Cridex

Chapter Twelve

Rough hands grasped at my arms, although I noticed that the guards who had been called to escort us to the city kept their own distance away from the soldiers- Camden, Imogen, and Jonas, while holding this mission in contempt, still voluntarily went forward.

"We have are orders," I heard Camden whisper as he bent down to meet Imogene's ear, "And we will go- but perhaps not as directly as they would have wished."

"You have a plan?" Imogen glanced ahead and met my eye as my head was turned over my shoulder, blatantly watching them speak. "You have my trust, but I think that we should wait for more privacy before we continue discussing this..."

Camden gave a firm nod, also meeting my eye, before glancing to the guards on either side. "Later," he reassured her, "we will speak later, when everyone- Jonas and Ellery included- can participate."

Jonas, with his steely gaze and stone like posture, was leading the match to the canvas backed truck. Silently, he guided me into the back, and climbed up to settle himself next to me. "I've got her," he nodded towards the guards, "you take the front wheel."

They pivoted on their heel, and Imogen and Camden clambered into the bed of the truck and eyed their surroundings warily. The hum of the engine signaled our departure and through the flaps hurling open in the wind I saw the land surrounding the rebel camp begin to blur.

"Obviously," Camden spoke with a note of amusement tainting his voice, "We are not just good to waltz into the city and turn ourselves in."

"Obviously?" Jonas crossed his arms tightly across his chest and I tried to peek around his thick form to view the group inside.

"The admiral only spoke of inciting rebellion in the city- We only have to elicit sympathy from the abolitionists and gain enough momentum for our movement before we can return home." Camden smirked, "No big thing, especially with the three of us."

"Four of us," Imogen pointed out, palm against her cheek as she circled the knee of her pant leg with a fingernail as she thought, "Ellery?"

I tried to peer around Jonas again, but realizing his bulk wouldn't magically shrink with every passing second of silence, responded, "Yeah? I'm here..."

"She got us in this situation to begin with."Jonas growled out, straightening his spine even further before the bed of the truck jostled him into a more normal posture.

Imogen shrugged, "Just as she will get us out." She eyed me further and shifted forward onto the balls of her feet. "Camden has a plan- don't you?"

He nodded again, and steeled his fingers as he furrowed his brows. "We go in to the city, as if planning an attack- one that is surely to be discovered the second we cross the city limits on our own. When they take us into the auction house we wait until we are in the stocks, where everyone else is and-."

The rumble of the truck silenced itself in a slow burn, and we watched as the guards who had been speeding dangerously clambered out of the cab of the truck and hit solid ground.

"We don't have much time." Imogen stiffened.

"We do not need much. Just know that the goal is to help as many of our enslaved kind as possible."

I leaned back and scoffed, and yet the absence of the engine's roar elicited an ache in me that grew with each passing moment. Yes- I was going back to my city, my home. But I was sure that despite my return my life was held in the hands of the three soldiers sitting around me. I was not free, and I was expected to play along.

"But what about what Zachariah said? The admiral's orders?" Jonas inquired his eyes dark and his brow furrowed, "are we to just assume that he was wrong about everything?"

Camden gave a smile that quirked up a corner of his lips higher than the other and displayed his dimple. "Not everything," he grasped the beam supporting the canvas wrapped bed and prepared to launch himself into the solid earth, "He was right about one thing- We are going to put in a show."

Imogen chuckled as she watched him swing down and disappear from our view, winking at me before she followed suit.

My breathing quickened, and despite the sounds of the accumulating soldiers outside the canvas bed I struggled to keep my breathing stable.

"Ready?" Jonas asked, and I saw something akin to compassion light his eyes as he took in my white knuckles grip of the raised metal seat. I nodded my head and yet he shook his head back at me. "No, you are not. Take a minute, get everything straightened out- because the second you step out into the real world?" He scoffed in answer. "No time for nerves, no time for indecision. You may not believe in the cause but something tells me you believe in your right to live. You wouldn't want to jeopardize that."

I inhaled sharply and raised my palm to my forehead, rubbing the tension out. I knew the city like the back of my hand, and yet as my apprehension rose it became even more clear that I was in far too deep- I was too lost to make my way back out of this mess on my own.

"I've hit it," I glanced over at him, "Right? Slammed right in to that one."

He quirked an eyebrow again and stood, stretching his legs so I re-worded my question, "Have I hit the point of no return?"

He paused in his ministrations, before nodding grimly, gesturing towards the opening, "If this doesn't have you dedicating your life to the cause by the end of the day, then it is just as likely you will lose it."

I cracked my knuckles, and nodded. "I get it. Play along, or die alone."

He chuckled at that, and yet as he gazed further at the opening his gaze hardened and the sensitivity that he had shown only seconds earlier seemed to melt away. He slid out, boots firmly planted on the ground as he bit his lip and shook his head without looking behind him.

He pivoted back to face the opening again, and stretched his arm out to me, palm up. "Hurry up and stop dawdling," he nodded towards his hand. I took it and he grasped it tightly helping me down as my eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness.

He released me and began to stride forward, confidence lengthening his gait, before he called over his shoulder, "We have work to do, sweetheart."