𝖆𝖒𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖘𝖆𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖒 | d.f. | book two

🌹 soraya10 🌹

8:06 am

3 Days Left of Max20
2 Days of Apple Missing

i blink my eyes open, turned out hospital lights sitting above me.

i hear two different beeping machines going at the same time and sit up. a pain in my inner elbow shoots up my arm, followed by an immense throbbing sensation in my stomach area. i hold in my groan as i grab at my stomach and look at my elbow.

there's an IV inserted. i look down at myself and see that i'm shirtless with a patch of gauze that's slowly turning red on my stomach.

i look up and see everyone asleep in hospital beds around me. a dead man with a towel over his face and a dead woman in a lab coat with a towel over her face sit in a corner of a room.

i grab the small towel that's in my lap and cover myself with it.

the other beeping comes from grayson as he's hooked up just like me to an ekg machine.

we're barricaded inside this room.

how long have i been out?

i look at the IV again and take a deep breath.

i grab it and pull it out.

i take the chest monitors off and the machine begins to beep rapidly.

everyone besides gray jump awake, staring at me with concerned and confused looks.

"goodmorning," i smile at them.

"what are you doing?" persephone asks, someone finally speaking.

"how long have i been out?" i ask back, continuing to detach myself from the hospital instruments.

"an afternoon, a night. not long," juniper answers.

"and gray?" i question, holding the towel tighter over my chest. i need to know what's going on. "can someone stop the beeping?!"

persephone hops down out her bed and cuts my monitor off.

"nothing yet. seized yesterday, but he's stable right now," matt tells me.

"anyone have a shirt?" i chuckle, after jumping out of the bed, this time with an audible groan.

this wound is slowing me down.

alex gets out of bed, offering his shirt to me.

"i found a hospital gown i can tear up and wear," he says, showing me the gown in his other hand.

"thank you," i say, grabbing the shirt and giving my back to everyone.

i slip the shirt on, catching a whiff of myself. i need a fucking shower.

"are you okay?" alex asks, when i turn back around. he's wearing the gown that's ripped at the waist.

"yeah. i'm fine. right now, apple is missing, and she's top priority. can someone fill me in?"

the four of them take turns explaining what happened after the battle with ann and traitor dominic. we drive here to the hospital. doctor cordova helped me and gray before max20 took her and gray may or may not be okay. it depends. i'm okay, based on doctors orders before she passed. gray is our wild card right now. we need him.

i need him to pull through.

"thank you guys... for saving me," i tell them, looking down at my feet. "you didn't have to. when i was unconscious, alex, your mom visited me. she believes in us. she's not too thrilled about dominic and his doings, but she knows we'll find apple."

"somethings wrong though. earlier, apple called- in my head- for help. she pleaded for you," alex tells me.

"since we're spilling weird shit from yesterday, i had a dream about apple. it was in segments kind of, but she was in the van and someone- i couldn't see who- came in the van and took her," persephone says.

"what?!" juniper, alex, and i question.

"i know. its fucking weird. i was going to forget about it but something is telling me i shouldn't. i don't know. it seemed too coincidental."

"so she did stay in the van," matt nods. "then, who took her?"

"should we just go with that idea?" i ask, looking at everyone.

if i'm leading them as my team, everyone should have a say.

"apple's a bit stubborn, but she wouldn't leave the van if someone she trusted told her to stay," alex tells me.

how are we all connected?

"so, we're concluding that someone took her from the van and persephone could have powers. cool," i nod.

seph and june look at each other and share a smile.

"someone must've been watching us," matt says.

"who?" june asks.

"that's easy. her. none other than her! to make my life shitty as fuck," i curse. "she took apple."

"are you sure? what would she want from my little sister?" alex asks.

"us. she's got dominic and now apple. she knows we won't just back down and hide. she's hitting low. we weren't supposed to make it out of that lab to begin with," i say, shaking my head.

"she's got my entire family," alex states.

"and if she's smart, she won't touch them," i try to assure him.

"dominic... he genuinely..."

"i know. we'll get him back somehow. i know we will," i tell him.

"i doubt she's still underneath the capitol. we've got no idea where they would go," june says.

"we'll figure it out," i state. "right now, let's worry about grayson getting better and waking up."

everyone nods, and almost rehearsed, comes over and hugs me.

"i'm glad you're okay," june whispers.

"we all are," seph adds on.

someone pushes on my wound and i hiss in pain.

"okay! off!" i cry out. they all move away. "fuck! he fucking stabbed me," i groan.

"here," persephone says and passes me a water bottle.

i take it and chug it, the water tasting like magic, sliding down my dry throat with pleasure.

"we need to be at least one step ahead of malecot. just one, to have an upperhand," i say, capping my water bottle.

"i guess, right now we wait," alex says, looking at gray in his bed. i look at him too.

"and hope for the best," i nod.