chapter 22

As I was walking back to our room, I stopped by Lydia's door and thought maybe I should check on her. I opened the door and saw the bright computer screen and Lydia sitting up in her bed. I walked in and said, "Don't you think that you should spend a night sleeping instead of hacking."

She looked up as me and waved me over, indicating that she wanted me to sit next to her. I walked over to the other side of the bed and sat next to her, looking at the computer.

"I'm checking their surveillance at Fallen Labs," She said. My eyes scanned the screen before asking, "Why?"

"I wanted to see what they actually did in there," She said, pulling up a video that she saved.

She pressed the play button and there was a woman with light brown hair in a white lab coat. She had a needle in her hand and a boy strapped in a chair right in front of her. The boy was struggling against the restraints but the lady didn't care. She walked over and grabbed the boy's arm and injected the needle into his arm. After a few seconds, he started screaming as if in pain.

"What is it?" I asked. I couldn't tear my eyes off of the screen.

"They found a way to isolate the side-effects. They call it Project-27. They figured out the genes that change in order to give someone sight or hearing or strength and managed to make a serum for each side-effect. They have been testing them on hundreds of kids but they usually die at side-effect 3 or 4," She said. I looked at her and drew my brows together.

"Why are they testing all of the side-effects?" I asked.

"The side-effects that have been found are increased sight, hearing, smell, healing, strength, intelligence, detection of danger, and faster reaction times in dangerous situations. As well as stronger bone structures and stronger immune system because of the vaccine. They are trying to find a test subject that could inherit all of the side-effects because if they do then they could cure blindness and deafness. They could cure almost everything if they find the perfect subject but they also want to figure out how to make a stronger generation," She said.

"Have they found someone?" I asked. She nodded.

"Why not just test them? Why go through all of the trouble to find the right subject?" I asked.

"The side-effects did something to them. It made them aggressive. Killers. Like it wasn't the kids in their own bodies. But they haven't received all of them. And some of them were able to receive the side-effects for a few hours but then it did something to their bodies. Like it killed them from the inside out. Half dead and half were kept in custody because they found a way to control the killers. So they kept them for closer observation or security," She said. I looked back at the screen and saw the boy on the screen cry and then his veins started to turn black. Like the poison that entered my body a few days ago. They reached his eyes and his eyes went from blue and white to completely black. He stopped struggling against the restraints and laid there still.

"Does that happen with all of them?" I asked.

"Yeah. But with the ones that become killers. The L-27's, their eyes stay like that. But with the kids that survive for a few hours, their eyes only turn like that whenever they use their side-effects. I don't understand why though. I think it has something to do with the chemicals in their system. They could have injected something. Or it could be a stimulus that they added that makes the subject's pupil dilate to show the scientists that it's working in the subject's body. But it only comes whenever they have injected 5 of the side-effects. I don't know what happens when they inject all of them and it's successful," She explained. I shut the computer and stood up from the bed.

"Amber?" Lydia said. I ignored her and walked out of her room and walked down to the elevators. As soon as I got in, I pushed the button going up to the 27th floor. Once I reached the floor, I ran out and up the stairs leading me to the roof. As soon as I felt the breeze hit my body, I relaxed. I stood there, looking out at the city and my only thought was, What were they doing to these kids?

* * *

The roof has been peaceful and quiet since the day started and I never wanted to leave it. I sat there for maybe 5 hours just soaking in the sunlight. After the 6th hour I started walking back and forth on the roof trying to clear my head of what Lydia just showed me. The way they are using those kids as murderers. The scream from the boy in the chair. The way his eyes went completely black. If that's what a failed subject looked like, what did a successful one look like? Could they bring back the kid that was in that body or do the labs have control of his mind now? Would they have control of someone who could receive all of the side-effects? Would the kid who could receive all of the side-effects without dying or being mind-controlled by the labs look normal but also be controlled by the technology they have? Could they send commands to their brain telling them to kill someone?

I couldn't shake the thoughts from my head all day. I couldn't get the image of the kid struggling against the chair and his veins turning black kept replaying in my head over and over. Seeing his eyes go black sent a shiver down my spine. By the time I heard the door open, the sun was already starting to go down. I was sitting at the edge, with my feet dangling, and my head in my hands. I didn't bother to look at who it was. All I could feel was anger building inside me again and a fire starting where it was extinguished. Anger at the labs for torturing and killing us when they should have been finding a cure for my mother.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," Trevor said. I lifted my head from my hands and looked in front of me where the sun shone it's light, exposing the city.

"Well you found me," I said in a monotone voice. I heard his steps coming closer and saw him sit down next to me. I didn't bother to look at him but I knew he was looking at me.

"What's gotten into you?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Nothing," I lied. I didn't want to tell him about the video and how it scared me but also how it just made me hate the labs even more.

"I don't believe that," He said.

I took a deep breath before looking down at my hands and playing with my thumbs. "I just...saw some things that bother me. That's all," I said, trying to walk around the truth.

"Want to talk about it?" Trevor asked. I shook my head. "I want to forget about it. But I can't," I said. I managed to gather the courage and look at him. His dark brown eyes were almost black and the image of the boy's black eyes popped into my head. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in before looking back at him and exhaling.

I wished that right now, that I was in the gym and letting my anger out on a heavy leather bag. Instead I have to keep the fire contained.

"Come on. Let's go train. I might even let you fight me for a bit," He said, standing up and putting out his hand for me to take.

"Trevor?" I said, not standing up but looking up at him. His hand fell as soon as he heard his name come out of my mouth.

"Yeah Amber," He said.

"Don't let anyone control you," I said. He put a small smile on his face before offering me his hand again. This time I took it.

"I wouldn't dream of it," He said. And at that, we walked down to the gym to train.

* * *

We trained for about 4 hours before Trevor grabbed my arm and pulled me over. I didn't focus on anything else but the fire that was in me and burning with an intensity while the images of the boy in the chair replayed in a loop inside of my head. I was breathing heavily when he pulled me in front of him and I could feel the anger expressed on my face.

"What is going on with you? You've been acting weird all night," Trevor said. I pulled my arm from his grip and walked back to the punching bag, not satisfied with the strength that I currently had.

"I'm fine," I said, resuming my punching. The heavy bag was moving more and more whenever I hit it. I was finally building up strength but the hatred and anger kept building with it. They killed my mother. They could have helped her but instead they disregarded her health. They made me send away my brother. My father is dead. Everyone is gone and it's because of the world that they created.

I put more and more focus on the punching bag place in front of me as the thoughts kept playing in my head. They made me who I am.

Trevor put a hand on my shoulder and turned me towards him. I put my hands down but still clenched in fists and didn't bother to look up at him.

"Amber? Talk to me," He said. I pulled away from him. He looked at me and searched my face for an explanation.

"Fine. On the mat then," He said. He turned around and walked over to a blue mat that he set up. He set up 3 mats, side by side, to make a square. I stood there for a moment and walked over to the opposite side from where he was standing. He took his stance and I took mine. We stood there for a few seconds before I threw a punch but he caught my fist. He pulled me towards him and whispered, "Are you going to talk to me or leave me in the dark."

I pulled my hand out of his grip and punched him in the stomach. He stumbled back before punching me with a stronger force in my stomach. I fell down and quickly stood back up and took my stance. He threw a punch but I managed to get out of the way his fist was going and grabbed his arm, twisting it behind him. He took out his leg and swiped it under mine, making me fall behind him and releasing his arm. I started breathing heavily but I liked this. It helped me get the anger out. And it wasn't like I was strong enough to hurt Trevor. He stood up straight and looked at me before walking away.

"You're tired. We can finish tomorrow," He said, grabbing his shirt and walking off of the mat. No. It wasn't enough. I needed more. I got up quickly and ran towards him, about to hit him when he grabbed my arm and I fell to the ground. He pinned both of my arms to the ground and his face was only inches from mine. I struggled against him trying to lift my arms but when they lifted a little he pinned them back down.

"Get off!" I said.

"Not until you tell me what is going on with you!" He said. I stopped struggling against him and finally opened my eyes to meet him on top of me. I let the anger fall off of my face and I realized what I had done. I shut him out. I can't shut people out. When my mother first died, I shut out Jared and my dad. I focused on the anger and spent almost everyday in my room without letting my feelings out. I thought that I would be weak if I told them how I felt but instead, I was angrier when I shut them out. That's when I suppressed every feeling except happiness. To show them that I was ok. His grip loosened on my wrist but they were still pinning me down. I searched his face before explaining.

"The labs are trying to find a subject that can receive all of the side-effects instead of trying to find a cure. They've been doing experiments for years on us, making a poison and giving us more of the side-effects. They made me send away Jared, killed my mom, my dad. And now they are killing us," I said. I felt Trevor's grip completely loosen from my wrists and his face went into shock. He stood up and picked me up with the strength of one arm.

"How do you know?" He asked. We were close together when I looked up at his stern expression.

"Lydia hasn't been checking the files only. She's also been looking at surveillance and found a video of a boy and a lady giving him some kind of serum. Some of them become mindless drones and then the others die. They keep the kids that are able to survive with 5 side-effects and use them at security," I said.

"Why didn't you tell me? Instead you're just hurting yourself," He said. After he said that, I looked down at my hands. I didn't realize the pain that was in my hands after the punching bag. I completely zoned out and didn't realize the small, bleeding cuts and bruises that were on my knuckles. I looked back up at Trevor and lowered my hands to my side.

"Next time you're upset, don't shut me out. Because what you did there wasn't you," He said in a deep voice.

I walked over to him and said, "I haven't been myself in a year. So don't act like you know me."

I walked past him and he caught my arm pulling me towards him. My hand landed on his chest and I looked up at his stern face.

"You're the girl that I love. Whether you hate me or yourself. You're a sweet person but will do anything to protect anyone she loves. Don't lose the good parts of you to hate and anger," He said looking down at me. I searched his face and we stood there for a second before saying, "It's not as easy as it looks."

He gave a small laugh before saying, "Since when is anything easy for us."

I wrapped my arms around him and he did the same thing to me. Keeping me in a tight grip.

"I love you. And nothing can change that," He whispered. I let a small smile creep up on my face. When I was around Trevor, I felt like all the anger disappeared. The hatred towards myself was gone. But only temporarily.

"I love you too," I said, muffled against his shoulder. He let go of me and I released him from my arms.

"Go and take a shower. I'll meet you in the room ok? I have to check on Lydia," He said. I gave him a faint smile before turning around and walking to the stairs that takes me to the room.

* * *

I was scared of what I had just done. It was like I was being consumed by my anger and it didn't care who I hurt. Like I wasn't in control and the anger wanted revenge. I wanted revenge. And that's what scared me. I shut everything out. Trevor. The world around me. All I could focus on was getting stronger and feeding the fire inside. That was all I could think about when I got out of the shower. I changed into one of my shirts and some shorts before walking out of the bathroom. I turned off the light and walked over to the chair that had my backpack in it. I reached into the front pocket and pulled the wedding picture of my mom and dad out and admired it.

The way her hair was curled and showed her faint highlights. Her perfect smile after years of braces. Her dark brown eyes filled with joy, looking at my dad in her beautiful white ball gown. My dad's short, dark hair. The muscles he built up being in The Marines for 3 years and how they showed while he wore his tux. His bright smile when he looked at my mother.

"Want to explain to me what happened to you back there?" I heard a deep voice ask from behind me. I didn't bother to turn around. I put the picture back into my bag and zipped it up. I heard Trevor come closer to me and that's when I finally looked up at him. His eyes were filled with concern and wanted an explanation.

"The reason why I always have those walls up is so that you don't see the broken me. And whenever I shut people out, the hatred just grows. But when Lydia told me everything and showed me the video I let those walls down. It's because of them that my mother is dead. That Jared is going to Mexico. Instead of helping people now, they just decided to pour chemicals in the water and see who could survive just so they can make the next generation better," I said in a low and angry voice.

He walked over to me and put his hands on my shoulders, rubbing his hands up and down my arms in a relaxing motion before pulling me towards him and embracing me. I wrapped my arms around him and rested my head against his shoulder.

He took a deep breath before saying, "We're all broken. One way or another." I took a moment before saying anything else. "I'm scared. Scared of this whole thing but mainly scared of how far I'm willing to go."

He buried his face in my hair and said, "I know."

For once I felt relieved. The flames inside dissipated and the walls started to fall. It was like a weight off of my shoulders when I told Trevor how I really felt. I knew the fire would come back but it was nice to finally take down the walls with at least one person. And what was better is that he understood. He had the same anger inside of him and he was also scared of how far he was willing to go to get rid of it.

I pulled away from our embrace and looked at his dark eyes. He gave a small smile before putting a strand of hair behind my ear and cupping my cheek.

"This is good. We're good," He said. I gave the same small smile. We stood there for a moment, looking at each other before we slowly closed the distance between us. Trevor's hands cupped my cheeks as my hands went up to his chestnut hair. His lips traveled to my cheek and back to my lips. Staying there for a few seconds before going down to my jaw and then my neck. They traveled back up to my lips and he pulled away, resting his forehead on mine and hesitating if he should kiss me or not. We both knew where this was going to go.

"Why did you stop?" I whispered. His hands weent down my arms until reaching my waist.

"I don't want you to feel uncomfortable," He whispered back. I let my hands fall down to his arms.

"It's ok. I'm ok," I said. His hand slowly traveled under my shirt and I felt butterflies in my stomach at his strong hand on my soft skin.

"Do you have," I stopped mid-sentence before saying the word. I felt his smile pop up on his face.

"Yeah. I do," He said.

He leaned in and kissed me again, but more aggressive. I returned his kiss with the same hunger and passion he had for me. I walked backwards to the bed without tearing apart our lips. I took off his shirt and he did the same with me. In the slight moment that our lips were apart, I looked at his dark eyes and he looked at me. We were both out of breath but we both had the same hungry look in our eyes. I put my hand on his chest, letting my fingers feel every muscle and he had. He rejoined our lips when we were both in bed, putting himself on top of me and our hands connected. His lips traveled down to my collar bone and then my stomach before going back up to my lips. I felt relaxed with him. I wasn't scared. With Trevor, it was easy. He made me stronger. Better. He made me the person I wanted to be. And as our lips kept meeting, the 3 words kept playing in my head. I love you. I always have.

* * *

When I finally woke up, I realized that I was naked in bed. I grabbed my bra and shirt off of the ground and put them on. Once I put them on, I slipped back into the bed and turned onto my left side. Trevor's back was facing me. His muscles were tense and I couldn't help but trace the shapes they made. His skin was smooth and flawless. His muscles relaxed under my touch and I couldn't help but stare. Even with the whole mess that our lives were, I had one good thing. And that was Trevor and Lydia. I could smell the leather and rain that Trevor gave off on me. It made me melt inside. I stopped tracing the muscles in his back when I came across a large scar on his lower back. It was an old scar because it wasn't red or pink like a new one would be. I've never noticed the scar there. My eyes wandered up to another area on his back and it was similar to the scar on his lower back. They were maybe 4 inches long and both old. I wanted to ask him where he got them from but I didn't want to wake him up. As I let my hand fall from his back, he turned around to face me. He was still sleeping.

His hair was messy, his face relaxed except for the few times that his jaw clenched. His Adam's apple bobbing up and down when he swallowed. I lifted my hand to his hair to play with it and then it went down to his cheek and then his lips. I looked away from his lips and took in his whole face. I couldn't help but give a small smile before turning onto my other side and falling asleep.

* * *

I only fell asleep for another hour or two before I woke up again. I woke up to my hair moving and sun shining in my eyes. I took a deep breath before turning my head to see Trevor sitting up and stroking my hair. Somehow, my head ended up on his chest. I couldn't help but smile at him. I was ecstatic.

"Hi," I said smiling. He returned my smile.

"Hi," He said. I sat up from my lying position and met Trevor's eyes.

"Someone's happy," Trevor said, looking me up and down. I felt blush coming onto my face as well as heat.

"Well you make me happy," I whispered, leaning in slowly. My eyes wandered down to his lips and then back to his dark eyes. I closed the space between our lips and kissed him slowly and sweetly.

"I can get used to this," He whispered. I laughed at his response to when I broke our lips apart. I got up and turned to face my bag in the chair across from me. I walked over and grabbed my last pair of jeans and the same red sweater I wore a few days ago.

"Have you seen Lydia?" I asked, taking off my shirt and changing into the sweater.

"Yeah. I also saw the videos that she managed to save from the labs," He said. I turned around to face him instead of the window shining sunlight in my face.

"What did you think?" I asked, putting on my jeans. He turned to look at me before answering.

"It's all kind of confusing. It just came out of nowhere," He said. I buttoned my jeans and then looked up at him.

"What do you mean?" I asked. He took a deep breath before explaining.

"Well think about it. The labs poured the chemicals in our water supplies creating the lightning disease. And then they created a vaccine to figure out who could have side-effects or not. And now they are trying to find kids who can have all of the side-effects that they have found. And there can even be more that they don't know of. But they did it all to get a stronger generation? I just feel like there is something more to it," He said. I walked over to the edge of the bed and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Like what? People do things without a backstory sometimes," I said.

"Not killing almost a whole population of kids," He said. I searched his face and tried to gather my thoughts. Maybe he was right. You don't kill a whole population without a backstory.

"Ok so then what's your theory?"

He shrugged. "I think that something happened before we were born. Like a plague or disease and a lot of people died so then the labs started researching a way to try and find a way to survive the disease. I think that The Lightning Disease was a real disease but it got out of hand 10 years ago. Then the labs figured how to limit the population to try and figure out who could survive the disease, killing the people who couldn't, giving the vaccine to the younger population and now trying to find someone that has the genetics to pass on stronger abilities so that they could make a better generation," He said.

"So you think that they are trying to save humanity?" I asked. His theory made sense but there could have been a different reason to the way they approached it.

"I think that they are. But I also think that they just hopped at the first solution that appeared to them instead of trying to find a better way to deal with it," He justified.

"Well what would you have done?" I questioned.

"I'm not a scientist so I'm sure what else they could have done," He said, getting up and grabbing his shirt from the floor.

"Well, they could have conducted experiments on people that volunteered and see which combination of genes could actually survive the disease. Then after that they could have replicated that genetic code, injected it to everyone like they did with the side-effects. It would take more time but it would be more efficient and it may have saved 40% of the younger population considering that those were the most affected. Instead they killed off 95%," I said, turning around and zipping up my backpack before putting on my shoes. I lifted my head to see Trevor staring at me.

"What? Did I say something?" I asked.

"Did you just come up with that?" He asked.

I searched his face to see why he was so shocked. It wasn't that hard to figure out. If they could find the codes for side-effects then they probably could have found the genetic codes for someone that was immune to the disease. Then they could have injected everyone with it saving a good majority of the population.

"If they have the technology to find genetic codes for side-effects then they have the technology to find the genetic codes for people that are immune to the disease. Common sense," I said, getting up from the chair and walking towards him.

"But that just popped up into your head?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest. I nodded at him.

"Why do you keep asking? I don't see the big deal," I said.

He searched my face. "I just think it's strange that you came up with that so fast. You sound like Lydia," He said. I raised my eyebrows.

"Are you saying that I'm usually dumb?" I said.

"What! No! Of course not. It's just usually Lydia that comes up with those things fast. And it takes us a while to understand her since she speaks nerd sometimes," He said. I laughed at his small joke.

"Maybe...I'm smarter than you think," I whispered walking past him and out of the room. He walked right behind me giving a small chuckle. One our way to Lydia's room, we held hands and joked around. I made fun of him for calling me dumb and he tried to defend himself in a joking tone. Outside of Lydia's room when I pulled him back for a second. He drew his eyebrows together when I pulled him away from the door.

"I wanted to ask you something," I said, unhooking our hands and letting mine fall to my side. He crossed his arms over his chest and put on a focused face. "Ok?" He said.

"When we were in bed, I saw some scars on your back. You were still asleep and I didn't want to wake you so I just figured that I would wait but I'm curious. How did you get them?" I asked.

He didn't move for a few seconds before letting out a small breath. He let a small smile creep up on his face. "Let's just say that I managed to beat Luke and Jason's asses. Any more questions from you creeply looking at my body," He said with a small laugh.

I laughed a little before closing the distance between us and kissing him on the lips for a few seconds. "Thank you for last night," I whispered. An even bigger smile popped up on his face before whispering back, "Couldn't have asked for a better night."

He let go of my waist and turned around to open the door to Lydia's room. He let me go in first and I saw Lydia packing up her things frantically. I drew my brows together and walked over to her, stopping her in her tracks.

"What's going on Lydia?" I asked, searching her face that was filled with fear.

"We need to leave. Now," She said. I looked away from her for a second and back at Trevor. He gave a small nod before leaving the room to get our bags. I turned back to Lydia and asked, "What happened?"

"The WildFires. Someone outed us to them and now the labs and The WildFires are looking for us. They know we are going to California," She said in a frantic voice.

"Who outed us?" I asked. She broke herself free from my grip and put on her shoes.

"Lydia? Who outed us?" I asked again. I felt a shiver down my spine again. She walked around to the bed and put the laptop in her backpack and looked behind me. Her face went white and she yelled, "Duck!" as soon as I heard the bang. I turned to see who was standing in the middle of the doorway.

"We didn't finish our conversation Amber," He said. Those light blue eyes are crazy with anger. The tall figure standing in the middle of the door pointing a gun at me and Lydia.

"It was Jack," Lydia said quietly.