Instinct {Book 1 in Instinct}

Chapter Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty Two

    It has really been three days? I knew I was weak when I found my way out but I didn't think I was this bad. I am in a lot of pain but I can't exactly change that. I know all of these are going to scar up and I have come to terms with it. What I have yet to come to terms with is the fact that my family is actually here. I don't know if I can face them. I practically did run away, not practically, I ran away. Granted I wanted to find Ancel I still do, but partially me leaving was selfish and me being completely irrational.
    I could have died a few days ago. Honestly I am lucky that I didn't. However it did open my eyes. I am still going to fight and get Ancel back. Especially because I know he is still alive and I am going to get the rest of those kids out too. With the help of my friends I strongly believe we can finish this once and for all.
    I was soon removed from my tangent with my inner self when my mom, brother, and sister walked into the room with Milo trailing behind them. Milo sat in the corner to stay close enough to say that he was here for me but far enough that he gave my family space.
    "How are you feeling?" Alondra asked.
    "Sore, but I'm alright."
    "Allonia, why did you leave? We could have figured it out. We all miss Ancel." My mom tears up.
    "I'm sorry. I just felt like I could get him. I know it was irrational but I had to try and I still am determined to get him back. Along with the rest of the other kids." I tell her. I am still highly determined. I see from the corner of my eye a small smile plaster onto Milo's face.
    "Allonia you almost died. It's not time for you to play hero." My mom tells me. "We all want Ancel back but we have to be rational."
    "Mom I saw him with my own eyes. He is still alive, we need to get him back. And I am going to do this with or without you on board." I admit I was a little harsh but we have come so close.
    "What do you mean you saw him?" Andreus finally speaks up.
    "They have a camp with the kids they have taken and Ancel is there. If we get a group together and a plan we can get Ancel and hopefully the other kids. I spoke to Ancel, but it would have been a suicide mission going in that day." I tell them. Andreus and Alondra's faces both lit up. However my mom was frustrated and upset.
    "You finally woke up and you're already planning on going back and fighting the people who could have been the ones who tried to kill you?" My mom begins to raise her voice. "I am not about to lose another child to this mess and that is final."
    "Mom they are injecting these kids with something, and they killed dad to use his blood for something. They want the rest of us mom. It's either we fight or let them win." I growled. My mom just looks at me wide eyed and storms out of the room.
    "I am going to go after her." Andreus told us before walking out to follow our mother.
    "I hate to ask but who did this to you Lonia?" Alondra asks me. I look between her and Milo. Both of them were staring at me with anticipation. Either I answer or I lie either way someone is going to get hurt.
    "I don't know. I don't remember much." I lie. "But someone helped me leave." I couldn't tell them the truth yet. Not until I came up with a plan to deal with Delilah. I can't risk her finding out anything until I know for sure.
    "Well hopefully you eventually remember something." Alondra mutters.
    Milo got up, came over and kissed my forehead. "I will be back. I have to go handle some things really quick." He tells me as he moves a curl out of my face.
    "You're alright. Alondra will be here with me. Could you get Lenna and Luna though." I smile weakly at him and he just shakes his head and chuckles.
    "I will get you some food too." He tells me before leaving the room.
    "He's cute, I will give you that." Alondra smirks at me as I watch Milo leave. I just blush in response. "You know he hasn't left your side. He is a good man."
    A part of me was shocked but another wasn't. He has shown that no matter how much he fought it he cares for me greatly. I also don't put it past him that he wants to destroy whoever did this to me. Him and Andreus would honestly go to outrageous lengths to protect me which I have seen.
~~~~~
2 years ago.
    Today was my day off so I decided to go with Lenna to the market. We hadn't been to the woods in a while. Mostly because of the incident with the wolves followed by the mess with the mayor. We couldn't risk getting caught at the moment and the wolves being so close at the moment is not worth it.
    The market had many different things. It was produce mostly but if you were lucky there were different things such as jewelry and other goodies. Sometimes Andreus worked here, mostly helping the elderly set up and pack up. As well as made sure no kids stole. Lenna and I wandered around the market for a while. We grabbed some fruits and vegetables to take home before finding someone with some other things.
    "Oooo, Allonia look at this." Lenna smiled as she picked up a bracelet.
"It's really pretty." I smiled as I looked at it. It was gold and had an assortment of charms on it. It had a monkey, a banana, a palm tree, and a flower.
"You should get it." Lenna smiled.
"How much is it ma'am?" I asked the elderly lady.
"10 dollars miss." I reached in my pocket and handed her the bill. She handed me back the bracelet before Lenna and I began to walk off.
"Hey ladies." Jackson smiled. Jackson was the town's infamous bad boy. If you could even call him that. He was more of a resident asshole. He stole frequently, as well as breaking a multitude of naive girls' hearts.
"Goodbye Jackson." Lenna and I say in unison. Neither of us could stand him. He goes out of his way to attempt to get our attention. Which frankly I have no idea why he has the rest of town either scared of him or kissing the ground he walks on.
"Why do you two have to be like that?" We don't respond, just keep walking deeper into the market. "I see you got a new charm bracelet, Allonia. I can get you another one to match." He continued.
"Dude can you not take a hint? We don't want you around!" I snap at all of the market stops and gasps. No one really steps up to Jackson mostly because he has a horrible temper, which can get extremely violent.
"What the hell did you just say to me?" He growled at me getting close and personal.
"You heard me." I spit out. I wasn't going to step down. He was a grade A asshole and he needed to learn.
All he did was laugh. Before putting a hand around my throat. I scratched at his hand and kept swinging but no matter what I did I couldn't get out of his hold. It didn't help that I was losing air in the process. Finally I took all the strength I had in me and kicked him, you can guess where.
He groaned in pain letting go holding his junk and fell to the ground. In the distance I could see a very furious Andreus making his stalking over to the area. I cowarded away as he proceeded to pick up Jackson by the throat.
"So you put your hands on women now? More importantly my sister?" Andreus hissed. He was pissed beyond pissed. The devil is quaking at Andreus' anger.
"No..." *cough* "No... I didn't mean it... my temper got the best of me." Jackson stammered coughing in between breaths.
"I see you look at her or her friend or even breathe in their direction, I swear to you you will be sorry." Andreus growled tightening his grip around his throat before letting him fall back to the ground. Andreus finally turned to look at me inspecting my throat. I had to be bruised with how tight his grip was. "Are you alright Allonia?"
"Yeah I just want to go home." I admit.
"I am going to walk you guys home." He told us before we began to walk home.
~~~~~
    The next day the doctor came into the room and told me that I could go home tonight. I just needed someone to stay with me to make sure I am taking care of myself, which Milo jumped up to volunteer. Today I was able to walk around, I had a slight limp but other than that I was alright. She said I should be mostly healed in about a week or two.
    Night came fairly quickly. Probably from the three hour nap that I took. The doctor explained how to change the dressing and gave us a few more to take with us but as soon as the discharge stops from the wounds I can stop putting on the dressing.
    Milo insisted on carrying me to his house. We agreed that it would probably be easier for me to just stay with him during this and go back when I was better. He still was refusing to go back to train the recruits.
    "You're going to take the bed." He tells me as he places me on the bed. I looked over and saw there was a bag on the bed. "I had Lenna get you some of your things." I just nodded in response. A lot of thoughts were running through my head. I don't know what I am going to do about Delilah yet. I could ruin her just like she nearly ruined me, or I can use this to my advantage. I was taken away when I heard the bedroom door creak.
    "You can stay. It is your bed." I state awkwardly. I was not about to steal his bed away from him.
    "Well you're not going to sleep on the couch." He chuckled awkwardly. Wow we are really horrible at this.
    "We can share. Plus it would make both of us feel a bit better." I mutter.
    "Alright, as long as you're okay with it." He looks into my eyes trying to find any sign of disagreement. Which he came up empty handed. I took off my shoes and made myself comfortable. I did what I could, if he is just going to stand there dumbfounded it is what it is. Then all of a sudden I felt the bed dip on the other side of the bed. He laid there awkwardly keeping a small amount of space between us.
    "Look you don't have to do anything you don't want to. I just thought because this is your house." I begin to ramble on, all I hear is Milo laugh beside me and I look over at him. "It's not funny." I push him lightly as he laughs harder. Now we are both laughing at the irony that was us. The past few weeks have been insane. Not to mention the odds of us being split apart and now we somehow found our way to each other and we are scared of sharing a bed of all things.
    When we finally stopped laughing we both facing each other catching our breaths. It was calming and relaxing looking into his eyes. His eyes were brown with tiny hints of gold, but you could only see it if you were close. His skin looked just as soft as it felt, well at least to me. He had some stubble on his face. He usually kept it clean but I guess from being so worried the past few days it began to grow back.
    "You need to stop looking at me like that." He smirked at me.
    "It's not like you weren't analyzing my face." I shrugged as I rolled over to my back. "We should go to sleep."
    "Party pooper. I was just noticing how funny looking you are." He joked I just pushed him again before rolling over and drifting off to sleep.