Revolution- Runaways 3 [EDITING]

Chapter 4: Eli

The news still hadn't sunk in yet. Yes, we'd freed the camp, but we'd lost well over two hundred people to someone or something we didn't even know the name of. How was that a victory? We had no lead at all on the captor or captors either. How could we be sure this wouldn't happen next week?

Michelle and Justin were kind enough to cook a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and croissants for us, even though it was almost eleven. Peyton and I decided we would eat downstairs with Luke, so Micaiah and Reese followed us with a plate in each hand. Colin was still behind them with the wheelchair.

Micaiah decided to stay with us while we ate. He sat on the edge of Luke and Marcus's bed, dangling his feet off the side. "How are you doing?" he asked Peyton.

She shrugged. "Considering I just lost Aaliyah and now I'm about to lose my best friend, not to mention I've got a giant cast on my ankle, I've been better." Her arms were still raw too, although some wounds were starting to scar. She was lucky she had been through a fire recently, so she had an excuse to give the hospital. We'd barely avoided a questioning session with the psychiatrist yesterday.

He nodded. "Figures. When was your surgery?"

"Around nine or ten Wednesday morning. They put a dozen-odd pins in my ankle to hold it in place and told me to stay overnight so they could monitor my recovery. I was released yesterday morning around noon and then Justin flew us here," she explained.

"I don't want to think about what could have happened if you didn't find her," I interjected. I hadn't been thinking when I told him to go find her two nights ago. We were about to exit the camp, and she was the only one I'd noticed who was missing. I didn't think something would be wrong. I shuddered at the thought of what could have happened if I didn't tell Micaiah to look for her.

"I didn't think twice about it," he remarked, brushing me off. "I just wish we'd done the same for Aaliyah."

"She would have been dead anyway," Luke muttered.

We all snapped our heads to look at him. Even Marcus, who seemed to be attempting to wake up, looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?" I asked coldly.

He and Peyton exchanged a glance. "I thought you told them," Peyton stated. He shook his head. She blew out a breath like she was trying to figure out how to say it. "The fire was started in the recruitment facility by a...woman. She followed us, I think, or rather, she followed me." She was tripping over her words nervously. "I don't know what she was doing there. She lit a cigarette and—uh, well, she dropped the match on the ground. She struck several others and dropped them to make sure the ground caught, and eventually the building caught too."

"She chased us out of the building," Luke added. "Kylie led with her invisibility, so the woman was distracted for a moment. Peyton followed her and I grabbed Aaliyah's hand to drag her behind me. I guess she let go at one point, and I have no doubt the woman caught up and shot her almost immediately." He spoke in a monotone, his face expressionless. It was the face of someone who'd cried all his tears and was stuck with a well of sadness dammed inside of him.

Micaiah's eyes looked like they were going to bulge out of his head. I'm sure mine looked the same. "What the hell does she want to do with us?" he practically shouted.

"Micaiah, it was—"

"No, I know who it was. I don't have to ask you. I could tell both of you knew her the second you started talking. It was that blonde woman," Micaiah interrupted Luke. Anger burned in his eyes. "Fuck. Her."

Peyton's eyebrows furled. "You both know her too? What? How?"

Micaiah exhaled, trying to compose himself. "When we were looking for you, we came across her in Zellwood. Long story short, she's an ex-officer from Apopka and doesn't care about anyone except herself. She was fired from camp and is supposedly working with Clayson doing God knows what."