Madness (Completed)

Freedom

I now stand on the roof and look down at a city I had never truly seen until now. I grab the strong leather from my bag and start towards the wire.
"Are you going first?" Jack questions from a distance.
"Sure." I answer in an emotionless tone as my eyes still wander around all the buildings around us.
"Woah, woah, woah, I should go so that I can help you down at the end. Also, you've never been in this city and I know it pretty well." Mark says, grabbing my shoulder and lightly pulling me away from the edge. His action snaps me back into reality and I nod my head.
"Yeah, okay." I agree, knowing that his reasoning is better than mine. I take a few more steps back and Mark goes near the edge with his cloth ready.
"I'll see you guys at the end." He says happily before he jumps up and starts sliding down the wire. His action slightly worries me as I didn't respond or even say good luck to him. However, I'm sure Mark will be fine, he has been and will be for a long time. I soon am broken from my thought when I realize that I'm supposed to go now. I ready my leather and jump up to the wire, clinging to it instantly. I begin sliding down instantly my muscles take the toll. I soon realize how weak I feel, but keep my grip on the leather. The wind blowing on me feels like knives digging into my bare arms and face. I see Marks silhouette in front of me a few meters, which keeps me going in a way. I watch him closely, just waiting for a time that I can drop finally. I cling to the leather above me and still feel the cold nip at my fingertips, which makes it harder to keep hold on the cloth. Finally, I see Mark drop down to a nearby building. Once I get over that building I let go of the leather and fall on a gravel that lies on the roof. Mark rushes over to me and grabs ahold of my hand and helps me to my feet.
"We need to move, sorry. I just don't want anyone to fall on you." Mark explains, slightly pulling me out of the way more. As he does this I look up to see a few of the others sliding down the wire towards us. I move myself with Mark and we wait for who I now recognize as Jack to fall to the ground. I dash towards him and help him to his feet and take him a few steps away as Mark did with me.

Once everyone in our group has gotten down the wire, we take a moment to relax. After all, Maddie almost fell off the wire, which stressed us all out I think. I sit down on the edge of the roof and let my legs dangle above the smaller buildings below us. I just sit and watch clouds flow through the sky like soft cotton used to in the wind on bright Sumner days. The tall skyscrapers have grown plants and most of the big ones have crumbled to bits from age. Small figures wander the ground as they do these days; Eaters are everywhere and probably will be everywhere for a long time. I suddenly see someone sit down next to me. I turn my head to see Jack sitting next to me and dangles his feet with me without any fear as I had done.
"What're you doin'?" Jack questions casually, glancing at me when he speaks.
"Just sight seeing I guess." I chuckle at the thought of any sights actually being worth seeing these days.
"Seeing what exactly?" Jack chuckles back to me curiously.
"Just the buildings and clouds, just thinking I guess." I respond in a small amount of confusion at my observations.
"It's weird to see, all the memories I get from them these days." Jack comments thoughtfully.
"Yeah... But to be honest, I don't miss the old world. I was kinda an outcast and never could fit in, this makes it easier for me in a way. I'm not sure if that made sense." I chuckle awkwardly, trying to break any tension between us. After all, I never did want to keep something from Jack, he doesn't take things the wrong way and I feel like we understand one another.
"It did make sense, you can't be an outcast when there are barely people left." Jack states as he turns his head to see me. I move just my eyes to see Jack and almost immediately turn my attention back to below me.
"Yeah." I agree, trailing off, not knowing what else to say to him. Jack just nods his head and puts his hand on my shoulder
"I think we're leaving soon, so I'm gonna pack up. Also, Mark is coming and I don't want to fight with him right now. See you soon." Jack says as he stands up carefully and walks away from the edge and from me. A few seconds later, I see a figure come and sit near me, but not on the edge as Jack and I had.
"Hey." I hear Marks voice say soothingly, one of the first times he actually sounds kind; and I missed the tone.
"Hey." I respond, lightly glancing over my shoulder to look at him.
"We're packing up to start moving, I suggest you get ready with us." Mark states kindly with a small, sweet smile that he easily gives me.
"I will, I'm just resting a little more." I respond with the same sweet smile that Mark gave me. He nods and scoots a little closer to me, kissing my cheek lightly. I don't bother kissing or doing anything back, but I do decide to hug Mark slightly.
"I hope that you know that I still love you, even if you stopped loving me." Mark whispers before releasing from me. I take in a deep breath before I respond as well as blinking for a long time.
"I do love you. I hope you know that." I respond in a hushed voice and hug Mark close to me. Mark nods and sighs heavily before shrugging me off of him and walking away from me. I turn back to face the city, tired from everything that I've done today. I sigh once more and get up, carefully stepping away from the edge and walking away. I grab my bag from the ground and check the contents over. The usual, small food cans, a water bottle that is half full right now, a few throwing knives as well as extra arrows, and right on top sits my crossbow. It looks as if it was begging me to use it, to shoot an arrow at something any moment. But I have more control than I used to, so I leave it there and zip up the bag once more, and tossing it over my shoulder. I then walk with the rest if the group and stand next to Emmet as he and I haven't fought much today as I have with everyone else.
"We leaving then?" I question, glancing at the others, awaiting a response.
"Yeah, there aren't any Eaters at the bottom of this building so we should head out while we can." Bob responds as he usually makes plans for us, considering that he is easy to agree with. I nod my head at him and move my weight on my feet as I stand.
"Yeah, and we need to find a camp before nightfall, so we should head out soon." Wade states, his eyes focusing on me in a judgmental way. I guess he is still mad at what I did, trying to escape on my own. I'm not sure if Bob knows what I did yet, but he and I have already fought, and it was about the thing I care about most; my future child. So I don't think he'll try to fight with me again, because next time I won't just cry about it, I'm going to fight back even harder.
"Okay, then we should head out." I suggest, just wanting to not be held down by the indoors anymore.
"Alright. Let's go then." Maddie agrees, her eyes giving me a sweet look that shows that she's forgiven me. The group then starts towards a door on the roof and we walk down stairs on the other side. Once we finish down the stairs there is a large door on the other side of the room. We all walk towards the door, but once we get to it everyone stops behind me.
"What are you doing?" I ask in confusion, turning around to face them all.
"You should go first, you've wanted to leave more than the rest of us." Mark explains with a small smile for me.
"Thanks. I'll see you guys when we're free again." I chuckle with a bright smile covering my face.
"We'll give you a minute, just call when you want us." Wade chuckles back to me.
"Okay." I respond and turn back to the door. I take in a deep breath happily and twist the doornob to open the door. I instantly feel fresh air blow across my skin and sun shine down on me. I close my eyes to relax and smile as I take a few steps around the street in a calming way. Suddenly I hear car motors rumble and tires shreech to a halt. I open my eyes and see the car sit right in front of me and take a step back. The car door opens and I see a man dressed in surprisingly clean clothes and well done hair step out. His eyes fix on me and he chuckles as he examines the rest of my location.
"Who are you?" I question, looking him over further in complete confusion.
"That's not important, what is, is that you have something- rather someone who belongs to me." He states with a small chuckle escaping his lips. His voice is cold and evil, how I'd imagine a snake would sound.
"And who is that?" I question, my mind just trying to wrap around the concept of this man.
"Madelyn." The man respond and then it all comes to me. Who he is, why he's here and what I need to do. I casually step towards the door and close it hard enough so that it can't be opened easily.
"I don't know who you're talking about." I say with a small laugh, "and why would I travel with people when I'm strong enough to be on my own?" I chuckle as if the information was obvious to him.
"Then why were you with multiple people going down that wire? And why would you close that door?" The man questions with a grin spread on his face.
"I am alone. They chased me and now they're not. And I assure you, I don't know this Madelyn girl." I lie with a small smirk that I hope will help him to believe me.
"Don't lie to me girl, let me inside and give me Madelyn, then, you can go." He states. I just stand in front of the door, not responding to him, just focusing. "What do you want? Money? Clothes? A home? I can give you anything you want, just give me the thing I want." He states. His offer is actually tempting, but I shake my head.
"I can't give you her because she isn't here." I continue to lie my way through it, not wavering for one moment.
"Oh, but she is. Don't lie to me, Miss Violet Clark." He says with another smirk. I blink a few times to try to calm myself down.
"How do you know my name?" I change the subject with a small amount of fear rising inside me.
"My dear, I don't take a test without studying. However, I don't think you did your homework, so I can give you my name; just to be even. My name is Ian, but I'm sure you figured that out by now." That was his name. The man that Maddie was running from. My situation is even worse than I thought it was.