Free Minds

Chapter 117.

   Not too long after Dorian's violent response to Camila taking his hand, I noticed there weren't any more secretions coming from Dorian's face.

   This had to mean something was going right...

   ...Right?

   A well-known thump answered my question. My heart leaped when I looked over my shoulder to see another Zavolonian, different from the one I'd just heard, dropping to the floor. It was barely a second before another followed. And another. And another. The next three times I blinked, five more students were on the floor, Minji included. These fast-paced falls continued on with a level of consistency that brought tears to my ears.

   Rav couldn't stop beaming. I was too occupied laughing and wiping the tears gushing down my cheeks to rub an 'I told you so' in his face. I supposed I could do it when all this was over.

   No longer an if, but when.

   For some reason though, when I glanced at Dorian's hands over Camila's, my memories flickered to the time in Cami's room where she shocked me with her and Dorian's dating history. I knew it was ridiculous to think about that now but I couldn't suppress the sickening feeling that crawled within me.

"What's wrong?" Rav's voice snapped me back to reality.

"What? Nothing? Why do you ask?"

   He shrugged. "You just had this really weird look."

"Huh" I merely said, trying to hold back my smile when I focused on Dorian once more.

   And to think I teased him for his 'look' when Rav kissed me and I was with Landon outside the motel. At least he would never know about this. Not unless Rav...

   The first thing I saw turned to my side was Rav's lips pulled up into an exaggerated grin.

"Sooo..." I ignored the nudge I received as he drawled. "The boy we love, huh?"

"Yeah." I swallowed, not liking how his memory of my earlier rant was so vivid. "We. As in us... the group."

   More nudges. "Sure, Beth."

   Holding my tongue, I whirled to face the crowd once more, startled by how the number of students still standing had reduced from hundreds to less than 50 in just a few minutes. Talise wasn't amongst them, making me feel a bit bummed. She was already on the floor.

   Was it weird to want to see the moment one's best friend toppled to the floor?

   Soon, there were 30 students left, still collapsing with a sequence similar to domino tiles. By the time the number dropped to eleven, Rav and I held onto each other, becoming the other's only reason we weren't falling like the rest.

   I kept muttering, "Come on Dorian, come on Cami." when there were ten more Zavolonians left.

   Nine...

   Eight...

   Seven...

   Six...

   Five...

   Four...

   Three...

   Two...

   The impatient new batch of tears welled up in me fell together with the last person.

"YES! YES! YES!"

   Although everywhere was filled with only Rav and I's jumps cheers, the entire room seemed to shake. As my heart threatened to burst out of my chest from pumping too fast and my face this close to splitting into two from so much smiling, I couldn't think of any other moment that would make me happier than now.

   With every Zavolonian, Talise and those outsiders Speck brought on the floor, everything that led to this point suddenly felt worth it. Even our first failed plans from the bunker. God, we'd grown since then. Even the risk we took with Talise. Even the physical strides with regard to the intense exercises, practice fights, actual fighting, things my body wouldn't have survived weeks ago. Even basically sacrificing Dorian and Cami.

   Dorian and Cami!

"Rav!" I felt bad from snapping him out of his overjoyed state, but with one look at me, I knew he understood.

   We found them still in their cross-legged, hands on hands position. I shot Rav a hopeful look before he went to separate them. I released a relieved breath when, unlike the last time, all his actions were carried out with much ease.

   The now charred Neuroskel crumbled into indiscernible pieces once removed from Dorian's head and in Rav's hold.

   From where I was standing, nothing could put it back together, let alone get it working as the mind-controlled powerhouse it once was.

   Good.

   My chest tightened when I caught a glimpse of Cami swaying back with a disturbed expression. I rushed to her, my arms being the much-needed last minute barrier between her head and the cold floor beneath.

   I positioned her unconscious frame between my legs, looking across me to see Rav doing the same with an equally unresponsive Dorian.

"What do we do?" Rav asked in a shaky voice.

   I didn't like how I looked away from that question. But I couldn't give him an answer I didn't have.

   Words could not describe the relief that burst through me when I felt movements in my arms which were not from me. I glanced down to see Camila stirring under me with a frown. Laying her all the way on the floor, I stepped back to give her space.

   After several more seconds of unconscious movements, I watched her inhale a harsh, lung-filling breath which jolted her awake.

   The first thing Camila did upon seeing me was ask, "Where am I?"

   Not sure what to do, I waited for time to make it all come back to her. Sure enough, a few seconds was all she needed for the stupefied expression her face held to go away. Unfortunately, that sense of awareness came with a thunderclap headache that sent her hands flying to soothe her head.

   Once again, time did its thing and got rid of the pain eventually.

   When Camila regarded me for the second time, hesitancy all over while she questioned, "Is it done?"

   I replied with fervent nods and smiles.

   That reply was all she needed to hear to double over in exhaustion. I was by her side, providing the physical and other kinds of support I could.

   I helped Camila to her feet when she asked to see the fallen students. Not surprisingly, one look has her bawling pools of joy. Camila clung onto me, crying and laughing with so much hysteria that I almost missed the broken calls of my name from behind.

   Almost.

   I turn around, my face falling when I see Dorian still motionless in his brother's arms.

"Beth," I moved my gaze to see tears staining Rav's scrunched face. "He's not breathing."

   And at that moment, all the air eluded my body and I couldn't bring myself to inhale as I ran and fell before them.

"I-I a-already checked," Rav sniffed, when my hands reached for Dorian's neck for a pulse.

   I paid him no mind, doing so anyway. I ignored how my chest thumped when I didn't feel anything, moving to his right wrist.

   Nothing.

   Then his left.

   My stomach dropped.

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