Matt leaned back in his chair and gazed up at the stars peeking through the branches overhead. They had stopped for a few hours in the shell of what was probably once a hunting cabin. It offered little shelter, its roof only half intact. A fallen tree lay across one end of it, ivy entwining its frame, claiming it back for nature. Yet it seemed as good a place as any for them to stop and rest. The evening had been clear and warm, and Charlotte, who still maintained that they were being followed, had been too tired to argue anymore.
The others had taken refuge inside the scrappy remains of the cabin, while Matt had set up for the first watch. Exhaustion clouded his mind, but he was able to battle through. If Charlotte was right and they were being pursued, then he had a duty to protect them. At least it felt like he was offering something to the group, instead of being the weak tag along.
The fire that Ian had set had long since burnt down, though the black embers still clung to some life. Smoke hung in the air, a faint reminder of the warmth it had provided in the evening, but now the tired chill of night had taken its place.
The chair groaned as Matt shifted his weight. It was too light a piece of furniture to contain much strength, too long exposed to harsh weather and forgotten time to deal with much movement or weight.
Even though they had covered what seemed like a great distance, the trees were still thick. Yet, Matt knew that it couldn't be long before they began to thin and they were out in the open, in populated areas, places they would be recognised. The world was hunting them. They couldn't just blend in, not with Charlotte among them.
Matt sighed, his thoughts lingering on Charlotte for the briefest of moments. It was strange how things had changed, how she had changed. Losing James, or James losing his memory, had broken her. She was a shell of the girl he had loved. He paused, thinking of his use of the past tense. He had loved her, and he still loved her, but not like he had. She was caught in the past, haunted by it. He couldn't see the girl he had taken from Kingston. And maybe he wasn't meant to. Perhaps this was the closure he needed, to see there was no possible future with her, no future he could happily live with anyway, knowing that had James still showed an iota of love for her, she would still be by his side.
He shook his head, dislodging the thoughts. It didn't matter now. He had to look forward, look to what was coming next. He frowned down at the piece of paper that sat in his lap. He had retraced the words north over and over again, as if that would bring memories of his first trip to Nicholls' house back to him, but it didn't. All that came to him were memories of panic and anger and snow and darkness. He hadn't paid attention to where he had gone and if Charlotte was right, if Nicholls had indeed bought The Mimic, then it was a good place to start. If she was wrong, well at least they had somewhere to aim for now. Though part of what Charlotte said made absolute sense to him. Nicholls only wanted the best, the most unusual students from Kingston. Charlotte had killed any of them she had found in the house, but what if The Mimic had been away, what if...
He gazed in to the dark shadows of the trees around him and frowned. The others slept on, Carrie's muffled snores the only sound coming from the dilapidated cabin. Outside among the trees, Matt could hear the creatures of the night come to life, sniffling and rooting around the dead leaves and grass that covered the ground. An animal call now and then was enough to sharpen his sleep deprived senses, reminding him to focus, to be vigilant.
"Wondering how you ended up here?"
Matt glanced up, startled, as Charlotte interrupted his thoughts. She was pale in the darkness, her blue eyes puffy with tiredness, and yet she sunk to the floor beside his chair, resting her head against the moss covered wall of the cabin.
"You should be trying to get some sleep," he breathed.
Charlotte didn't answer for a moment, her gaze out of focus, her lips pushed together.
"It's easier said than done," she breathed shaking her head and smiling softly.
Matt wondered what haunted her most of all, what kept her awake, but he knew he didn't really want to know. He thought of the others for a moment. He wondered if he should be worried about them. Had they been captured? Had they been killed?
He thought of Wallace and frowned. He knew he should be more concerned about her whereabouts. They were in many ways the outsiders in the group. They had arrived together, and she had trusted in his ability and need to be here, when the others only saw him as a weak human. She had watched over him with Harris when James had punched him. Nobody else seemed to have cared, but she did. Shouldn't he care about her now? But he knew the answer. He knew that he did care. But he just trusted her to have made it out alive. He just knew that somewhere, wherever she was, she was safe. He didn't need to worry about her. It was just a distraction he didn't need at that moment.
"I see we're no closer to figuring out what way to go now than we were before," Charlotte said, picking up the piece of paper that rested on his lap.
"Eh... no..." he frowned. "I just don't remember it all that clearly".
He could feel Charlotte searching his face, long after he had turned his gaze back to the dark forest surrounding them.
"In any case we won't get there on foot. Not in this century at least," he sighed. "We need transportation".
"We need to shake our tail first," she mumbled.
"You still think they're following us?"
"I know they are," she exhaled. "Three of them. Sometimes seven, but they are like grey shapes on the outskirts of my alteration. Sometimes they become clearer, but never enough for me to get a good enough grasp on them".
"But at least we know they are still keeping a distance from us," he pointed out.
"Do we?" she laughed coldly. "I thought I could see them all with my alteration, but turns out I'm not as good as I thought I was. I could never see Ramsey. I didn't sense them come to the camp. The first attacker had his hands around my throat before I ever knew he was there. Some people I'm just blind to".
"Well if you know they are there you aren't blind to them," he said, trying to ease her self-doubt.
"Sometimes three, sometimes seven? And what if there are more? What if they have an alteration that can conceal them? They could be surrounding us right now and I would never even..."
She paused taking a deep breath and exhaling.
"Don't over think it, Charlotte," he breathed. "Trust in what your alteration is telling you".
"What if it's lying?"
"Can you see them now?" he asked.
"Three grey blurs..." she nodded, pinching her eyes tight. "Closer than before, but it's like bad reception. I'm too tired to..." She fell silent again.
Matt furrowed his brow, leaning forward so his elbows rested on his knees and the chair creaked ominously.
"Well, what if we let them come?" he whispered. "Why don't we... ambush them? We would have the upper hand".
"Matt..." she frowned. For the briefest moment he could see the absolute weight of the exhaustion pressing down upon her.
"You'll be rested by then," he breathed. "We can't keep running. And if we are to have a chance of getting to Nicholls' house undetected we can't have trackers behind us".
"I don't know..."
"And we have Kiya?" he pointed out. "She could search their minds for something to help us. Maybe they have been to Nicholls' house. Maybe they know who is behind this, if it is the mimic after all... or... or someone else?"
Charlotte exhaled, biting her lip for a moment. " I don't know..." she repeated.
Matt frowned. "Okay well we can keep running if you want," he shrugged. "But I don't know how much longer we can keep it up. We know where we need to get to, but we don't know how to get there. If we're being tracked, we'll lose every element of surprise if we ever do make it to Nicholls'. Plus soon we won't have the cover of the trees to hide us. The people out there will recognise us and we won't only have altered soldiers chasing us down, but the government and army of this world too. Charlotte if you're not careful we'll have a full scale war on our hands. That's what the Mimic wants and right now, only you can stop him. You are the only one who can stand up to him, and you are the one he wants to stand up to him. The world needs to see you as their hero, not as the villain, but for that you have to be their hero and stop worrying about things you can't change".
Matt exhaled, the night suddenly silent. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest. His words still rang in his ears. They seemed so loud in the still night. Charlotte gazed at him with wide eyes, stunned, but he knew if she had the moment to defend herself, to argue herself out of the corner he had put her in, she would take it. He needed her to think about what he had said, he needed her to see sense.
"Look, if you're not going to sleep, I am. There's no point in both of us suffering". He stood up and without another word, stepped inside the dilapidated cabin.
He lay on the floor, the silence of the night quickly lulling him towards sleep. He rolled onto his side and closed his eyes. Maybe he was wrong. After all, Ethan had told them to run and hide, but Matt needed to see an end to this. They couldn't spend the rest of their lives running and what better time to start looking for an end to this than now. It was a reckless thought, but he knew that his arguments weren't a bluff. They had to lose the trackers and why not take what they could from them first.
Darkness swamped his mind, and he allowed himself drift to sleep, with a last wish on his lips. He hoped, now more than ever, that Charlotte would be reckless. He hoped she would start the fight to end this. He hoped she would end it before it was too late.
Thanks as always for reading - please vote and comment if you get the chance, your votes are what bring more people to more stories so please, if you've enjoyed them so far remember how much I need that little bit of support! As always thank you for you support! Sorcha x