Darkest Minds: A Burning Red

•part three•

She looked for a back exit, seeing one and taking a run for it. Stephanie didn't look back as she ran through a grassy field, seeing an abandoned van.

"Liam come on!" a boy's voice called out in the distance, but Stephanie barely heard it.

Stephanie slammed her hands onto the van, trying to open it. A little girl looked up from the backseat window, seeing her trying to get the door open. "Please! They're going to kill me!" Stephanie cried out desperately.

"She's taking forever, I'm getting her." Rob decided after a few too many minutes.

"She's changing!" Cate reminded him as Rob opened the gas station doors, not seeing Stephanie.

Stephanie looked for a different entrance to the van, not finding one. "Please!"

"Stephanie!" Rob and Cate began to yell as finally the girl let Stephanie inside. She threw herself onto the floor, slamming the van shut.

Two guys voices could be heard outside the van, the girl nodded assuringly as the van's front doors opened. "Hey Zu, you alright?" one boy asked her, getting into passenger.

"Find any food for us?" the driver questioned, neither noticed Stephanie sitting behind the seat.

"Stephanie!" the voices calling out to her got louder, making the driver speed off immediately.

"Shit!" Stephanie cursed as she hit the wall of the van, stopping Zu from doing it herself. They drove until Rob's truck was close behind.

"Who is Stephanie?" the driver asked Zu, who pointed towards the girl under the seat.

Shit, this was a bad choice. "I'm Stephanie!" she spoke up, getting behind the driver's head.

"Zu what did we say about strays?" the passenger questioned, watching the girl shrug.

"I'm Liam, this is Zu and Chubs." the driver cried out as they almost got hit from behind. "Can you drive?"

"I have the education of a 5th grader." Stephanie replied, holding on desperately. "So no."

Liam sighed, putting a hand on her back and pulling her up front. He pulled her over his lap and moved over, keeping his foot on the gas and hand on the wheel. "Like riding a bike." Liam smiled innocently before jumping into the back.

"Holy fuck!" Stephanie gasped as she was now controlling the car, keeping it fairly steady. Liam made sure Zu was secure as he opened the back door of the van.

His eyes turned blue as a tree came from the forest, stopping Rob and Cate. They shot a few more times at the van, but Stephanie kept going. "You're like a natural little driver huh?" Liam closed the van doors, sitting down beside Zu.

"That was not like riding a bike." Stephanie replied with raspiness, panting slightly. Chubs gave her directions as she kept going, not knowing what the hell she was doing.

"Who were those guys?" Chubs asked after about ten minutes. "Earth to Freckles, who were they?"

"Chubs relax." Liam berated him for snapping his fingers in her face.

Stephanie switched lanes and turned left, per Chubs' instructions. "Children's League, they broke me out of camp." she explained, not wanting to get into it.

"Children's League? Glad you got out of that bullshit early on." Liam scoffed, having a hatred for it.

"They seemed alright, besides the fact they were going to kill me." Stephanie calmly spoke, trying to keep her cool while driving.

Liam looked up, he didn't know they would stoop that low. "Why'd they break you out?"

"Yeah what are you?" Chubs added as Zu laughed silently, seeing as it was the only noise she could make.

"Green." Stephanie spoke too quickly, which made the boys raise an eyebrow. "But they broke me out because I had information on an Orange."

"Yo you've met an Orange?" Liam leaned into the front seat, very close to Stephanie.

"She was in my cabin, guess now she's gonna get discovered." Stephanie pretended to not care, but Ruby was like a sister to her. It was silent in the van, not a word uttered. "Are you from a camp?"

"Caledonia, we broke out a few weeks ago." Liam explained, looking to Zu to check up on her.

"Worst 7 months of my life." Chubs scoffed and Stephanie spun her head to face him.

She tried to find the words. "7 months? You were all there for 7 months?" Stephanie questioned, looking around the van and seeing nods.

"Where were you placed?" Liam questioned, thinking he was locked up for a while.

"Thurmond, for six years." Stephanie's voice emphasized on the time, thinking that was average.

Again, another awkward silence. "So you got caught right away?" Chubs questioned and Liam seethed his teeth.

"Jesus Chubs!" Liam exclaimed, Greens usually didn't have a filter.

"It's fine!" Stephanie didn't like the noise of them arguing, her hands began to shake. "Thurmond was one of the biggest camps, high security, so no escapes."

"Didn't Mr Kid President go there?" Chubs asked, random thing he knew from the radio.

Ah yes, Clancy Gray the product of Thurmond. "You should've seen all the posters about the reformed kid, fucking everywhere." Stephanie was getting a hang of this driving thing.

"Caledonia was new, low security." Liam muttered, realizing a second later it was stupid. "What are you planning on doing now Steph?"

It sounded nice coming from him instead of Rob, the nickname was for him and Ruby only. "Certainly not finding my family, but I didn't plan on escaping so I don't know." Stephanie explained, tapping the wheel.

"You should come with us, East River-" Liam suggested but Chubs yelled to interrupt.

"She could be a narc!" Chubs reminded him, making Stephanie roll her eyes. She wanted to desperately to just light something on fire, prove him wrong.

"East River like Slip Kid East River?" Stephanie asked, biting her lip as they looked shocked.

Chubs struggled to find a reply. "How the hell do you know about East River, Freckles?"

She took a piece of paper of the dashboard, the note quite literally had all the information about East River written on it. Stephanie held it up for all to see before shoving it into front console. "So can I call you Glasses if I'm Freckles?"

Zu and Liam stifled back laughter. "Absolutely not Freckles." Chubs hissed, turning away like a kid.