4522 {The Number Series}

32

I was released the next morning. Archer helped me find my way back to our normal living area. The building was large, several stories tall, and all looked the same.

"How do you find your way through this?" I asked him in wonder. I knew had time to navigate it to and from my hospital room for things but I could not wrap my mind around it.

"Do you remember when Macallister had us take all of those strange tests?" He returned my question with another question. My eyebrows furrowed together and I gave him a yes. "The maze he had set up for us to find our way through? It seems to be like that. I just discovered which pathways took me to my dead ends."

"Clever," I smiled. "Very clever. I almost forgot about those tests."

"Do you remember teaching me the Rubik's Cube?" He asked as we entered a small library that I had not know was there before.

"I do." He had been having a hard time getting the red all together but he had been so close. He almost gave up when I had stepped in and offered him a lesson.

"I hated that little square with a passion," he smiled as we took as seat at one of the tables. I had the urge to touch the books but I had a feeling they had been kept hidden here for a long time undisturbed and I did not know if I should or not. They were clearly being kept preserved, though not off limits like they had been when I was younger.

"I thought they were testing to see who they were going to kill off because we were bad apples."

"You did?" He leaned towards me, eyes wide, clearly shocked by my statement.

"You didn't?" I questioned. How could he not have?

"Not for a minute," he laughed. "You thought you were being set up to be murdered and so you- what? Decided to show off your skills before they put a bullet in your skull?"

I flinched at the thought. "Well, at that point I did not really care."

"And somehow you figured you could trust Macallister."

"That was part of it." I admitted.

"And how do you feel now?" He lowered his voice. I stared into his hazel eyes and thought about it. I knew Archer's opinion of him quiet well. I just did not know if I disagreed with it, agreed with it, or found myself somewhere in the mess of the in between.

"I want to trust him," I finally concluded. "He's been an important person to me for a long time but I am starting to think we should watch him closely."

"And what if he is like Marie." Archer reached for my hand and I let him hold it. I felt tears prick my eyes. He knew it hurt me to think of Macallister like that. It hurt to think he would betray me. "Or worse?"

"Then we will have to kill him." He almost let go of my hand, startled at how harsh my words came out. "So he better pray to that god they had in the forest that he is telling me the truth and wants only the best to happen."

Archer nodded but he did not know what to fully think of the words I had just said. I switch the topic before he came up with any ideas to influence me about Macallister.

"I did not know there was a library." I said.

"I heard them talking about it when I was leaving the room to shower. I thought you would like to see it."

"You were right," I smiled at him. "They look so fragile with their torn bindings and yellowed paper. I wonder if they made copies of these books just in case anything were to happen to them."

"What could possibly happen to them?" Archer shrugged.

"They burned the last place until there was nothing left."

"That also wasn't their main hiding place. They probably did not keep any of the important stuff there except for us for a while." I watched him wander off in thought. I could not help the jealous feeling I got because I knew he was thinking, and worrying himself, about Jericho despite the fact that she had run from us. She thought we were monsters. I was afraid that part of her was right. As if we could not entirely let go of the city in the way that Macallister wanted and she had never been forced to hold on to.

I wanted to pull him from his racing mind but I did not. I was caught up in my own. The thoughts of my dream from the night before came to mind. My conversation with Macallister about him being a trusted spy for them did not sit well with me, especially with the fact that they had trusted him and had betrayed them. I wished more than anything that this was not part of his ultimate personality. I had never viewed him in bad light and I did not like it. Macallister was like family to me. But Archer still managed to be held above them all despite everything. I knew he was on to something, I just had to figure out what before it was too late.

"Do you think she is alright?" I asked Archer despite not wanting him to think or speak about Jericho.

"I think so." He sad after a pause. "As long as the Officer's never caught her. We received survival training skills. As long as she managed to stay warm in the woods and found things to eat she will be fine until she gets back to the woods."

"You think she is going back?"

Archer nodded. "Where else?"

He was right. I began to worry that she would tell them everything. Jericho did not know nearly as much as us but she knew enough to create a plan of action if she wanted. It was a loose end that I knew was coming back to wrap around our necks, specifically mine. Archer still had a worried look. I held his hand in an attempt to comfort him.

"Everything will be alright." I tried to sound as confident as I could but in truth I did not entirely believe my own words, I just wished it to be true.