Waking up that day proved to be much more harder if I hadn't slept much. Sadly, I didn't sleep much.
We were getting closer and closer to our destination, meaning that soon, we would come face-to-face with Trevor. With the passing days, I started thinking much more about his perspective.
On our travels, we had to kill to survive, no matter if we wanted to or not. Derrick killing Norman, us attacking those Moderates when they first enslaved us, killing those Lankies that were strangely in a group. They were all murders we had to do. Yet, some of Trevor's murders were for no reason.
Still, I understood what was happening to him. As soon as things hit the fan, he started losing his mind. Literally watching your world crumble and shatter around you was terrifying. So, the madness drove him into a different kind of insanity he couldn't escape. At least, not on his own. Becoming what he was, it helped vent off the anger of what he thought would be the end of the world.
"Maybe, there's a chance for him to go back to what he used to be." I finished explaining my thoughts on Trevor to Derrick while Angeli sort of eavesdropped.
"That sounds pretty close to what I was thinking. I was telling you that he does care about you, but he's probably gone too far in all of his raged murders to go back to fix his mistakes."
"It's never too late to try." Angeli defiantly spoke, a sure voice replacing her usual one.
"If he's given the chance to fix them, then he might." I added in.
"Yes, I suppose you're both correct. It would make sense." Derrick shrugged, as if he already knew.
"How does it make sense to you?" It seemed like he was just agreeing with us to brush us off. I wanted to know if he truly agreed.
"Anyone in their right minds would take the chances they get to fix things. Trust me... I would know." I glanced at Angeli, who was about to ask another question, but I gave her a stern glare to quiet her.
"Anyways, where are we going after we reach Enschede?" I asked, changing the subject.
"Hoge Veluwe. That'll put us right on track again, except with the lost time. We'll pass right through Tilburg and cross over the border to Belgium after that."
"Sweet! Just two more places to go!" Angeli exclaimed, excited about getting closer and closer to France.
"Why do you want to get there so badly?" Derrick questioned her, intrigued with her enthusiasm.
"I've always wanted to go to France." She shrugged and continued walking down the beat-up and cracked street. Through the cracks, grass sprouted out while some places were fully covered in grass. Old houses and buildings surrounded us. In the distance, two skyscrapers leaned against each other, about to fall over and break to pieces. Without the support of one, the other would fall. I glanced at Angeli when that thought came to mind.
"It's so depressing, how some people used to live here, but were forced to leave..." I remembered how back in America, they made everyone evacuate immediately, leaving behind the lives they had built and the place they learned to grow up. There were only enough boats to hold half of the whole country and millions of people were left stranded in the inhabitable American terrain.
"No one was forced to leave. It's just that they panicked when they heard what was happening overseas and didn't think about staying in their homes because our countries hadn't gotten contaminated. Asia was only able to escape it for so long and it became just as bad as America in a few months." Derrick explained.
"That's why when the Americans were looking for a place to settle, many died on the way here. Some of their boats went to Asia first, only to find it in the same conditions." Angeli continued. How had I not heard about this before? They saw how my expression went blank and realized that I had to be one of those Americans.
"We didn't mean to-"
"It's ok, guys. Things happen. There's nothing anyone could have done to prevent them." I pushed away their apologies and stared straight ahead.
"American, huh?" Angeli smirked at me and continued walking.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"No wonder you're so stubborn. Most of the Americans I knew couldn't take no for an answer." Derrick snickered, joining along with Angeli's teasing.
"Where are you from, Angeline?" I used her full name, just to test it out. She silenced immediately and gave me an angry look.
"I thought secrets were meant to be kept." She narrowed her eyes at me and turned away, looking at an unstable car. "Sorry... I don't like being teased with my origin. Especially with everything I had to go through because of it."
"I guess so..." She muttered. "I'm Russian, without the accent." She answered my previous question.
"I knew there had to be some Russian in you!" Derrick laughed. "It was just something about you, y'know?"
"No, I don't know." She was confused, but I got what he was starting to say. He just didn't want to insult her. Some Russians were easy to anger, in my opinion, and Angeline was perfect proof of that. Some were also red heads.
"Then never mind." He tried hiding his smile, but it just wasn't working.
"Mhm." She was suspicious of what he meant, but didn't ask any further. "But now you know."
"Good to know. I'll find some vodka when I can." I teased.
"Isn't vodka German?"
"I have no idea." I bursted out laughing, and soon Angeli joined in with Derrick and I . With the evil and terrible things happening around us, we still learned to have a good time and enjoy ourselves, even in the toughest of situations.
It took us longer than expected, but we didn't stop laughing like that until minutes later. "We have to settle down now, guys. We're getting closer to the Netherlands and we can't risk getting detected." Derrick, being the serious one, had already stopped laughing way before Angeli and I stopped. It wasn't even that funny. Yet, here we were, still laughing. I could only blame sleep deprivation.
"Fine, fine. We'll stop." Angeli giggled one last time before mastering a straight face. I, on the other hand, still couldn't seem to stop smiling. It was long before us that Derrick had gotten serious, like he always was, and was being the usual quiet and mysterious guy he was known to be.
"I guess you're right." I responded, my smile disappearing. He was right. If we expected to get through without trouble, we would have to keep a low profile and sneak past anyone who got in the way. Otherwise, things would go the same way they did with Germany. Laughing, we weren't going to have very good luck achieving that.
"Hmm." He stopped walking and continued staring at the houses, like if they were suspicious to him.
"Why'd you stop?" Angeli asked while we came up to him. Now that we had the time to be paying attention, I noticed what a strange and eerie feeling these houses gave off. It was almost like they were watching us.
"Get down, quick! Take cover!" Derrick grabbed our arms unexpectedly and dragged us with him, leading us in the direction we just came from. Meanwhile, a sudden explosion sounded from behind us and its heat raced up my back, threatening to hurt me as we ran. Luckily, we barely managed to duck behind a large rock just before it could reach us. Bits and pieces of debris followed the explosion, scattering across the barren land. It wasn't until the dust completely cleared away that one of us finally spoke.
"How did you know that was gonna happen?" Angeli was impressed, but nonetheless frightened by this situation.
"I only sensed a change in the atmosphere. Someone must have been laying down oil near where we were and lit it on fire." He was staring up at the ash-filled gray sky, seemingly taken back by the explosion.
I peered over the side of the rock and stared at a long trail of black, thick liquid that ran down an alley right next to where we were standing. Most of it was already lit and the things that were closest to it were still on fire from the impact.
"Some senses you've got there." I leaned back against the boulder and sighed heavily. "Do you think they heard us?"
"It would have been impossible to not have heard you. I admit, I was loud too, but we're gonna have to change that if we don't want history to repeat itself. Walking out in the open won't be a good idea either."
"We can travel through the houses, then." Angeli suggested.
"That could work. If we're quiet, no one should be suspicious of anything." I winked. "Besides, there might be supplies in some of them."
"Let's get started." Derrick got into a crouching position and crept up so his side was pressed up against the stone. He peered around our current location before instructing us. "Ok, you'll have to make a run for it on my go. Make sure nothing gets in your way."
"We get it, Derrick. You don't have to give us stealth lessons." Angeli was eager, ready to pounce and make a dash at any given moment, as he seemed to have noted too. I was just about ready to do the same, ready to get as far from the scene as possible.
"Right. I'll take the lead. Mathias, you take the rear. Angeli, stay close to me." Before either of us could respond, he made a mad run towards the nearest house and jumped right through the open window.
"Go." I beckoned for her to follow him while I went after and crouched closely behind her. Before entering through the window to join them, I glanced back at the oil trail where the fire was beginning to blow away. I spotted a tall figure standing near it, a long tailcoat, gloves, and a hood.... Where had I seen that before?
Removing the image from my mind, I stepped into the room where Derrick was going through cupboards while Angeli looked in drawers. The small house seemed to have been occupied by a couple, or maybe from a family of three. The walls were all ruined and faded, along with the flooring and furniture. Basically, the whole house was pretty bad.
"I'll check upstairs." I declared and headed for the stairs, leaving the downstairs for them. I was being careful to silence my footsteps from the old wooden stairs. Up here, it was easy to tell that the people were hiding out for as long as they could before having to move on out. Food, clothing, and even medical supplies were all stashed here and weren't being used by anyone.
"Hey, guys! Come-" I was interrupted with my calling out to them when I suddenly felt a gun pressed up to the back of my head.
"Put your hands up." A gruff voice growled. It was a man, who sounded like he was around twenty-five, given by his young-sounding voice, while still sounding mature. I did as I was told, resting them on top of my head. He held the gun with one hand while his other reached into my pockets, inspecting them to see if there was anything in them I could use against him. All he found was that rag I used to clean away the sweat during Derrick's little game of Operation and Stay Alive.
"Who are you?" He asked, throwing aside the rag and tightening his grip on the weapon.
"I could ask you the same thing." After all, he was the one pointing that thing at my head without even as much as a pleasant, "Hey! How ya doin'?" I felt the metal of the cold gun dig deeper into my skull and decided to knock it off with my snarky attitude and just give him what he wanted.
"Who are you?" He asked again.
"Would you like a name, sir?" I acted polite now, because it was my only other option. Only.
"Yes."
"Mathias. Now, what's yours?" He hesitated before answering, but gave me his name anyway.
"Mac." He still didn't seem to be convinced that I wasn't here to do anything to him, seeing how he wouldn't put down the ammunition-filled killer.
"I told you my name. Think you can trust me now, soldier?" He didn't like my attitude and pushed it further toward my head, causing it to fall over my shoulders with my hands still on it. It hurt, really, so I might have given out a loud grunt.
"Mathias! What's going on up there?" I could hear thundering sounds coming from the entry way. He suddenly grabbed my neck and turned me around to face the door, still directing the gun towards the side of my head.
Angeli was startled by what she saw and raised her hands up when he aimed it at her instead. For some strange reason, that really got my gears a' grinding and I gutted him in the stomach, grabbing the barrel of the gun once he released me so it would point up in case he used the same reflexes he had when he heard Angeli. Good thing I did, because he instinctively shot out, but blew a hole in the ceiling.
"Great." He mumbled. Derrick appeared beside Angeli at the sound of the gunfire. "Who are you people?!" The man, Mac, seemed to have become outraged by the unwanted visitors.
"House Keeping. We're here to clean up your house... Not that you need it or anything." I glanced around at the various items in the room, unorganized and just thrown around randomly.
"I'm serious." He narrowed his eyes.
"So am I. I mean, have you seen the walls? Uh... no. And the floorboards? Every step, creak, creak, creak." I mimicked the voice of a stereotypical woman perfectionist. "I mean, look at this!" I demonstrated the squeaking noises as my weight went over the tattered boards.
Mac rested his hand on his forehead and exhaled deeply. "Look, I just want to know what you three are doing here."
"We were just passing through." Angeli answered. "When that explosion went off, we deci-"
"Wait. That wasn't you guys?" He looked angered by the fact that some other people were probably wandering around here too.
"No. We only ended up here because we didn't want to die in an explosion. It was just a coincidence we came in here during our travels." Derrick explained to him.
"Traveling? Where are you going?"
"Why so curious, Mac?" I asked, crossing my arms.
"Would you rather get shot in the head over answering my questions?"
"Sure. Go ahead and shoot." I challenged and looked around at the things he had in there as he continued his interrogation.
"Rich country." Derrick answered for him. Mac gave them a questioning glance, but Angeli was losing her patience.
"It's a long story, which we really don't have time to tell. Can't you just let us go?"
"On one condition." He stated, tossing the gun he clutched to the ground.
"Which is?" I joined Derrick and Angeli, standing beside the doorway, suddenly interested in the conversation again.
"I'll let you go if I can come with you." His expression remained serious while the three of us looked at each other.
"Why would you want to leave this place, surrounded by all this stuff?" I asked, motioning towards the various piles of canned food and packaged clothes.
"That explosion wasn't the only one that's been here before." Mac picked up a burned up shirt from the floor and held it up for us to see. "I nearly died in one of them. I got caught on fire and almost burned my skin off trying to find the Bomber."
"Bomber? Does that mean that someone's been sneaking around here, bombing this place?" Angeli became curious about this mysterious bomber.
"No one's been able to find out who he is, but some people suspect it to be a man in black clothing, wearing a hooded tailcoat with gloves."
"Tailcoat..." Derrick murmured. He seemed to have had information on this, but wouldn't say anything.
"Well, if it helps, I just saw someone like that before we came in here." I explained that he was standing beside the oil and was hidden away by the leftover flames.
"Yeah, so you understand why I'd want to get away from here, right? This stuff is all stored, but I can't keep living with this fear of it all blowing up at some point, with me in it."
"You have other options, though. Maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea living with the Riches." Derrick warned him carefully, seemingly sensitive about the country.
"It's the best chance I have. And besides, when else will I have the chance to travel with other people? It's a risk I'm gonna have to take."
"And what if we refuse?" Angeli teased him, leaning against the doorframe.
"Then," He picked up the gun he was holding just a while ago and held it loosely in his hands. "I'll make sure not to miss." He continued, giving the notion that the shots he'd make weren't going to go to waste.
"I see your point." She backed off and looked at Derrick and I. "So, what are we gonna do?"
"There's nothing to complain about. A new travel buddy seems alright to me. I'd prefer not to have my head blown out by a gun. Especially when I was just shot yesterday." I rebuked, knowing the pain of a gun wound.
"Same here." She agreed.
"Looks like I'm already outnumbered." Derrick was unsure about the outcome, but gave in nonetheless. "Welcome to the crew, then."
Mac was pleased, smiling slightly. He reminded me too much of myself, actually. Abnormally talkative, strong-hearted, brave, basically like a doppelgänger of only my personality, since he didn't look too much like me. He had very messy, full brown hair that covered part of the back of his neck and swept over the top of his sea blue-green eyes.
"Oh, one more thing." He reached across the room, heading towards one of the windows. "They're safe, don't worry." He said quietly to someone who was apparently hiding on the balcony, out of sight.
He grabbed hold of someone's hand, almost like if they were a precious treasure, and led them out of the balcony, into the room where we stood.
"This, is Naomi. If she can come with us, that'd be great." He presented us with a young woman, most likely about a year younger than him, but looked even younger than that. Maybe as young as Angeli. She had strawberry blonde hair, flowing down over her shoulders. Her eyes seemed to twinkle, like stars in the night sky, shimmering with a radiant pale and minty green light.
"There's always room for more, I guess." I shrugged, grinning a little at the way Mac's smile seemed to get larger. I could tell he was probably in love with her, but she seemed oblivious to this fact. If not, then she just didn't want to be the readable one.
"Are you two ready to leave now, or do you need to get things ready before leaving?" Derrick asked, keeping a relaxed posture and staying vigilant of the pair.
"Leaving? Where are we going, Mac?" Naomi's voice was silent and gentle, but had a stern sound to it.
"These guys might help us get out of here. They're going to the Rich country, and are willing to take us with them." He explained.
"Only because you threatened to kill us if we didn't." Angeli scoffed while Naomi chuckled quietly.
"Sorry about that. He can be quite... Intimidating, if you will." She gave him a disapproving look before turning back to us. "Thank you, anyway. It's about time we got out of this warzone. We'll need just a little bit of time to grab the things we'll be needing for the trip." She answered Derrick's previous question.
"Ok. Mind if you can hurry, though? We're starting to fall behind again."
"You're kidding me." I groaned.
"I'm not. It's almost midday, and we still have a lot to go before we reach Enschede." He faced us, but somehow, I could see that he was probably looking at the ground. Wasn't that a guilty maneuver?
"We don't mind at all. We'll be quick." She took a firm hold on Mac's arm and pushed him around, instructing him on what things to pack and what things to leave behind. It was actually cute, how he listened to what she said and even asked twice before putting something in. He was like a love-struck puppy. A shaggy-haired, grown-up puppy.
After only ten minutes, we stood discussing our journey plans with Mac and Naomi, where they both listened intently before asking any questions.
"If all goes well, we should be able to get there in a matter of a week or so, then?" Naomi asked, curious on the specifics.
"Yes. Given that we aren't sidetracked by anything again, there should be no problem and we'll get there in, perhaps, a week and a few days." Derrick stashed away the map he had and swiveled his head to look behind him.
"Shall we go?" I asked, prepared to take on this journey again with two new companions.
"Sure. Now's a better time than any." Mac stood and watched as Naomi walked towards him. Once again, I was struck dumbfounded by his change in personality. At first, he came off as a real ruthless and unforgiving man, but now, he was actually pretty, how a girl would say, sweet and kind. Though, any guy would see through that and say that he was just blinded by what most men couldn't resist: the beauty of a woman.
On our way out the front door, I felt someone tug on my sleeve and glanced back to see Angeli. "What's up?" I asked, seeing the look she was giving me.
"Is it just me, or is there something going on with Mac?" I laughed at her question, which caused them to look back at us.
"He's a goner. There's no restoring what Naomi's done to Mac." I whispered teasingly, a hint of a seductive tone in my voice.
"You're so weird sometimes." She shoved me away and jogged to catch up with the three others while I suppressed another laugh from escaping me.
It was clear that these new soldiers would be tough to gain trust with, since it was possible that Mac suspected us to be the Bombers, but there would be enough time to work on it as we continued down the long road ahead of us.
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Hey guys! I just wanted to say thank you. I have 200+ reads now! :D How exciting! ^^
Though there's not that many readers, I do appreciate your comments and votes. They truly do help. :) And if there's anything I can do in return, I'd be more than happy to help. So don't hesitate to leave me a message. :3
Also, I forgot to tell you Wolfies that @Hate-Gain-Love is responsible for the awesome cover this book has. So credits to her!
FORGETFUL ZE IS FORGETFUL.
Get used to it.
~Ze