𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓-𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙨

XIII-THE SCORCH

She was aware that she wasn't actually awake. That was the first thing she noticed. The second thing was that it was still dark out and everyone was asleep. The third thing she noticed was that she hadn't woken up herself, someone-Something-else did.

It was a voice in her head, one that she couldn't hear, but understood it the same.

Kill him. It echoed. An order, one that, despite wanting to, she couldn't ignore. I don't want to. I didn't ask if you wanted to. KILL HIM. She moved, not of her own will, getting closer to her 'target'. She knew who she had to kill. She knew without the voice telling her.

She was scared, thinking maybe this was a nightmare, or she was going insane, hearing things. Maybe she could fight it, whatever took over her mind and body.

She was already on top of Thomas though, knees on each side of him. Please don't make me kill him. I can't. It doesn't matter if you can't because I can. Her hands were lifting on their own, finding their way to his neck. She tried mentally and physically to stop herself, fight back against the thing that wanted her friend dead. The only thing that did move freely were her tears. They fell down her cheeks, onto Thomas's face, something that might have embarrassed her had this been a different situation.

Thomas mumbled something and tried to turn over, but was stopped because of Aesaras legs. His eyes flashed open and Aseara was set free.

I got off of him as soon as I could. Holding my knees to my chest. What the hell was that?

"Aesara, what's wrong?" He didn't bring up the fact that I was just straddling him.

I sniffled, shaking now, and it wasn't because of the cold. I couldn't tell him that I just got possessed and was being forced to kill him. Instead I said the first thing that came to mind. "I had a nightmare." Which technically wasn't a lie. That experience was a nightmare.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I shook my head. "Oh, well do you want to lay next to me? I'm not a psychologist, but I can try to keep the monsters away." He smiled and it made my stomach twist.

I wanted to lay next to him, to sleep and forget about all of this. But I couldn't. Because, I was the monster he talked about. I didn't want to hurt him. I didn't want to fall asleep and wake up as not myself again. I didn't want to risk it. "I'm okay. Just got a little spooked. You can go back to sleep."

"Are you sure? You still look really scared." I nodded and he continued to look at me. The white part of his eyes glowed in the moonlight. "Okay. Good night Aesara."

"Good night Thomas." I murmured. He was out as soon as he laid down.

My eyes burned and my throat tightened. I held my fist against my mouth, hoping that would keep the noise in. They wanted me to kill him. Thomas. The one who just wanted the best for us. Even if it was to live out here instead of being subjected to whatever WICKED wanted with us.

Who even were they? The voices sounded familiar, but it was more of a feeling than a sound.

I wracked my brain for the remaining time of the night trying to figure it out.

I stared at the bird as it pecked at the backpack-my backpack in fact-watched as it got to one of the food packs and started making a hole in the bag. Yet I didn't move, couldn't move. This wasn't the same thing as last time. This time, I knew I could, but I didn't want to. I had been in this position since Thomas fell asleep, my watch said it was 4 in the morning. It is now eight. I had been sitting here for four hours and have not gotten closer to figuring out who was behind my possession.

Thomas finally woke up and scared the bird away, waking up everyone else. I didn't look at them, too ashamed from my attempted murder last night, even though they weren't awake for it.

"Aesara?" I realized I had drowned out their voices, but Newt's brought me back. "We're leaving, come on." He stuck out his hand and I took it, rising to my feet with help. My joints cracked and popped as I straightened out. "Jeez, were you sitting like that the whole night?" Yes.

We made our way back through the parking garage, staying clear of the door that led back into the mall. We came out onto a ledge, staring at the size of the busted down city we ended up in.

I stumbled down the rocks that led to the road down below. I was perfectly fine, other than a couple bruises and a few hours of sleep. I couldn't imagine how Winston was. Turned out he was scratched by a couple of cranks. I wasn't talking about a couple of small scratches. No, these went deep and were the width of his stomach. He let out short breaths as he walked, but didn't complain. I was proud of his resilience.

"What the hell happened to this place?" Frypan asked, turning a circle as he walked.

"I don't know." Newt was the one to answer. "It doesn't look like anyone's been here for a long time."

"Solar flares." I answered. "Ava Paige explained it, before she...killed herself."

"She's not dead." Thomas said without turning back.

I stopped. Everyone else stopped. "What? What do you mean? We watched her shoot herself. In the head."

"It was all an act, I suppose." Newt watched me take it in.

What was the point of that? Make us think everything is over, take us to the safe house and then, what? Those boys talked about there being a place safe for us, that was where the kids being called were taken to. That, I know now, was a lie.

"Wait, do you guys hear that?" It seemed like everyone stopped breathing, if only to try to hear whatever Thomas was. I turned my ear closer to the sky, but only heard the wind. Then there was a deep growling sound. I looked around, but saw no cranks or animals that could survive out here.

A whoomphing sound followed after, and there was only one thing that I could think of that made that sound. WICKED. "Get down! Everybody hide."

There were two ledges on our left so we ran and hid under those. And we watched as two helicopters and a huge aircraft flew over us. A loud ringing filled my ears, made my head want to split. I screamed and covered my ears. KILL THEM.

Her body moved on it's own again, grabbing the nearest person and throwing them out of the hiding place, immediately recognizing them as Minho. Please. Stop! It was the same thing the boy underneath her yelled as he held her hands away from his throat. "Aesara, knock it off."

Someone pulled her off Minho and she started attacking them too. It was Newt. Tears fell as she fought them, using moves she never knew. Someone grabbed her from behind, holding her arms to her side, she struggled against them, still crying.

"Aesara what is wrong with you?" So it was Minho holding her. I'm sorry, I don't mean to.

And then her lips moved, and a monotonous version of her voice came out. "WICKED will come for you, surrender now, or die by my hands." Everything turned black.