"Emilia?" Claudia calls out my name the second she walks into the big Victorian house, quickly seeking me out in the large, relatively empty living room, her eyes wide. "Emilia!"
"Claudia," I reply, standing up from the couch before she pulls me into a quick hug.
"What were you thinking?"
"That my husband is being tortured every day," I retort with a shrug, shrinking back down onto the seat behind me. "I still want to go. And then, to top it all off, I'll hunt down Germain and kill her."
"We aren't going to Killmoor," Jordan replies, shaking his head as I roll my eyes.
"Why the fuck not?" I snap, readying myself for the same argument as earlier.
"Because we'll all be killed before even approaching the front gate," he argues and I grimace, slouching back.
"He's right, Em," Claudia says softly. "I know you want to help Zac, but this isn't the way."
"What else can I do?" I exclaim. "Sit here, eat, drink and laugh, all whilst he can't?"
"Of course not," Claudia replies, reaching over and pushing a strand of hair away from my face. "But Killmoor isn't the answer. It's a suicide mission." She pauses. "And then Zac would kill us all."
"So, you all know Zac?" I ask, looking over at the quiet Anna, Bridget and Kieran.
"Yeah." Bridget nods, a smile on her face.
"We spend a lot of time here," Claudia admits, gesturing to the walls around us. "It's like our safe house."
"Safe house?"
"I'll tell you whatever you want to know about Killmoor," Jordan says, stepping forward with an exhausted look on his face.
"Jord!"
"Claudia, she has the right to know." He shakes his head at his girlfriend before she hesitantly nods, moving to sit beside me. "It's as bad as you've heard," he tells me.
It's as bad as I've heard.
"There's no way in?" I ask in a small voice.
"The Enforcers at Killmoor are double what they have in Nottingham. They have an electric fence around it, along with Enforcers on constant lookout," he explains. "They placed concrete along the foundations to stop anyone from being able to dig out. Or in."
"The prisoners...?" I trail off, choking slightly on my words as I look down at my lap.
"They're in cells."
"And?"
"Em..." Claudia begs me to stop with her eyes.
"Tell me more!" I demand, looking up at Jordan through blurred vision.
"Tell her, Jordan," Anna snaps, arms crossed as she watches my expression. "She deserves to be living in the same hell as us."
"There's nothing in the cells," Jordan admits. "They're just black rooms, no windows, no beds, no toilets."
"Oh my God..." I slap my hand over my mouth.
"They stay in their cells for the majority of the day," Jordan continues somewhat hesitantly. "The other times they are subjected to various torture, dragged to attend different lessons."
"Lessons?" I choke out.
"It depends on the crime."
"And you all just sit here?" I cry out, shooting up from the couch, Anna mirroring my movements as she narrows her eyes at me. "Letting them rot in there!"
"Emilia!" Claudia exclaims, grabbing onto my arm.
"There's nothing we can do." Bridget's voice comes from the corner of the room, her forlorn expression mirroring mine.
"There must be!" I object, slapping Jordan's hands away as he attempts to calm me. "We can't leave them in there, it's only been four days!" I remind them as Claudia pulls me into her arms once more.
"You think we don't know that?" Anna snaps, stepping forward, her face filled with disgust. "If you want to try and rescue him, then be my guest. At least it will get you out of the way!"
"Out of the way?" I repeat, shrugging Claudia away as I take a step back towards Princess Petty. "What the fuck is your problem?"
"Em..."
"Zac never wanted you," she retorts. "He hated you from the moment you were paired up."
"Anna, will you fucking shut up?" Jordan yells.
Her words cause a sudden jolt of pain to shoot through my chest, despite the fact that what she's saying is true. I never wanted Zac. I have no right to be affected by her words. "I didn't like him either," I snap, her eyebrows rising slightly in surprise.
"Can we all stop acting like children?" Bridget finally pipes up, standing up and walking towards me. "What are we doing here? Zac wanted to keep her well away from any of this."
"It seems that Zac didn't know how persistent his wife was." Kieran grins.
"Stop calling her his fucking wife," Anna snaps.
"Why?" Bridget retorts. "That's what she is!"
"Because of a piece of paper." She scoffs. "Doesn't mean a thing when he was getting a better offer elsewhere." Anna hammers the nail in the coffin with her words, all of her anger finally making sense. They were together. They had sex, he came back to her every single time he left our house. Anna and Zac. Not Emilia and Zac.
"Anna, give it a rest!" Claudia yells. I look over at the usually calm girl with wide eyes, the sight of her losing her shit startling me.
"It's fine." I force out, eyes narrowing on Anna. I have no right to be angry at him, having crept out to meet Rayden on more than one occasion. Granted, I haven't done it in a while, the idea of him carrying on with Anna immensely painful, but what can I even say?
"Em..." Claudia shoots me a sympathetic look.
"I don't think he had a better offer the morning of his arrest, seeing as he was in my bed," I say, ignoring Claudia as Anna's mouth drops open.
"He was with me the night before!" she snaps quickly, the confession causing me to step back, stumbling slightly. He wouldn't, surely? He left in such a hurry with Jordan that night, but then again, they probably came here. I'd worked him up with my lacy bodysuit and then he left, straight into the arms of Anna, the gorgeous, bitchy brunette. He's a fucking wanker!
"For fucks sake!" Jordan snaps, standing up from his chair. "No he didn't! He hasn't slept with you for over a month Anna, he told me," he reveals, Anna's face going beet red as Bridget smirks. Oh. "Can we move on now?" he asks, gesturing between the two of us.
"What are you even doing in this house?" I ask all of them, gesturing around at the room, somehow still angry that this is where Zac chooses to spend his time.
"What?"
"You all spend a shitload of time here," I reply to Claudia. "Disappearing for hours. Zac will be gone for days, I assume he comes here," I continue, the look on Jordan and Claudia's faces telling me that I'm right. "Why?"
"Em..."
"Why won't you tell me?" I exclaim.
"Because Zac doesn't want-"
"Zac isn't fucking here!" Anna suddenly yells out, taking a step forward. "Just fucking tell her. He can't stop you," she mutters, shaking her head at me. At her words, surprise fills me, confused why she seemingly wants to help me out.
"She has a point," Kieran says. "Emilia is here now. It's hardly like she's going to stop asking."
"Can you stop talking about me like I'm not here?" I reply.
Kieran grins. "Plus, she's feisty. She'll be a good recruit."
"Recruit?" I repeat, my eyebrows furrowing.
"Are you sure you want to know?" Jordan asks, his attention back on me.
"Yes."
"Emilia, we're part of an attempted resistance."
"Resistance?"
"Against the State." Claudia clarifies.
"What does that mean?" I reply, confusion filling me. Resisting against the State? How? They're married, they follow the rules...
"We're working on figuring out a way to take them down," Anna pipes up.
"You guys?"
"Yeah," Jordan confirms, nodding. "There are a few others."
"There are?"
"One step at a time, yeah?" Claudia mumbles, her eyes wide.
"Anna works in the State buildings," Jordan explains, changing the subject. "She gathers information for us and has a direct line straight to Germain. Bridget and I work in the weapons factory. We try to obtain whatever we can."
"You steal weapons?" I ask, eyes wide. How do they get away with that?
"Incognito." Bridget grins, piping up from the side lines. "Only a bit every now and again. We have to stay under the radar."
"Wow," I breathe out, shocked at the courage they seem to possess.
"I work at the railway." Kieran inputs and I feel my mouth drop open.
"The railway hasn't been in use since before the war."
"That's what they want you to believe." He smirks. "It goes up to York and Manchester. Germain thinks it's imperative to keep trade moving between her four cities."
"Oh my god," I exclaim, falling back onto the chair behind me.
"Zac is obviously a delivery driver." Claudia continues their story. "He can see anything that they are transporting. Anywhere."
"And as you already know, Claudia works in the supermarket."
"Not the most helpful of places, but I get to see so many members of the Enforcers, I've memorised a lot of their faces," Claudia replies.
"You're very useful." Jordan grins, pulling her into his arms.
"And you... Just meet..." I trail off, unsure of what to say. "And just..."
"Anything we can get our hands on is here. Any information is brought here," Bridget explains. "This house is my home. Not that piece-of-shit terraced house they gave Ryan and I."
"Ryan?" I question.
"My husband." She smirks.
"Oh?"
"I never see him apart from on State Inspections and food pick up days." She shrugs.
"I'm sorry..."
"Why?"
"Because you don't... get along with him..."
"Ryan's fine," she retorts. "I just wish he had a vagina."
"Oh!" I exclaim, eyes wide.
"The sooner we take the State down, the happier Bridget will be." Kieran smirks as she picks up a book from beside her, chucking it at his head.
"He isn't in the Resistance?" I ask and she shrugs.
"No. He's busy trying to find some single pussy."
"Oh," I reply. "What's your plan?"
"We don't have one yet," Kieran admits, shrugging as he smirks.
"We'll see what opportunities arise," Jordan replies. "Zac normally gets us a lot of information on the road but..."
"Why didn't he want me to know?"
"I already told you, he doesn't want you," Anna retorts and I immediately stand back up, Jordan moving to stand between us.
"That's not true," he snaps before turning to face me. "He wanted to keep you out of trouble."
"Bit late for that." I scoff, shaking my head.
"True." Kieran laughs before disappearing into the kitchen.
"So, now what?" Anna pipes up. "She's allowed to join us?" She scoffs.
"If Em wants to, she can-"
"We don't know what Zac is going to say," Jordan cuts Claudia off, shooting her a warning look.
"It's not up to Zac how I live my life," I retort, standing back up.
"Beer, Bridget?" Kieran reappears, holding a bottle out to the blonde beside him.
"Cheers." She grabs one from him.
"Emilia?" He offers me the other one and I smile, reaching and accepting it without thinking. I need something to take the edge off. All of this new information is swimming around my brain, and I'm completely unsure of how to process it.
"Thanks." I smile.
"I know it isn't," Jordan replies. "But he has as much of a say in this as any of us."
"He's not here to disagree," I remind him before taking a drink.
"No." Anna smirks. "But I am. I don't want her here."
"Why?" Claudia snaps. "Because she's a reminder that Zac doesn't want you?"
"We may not have fucked for months, but that doesn't mean he didn't come to my bed every time he was here," Anna counters. "There's other stuff beside sex."
"Anna!" Claudia exclaims, eyes wide with disbelief. As her words sink in, my stomach goes with it, falling further at the thought of Zac entertaining anything with Anna. After all, I know that he's that sort of guy, why would he have changed? Just because we had a few make out sessions? I know what he's like, I know that he does this sort of thing, just like I used to.
Yet for some reason the thought of him and Anna makes me sick to my stomach. "Where's the bathroom?" I manage to get out, Claudia furrowing her eyebrows at me.
"Just out the other end of the kitchen," she replies. I quickly chuck my bottle at her before running past all of them, hurling myself towards the door at the other end of the kitchen and collapsing onto my knees just in time for the vomit to land in the toilet.
I heave over and over, all of the revelations of the afternoon whirling around inside my head, unable to slow my racing heart.
"Em?" Claudia's small voice appears beside me before she crouches down. "Are you okay?"
"I don't know what came over me," I mutter, reaching up and flushing it as she hands me a tissue.
"Is it..." She trails off as I wipe my mouth. "Could you be pregnant?"
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Please excuse me whilst I go hide in a corner and get drunk because I'm scared of you all...
Happy Weekend!!
Vote, comment... don't hate me... hahaa!