Project HALO

Chapter 19

"Are you okay?" I ask Mikey and carefully grab his arms to look at his wounds. They aren't as deep as mine, but they aren't any prettier, either.

"Yeah. Now I can finally look cool like you..." He grins and sticks his tongue out. At least his sarcasm-bone isn't broken. "My biggest dream!"

"I bet it is," I say and snatch the bottle from him just as he's about to take a sip, causing him to suckle the air. I laugh and gulp down some water. There's nothing left in the bottle by the time I'm finished.

"Great," Mikey sighs. "At least now we know I'd be the first one to die if we were ever lost in a desert."

"Hm... I already knew that." I shrug and let him slap my shoulder as revenge. I wave his next attempt away. "Stop. You should take it easy. How is your head?"

"Haven't had any complaints," he grins and Frank snickers in the front seat.

I roll my eyes. "Seriously, Mikey."

"It hurts, but nothing crazy. It's like when you sneak around in the snack drawer and bump your head against the cabinets when someone walks in on you." He removes the cloth and leans closer to me. I grimace. The wound is luckily not very deep, but it's bleeding and he will definitely get a scar from the middle of his forehead and into his thick hairline.

"We will take a closer look at it once we arrive," Will says from the passenger seat. "We'll make sure you're alright, both of you."

With that, Mikey puts the cloth back onto the wound and leans his head against the headrest. I direct my attention to the scenery outside to figure out where we're headed.

The car moves at a high speed, and the landscape smears past us. The skyline is visible from the rear window, but the skyscrapers move farther and farther away the longer we drive. We must be headed to some rural area.

"Where are we going?" Mikey asks before I can. "My arms hurt."

I admire him for admitting it. Of course they hurt. I know mine does, but I wouldn't say I was injured even if my head was cut off.

Will pulls down her bandana so it hugs her neck, and turns back to us. She has thin lips and a small, sharp nose. She's older than us, probably in her mid-twenties. "We're going far away from the city. Malcolm has planned this for a while now."

Malcolm.

Regina used that name for Dr. Pratt. It has to be him.

"How do you know him?" I ask and hope I sound curious instead of suspicious.

"He's my ex and we work together," she says and holds my gaze. It's difficult to read her, and I can't tell if she's trying to show dominance or to scare me. Probably both. "We met on the private forum."

And here I thought I couldn't get more confused. "Forum?"

"How little does he know?" Frank whispers to Will, but I hear him.

Will shrugs. "I'm sure Malcolm told him everything he could. They didn't exactly have much time to spare."

My stomach quivers each time Malcolm is mentioned. I'm not sure what I should tell them. What I can tell them. Yes, he is alive, but I still shot their friend into a coma. Every inch of me wants to tell them that he is alive, but I can't. If I tell them, they'll know I've talked with Regina. I'm not ready for the problems that might unfold. As long as I know Malcolm is okay, I can handle their accusing stares. They will learn the truth eventually, but it can't come from me.

Will hands us another bottle of water to share. This time, Mikey snags it out of my hands and grins to himself.

"The forum is where Phantom was created."