Revolution- Runaways 3 [EDITING]

Chapter 8: Luke

I tossed and turned all night. Dreams of Marcus holding me plagued my subconscious, and every time I was slammed back into the reality without him, my heart broke all over again. Nightmares of fires and school buses danced between the dreams, causing screams to echo in my ears. Every time I awoke from those, I found myself paralyzed, a figure resembling the blonde woman looming over my sleeping form.

The alarm clock finally blared at eight o'clock the next morning. I had never been more grateful to hear the high-pitched beeps it was emitting. I slammed a fist into it as I sat up to rub the sleep out of my eyes. I turned to see Eli's arm still draped across Peyton's back. They were both just starting to wake up.

"Luke?" Peyton met my eyes somberly. "Your eyes are so dark."

"I don't doubt it," I answered groggily.

"Rough night?" I nodded. "I'm sorry. Believe me, I understand."

Eli grunted beside her. "We don't speak of those times." I barely heard his voice, as his face was shoved into his pillow. Peyton nudged him gently. He swatted her hand away multiple times until he finally rolled over.

I chuckled. "Someone isn't a morning person."

He just grunted, ignoring me as he sat up to stretch. He bent to kiss Peyton's cheek softly before he turned to look at me. "Luke, you look like you've been awake for days. She wasn't kidding."

My fingers found my eyes again, attempting to rub the sleep out of them a second time. "Is it really that bad?"

"It's fine Luke. We're here if you need to talk." Peyton brushed him off before he could answer. "Now, we're supposed to pack and leave here for the other house before ten. That gives us less than two hours for all of us to shower, eat, and pack."

"It's not like we need that much time anyways," I pointed out. "We have what...maybe five things to pack?" She just rolled her eyes.

"I might need that long. Showering with this thing isn't easy." She gestured toward the cast on her leg.

"You know, I can always help you with that." Eli waggled his eyebrows playfully. She chuckled, smacking his arm. "What?" he protested. "I mean, I could." Peyton just sighed and rolled her eyes.

"All right, well, you get started on that Peyton. I'm going to pack. I guess he can too," I said, nodding to Eli.

He shrugged. "I may as well just leave with the clothes on my back. There's nothing else here."

As Peyton hobbled into the bathroom to bathe and Eli tried to muster enough energy to climb out of bed, I dug through my backpack. It reminded me of collecting Marcus from the bunker that night and scrambling to get out of Apopka.

There was hardly anything in there. I had decided to throw out any food I was harboring, and that left a box of matches, a couple of flashlights, a tarp, a knife, and my old, soiled hoodie, jeans, and t-shirt that had been half my wardrobe for the past four weeks. I'd thrown out my smoky clothes from Wednesday as soon as we got here, and I had been wearing the clothes that Michelle gave me since then.

The clothes were the only things I found worth packing. We would probably be able to wash them somewhere soon. As far as I knew, this was the last day we'd be spending in this house, and then we would move somewhere else.

I emptied the rest of the contents on the floor, planning to dispose of it as soon as Peyton finished showering. Flipping the backpack over, I opened every pocket to make sure I wasn't missing anything. To my surprise, a thin gold chain slid out. My eyes widened, tears brimming in the edges. I had forgotten I even packed this.