Where We Go | Book Three

41. What They Believe

There was an icy chill in the lab. It felt as if someone had dragged their cold finger straight down my spine. The silent stares were resounding as one by one their heads turned, one by one landing on me.

I swallowed the lump that had wedged itself in my throat. "Someone from Land's End figured it out," I spoke with a rasp. "He cornered me... And now GUN knows too."

Dr Lawson sat back, folding her arms across her body. "You had one job," she spoke, narrowing her darkened eyes. "How could you be that careless?"

"She wasn't careless," Ben snapped, shooting daggers across the table. "He figured it out and tried to kill her. It wasn't her fault."

"Either way," I exhaled, slowly resting my hand over Ben's to calm him. "That's where we're at right now." The exhaustion was approaching like a train toward a tunnel, but everything was only just beginning. I couldn't let myself shut down now.

"Are you sure he figured it out?" she pressed. "What if someone told him? Or he heard about it... I'll bet you've already lost track of who knows your secret by now."

"It's not any of us," I said, refusing to rise to her insult. "I trust them."

"First mistake," she scoffed. "You shouldn't trust anyone. All anyone's doing is looking out for themselves."

Ben rested his elbows against the table. "That still doesn't change anything... GUN still knows."

Her head tilted. "What about your little whistle-blower?"

"We dealt with him on the way here," Donut joined in. "Took great pleasure in that one."

Ben raised a brow. "But that's only one of god knows how many."

"And that puts the whole process at risk..." she sighed.

"Exactly."

She pursed her lips, cocking her head. Her eyes darted between the group like she was assessing us, going through every possibility before looking directly at me. 

"We're already working around the clock to make this work... We're going to need more samples in case the worst happens."

I nodded. "Whatever you need."

"In the meantime, you need to be more careful about who knows your little secret. GUN is already on a power trip trying to shut down anything related to a cure. We'd all be screwed if they got inside here."

"Do you know why?" Donut asked. "Why a group like them would be against a cure?"

She looked around her team, landing on one of the other scientists and nodding her head. Slowly, he took a step forward. "GUN is an independent group. They formed themselves..." he explained. "Rumours are they cleared out a whole military base and that's why they've got all the equipment they do."

"Which means?"

He almost laughed. "It means they don't answer to anybody. They're thriving in their little community... Think about it," he said. "Everything works for them right now. They're in exactly the positions they want to be. They've got everything now that they never had before all this... Wouldn't you want to keep everything the same if that was the case?"

"But people are dying?" I spoke.

"Doesn't matter," he shrugged. "It's just a different way of life. People adapt all the time... They think they're protecting everyone."

"They won't even give the cure a chance?" Ben scowled.

"It's not worth trying to convince them," he answered. "It's what they believe."

Ben leant back in his chair. "So, it's all in or this isn't going to work?"

"Now we're on the same page," Dr Lawson smiled.

"How far along is your cure?" I pressed. "How long is it going to take?"

Her shoulders lifted. "I can't give you a straight answer. The cure is one thing but what you've asked us to do with it... It's a lot."

"But it's possible, right?" Ben scowled. "You're not going to come back to us later saying you can't do it?"

Dr Lawson gave a slow nod of her head. "It's possible," she confirmed. "It's just not easy."

*

The sky was speckled with glistening stars by the time we left the lab and were nearly back on the main road. My arm felt bruised, and my head was dazed from the samples they'd taken. Ben's grip was tight around my hand as he sat beside me in the back seat.

"We're going to be okay," he whispered in my ear. "I promise."

"Stop saying that," I replied in a low voice. "We're not out of the woods yet. You can't promise anything."

"I can be hopeful," he said. "I'm being hopeful."

His grip on me didn't release until we both turned to the window. In the distance, a set of bright lights was fast approaching, and I squinted trying to make out the shape. My blood ran icy cold when the realisation came. 

They were headlights.

"Watch out!" I screamed.

The truck slammed into the side of ours. Ben's body slammed into me, and my head slammed into the seat in front. My body collapsed with my head against my knees, and a high-pitched tone rang in my ears.

Their weapons were raised, their torches shining through the window. In the night, their pupils shone a deathly glow. They approached the truck slowly, each footstep picking its place carefully.

"Any brilliant ideas?" Donut muttered under his breath, still holding his hands in the air.

"Stay calm," Ben replied, frozen beside me.

"Ben," Tom whispered. "Are you being serious?"

The men were close now, slowly approaching the Donut's window. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears and the thrum of my pulse against my neck.

"We don't know what they want," Ben said. "Play it safe."

One of the guards tapped a knuckle against the window, startling all of us. Donut rolled down the glass, revealing the face of the man behind the rain-soaked window. He had a dark beard and almost black hair which was pulled back into a short ponytail.

"I promise we weren't trying to hit you," he said in a low voice. "We didn't expect anyone else to be out here."

The man behind him nudged his shoulder, gesturing for them to go back to their truck. "Come on," he urged. "Melanie will kill us if we're not back soon."

"Just a minute," the other man replied in a low voice. "They could know something."

"Know what?" Tom spoke up.

He leant against the car, ducking his head to speak to Tom through the window. "There was another of us. We got separated earlier tonight but we can't find him. I don't suppose you've seen anyone?"

Tom quickly shook his head. "Just you two... We're just trying to head back to our base and got lost."

The man with the ponytail cocked a brow. "Land's End?"

"Yeah," Donut confirmed. "If you could just point us the right way back."

He pointed a finger to the right of us. "Follow the path down that way out the trees, you should hit their border."

"Thank you," Donut replied. "We'll try and get word to you guys if we see anything."

"We'd appreciate that," the man nodded, glancing into the backseat. "We're not far from here and we stop by at Land's End from time to time just to check in on things... I expect we'll see each other soon regardless."