Revolution- Runaways 3 [EDITING]

Chapter 18: Eli

I pulled my shirt off, thankful to finally be climbing in bed beside Peyton. Another camp could be checked off the list, and tonight had been graciously uneventful. I was still shocked we had gotten off the hook so easily. It felt like a trap, but it wasn't.

Peyton was already sound asleep, her wet hair splayed across her pillow. She had gotten in the shower as soon as we walked in the door. I didn't get to shower until after Alex, Laura, and Calli did. Anderson had insisted he didn't need one.

I kissed her cheek softly. I would never again take it for granted that she was right here beside me. I hated that it took me dying and coming back to life to reach that conclusion.

Someone knocked on our door from the floor above us. "Eli, can you get that?" Calli asked. "We're all asleep."

I groaned. "Didn't know you could speak so clearly in your sleep," I muttered. I threw the covers back off reluctantly and trudged up the stairs. Justin stood on the other side of the door, and his expression scared me. I'd never seen him show this much fear before.

"Listen, I'm so sorry, but we have to get on the plane now. We're meeting everyone else at CCSA headquarters in Vancouver. Can you wake everyone up and meet me in fifteen minutes?"

"What happened?" I couldn't hold back my concern.

He just shook his head. "I'll tell you when we leave." He shut the door behind him, leaving me standing there in the dark.

I flipped the light switch beside my head. I was met with several complaining voices, but I ignored them. "Pack your stuff. We need to be at the plane in ten minutes." Half of them probably wouldn't be ready in fifteen minutes, even if I told them ten. "Anderson, can you tell them downstairs?"

He slid off his bunkbed and opened the door to the third floor. I heard him shout something like what I had just said.

"Eli, what's going on?" Peyton's voice was thick with sleep.

I took my t-shirt from where I'd thrown it on the bed. "We're going to Canada."

"What?"

I shrugged. "Something must have happened. Justin didn't say. He just wants us upstairs and on the plane in a few minutes."

"I hope everything's okay."

"I think that's a foolish hope," I replied.

I collected what few belongings I had and shoved them into my backpack. I didn't want to think about what Justin was about to tell us. The possibilities running through my head only got more discouraging.

Minutes later, we were in the sky. Peyton, who hadn't been able to hold her eyes open earlier, was now wide awake beside me. I took her hand, trying to prevent her from picking at a cut on her arm that hadn't fully healed yet.

"Just tell us," Micaiah insisted.

Justin sighed. "Eli, you know how you said the head of Blue Lake had purposely not enforced the new security measures?"

A lump formed in my throat. "Yeah."

"Littlerock did. The officers were completely immune to everyone's abilities. They let everyone in, but it wasn't because the mind tricks prevented them from seeing what they were doing. They did so just to get them all in one place. Only Liz, Luke, Adam, and Daniel made it out, along with two of our five contacts. Several of them came out with bullet wounds that Preston, our contact with healing abilities, took care of before they left. Less than half of the kids are expected to have made it out."