4522 {The Number Series}

18

My heart beat wildly like it had done when I had been escaping the city, only this time I knew I was going to be killed if I did nothing. There was no blending here. We had split up only for an hour but it had felt like an eternity. The first to return from their short trip was Archer.

"Put these on," Archer handed me a thick shirt and a pair of pants. Macallister had gone out to find an unoccupied vehicle.

"Alright," I said shakily. I held them in my hands and looked around.

"What are you doing?" He snapped. "Hurry up and put it on."

He stripped his shirt off and replaced it with an identical one to what I was holding.

"Here?" I asked. He looked at my funny.

"Where else?" Archer said. "Let me just get you your special fancy room for you to take your time and change in."

"When did you become like this?" I spit. "You weren't like this when we were friends. What kinds of things did they do to you."

He shook his head. His dark curls were always cut much shorter now. "I don't get what you mean."

"Yes, you do. You were so ready to help before. You were caring before. You always made sure I was alright. Now you're mean and cruel. You really don't care if-"

"I was trained to stop thinking about everyone around me and to focus on my mission," he snapped. "I wasn't this way before because they made me this way. I was young and will; that made it easier for them to twist me all around. I had my reasons as to why I didn't want to pass that kid the other day."

"Because they were going to do things to him that they did to you."

"Because they were going to make me do things to him that had been done to me." He laughed in a cynical kind of way. "How messed up. And I would have too."

"It's not your fault," I wanted to make him feel better but even I felt the disappointment for us both and our inability to realize the truth. To blindly trust everyone just because they had gotten us out of one horrible place.

"Just put on your clothes," his voice softer than before. He turned his back to me and I dressed quickly. Next we found winter coats and boots. It was snowing outside and the wind was ripping the white crystals around fiercely. We were trying to make sure we wouldn't freeze to death half way to the Third Party.

"I'm sorry," I said to him as I slipped on the coat. He was tying him boots up tightly. "I don't know what they did to you in there to make you this way."

"It's fine." Archer shrugged. "I'm sorry for treating you like a soldier. You fight hard but you haven't been trained for the same things and I can't expect you to act like it."

"And I can't expect you to go back to the way you used to be," I said. "I had even lost myself it seems for a few years there."

"If you can find your way back to what's important, I'm sure I can too."

I smiled. "That sounds like a deal."

"Yes, it does. Doesn't it?" Jericho said behind me. I jumped. "Didn't mean to startle you."

I knew she had. Her expression was smug.

"What-"

"Jericho is coming with us," Archer interjected.

"Does Macallister know about this?" Heat rose to my cheeks.

"Oh, Remi,  still the jealous type." Jericho winked at me.