Unity [Book 3]

18. Follow Our Fear

"Why not?" Theo asks, Mason stops and looks down at his bat. "Because we're scared," Mason replies, I stand next to Mason. And I instantly feel it. The fear. "We're all scared to come back down here. You feel it, right? It's like it doesn't want us here," I look down at my hands, I was shaking slightly from fear.

Theo then steps forward, "That makes two of us," he says and takes one more step forward but stops. "You're afraid. That's the exact reason why we should be looking down here. I feel it too," Mason says and keeps walking, "Yeah, I do too. And I hate it," I sigh.

We follow behind Mason and we are met with two hallways, "Okay. Nice and bright, dark and spooky..." I look at both hallways. And though I want to go to the nice and bright hallway, maybe the dark and spooky hallway would lead us to Aaron. And right as Mason was about to go into the nice and bright hallway Theo puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him, "You're right. We need to follow our fear," Theo tells him and starts heading to the dark hallway. "Mason, he's right," I say, "Hey, it was your idea," Theo says looking back at Mason.

*****

"These tunnels go on forever, and we've been down here for hours," Theo complained for the millionth time, "No real news from the last time you said it 20 minutes ago," Mason said. "I wasn't doubting the plan 20 minutes ago," Theo tells him, "Stop being a baby, Theo," I say.

"If you're so concerned, just go. No one is forcing you to stay here," Mason tells Theo, "Yeah, and leave you and our army in charge of my survival? Don't think so," Theo says. "Whatever it takes just to save your own ass, and just nobody else's," Mason says, "Look, I'm here aren't I? Maybe I wanna be in the pack," Theo says.

"Yeah, right," Mason scoffs, we all stop walking. Theo looks back at Mason, "You're probably only here because Lindsey is here. You- you expect me to believe that? A pack is about trust. I mean, the first thing you'd do is figure out a way to kill all of us. And it doesn't matter that for some odd reason Lin gave you a chance. And it doesn't matter who forgets. I won't," Mason breathes heavily. I look down and see that Mason is gripping his bat tighter and tighter, "I saw Scott's mom. I saw what you did. And as much as I'm terrified of what's down here, I'm way more terrified of turning my back on you," Mason says.

Theo looks down at his hand, "Theo," I warn. He looks over, his eyes glow and he growls. He charges at Mason and pushes him down, then all of a sudden everything went dark.

"Lin, wake up!" I slowly open up my eyes, "What happened?" I asked. "It was Aaron, he knocked you out," Theo replies, "Where is he?" Mason asked. "I don't know," Theo says, then Aaron comes out of nowhere and tries to hit Theo with a pipe. Theo ducked, he then got up and scratched the back of Aaron's head. Aaron then punched Theo making him fall to the ground, "What was that?" Mason asks. "I don't know, but we gotta find him. Lin, can you help me get him up, we can't leave him," Theo says, I nod and stood up.

Theo and I try to stand Mason up but he grunts in pain, "Wait, wait, something's happening. We need- we need to figure it out," Mason says. We sit him back down. "So, figure it out," Theo says, Mason groans in pain again. I kneel down next to Theo, he suddenly takes Mason's arm and tries to take his pain away.

"I can't..." Theo mumbles, "You can't take pain if you don't care," Mason tells him. Theo looks down a bit upset, I take Theo's hands off of Mason's arms and I start taking pain from Mason. But then all of a sudden Aaron comes running back, I let go of Mason's arm and quickly stand up. "Theo. Hey, Theo. Theo, don't fight him. It's what he wants!" Mason screams, Theo roars and Aaron pushes Theo against the wall. I step back, Aaron gets Theo's claws and stabs them into his stomach.

Aaron pulls them out and kicks Theo to the ground, Aaron then runs away. Mason goes over to him and helps Theo sit up, I kneel in front of them. "Theo, you truly are an idiot," I tell him, he chuckles. "Yup, I get it," he says, now I was worried. If both halves merge, this won't end well.