Ultramarine | The Darkest Minds Fanfic

Chapter 23, Cole

Maybe all this really goes nowhere.

　　Finding Dr. Gray turned out to be a huge dead end. Liam's overly naïve planned had gone to naught. Even bringing the Oasis kids back to the Ranch didn't seem to increase the helping hands here—the kids rather stayed in the garage with Liam and his lot, than in the Ranch itself.

　　Seeing the news Nico showed me, I gotta say, I wasn't surprised. Alice—the Carrot—and Liam managed to put together some media package and send them out last night, but it was...not well received, to say the least.

　　They all think it's fake. I already told Lee. Time and time again. They won't buy it. It's not going to work.

　　And Sheena. She believed him, too. I don't even know how to describe that kind of betrayal. Moving past the initial anger, I felt... empty. I don't want to think about the way she cried, don't want to know why she did it, don't want to feel that—

　　It's all for nothing, isn't it?

　　At least she's not hanging out in the garage anymore. Since she found out she can't treat Dr. Gray, she had been working even harder on the cure—make sense, she could be our last chance of getting it. She never goes anywhere without that folder, and whatever she does, she will still have at least one of her hands on the papers, reading or jotting down notes. Also, she and Chubs were almost inseparable now. Every time I visited the computer room, they would be there, huddling together like two top notch nerds in some elite study group.

　　This, and Thurmond. They are our only hopes.

　　Which is why, when I got to the garage, and saw Lee and his team still working on a media release, I haven't had the heart to stop them. They still haven't seen the truth, and at this point, I haven't got the strength to make them.

　　Apparently, they decided to go on a full-blown emotional manipulation tactic this time, seeing that they put Liam and Ruby's friend, Zu, the little mute girl—well, that was how the other agents described Sheena, wasn't it?—on the spot for an interview. She can't speak, so Lee is speaking in her stead.

　　It's not that she can't. From what I've gathered, she can, physically, she just chose not to. But does that really make that much of a difference? Even when Sheena managed to fix her throat, she still chose to stay silent, because she didn't want to speak. If I hadn't got back, is it possible that she'd just stay silent forever?

　　Their voices were taken, and it doesn't matter one bit if the psychos actually removed something from their body. For some reason, I found myself silently rooting for this little girl. For her to fight this nightmare she's been through. To get something back.

　　"Suzume? That's a lovely name." After Liam read out what Zu wrote down on the paper, Alice said behind the camera.

　　"Thanks. My friends call me Zu." Liam read for her.

　　"Can you tell us a little bit about why your friend is speaking for you?" Alice said.

　　The little girl turned to look at where the teens had been standing—Ruby, Chubs, Vida and Sheena. I saw Sheena pressed a hand over her mouth.

　　"Because...because for a long time I was too scared to say anything," Zu said. "And I didn't t-think anyone would l-listen."

　　The impact was instantaneous. Liam shot up from his chair, looking paled and stunned. Vida clapped and whooped cheerfully. Chubs rushed forward to give the little girl a hug that drowned her in his body. But Ruby and Sheena, they stood where they were. Ruby seemed as stunned as Liam, and Sheena...she had let down her hands, and tears were streaming down her face, but she was smiling.