Elemental

Chapter 8

Christine felt it like an itch inside her skin. The need to belong and to fit in after being so long on her own. She had never felt a need to be a part of anything, she only ever thought about surviving. This was a new feeling that she didn't know how to deal with.

This camp looked the same as the others but with new people, she felt as if she was being reintroduced to the organization all over again. The only people that she knew were the council members and Ned. There were other familiar faces and people already knew who she was, but no one seemed to trust her. She wasn't one to care about others' opinions but she wasn't used to having so many people disliking her in the same room. It made her more on edge.

It didn't help that Raquel told Christine that she was a part of the council as well. She didn't even bother to ask if she wanted to be a part of the council. Just told her one day out of the blue, actually announced it at dinner in front of everyone. She still felt as though she hadn't earned it and the new position seemed to piss more people off as she had expected. The only reason that the council was treating her as though she was worthy enough to be considered in leadership was because, in Damien's words, "you're a game-changer."

That's part of the reason why the other members of the organization treated her with disdain. That and they didn't trust her. Take the other day, for instance. Damien had convinced her to go get dinner with the rest of the group since she usually just stashed some extra food from lunch to eat for dinner in her own cabin with Bane. Lunch she could deal with. The flow of people varied and was never too crowded. Dinner, however, was almost a ritual.

She sat in between Raquel and Damien on one of three long tables and tried to make herself seem smaller. She thought it would be easier, given her skinny figure in between the bulk of muscle that was Raquel and Damien, but given the fact that her face had been on 'Wanted' signs around the nation for six years, she didn't stand a chance.

Even through the mass of voices around her, she could still hear a woman behind her talking to someone.

"I still can't believe that they let her join. She's the dictators' spawn. I wouldn't trust her even with a gun to my head. I'm going to be on edge until the day she betrays us."

Christine felt Damien stiffen next to her. She had thought that he was in the middle of a conversation with the man across from them but they must have stopped talking long enough to hear the woman's retort. He started to turn around but Christine grabbed his arm.

"Don't," she whispered. "It's not worth it."

Damien was about to respond when Raquel turned around.

"Lauren, is there something that you'd like to share with the group?" She said it loud enough for everyone around them to hush.

The woman slowly turned around to face Raquel who was glaring.

"No, ma'am," the woman, Lauren, spoke softly.

"Come on, I think everyone wants to know how you feel about our newest council member."