The Descendants Series Vol. 2

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It was all I dream, I kept telling myself.  The bombing, the guy, the running from Chicago – none of it was real.  I was still in my house that I’d grown up in, Lyric asleep beside me on the mattress we both shared.  But I knew that I was just humoring myself. 

“You feeling better?” someone asked.

I looked over at Zak, who was sitting beside me.  “How long have I been out?” I asked.

“Only an hour or two,” he said.  “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, pulling my knees up to my chest and wrapping my arms around them.  “I just couldn’t believe what I saw.  I usually don’t pass out in situation like that.  I just…”

“I know,” he said softly.  “I can’t believe that the Directrix would do something like that again.”

I nodded and leaned my chin against my knees.  “What happened to my grandma and sister?” I asked.

“Oh,” he said.  “I had a friend get them.  We were planning on getting the three of you and taking you back to our place.  But when you left this morning, I followed.”

“Who’s your friend?” I asked.  “Is he the one that I saw following me in town?  Were you the guy he was with?”

He nodded.  “His name’s Xander,” he said.  “I’ve known him for the past seven years.  We were in the same hospital tent they’d set up after the bombings.  We’d left and built a place two days hike from here.”

“How can you trust him?” I asked.  “You can trust hardly anyone now.”

“How come you trusted me earlier?” he asked, looking at me.

It took a moment for me to respond.  I didn’t want to say what I was thinking, but his eyes made me blurt it out anyway.  “I felt like I could.  I like you for some reason,” I said, and I could feel the blush spread across my face.

He laughed.  “Well, at least you don’t want to kill me now,” he said.

“If anything happens to my sister and grandma, I’m going to,” I said.

“Nothing will.  I promise,” he said, smiling.  “Xander’s taking them back to our house.  They’re probably already there.”

“Is it just the two of you?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head.  “Peyton and Ryder are the other two.  Peyton’s a year older than me –I’m seventeen – and Ryder’s eight.  They were neighbors before the Directrix took over.  Peyton left with him and they found us a week later.  We’d found an old house and fixed it up.  We’ve added a lot to it, but its home now.”

“So that’s where he’s taking my sister and grandma?” I asked.

“Yep.  They should be taken care of until we get there.”

“And how long is that going to take?” I asked.

“Like I said, it’s about a two day hike from here,” he said.  “We’ll be there before you know it.  I think you’ll like it there.”

“Do you think that they’re there already?” I asked.  “If they went by helicopter…”

“They should,” he said.  “If I had my messenger, I could have told him to come back for us.”

“Where did you leave it?” I asked.  “Did you drop it…”  I started looking around for whatever I thought his messenger would look like.