Two days after we discovered that there's a damn magical gate in the wall we find ourselves pouring over new documents.
Yesterday, Zac, Kieran and Riley travelled back to Nottingham in the dead of the night to steal more paperwork in an attempt to help us learn how to escape this hellish place.
I spent over an hour yesterday arguing with Zac that he shouldn't go. He obtained the upper hand by distracting me with sex before disappearing as soon as I fell asleep. He returned before I even woke up, armed with a new stack of supposedly helpful documents.
The only thing that stopped me losing my fuse and ripping into my husband is the fact that I'm so fucking fed up of being here. Plus, he came back in one piece, proud that he only had to kill three Enforcers who were in his way. Such is life, Emilia.
"What do you mean you know someone?" Zac suddenly yells from the other room. Sam, Kayla and I all jump at the sound, before suddenly my husband appears in the kitchen doorway, Anna hot on his heels. Why are they always together at the moment?
"Exactly what I said," Anna retorts. "There was an Enforcer back at Germain's headquarters who liked me. He was reassigned to the wall." Whoa, what?
"I don't understand your point?"
"He liked me," Anna explains. "Really liked me! If I can find him, I can get information."
"As if." Jordan scoffs from the opposite corner of the kitchen, a can of food in his hand before he leaves. I fight the urge to follow him, knowing that today, like every other day, he wants to be alone, not willing to let anyone into his head apart from Zac and Kieran.
"It's true!"
"You can't trust an Enforcer," Sam pipes up from beside me. "He'll rat us out."
"He didn't even want to be one."
"No way." Zac shakes his head. "We'll do this on our own."
"Don't you get it? He could tell us everything we need to know about getting inside the wall!"
"I said no, Anna!"
"So?" Anna snaps at Zac, stepping closer. "You don't fucking rule over me," she yells before storming towards the stairs, her feet pounding against them as she disappears up to one of the bedrooms.
"It's a bad idea," Zac says softly, his brown eyes finding mine, seeking reassurance.
"I know," I reply, nodding at him.
"We all know," Kayla mutters. "Enforcers can't be trusted. Even if she is in love with one of them."
"Anna in love? Good one!" Sam smirks, before his gaze returns to the paper in front of him. I notice Zac's eyes flicker briefly to Sam before they find mine once more. He grabs the chair in front of him, slowly sitting across from us.
I can see in his expression how much pressure he's putting on himself, his eyebrow forever furrowed, eyes never focusing on one thing for longer than ten seconds. He's desperate to try and find our route out of here, placing all the problems onto his own shoulders, electing himself as leader.
If you asked me four months ago, I would have said it was arrogance that has caused him to do so. However... now? I know that's far from the truth, Zac in fact wanting to keep as many people as possible away from blame, free from danger and clear from punishment. He takes on the role to ensure that he's in control, everyone else simply followers that he'll hide behind himself should the time come.
I know that the revelation of his sister being a traitorous bitch has thrown him further down this dangerous path, Claudia's death weighing heavily on his shoulders, Jordan never far away from his side. Zac is clearly worried what he may do if he were ever left alone. It's heartbreaking.
Yet what can I do? I can't tell him he's overreacting, I know the dire situation that we're in and the risks we're taking. Someone needs to take control, and if it soothes Zac even slightly being him, who am I to drag him away from that?
"How's it looking?" Zac asks in a gruff voice, his pained expression now focused solely on the paper in front of us, Sam quickly pointing to the left hand corner of the page.
"This seems to show the way the electric fence is set up," Sam replies. "It's in separate sections, each individual part manned by one of the four guarded lookout camps..."
I zone out of their conversation, my lips parting at the sight of the stressed Zac reaching up and running his hand through his hair as he tenses his jaw. Worry lines decorate his forehead as he nods, pointing to another detail on the paper and questioning my friend.
On second thought, maybe he is taking on more than he should.
*~*~*
"So, Kieran, Riley, Heidi, Sam, Emilia, Anna and I will be the ones attempting to venture to the South," I announce to the entire room, every single one of them looking up at me like some sort of fucking leader. "Everyone else will be doing their part here."
"Our part?" Lyla calls out questioningly, her eyebrows furrowed as she glances around the table for clarification.
"If you're able to, you can visit the other cities, go back to Nottingham and comb the countryside. The aim is to recruit as many people as you can," I explain. "Without putting yourselves in too much danger."
"We won't." Kayla grins, her enthusiastic energy for taking down the State only heightening every single day. "I'll miss you though," she says, turning her attention to the busty blonde beside her. Emilia smiles, reaching for her hand and intertwining them together on the table.
"Kayla has had the longest training here," I announce. "She will be in charge."
"Damn right!"
"Alright."
"A girl?"
"There's nothing wrong with a girl being in charge," Emilia snaps back at Pete, one of Riley's mates.
"She's right," I agree, watching as Emilia shoots a deathly glare across the table to the startled man. "I've been proved wrong many times by that," I admit with a smirk, reminiscing my girl's fiery ways. My dick twitches in my pants slightly and I cough, slouching down in the chair next to me.
"Care to continue, Kieran?" I gesture, Kieran's eyebrows raising at my sudden action before he opens his mouth to continue on from what I was saying.
I notice Emilia's focus switch to me, an arrogant smile spreading over her face as I shuffle in my seat to hide my obvious problem.
Damn, she's still fucking got it.
*~*~*
"That was hot, you know?" Emilia says, shutting the door of the bathroom behind her just as I pull my top over my head, readying myself for a cold shower.
"What?" I furrow my eyebrow at her curiously.
"Saying how much a woman has proved you wrong,"
"Oh, yeah." I grin, watching her blue eyes light up at my words. "Anna really did-"
"Shut the fuck up," she exclaims, reaching out and landing a punch in my gut as I laugh.
"Of course I meant you," I retort, my arms wrapping around her waist from behind. "You're so fucking feisty, so alive," I say against her ear. "You drive me insane." I let my hands move from her waist around to her front, fingers sliding underneath her thin vest top, her bare skin soft to the touch. Her breath hitches slightly, a sound that I happily welcome.
"Good," Emilia replies before pulling out of my grasp and turning around. A smirk dominates her lips as she grabs onto my hand, ever so slowly lifting it up to her neck. Fuck, she knows that's a weak point for me.
She holds me there, my hand caressing her warm, soft skin, before she slowly tightens her grip around my wrist, forcing my hand to move down, my touch lightly grazing over her top and curving out over her ample chest. Fuck!
"Emi..." I moan out. She loops her arm around my neck and leans up, pressing her lips to my ear. The action, minimising the space between us, only works to press my hand against her harder, my dick literally throbbing with fucking need.
"I love that I drive you insane," she whispers before stepping back. My hand falls from her body as she grins, swiftly turning and running out of the bathroom, a giggle trailing behind her.
"Emilia!" I yell out, grabbing hold of the towel beside me and chucking it onto the floor in frustration. Fucking tease.
I spend half an hour in the coldest shower I can muster, my head leaning against the wall as I take care of myself before washing my hair and body. Stepping out, I pull my clothes back on and pull the door open to a bored-looking Riley on the other side.
"You fucking done man?" He scoffs. "You've been ages."
"Yeah," I reply, walking past him. "It's all yours."
Walking down the stairs, I end up in the kitchen, Anna and Kieran both pouring over the table again as they mutter between themselves. Heading straight past them, I stride out the door, immediately hit by the surprisingly warm winter air.
Heidi, Lyla and Kayla are all throwing knives at a nearby tree, Kayla yelling at them profusely every time they get something wrong. That girl has no fucking patience.
Various others are all doing their own thing outside, my eyes trailing over them before they land on Emilia and Sam laughing by the truck. What the fuck are they so happy about? Wait, what? What the fuck is wrong with me? He's her friend...
"Enforcers!" A sudden scream comes from a girl called Pippa as she runs towards the farmhouse from the road, her eyes wide.
"What?" I yell, immediately running in her direction, everyone else freezing in place.
"There's a huge truck... heading our way... up the road..." She manages to get out, her hands on her knees as she tries to catch her breath.
"Fuck!" I exclaim before looking back at the huge eyes watching me. Someone steps forward and I let my gaze fall onto her, Emilia's blue eyes panicked and scared.
"They'll be here in one minute, if that," Pippa announces.
The truck is still positioned where I left it, right in the open driveway. The grass is strewn with our weapons, the farmhouse looking less than deserted.
I glance around at the numerous people, every single one of them looking to me for direction.
We're fucked.
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A bit of a filler chapter to be honest, the shortest one we've had in a long time!
Does anyone feel for Zac? Is he taking on more than he should?