Immune

05

I purse my lips.

Never.

I don't think that's possible. I have decided I'll go back, so I will.

I look up and suddenly notice that his face is too close which is when I realize that he is quite handsome. Chocolate brown swirls for eyes, messy brown hair and a killer jawline. In a different scenario, I'd be smitten. But not here, not now.

"Are you...Uh....Sure?I mean has anyone tried, it isn't fair you know?"

He looks at me, a look in his eyes that said he was already fed up.

He sighs and looks me straight in eye.

"Someone did, alright? Someone did try to run! But you know, you know what happened to him?" His voice is a low shout now and it's surprised me.

I gulp and shake my head no.

"They decided to kill his parents. They decided to fucking kill his parents just because he tried to run!"

I take a sharp breathe.

They killed his parents. Just because he tried to run.

I would think of how cruel and bad that was if I could, in fact, think.

At some point in our conversation, se walked out of the Cafeteria and into an empty hallway.

I am pressed against the wall, Alex towering over me, his face a confusion of anger and regret and worry.

"I am sorry, I just...Just...."

"It's okay Nate. I wanted to run too. Everyone does. I am not angry at you. I am angry at them "

I want to ask who is the them but I figure that wouldn't be very wise at this point.

He runs a hand through his messy brown hair.

"Listen Nate, I don't want you to hurt yourself, alright? You understand me? Don't try running away, we'll get out of this somehow, but don't try to run, alright?"

He takes a step closer.

I nod my head.

He is too close, I think, we are sharing the same air.

I gulp and he probably notices the distance between us and how uncomfortable I must be looking.

He immediately jumps back from me, leaving the air around me cold and empty.

"I...Uh..Sorry....Didn't realize"

"It's okay....Let's just..Uh keep going."

He nods and awkwardly walks down a hallway leaving a safe distance between us.

His cheeks and neck is going red, like he is embarrassed of something. I shake my head.

Stop noticing him so much.

He stops in front of another hall that looks like a training centre. It's full of gym equipment and training people.

"This is where Fire, Flames and Wood practice."

I raise an eyebrow. Not a word registered in my pea sized brain.

"Oh, sorry! You don't know about the categorization. Everyone here is categorized into three groups. Wood, the newbies, Flames, the developing stage and Fire is closed to professional. Every Wood and Flame is paired with a Fire trainee throughout their training until they themselves are in Fire."

"So that's what Arthur meant by senior partner? You are my Fire partner."

He nods a little too enthusiastically.

"Weird names though"

"I know, everything is kinda stupid here. You just have to accept it." He shrugs.

Just then Carl walks by and for the first time I notice his appearance since coming here.

He is not small and thin like 2 years ago. He has grown taller by quite a few inches and his body is now muscled and strong. He stands like he is ready to fight any moment, his posture completely uptight. Like a soldier. Like Alex.

The only thing that remained the same about him were those brown eyes. But even they don't hold the warmth they used to. His face is more defined, good looking. It's magical what two years have done to him.

I sigh.

"You know him, don't you?" Alex says me, snapping me out of the staring.

He starts walking again, taking me to yet another part of this building.

"I.." is it safe to tell him?

"I know you do. He used to talk about you all the time. The Natalie Asher."

"He did?"

"Yeah"

"Then how come he doesn't even remember me?"

He stops walking. I see the muscles in his back tense. I hear him mutter something along the lines of 'I should not have said that.'

He turns towards me looking defeated.

"I...That would be too much for you to know...."

He smack his head. Another murmur.

Should not have said that either!

"You wouldn't let this slide now, would you?"

I shake my head.

He nods.

And then grabs my hand and leads me to deserted corner.

"I shouldn't be telling you this. Especially on your first day. But he was..Is...Your best friend. You deserve to know the truth. I don't think it's the right time to tell you, though."

I just stand there, silently staring at him.

He sighs.

"Okay. Now first of all you talk about this in front of no one, understand?"

I nod.

Another sigh.

"When we came here, when Carl came here, he was quite distraught. Like all of us were, like you are. He was missing his family, he was missing you, he was scared and he felt weak. All of us did. We tried to run. All of us. But that one guy's parents died. So we all stopped any attempts after that. We gave up completely.

Not Carl. But instead of trying to run, he did worse. He started digging into classified information. Like bringing down the AR classified. And Eleanor, the head of Recruit, found out. She wiped his memory. Complete blank. He remembers nothing."