Subject A7

Chapter Thirty-Five

Bronson asked me a question about what was going on between Dylan and I and that made my palms become all sweaty, my heart picked up its speed and I licked my lips not sure how to answer his question.
"What do you mean?" I ask him.
"Please don't tell me bullshit," Bronson says leaning in closely. "I can be quiet observant at times and I know there is something going on between you too."
"Well, there is not much to say. Yeah, we had to work together to get to where we are now but due to the memory swipe, technically I've only known him for what? Three days?"
Bronson raised an eyebrow.
"In all the time I have known him, he has never acted like that for anyone except you. Before you were taken, there was something between you two, you both were practically inseparable. And now that I see you both again, you both ran towards one another. You can't deny it, Avery, there is something going on between the two of you."
I smile at Bronson and look around to see where Dylan was, he was still sitting next to Brandon talking.
"So what are you saying, Bronson?"
"I've been waiting for the two of you to make this shit official," Bronson says. "Go over there and profess your love for one another."
I was about to say something, disagree with what he was saying when someone whistled loudly gaining out undivided attention.
"ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT" it was Vincent shouting. "CALM DOWN EVERYONE! WE JUST WANTED TO MAKE A SPEECH!"
Bronson groans. "I just want to party!" he mutters to me.
I nod slowly. "Same here," I say emotionless but he didn't seem to notice.
"So just want to say congratulations to group A for a successful mission," Vincent spoke in a loud and clear voice that projected throughout the area. People were listening intently. "We rescued over one hundred and twenty immunes and outsiders from Arcane, it was a difficult and risky mission that took six months to plan and a year to do. Thank you to group A." People cheered for them, I clapped and cringed as Bronson stood up on the log cheering. "And I would also like to proudly announce that after five years, we found our daughter" he looks around at the crowd and grins brightly as he spots me. "Avery, I am sorry that it took so long for us to rescue not only you but those who were taken as well. But I promise you, our mission was not only to find you but to save as many children as we can from Arcane. Tomorrow our new goal will take place. It will not be easy but in the end, it will all be worth it in the end... so drink up, we have a long way to go!"

People surrounding us cheered, I even cheered. Bronson and I clacked our cups together and I chugged the rest of my drink and grinned at Bronson.
"Now the party can begin!" he shouts. "WOO!"
Bronson ran from my side, I turned to see him leap into a sandy area where men were starting to crowd around. I was quite curious to see how strong Bronson really was and made my way over as well, people were getting drums out and started playing. The beat was slow, a group of people mostly women started to dance to the beat.

Maybe later I might be able to dance with someone, I didn't want to dance by myself because that would be awkward.
Upon reaching the crowd, I was short and had to push my way through the crowd to get to the front of the crowd.
"Who wants to challenge the champion first?" Bronson shouts.
"Champion?" I question.
"Yeah," someone says, it was an older man probably in his mid-thirties. "Cocky kid can beat almost anyone. He has lost about three matches but besides that, he is quite strong."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, have you seen the guy?" the guy asks pointing to him. I look at Bronson flexing his muscles. I eye-rolled at his stupidity.
"What are the rules?" I ask him.
"Try to push the other out of the circle, push them out. You win. It is fairly simple and people usually enjoy giving a good match before pushing their opponents out of the ring."
"Neat," I say looking back.
"Come on!" Bronson shouts. "I've been waiting for a challenge."
"I nominated Hunter!" Nick shouts.
"What the fuck?" Hunter looks at Nick. "No, no I do not."
Some of us laughed at Hunter's reaction, Nick was laughing the hardest. "Sorry bro," he says.
"I will," someone says walking in.
Someone emerges through the crowd, it was a young kid around my age walking in the center of the circle.
"You sure?"
"Yeah," the kid shrugs.
"All right," he says, "you know the rules?"
"Shove you out of the circle first and I win," he says.
Bronson chuckles. "Okay, ready?"
The kid lunges at Bronson who was ready for him, Bronson moved an inch but then the kid struggled.
"Want to give up?" Bronson asks.
"Never!" the kid shouts dramatically.
Bronson purses his lips and throws the kid down on the ground. The kid groans but quickly gets to his feet.
People started cheering on the kid and funnily enough, no one was cheering on Bronson.
"WOO! KICK HIM OUT OF THE CIRCLE," I shouted joining in, it was fun.
Bronson shoots me a look. "Really Avery? Thought we had something special!" he shouts at me. The kid took that distracted and lunges at him again, Bronson quickly regained his focus on the kid and threw him out of the circle.
The kid stood up. "One day!" he threatens pointing at Bronson. Bronson frowns at him and turns around.
"Another one?"
"I will!" a familiar voice shouts through the crowd, Dylan steps forward. I raised my eyebrows amazed and couldn't wait for the match.
Bronson looked at his friend cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders. "Let's do this."
Dylan looked Bronson up and down and then they lunged at each other. Okay, I knew that the other kid was no match because he was scrawny compared to Bronson but Dylan wasn't scrawny but he was not as muscular as Bronson but he seemed to be holding up on his own. Bronson shoved away and Dylan quickly tackled him, Dylan pushed Bronson to the edge of the circle, people were shouting and cheering Dylan on.
"GO DYLAN!" I shout.
Bronson wraps his arms around Dylan and lifts him up. Dylan let out a 'Woah' and starts wriggling around to the point where Bronson struggled, he took a step and almost drops Dylan but luckily Dylan twisted around and landed on his the side of his of the left arm. He crawls back and jumps to his feet.
"Finally, a challenge," Bronson says.
"Shut up," Dylan goes in to tackle Bronson Bronson grabs him and they both struggled, Bronson bared his teeth.
"COME ON DYLAN!" I shout.
"YOU CAN DO IT!" the guy next to me shouts.
Dylan pushes, Bronson starts sliding back. He cursed and leans out of the way and Dylan stumbled forward almost falling out of the circle but he quickly regains his balance and turns Bronson punches Dylan in the face, I gasp as Dylan stumbles back and Bronson picks Dylan up and practically throws him out of the circle.
Breathing heavily Bronson shouts "good match buddy," he says and turns his back on Dylan. I rushed over towards Dylan who got to his feet, he staggers on the verge of collapsing again but I caught him.
"Easy there," I tell him.
"Oh my god, just hurry up and confess to each other already!" Bronson shouts. "And is there anyone else?"
I rolled my eyes at Bronson helping Dylan move away from the crowd and sat him down near the bonfire.
"You okay?" I ask him.
"Yeah, just need to sit here for a moment," he says. "Bronson hits hard."
"Isn't hitting against the rules?" I ask him.
"Nope, the only rule is getting the opponent shoved out of the circle... plus don't kill your opponent," he shrugs. "I've hit him plenty of times before and I've been hit before so it is nothing new."
"Okay," I still was not sure about that, I thought it was a bit dumb. "Can girls join in as well?" I ask him.
"Yeah," he says.
"Cool," I respond getting up and walking over to the circle.
Dylan chases after me. "Wait! Avery! No!"
He grabs my arm.
"He'll kill you," Dylan says. "Just because you're a girl does not mean anything."
"Challenge accepted."
I shook Dylan off as Bronson shoves another person out of the circle.
"I AM UNDEFEATED!" Bronson shouts.
"I volunteer!" I shout.
Bronson's grin falters slightly. "No way shortie, I don't want to embarrass you and you're a girl."
"Wow, glad you noticed," I mutter and say a little louder, "aww is the undefeated champion scared that he'll be defeated by a short girl?" I pouted trying to look as innocent as I could.
Bronson looks me up and down and chuckles. "Bring it on."
I walked into the circle and stood there watching Bronson, I had a plan and that plan will only work if Bronson starts the fight first.
"Know the rules?" he asks.
"Yes," I tell him. "You gonna fight me or what?"
Bronson hesitated. I got into a stance watching him and waiting, he sighs. "Just remember, you asked for it."
And then he lunges at me. I smirked and was quick to move out of the way and used all my strength to shove him, he fell back out of the circle. He fell into the sand and rolls over to look at me dumbfounded.
It was oddly quiet. I smiled innocently at him.
Someone started cheering and once one person did, people all around me started cheering.
"Oh shut up," Bronson rolls his eyes and gets to his feet. "Rematch!"
"I don't think so, maybe practice a little more before you challenge the champion!" I shout raising my arms up to show off my muscles, wasn't as big as Bronson's but it was fun to imitate him. Dylan stood in front of the crowd shaking his chuckling. I go over to him and we move away from the circle.
"I think you wounded Bronson's ego," Dylan says.
"Oh well," I shrug. "That was fun, want to get another drink?"
"Sure," he says.
Dylan goes and finds a seat as I quickly go over to get a couple more cups of drinks, I glance over to see Tegan glaring at me. I smiled shamelessly at her as I made my way back to Dylan.
"Here you go," I handed him his cup.
"Thanks," he says as I sit down with him. "I can't believe you did that."
"He had it coming," I say with a smile. "A bonus for me, it was fun."
We sat in silence for a moment, I watched the people dancing and it seemed Dylan noticed as he asked me 'want to dance?', I give a weird look.
"I do but you want to dance with me?"
"Sure, I don't mind," he smiles.
"Well... sure, I would like that."
We both chugged the rest of our drinks, I clapped happily and stood up. We both went over and started to dance, I had a bit of trouble trying to stick to the beat, unlike Dylan who was doing really well.

Dylan laughs. "Well, that hasn't changed."
"What hasn't changed?"
"The fact that you can't dance for shit," he laughs.
"I am having trouble," I admitted.
"Here," he pulls me in close he put my arms around his neck and then wrapped his arms around my waist. "Follow my lead."
I felt my cheeks flush as we started to move and my heart rate picked up.
"This is better," I say softly.
I leaned my head against his chest closing my eyes, I wish I could stay in this moment forever and not worry about anything else and then I thought back to what Bronson said to me earlier, I glanced up at Dylan. I was not overly sure what I wanted to do nor was I sure about these feelings, it was the first time I felt something like for someone.
"You okay?" he asks.
"Never better," I respond.
The drums started picking up the beat and we were interrupted by Bronson running around us with Tegan thrown over his shoulder, she was smiling and laughing so much that I couldn't believe it was the same person. He almost drops her and Dylan suggested that Bronson puts Tegan down who was still laughing hysterically but Bronson did as he was asked and puts her down and points to me.
"You want a turn?"
"No, no thank yo-" he throws me over the shoulder, I let out a short scream as he parades around with me over his shoulder. He almost drops me so Dylan once again had to tell him to put a person down. Bronson did as he asks and Bronson laughs.
"I'm gonna go annoy Hunter," Bronson says jogging over to him, he almost falls over a couple of times before he reaches Nick and Hunter. We all watched as words were exchanged and Nick was thrown over his shoulder, Nick laughs as Hunter stood there looking annoyed.
"He might drop Nick," I tell Dylan. "Stop him!"
Dylan watches for a few more seconds. "Nope, Hunter can handle this."

We continued dancing throughout the night, drinking our problems away and it only ended for me when I started to black out.