Shards

chapter 23

Chapter 23:

“You coming?” Tatiyana nudged my shoulder, making a gesture towards the running track.

I held up one finger. “I'll be over in a second.”

Dale spun to meet me, catching my hand before I could even tap him on the back.

“Jayls.” He visible relaxed. “What are you doing here? I thought you were in solitary.”

I shrugged. “Just got out. Thought I'd go for a run to stretch my legs, want to come?”

He mimicked my gesture. “Why not. Though, I never thought I'd see you here voluntarily.”

He hadn't been with us during the last escape attempt. We'd only needed four and he and Audrey had volunteered to stay behind.

“Yeah, I've been getting that a lot.”

Dale's tone hadn't been accusing and, after all, he was here just the same as me. Though, I wasn't all that surprised by that. I trusted him with my life, but he wasn't quite as stubborn with some things as Ian and I. All the same, I couldn't get rid of the guilty feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Feeling compelled to make some kind of excuse, I spoke again. “Also, I was thinking it might be useful to have a little bit of freedom around here.”

“Good thinking.” Dale grinned at me.

From across the room, I heard Yen yell something incomprehensible.

“Want to show them a little bit of what makes us special?”I gave the middle-eastern boy a playful shove.

“I wouldn't underestimate them. I mean, they do get a lot more training time than us.”

“You saying you think they'll beat you?”

He smiled again, malevolently. “Nah. Against me, they stand no chance, but if I were you I wouldn't get my hopes up.”

Faking an angry expression, I quickened my pace. It was amazing how much more enjoyable working out could be, when you weren't being forced. Even as the smile on my face progressively widened, slivers of doubt still remained. I was doing what I was supposed to, wasn't I? They were finally getting to me, finally pulling me into their mind game. My feet began to slow, as I searched the room for guards. Just then, Dale passed me and I felt a tiny tinge of annoyance. I was supposed to be the best.

Pushing down my discomfort, I began to run faster. I could deal with these worries later.

“Morning, sunshine!”

I lashed out, frightened by the proximity of the unknown presence to my face. One of the my fists collided with something soft, and the person let out a pained sound. Realizing what was missing, I pulled open my eyelids, momentarily blinded by the sun streaming through the window. Audrey stood in front of me, rubbing her shoulder.

“Gah! How many times have I told you? Open your eyes first!”

“Um... how many times?” It was a rhetorical question, but one I didn't know the answer to.

She laughed, realizing her mistake. “I stopped counting around two-hundred. You were never that great at waking yourself up.”

Groaning, I swung my legs over the side of the couch; groping blindly for my crutches.

“Hey!” Julian's voice echoed from the other side of the room. “This place has a coffee machine!”

The police met us outside the motel, at the appointed time. There was no need to worry about whether or not they'd been followed, we weren't coming back here.