Chapter 28
“So where do you want to go?” I heard Kade ask over a loud motor. When I opened my eyes, I realized we were sitting in a huge boat, heading out to sea.
“What are we doing?” I asked. “I thought…we were just at Division Twelve. How can we be here now?”
“What do you mean?” he asked, looking back at me from where he was standing behind the wheel. “We never went to Division Twelve…” He looked confused. “Wait. What is Division Twelve?”
“You know what I’m talking about,” I said. “We’d gone there because they were developing a new weapon. It was made from a human. You and I got caught and Kendric Slayter brought us inside to talk. He wanted me to kill you like I was supposed to.”
“I still have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said. “And what’s that about my father?”
“Your father, Kendric Slayter. He’s leader of the Directrix,” I said.
“Are you feeling okay?” he asked, and came back to sit beside me.
“Of course I’m okay!” I said.
“You’re not acting like yourself,” he said, taking my hand in his. “My father isn’t leader of anything. Well, technically. You know he’s been CEO of that software company since before we were born. That’s the only thing he’s really leader of.”
“What about the Directrix?” I asked.
“What’s a Directrix?” he asked, looking confused.
“But they bombed us, when we were in third grade,” I said. “They’ve taken over the entire country.”
“No one’s taken over the country,” he said. “And no one bombed us when we were in third grade. Sixth grade, now that’s when they dropped a huge bomb on us.” He laughed. “Do you remember when Mrs. Hobson told us that boys would be put on one side of the room and girls on the other? You totally freaked out because you’d only ever sat beside me in school.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked. I was so confused. We didn’t even get to sixth grade. And now he was talking to me like we’d actually gone through school.
“And sophomore year,” he said, smiling. “That was the first time I kissed you, when we were hiding under the bleachers when it started pouring rain at the football game.” He laughed again. “You didn’t know what was happening. You just kept your eyes closed until a few moments later. But when you did finally open them, I just kissed you again. You kissed me back though.”
“None of that happened,” I said, even though hearing what he was saying made me want to believe it happened.
“Of course it did,” he said, and leaned in to kiss me.
“She’s loosing blood!” someone yelled. “Put pressure on it now to stop the bleeding!”
“Rayney, stay with us. Everything’s going to be okay,” someone else said close to me.
“The bullet wound to her leg went through and through. Another one grazed her side, but that one’s okay. The bleeding’s stopped there.”
“Rayney!” a frantic voice screamed. “What happened to her?”
“There was an explosion,” the first person said. “She and Kade survived it, but they were taken inside. Roth went back in to get them out. But as they were running, Slayter shot at them. She was hit in the upper thigh.”
“What about Kade and Roth?”
“Rayney,” someone whispered in my ear. “Wake up.”
“Hmm?” I asked, turning over on my side. I opened my eyes and smiled. Kade was lying beside me with his arm around my bare waist.
“What were you dreaming about?” he asked.
“It was really weird,” I said. “First you and I were on this boat heading somewhere. You were telling me all this stuff about you and me growing up together and what happened. But then people were talking about blood and bullet wounds. I don’t know. It was confusing.”
“That does sound confusing,” he said. “We haven’t left this spot for a few hours.”
“And where would this spot be?” I asked.
“Here, lying side by side,” he said. “I haven’t slept at all. I’ve just been watching you. You’re so beautiful.”
I smiled and leaned toward him, lying my head down on the pillow just centimeters from his face. “I love you,” I said. “So much.”
“I kind of knew that already, but thanks for telling me,” he said.
“I’ve got to go talk to Lyric,” I said, and started to get up.
“Why?” he asked, sitting up as I reached for my shirt and pants on the floor. “I want you to stay here.”
“I don’t really know why,” I said, pausing to try and remember what I was supposed to be telling her. “I don’t remember.”
“Well, if you don’t remember, why don’t you come back here?” he asked. “I’m sure it could wait for a few more hours.”
I smiled and pulled off my shirt after putting it back on. “I guess I could stay just for a little while longer,” I said, and crawled up toward him again.
He kissed me softly for moment, and then kissed me harder, exactly the way I wanted to be kissed. I was lost in his taste and smell as I wrapped my arms around him. He moved on top of me and started trailing kisses down my neck.
“Why are you shaking?” he murmured as he kissed my earlobe.
“I’m not,” I said.
“Rayney?” someone said. “Can you open your eyes for me?”
There was a bright light behind my eyelids. And when I opened my eyes just a tiny bit, the light blinded me and I shut them quickly back closed.
“Rayney?”
“Why isn’t she waking up?”
“She’s probably going through shock,” a voice said. “She’s been through a lot…”
“Does she know…?”
“She was right there when he did it. She knows,” someone said.
The names of the voices I heard wouldn’t come to me. I knew that I knew them though. They were just buried deep in my head. It took a few moments before I could get them. And then I finally did. The first voice had been Kate. The other three were Rowan, Grandma and Nash.
“Lyric, don’t lean too much on that side. That’s where your sister’s hurt,” Grandma said.
“I’m being gentle,” Lyric said.
“When is she going to wake up?” another little voice asked. Lilah.
“We don’t know,” Rowan said. “Hopefully soon.”
“The last thing I heard her say was she was telling Kade she loved him. She just passed out right before we got to the helicopter,” Nash said.
“Rayney, open your eyes, honey,” Grandma said close to me.
“I don’t want to,” I whispered. “You’ll shine that light in my eyes again.”
“We won’t,” Kate said. “I promise.”
“Okay,” I whispered, and then opened them.
As I looked around, I realized I was in the infirmary. I was lying on one of the cots. Lyric was sitting on it beside me, looking down at me.
“Hey, sweetie,” I said, smiling up at her. “What have you been doing?”
“I’ve been here waiting for you to wake up,” she said. “You haven’t for a long time.”
“I’m awake now,” I said.
“Rayney, do you remember anything?” Kate asked, looking at me.
I smiled up at her. “Remember anything about what?” I asked.
“Do you remember how you got hurt?” Nash asked.
“I’m hurt?” I asked, confused, and then looked down at my leg. I looked back up at him and laughed. “Did you finally get me? You must be getting pretty good since I can’t remember it.”
“Rayney,” Rowan said. “You really don’t remember anything?”
“I’m fine,” I said, smiling at her.
They all just looked at me, confusion written all over their faces.
“Where’s Kade?” I asked. I looked over at Nash and laughed. “I’m surprised he hadn’t gotten a hold of you yet for hurting me.” I moved so I could stand up. But when I tried to, I stumbled and Nash had to catch me before I fell. “It seems like it’s going to hard getting around now.”
“He’s not here, Rayney,” Rowan said, tears streaking down her face.
“What do you mean he’s not here?” I asked as Nash sat me back down on the cot.
Kate sat down on the cot beside me. “What’s the last thing you remember?” she asked.
“Nash and I were in the weapons room practicing,” I said. I looked over at him as I remembered what he’d done. “And you kissed me.”
“That was almost two weeks ago,” Rowan whispered to Grandma, tears streaking down her face still.
“What do you mean two weeks ago?” I asked. “That was just a few hours ago.”
“No, it wasn’t, Rayney,” Nash said as he knelt in front of me. “That was two weeks ago. Can you not remember what happened after that?”
I looked at him in confusion. When he kissed me…that wasn’t two weeks ago like they were saying. But as I looked around at them and their sad-looking faces, I could tell they were right. But why couldn’t I remember?
“It’s probably post traumatic stress,” Kate said to Rowan and Grandma. “She’s been through a lot. It could be a while before she remembers anything from the past two weeks.”
“No,” I said. “What’s happened? If I don’t remember two weeks…”
“Can you remember what happened after I kissed you?” Nash asked.
“I slapped you,” I said. “I remember that.” I thought about everything for a moment. “And then McKenna came in. She’d said that Luke wanted to talk with everyone about something. We…we were going on a raid. Adem didn’t want to because the baby was due any day.”
“Okay, good,” Nash said. “What next?”
“Kade…he’d saw you kiss me because he was the one watching the monitors in the control room. He didn’t talk to me at all when we went on the raid,” I said. “You saved me and Rowan though, because the Guards caught us.”
“Okay, go to a few days later,” Kate said. “Can you do that?”
“McKenna had her baby,” I said. “She and Adem named him Jack, after Adem’s father.”
Images flew through my head of the baby and what happened before they’d come to find me. I’d gone outside because I’d had the dream about me and Kade being in the explosion again. He wouldn’t even let me talk to him again.
“I didn’t talk to Kade for a week,” I said. “I wanted to, but I knew I was keeping him safe from me. I didn’t want to do what I was assigned to do.”
“Which was what?” Nash asked.
“Kill Kade,” I said. Tears started to flow down my cheeks. “His dad’s the leader of the Directrix. He wanted me to kill him because he knew too much. I don’t know what he knew though.”
Grandma wiped under her eyes. “Go on,” she said. “Tell us everything else.”
But before I could, everything came back to me. Images flooded through my head. Me chasing Kade down the hallways of Division Sixteen. Our naked bodies pressed against each other as he kissed me. The two of us walking down toward the control room and us talking with Luke, Eli, Nash and the others. Keenan, Abrielle and the others we met at the town when we were heading for Division Twelve.
And then what happened at Division Twelve. Kade and I were guarding the entrances to the research and development building. Roth had seen something on his laptop, a kind of bomb the Directrix used. Luke had shouted for everyone to get out. And when we did, Kade didn’t come. I’d gone to find him, but instead my dream came true.
We’d been dragged into one of the buildings again by Kendric Slayter and some Guards. Slayter had told me that I had to kill Kade, but I didn’t do it. Roth had busted into the room and had tried to get us out. But they’d caught him.
“Roth?” I asked, tears coming to my eyes.
Rowan shook her head, tears flowing heavier. “He didn’t make it out, they said. They don’t know what happened to him,” she whispered, choking up.
Kendric Slayter had been coming after Kade and me. We were running until I heard shots fired and I fell from the bullet that went through my thigh. Slayter had said he’d won.
And that’s when I saw Kade lying beside me, a bullet hole going through his head.
“No!” I screamed. “No, he’s not dead! He can’t be!”
“Rayney, sweetie,” Grandma said, tears streaming down her face. “I’m sorry, but he’s gone.”
“No!” I screamed again, and pushed past her.
I started to run, no matter how horrible my leg burned and the voices that were yelled for me behind me. I ran down the hallway, past all the blank faces that looked up toward me as I ran through the common area and toward the gardens.
I ran until I was outside in the cool night air. And that’s when I broke down.
I screamed as loud as I could until I couldn’t anymore. Then I slid to the ground and pulled my legs up to my chest, rocking back and forth. I cried until I couldn’t cry anymore.
Kade wasn’t there anymore. He wouldn’t come to comfort me.
As I laid there on the cool ground, I looked up at the night sky, searching through it until I found the moon. I looked for the star that Kade had said that was me when he still thought I was dead. Once I found it, I looked beside it for the star that I said was going to be Kade.
But where it once shined…there wasn’t anything there.
***Such a sad ending, I know!
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