|You tell me to hold on, but innocence is gone and what was right is wrong
|Song: Bleeding out, Imagine Dragons
|||
Lisa's P.O.V
Minho took my hand, trying to turn me away from the scene but I kept my feet firmly on the ground, forcing myself to look at the boy his lifeless body.
'I killed him,' I whispered, loud enough for Minho to hear. A small frown was drawn on his face and for a second it looked like he was about to comfort me but a sudden sound shook the both of us awake.
The Berg. It was going up!
'Guys! Shuck-faces! Come on we have to go!' Minho screamed above the thunder.
Suddenly the whole group started to moved. The Berg had already reached three feet off the ground, slowly rising and turning at the same time.
Before I knew what I was doing I was running towards it. My feet carried me through the mud while rain fell down on me.
Dawn came running next to me, gave me a worried glare but we both knew there was no time for talking. Thomas ran before me. Newt with his limp on my left. Minho next to him, eyeing him to make sure he didn't fall.
A couple of Gladers reached the Berg first. They dove onto the platform of the open cargo door and climbed inside. Still it rose. Others reached it, climbed on, scambled inside.
Then Thomas reached it. He jumped, pushed his hands down on the flat metal. Swung his right feet up and rolled onto the door. The Berg was now six feet off the ground, starting to tilt. I gestured for Dawn to go first. She grabed the platform and pushed herself up. Thomas took her arms to make sure she didn't fall. Minho was next, pulling himself up like it wasn't an effort at all. Newt was helped by Harriet. Next to me Jorge took the leap and made it. Brenda and I shared a glare. We were the last ones.
'You go,' I urged.
She didn't argue and jumped. Thomas took her hands and helped her inside.
Then it was my turn. Minho was already lying on his stomach, arms outstretched. Dawn was holding onto his legs to make sure he didn't fall.
I threw a glare over my shoulder. In the distance, clouded by a curtain of rain, Leon his body was visible, sending a stab of pain through my heart.
I didn't deserved to be rescued. I killed someone, this time I really attacked the Gladers. How was I worthy of the safe haven?
'Lisa!' Minho yelled my name.
I turned back to him, saw the desperation in his eyes. He knew I wanted to stay, he knew I had decided. I stopped running, stopped trying to jump. Staying here was the only option I had. Here I could never hurt anyone.
Suddenly Minho rolled a few feet down onto the still open door, Dawn and Newt holding his legs. I just stared at them, didn't stretch out my arm or tried to grab Minho his hand. Frustrated he screamed my name again.
Then he rolled further down, so far he was able to grab my arm, without me reaching up. A gasp left my lips as I was suddenly lifted of the ground, dangling above the rocks and dry land.
'Come on!' Minho yelled, his voice thick from the effort it took of holding on to me.
I looked up, rain clouded my view, but I saw Jorge, Thomas, Brenda, Dawn and Newt had made a human chain. They were all lying of their stomachs, grabing each other's feet just so Minho could lift me of the ground.
Seeing them, hanging there, endangering their own lives for me, made me forget all about Leon.
I let out a groan of effort as I started pulling myself up at the metal door. A scream left my lips as I tried to get a grip on the smooth metal. Dawn yelled my name, Thomas encouraged me, Newt yelled for me to hold on. Minho still had my arm tightly in his hand, it hurt but it didn't matter.
With the last bit of strength that I had left I pushed myself up and rolled into the Berg.
Panting heavily I crawled against Minho who gave me a tight hug. My whole body was shaking but I didn't allow myself to break down and cry, not in front of everyone.
Instead I forced out a shaky laugh and untangled myself from Mimho his grip.
He was looking at me with an expression that I couldn't quite read but I had no time to ask him what was wrong as a sharp voice suddenly cut through the relieved silence.
'Who are these people?' It was a man with short red hair, holding a black pistol pointed at Brenda and Jorge, who sat next to each other, shivering, wet and bruised. 'Somebody answer me!' The man yelled again.
It was Thomas who stepped forwards. 'They helped us through the city, we wouldn't be here if it weren't for them!'
The man snapped his head toward Thomas. 'You...picked them up along the way?' Thomas nodded and I felt a cold feeling spread through my stomach.
'We made a deal with them. Promised they'd get the cure too. We still have fewer people than we started with,' Thomas tried to reason, his voice however betrayed his panic.
'Doesn't matter,' the man said. 'We didn't say you could bring citizens!'
Thomas got to his feet, he seemed determined to defend the deal he'd made. 'Well, you told us to come here, and we did what we had to do!'
I glared at my left. The Berg continued to climb higher, but the gaping door didn't close. Wind whipped through the wide hole, any one of us could go tumbling to their death if we hit turbulence.
'Sometimes I forget how little you people understand what's going on. Fine, you can keep one of 'em. The other goes,' the man said impatiently making me turn away from the door. I couldn't keep my eyes off of Thomas, wondering what he was going to do.
It was like the whole group was holding their breath, the silence was deafening.
'What do you mean...the other goes?' Thomas said slowly.
The man clicked off the safety of his gun, then held its end closer to Brenda's head. 'We don't have time for this! You have five seconds to choose the one who stays. Or else they'll both die. One.'
'Wait!' Thomas yelled.
I looked at Brenda and Jorge, their faces pale and eyes focused on the ground.
'Two.'
I could only stare.
'Three.'
Panic grew in my chest.
'Four! Choose now or they both die.' Suddenly Thomas stepped forward and pointed at Brenda. It was like all the air left my lungs. 'Kill her.'
He must have thought it was another Variable, another test, but it wasn't. The man jammed his gun into his belt, then reached down and grabbed Brenda's shirt with two hands, yanking her to her feet. Without a word he moved toward the still open door, taking Brenda with him.
Cold panic flared through me but when the man was halfway there, Thomas acted. He jumped forward and slammed into the man's knees, tackling him to the floor, the gun clattered on the ground. Brenda started to glide down the open door. Without doubting I dove forward and took her arm in a strong grip. I felt how Minho took my legs, keeping me from falling too. I pulled Brenda back inside, my muscles burning from the effort it took.
Panting she sat next to me, pushing her hair out of her face.
I checked if she was okay but then my eyes fell on the gun that had fallen on the ground. Normally I would have taken it, without even thinking, but now my whole body started trembling by merely looking at it.
Thomas took it instead. He jumped up and pointed the gun at the stranger who still lay on the ground. 'No one else dies,' he said, breathing heavily. 'If we haven't done enough to pass your stupid tests, then we fail. The tests are over.'
And until my great shock and surprise the stranger's face softened into the slightest hint of a smile. He sat up, bumped his fist on a red button and as he did the door started to close. No one said a word as the metal cargo closed, one last rush of wind surging through before it did.
'My name's David,' the man said, his voice loud in the silence. 'And don't worry you're right. It's over. It's all over.'
Thomas nodded mockingly. 'Yeah, we've heard that before. This time we mean it. We're not going to sit back and let you treat us like rats anymore. We're done.'
David took a moment to scan all of our faces. And I hoped mine told him to go to hell. The same hell they put us through the last few months, maybe even worse.
Finally he looked back at Thomas, then slowly got to his feet holding his hands up in the air as he did so. 'What you don't understand is that everything has gone and will continue to go as planned. But you're right, the Trials are complete. We're taking you to a place of safety. A real place of safety. No more tests, no more lies, no more set ups, no more pretending.'
Next to me Minho snorted. 'That's the biggest bunch of klunk I've ever heard in my life.'
I nodded at Minho his words, an angry frown drawn on my face. 'And what about a cure? We were promised a cure! For us and the two who helped us get here. How can we believe anything you tell us?' I said, my voice low and dangerous.
'Think what you want for now,' David answered. 'Things will change from here out, and you'll get the cure, just like you were told. As soon as we get back to headquarters. You can keep that gun, by the way, we'll give you some more, if you'd like. There will be nothing else for you to fight against, no test or trials to ignore or refuse. Our Berg will land, you'll see that you're safe and cured, and then you can do what you want. The only thing we'll ever ask you to do again is to listen. Only to listen. I'm sure you're at least intrigued by what's behind all this?'
I didn't believe him. Not one word he said. My whole body was tensed up. Ready to jump into action or fight if necessary. Every bone in my body told me to be careful and not trust anything they said. Wicked was never going to fool me again.
When Thomas answered I heard he tried to steady his voice as much as possible. 'No more games,' he said.
'First sign of trouble we start fighting,' Minho added. 'If that means we die, then so be it.'
David smiled fully this time. 'You know, that's exactly what we predicted you'd do at this point.'
A sudden hatred flared up in my chest. And I knew I would never believe anything they told me.
He motioned with his arm toward a small door at the back of the cargo hold. 'Shall we?'
Newt spoke up. 'What's next on the bloody agenda?'
David started walking around the crowd of Gladers and girls. 'Just thought you'd like to eat something, maybe take a shower, sleep. It's a very long flight,' he said. Meanwhile he had reached the door. He gave us a last glare and walked inside.
We spent a few seconds exchanging glares, but in the end we followed. We really had no other option. Wicked would forever hold us in their grasp. They made it seem like the trails were over, but I knew better. And something told me we hadn't even seen the worst of our horrible adventure.