Revolution

- 27 -

I grab the collar of the hoodie Emma's wrapped in and yank her out of the car. She exclaims, still half awake as she hits the pavement. My blood is boiling. "Who did you tell?" I yell. She whimpers, blinking her eyes of sleep furiously. She mumbles incoherently. I grit my teeth. "Who are you in contact with?"

"What is wrong with you, Paige?" She grumbles, holding her elbow.

"The agent. How could he have known we were here?"

"What agent?" Her eyes open wide and glance around anxiously. She almost looks innocent. I remind myself there is no way anyone would have known we were here and if she's leaving a breadcrumb trail, I want to know now so I can make room in that closet.

"The man at the vending machines. He held me at gunpoint and I killed him. Who else did he bring and how did he know we were going to stop here?"

"I don't know! I don't know what you're talking about!"

I shove her to the ground and run my hands through my tangled hair in frustration. None of this makes sense, but there has to be an explanation.

"Seriously, Paige, what the fuck. I'm obliged to ask if you're okay but I don't know anything about what you're talking about!" She twists her shoulder and reveals a spot of blood on her elbow. "Why are you so paranoid? What is wrong with you?"

"Who are you talking to at Dynagenesis?"

"No one!"

"How did the agent know where we were?"

"I don't know!"

"Why did he wait until you left to pull a gun on me?"

"Paige, how am I supposed to know?" She stumbles to her feet, and even though she's still a few inches shorter than me and looks like a joke in her oversized hoodie and messy hair, her eyes are filled with frustration and confusion. For a girl who remembers everything, she seems to have forgotten my wildfire personality. At the same time, I feel the anger draining out of me. I don't understand what's going on. It's not fair to blame it all on her.

"I'm sorry. I just... it freaked me out, I guess." I gesture toward her elbow. "Do you want a bandage for that?"

"I'm fine." She furrows her eyebrows at me and hoists herself back into the passenger seat, not breaking eye contact the whole time. I feel bad for assuming her guilt. We both worked to escape, and neither of us want to go back to the facility. I glance at the ground.

"I just want us to be safe," I murmur, feeling like I've hit a dead end. "I just want to find the others and move on."

"Let's think about this rationally. If neither of us had found each other, if Brandon hadn't found you, where would we be?"

I chew on my lip for a moment. "I'd find food first, and then I'd have to find somewhere to sleep, but since I don't think any of us really understand the concept of currency, I wouldn't buy one, I'd probably just take it or find somewhere else to stay. Maybe that's why it took them so long to get out of jail. It was a place to sleep. I hope Dynagenesis hasn't gotten them yet."

Emma wets her lips. "Paige, I know you're going to freak out when I tell you this, but please don't."

I whirl around to face her again. "What are you not telling me?"

"They... they were gonna go back to Dynagenesis. I didn't want to go with them but they were injured and starving and just, I don't know, weren't prepared for a world like this. I knew I'd find one of you but they went back."

I swear, my heart stopped beating.

I only realized I was holding my breath in shock until my lungs started to burn. "What?" I stutter out stupidly, and Emma's eyes start to well with tears.

"They were going to die. Clarissa was shot through her stomach, Liam couldn't use his ability and it was killing him, and Sarah had so many of her bones broken that she couldn't heal. It was horrible to watch. It was just snap, snap, snap, and instead of healing she just kept bleeding. I am so, so sorry, Paige, but they couldn't make it out here. They agreed to go back."

Something is choking me. It's wrapping around my throat, cutting off my circulation, preventing me from taking a single breath. My fingers are too numb to claw for it. They're gone. They're all gone. Black spots spin in front of my vision, and they left of their own accord. It's like they're standing in front of me, Clarissa bleeding from her abdomen, her palms pressing against the wound, the soul of a broken fighter crying I want to go back, I want to go back, please, take me back.

"Who's left?" My voice is barely above a whisper, the freezing wind carrying away my pulse.

"The three of them from the jail, but other than them, I don't know. They said if they were to find anyone on their way back, they would take them with. They're looking and hurting. I swear to you, though, Paige, it's for the best. It's the best for them."

Images of syringes and basins fill my head. Tests and screens and things I could never control, all things I associate with the facility, and maybe the same things never happened to them, but how anyone would want to go back there, injured as they may be... and they just went back. Isabelle could be sitting in the corner of her cell, twisting her hair anxiously, regretting in the same way I am. She wouldn't have walked back. Would she?

I rub my nose. "I can't go back there. I'm not saving them a second time."

"Paige, they'd follow you until the end of the world. They just want to be safe and, you know, not have a bullet through the stomach. They're doing what they can to survive."

I don't know what to say to that. I'll never understand.

I give her a nod, bracing my hand against the door. "Okay. Okay. Okay."

"I'm so sorry." Sympathy reflects in her eyes. I don't know what I'm feeling. It's somewhere between too much for me to take and so little I feel like I'm not alive at all. It's just numb. She glances down at the ground, taking a shaky breath. "Paige, give me the gun."

I do. I give her both. She tucks them into the glovebox, next to the car's manual and a small tablet.

They're not my problem. They are their own people, free to make their own choices, even if it means taking that freedom away. If Emma's right, and they went back successfully, then there's nothing I can do to stop them. I just want to keep them safe. That's all I want. I just want them to be safe.

"I know that look."

I glance up at her, confusion written on my tear-stained face. She nods and continues quietly, as though I'm a delicate creature fearful of loud noises. I suppose I am. "You're trying to determine what kind of a threat they are."

"No."

"Yes."

"No! It's their own choice."

She cocks her head. "And that's what makes your scared, isn't it?"

My shaky breathing is all the answer she needs, and she averts her eyes. I didn't even realize I was doing it, but Liam is a Category 9; they won't hesitate to extract any and all information from him. From any of them. And if they mutants have met Emma, and not only checked up on each other but discussed their plans... We're at risk. We're all at risk.

"How much did you tell them?" I ask, avoiding her statement altogether.

"Not much. Just that I was going to go looking for you guys. Unfortunately, it never seems to work out in your favor, does it?"

Before I realize it, something is pressed against my neck, cold metal digging into my skin. It's not a gun but I tilt my head away regardless, still barely comprehending what's going on. Hands grip my hair painfully and I feel something being slipped over my ears, clamped and locked behind the skin, dulling the sound around me. Emma stares emotionless as I slip to my knees. I reach out with my ability feebly, but I can't feel anything, and a high pitched buzz emits from the earpieces.

My mouth feels dry when I speak, and my vision starts to fade, but I manage to hiss a single word. "Why?"

Emma smiles down at me, and if she responds, I don't hear it. My body tips forward, and I glimpse Brandon slumped against the steering wheel. I don't even feel my body hit the ground.