This Is Not The End.

Chapter 15

I don't know if I hated the forest or the road more. At least with the road we could see what was coming for us, which was always bound to be something, but the leaves were a minefield and we were the unwitting soldiers.

I was new to the feeling of being a weapon, but I already despised it.

It was obvious that Beck and Cara weren't a rescue team. They tried, sure, but with the constant overload of information it was hard not to wish we were still on the road, on our own. At least then we were ignorantly happy. Ignorance was bliss, we just hadn't realised it until now.

From behind, I noticed how Beck's thick, leather jacket had scratches from the shoulder pads to his side, and I couldn't think how he could've got them – being too cocky? That was the most plausible answer. His boots weren't done up properly and I could see how he went out of his way to avoid tripping on his laces, not once stopping to tie them up. He reminded me of the boys my mum used to curse when she was driving, saying how I should always stay away from them, and, for once, I was going to listen to her.

We managed to stick to a worn path through the trees, a walkway marked by years of travellers. The trees refused to let the sun breech the canopy of green and the shadows caught in my vision, causing me to snap my head around in fear of something jumping out. Just in case, I kept my hand on my knife. When surrounded by Beck and Jack – and Kai for all our sunshine needs – my little knife wouldn't help at all, but it made me feel better.

I hadn't even asked Cara what her power was – or if she had one at all.

We didn't walk for as long as I'd expected. When I looked back, I couldn't even see the town in the haze of forest. Not long after Kai tripped over what seemed like the hundredth upturned root, Beck brought us to an abrupt halt at a grassy crossroads, and I raised my eyebrow at his trademark smirk.

"How do you all feel about injections?" he posed. Cara shuddered.

"Why?" Jack cringed, rubbing his arm.

Kai laughed, "Oh, you big baby,"

"I swear to God, Sunshine..."

"It's like I said," Beck ignored them, something I'd learnt to do in the last two days, "You've got a tracker in your blood, and we can't have you fucking up our whole operation by leading SWORD to our base, can we?"

"Look, the sooner we get it done, the better," I said reassuringly to Jack. He didn't look remotely reassured. "It won't hurt,"

"We're not coming with you-" Beck shrugged.

"-Naturally-"

"-But it's easy to get to," he pointed down the left path, "Just head down there until you hit a wall, literally,"

"Great, really appreciate all the traumatisation and information overloads," I said. Beck grinned.

"Anytime, come find us when you're safe,"

Cara pulled his sleeve and gave us a little wave, the two of them taking the right path towards what looked like a distant gate. If I strained my eyes enough, I could make out the bricks of two guard towers similar to the ones at our facility, but the people in them were armed with bows and crossbows instead of guns.

We stared at our path. Comfortingly, it was lighter than the way we'd just come through, but the silence scared me. Not much about the path didn't scare me, but, you know, fear kept me alive.

"Someone say something to lighten the mood," Jack frowned as we started walking.

"Alright," Kai shrugged, and promptly started singing some old nursery rhyme which sent a shiver like an icy finger tracing my vertebrae down my spine.

"This isn't 'The Shining'," I said.

Kai rolled his eyes, "Fine. Any requests?"

"I think I prefer the silence, actually," Jack said.

"Neither of you appreciate my talents," he huffed.

I grinned at him, "You say that like you have talents,"

He swung at me, but I dodge and immediately swapped places with Jack so I could use him as my human shield.

"No fair!"

"Full fair! I'm defenceless!"

"You have a knife!"

"He has fire,"

Kai opened his mouth to argue, but shut it again after looking like a fish, "Sleep with one eye open, Jones, I'm coming for you,"

I held up my hands, "Ooh, scary!"

Kai reached around Jack to try get me, but I dodged, and Jack swatted his hand away as soon as he got remotely close, giving Kai a 'really?' look to which he grinned.

"Screw them trying to kill us, I'm mad SWORD paired me with a couple of kids," Jack rolled his eyes, but I saw a smile playing at his lips. We'd got him. "Anyway – look, we're basically here,"

Jack was right, as per usual. In front of us was a black brick wall, blending into the surroundings and camouflaging what must've been a huge base. If it span to where Beck and Cara had gone, it was at least three times the size of our old facility. How many people were in there?

When I turned around, the path melted into the green of the forest, and I found I couldn't see the crossroads even if I squinted, although that might've been more to do with the darkness than the distance.

"There's no door," Jack said, feeling around. "How are we supposed to get in?"

"You're looking at me as if I know," I said, "Is there a lever or something? Like in those old movies,"

"Life isn't a movie, Skye,"

"No shit, but there's gotta be some way to-"

"Hey! What the hell are you doing down there?"

Jack and I froze, meanwhile Kai muttered something about God, and I kicked him in the shin. Craning our necks to look up, we noticed another tower with a middle-aged woman operating it, leaning over the edge to look at us with a crossbow flicking between the three of us.

"Not infected!" I shouted up, "We're SWORD kids! We were told to come here!"

"Who are you?" she yelled back, "Names, numbers, whatever! Identify yourselves!"

"Uh, Skye Jones, C003!"

"Kai Myres, Y014!"

Jack thought about it, before giving in, "F047, Jack Farren!"

She muttered something into a radio, her gaze solely on me, and the wall split open for us. "Hurry up – it's almost dark!"

It was definitely dark, but I guessed she meant nightfall was coming. We hadn't experienced the true night yet, and I didn't want to. Without any hesitation, for once, we went through the wall, and the woman greeted us on the other side, slightly out of breath from all the tower stairs.

"Welcome to The Resistance," she said, putting her crossbow down, "Let's get those SWORD trackers out of you, shall we?"

I'd never been so relieved to hear it.