Redemption

Chapter 6

Mac brushes up against the wall. We all follow his example. He glances around the corner. He doesn't seem surprised that the government was there. I am still so naive, I never thought being a rebel was so complicated. One step at a time.

I turn to Mac, "Exactly who are we up against?" I use force in my words. I need answers now. I still don't exactly understand who we are up against, let alone why we had to take them down.

"I know you have a lot of questions. Especially, who our enemy is. Let us find somewhere to hide, somewhere safe, and I swear I will tell you everything." he replies, distracted.

I tap Meghan's shoulder. "Come on, let's go." I say.

We follow Mac slowly around the corner. "We need to find Adalene." How could he be so sure she made it out of the building alive? I ask myself. We barely made it out. "Where would we find her?" I ask. "She could be anywhere."

His answer is in his smile. Great, more secrets. My hatred for this rebel is piling up fast. He holds so many secrets, yet he isn't the type to slip anything to anyone. "Are any of you good at lying? How about acting?" he asks.

Surprisingly, Meghan raises her hand. Since when did she lie? Then, I remember. That spark in her eyes when the Academy began burning. She hadn't at all been surprised. She acted her confusion. I smile. I have a lot of secrets to learn, frankly so does Claire. Was she in on the rebellion? Or was she left feeling dumbfounded?

"What do you need me to do?" she asks Mac.

"I don't need you to do anything drastic, really." he replies, "Just put on a little show and distract the security officers while we sneak by." he smiles, "I'm positive that you will do fine."

Meghan winks, "My pleasure." 

With that, she amazes me further. Suddenly she puts a face of fake distress on. She picks up ash from the ground and smears more on her face and clothes. 

Then, she fakes a fall. She lands on the ground with a thwack. "Help me! Guards!" she screams. Meghan begins to cry. "Please," she continues, "help me." she sobs. The two officers race over to her. She coughs ashes onto their faces. 

I am astonished. I want to stay here and keep watching. Her act is in fact entertaining. Mac grabs Claire, who is silently laughing. They begin to walk, their pace quickens with each step. I donn't follow. I can't leave Meghan alone.

Mac mouthes something to me, but I ignore it. I stay planted where I am. He stomps his foot. I make a stubborn expression and wave my hands for him to move on. Meghan and I would catch up. We wouldn't be too far behind.

I stay behind the wall as Mac leads Claire away. Luckily, the guards don't see them cross the pavillion. They are still so occupied with Meghan to notice. Meghan is propped up against the wall and the guards are questioning her.

"What is your name, child?" the first guard asks.

"Meg," she replies.

"Meg, did you see how the fire happened?" the second officer asks.

"Why yes. I was strolling through the hallway to find my classroom." she replies. "A door was propped open and people were speaking in hushed voices."

"Did you hear what they were saying?" an officer asks.

"Yeah. Something like," she mocks our actual conversation, "'We are going to start a fire! This building is going to burn, and we rebels will rise to take action!'"

The guards look astounded, "Then what happened?" the other asks.

"Well, the building began to burn. Everything was fuzzy after that, almost hazed over in my memory. I did catch one final phrase though." she replied.