need you to say it again," I said. His shoes were already off and he was still shirtless but his hair was damp. He probably took a shower in Lydia's room. He crawled into the bed, sitting up right next to me and he smiled before whispering, "You are the most beautiful girl I have laid my eyes on."

I couldn't help but smile. Those few words were enough to make me feel warm everywhere. When he whispered like that or told me something nobody has ever told me, it made me crave him even more than I ever wanted. I looked at his eyes and then they wandered down to his lips and then back up. I closed the distance between our faces and placed a short, soft kiss on his lips. When I broke our lips, Trevor's eyes were closed and he was biting the inside of his cheek. He only did that when he wanted me as much as I wanted him. I whispered to him, "Hey Trevor?"

"Yeah Amber?"

I let a small laugh out before saying, "You mind stitching up my leg."

Even though he already had me, I wanted to make the wait a little more interesting for him. He let out a small laugh and opened his eyes to meet mine. He got up from the bed and reached over to the nightstand that had a thin thread and a clean needle. He walked over to my side of the bed and put his focus face on. I observed him because it was interesting to see him so determined. It was like nothing could distract him but there were a million things going on in his head. While he was stitching my leg up, I felt myself starting to drift off into sleep. Everything that happened today made me so exhausted and all I wanted to do was sleep next to Trevor and do that for days instead of hours. Even though we had to stay in the hotel for maybe a week or two, we couldn't do nothing. Lydia would still have to check on the labs and The WildFires, Trevor would need to make sure that nobody would come near the hotel or check for supplies and medicine and I would probably have to help Lydia figure out another route to California so we don't run into any roadblocks.

"Amber?" Trevor's faint voice said. I opened my eyes to see him sitting up on the bed instead of crouching at my side stitching my leg.

"You're exhausted aren't you?" He said.

I slid down into the bed and pulled the covers over me saying "Just a little." He slid down into the bed and only pulled the covers up to his waist and propped his head up on and elbow.

"Go to sleep. We both need it and you're all stitched up," He said. I smiled when he leaned his head forward a little, placing a kiss on my forehead. I turned onto my side, facing away from Trevor and towards the chair I sat in earlier. I felt Trevor lay his head down on the pillow and place a strong arm around my waist. His other arm fell a bit above my head so I lifted my head a little and grabbed his arm, placing it under my head like a pillow and tangling our finger together. At the closeness of our bodies, the smell of leather and rain, and the warmth he gave off, I fell asleep in almost seconds. And for once, I slept peacefully without any interruptions.