Ever since COVID and The Vaccine decimated the world, it's too dangerous to go outside, but Kayla risked it to bring medicine home for her sister. Her world is turned upside down when she gets stuck in a store with someone who is being hunted for hi...
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Kayla was so frustrated and confused that she could hardly focus on the forced conversation Timmy was trying to have with Red, she just knew that a few minutes later Lexi was by her side again.
"Are you sure you're going to be ok?" Lexi asked as she took a water canister out of Kayla's backpack and offered it to her.
"Yes, the cuts aren't that bad, I am mostly worried about them getting infected. But the others will come back soon with something to clean it out and I will be fine."
"Thank you for saving, Dante."
Kayla looked up at her sister, giving her a teasing and suspicious look, "Dante?"
Lexi blushed slightly, sneaking a look over her shoulder at the outsider boy, "That's his name. He said he is really grateful that you saved him, and that I tried to."
"Well someone had to do it," Kayla grunted, still feeling anger at Timmy from their last conversation. Implying that he would've let the boy die, and getting angry at her for doing something to save him. And what did he mean when he said that she was always risking her life for people who don't deserve it? As soon as the sentence had left his lips, she thought back to when they first met and she had pulled him into that bookstore at her own risk. Did he feel like he didn't deserve her help that day? Why would he think that, what wasn't he telling her? She pushed all those thoughts away.
"About that, you told me these Outsiders were here to protect us and get us to Canada, but there's something you're not telling me. It doesn't really seem like we have a choice in this."
Kayla felt guilt and worry run through her, she had wanted to be honest with Lexi from the beginning, but also didn't want to make her worried. "We don't. I'm sorry for not telling you sooner, but I didn't want you to worry.."
"You don't have to protect me, Kayla, I'm not a little kid."
Kayla looked at her with sad eyes, "I know, we just, didn't want to put more stress on your or your immune system than was necessary. We have a long journey ahead of us and you need to be as healthy as possible."
"I will feel a lot more confident if I know what we are dealing with here. Now spit it out. When that old lady earlier said that she could 'force me to go with them', what exactly did she mean?"
Kayla shot a look over at Timothee and Red who were looking over a map in the other corner of the room and continued, "Timothee and I got captured by the Outsiders a couple of days ago. They were going to, kill" she said in a whisper, "Timmy as part of the Hunt, and keep me as a prisoner because I stole some of their supplies."
Lexi's eyes went wide, her pupils dilated, "Kayla why would you steal from an Outsider?"
"It was stupid ok, but the point is, they weren't going to let us go. Not unless we had something to trade for this relative freedom."
