Remember (A Ruby X Liam Story - The Darkest Minds)

Zu

Thanks to @judearabella for the help with the upcoming chapters. I know that it has been a long time since I last updated so thank you for being patient. I'm trying to make up for my lateness with a chapter that is almost three times the length I normally do.

She has never thought this day would come. After years of being in the camps and then on the run, it was finally over. She had reunited with her cousin, but Hina, and they had promised to look out for each other. They had come to this mall to find supplies and while Hina was looking around it was Zu's job to keep watch.

"Zu?"

He was standing in the doorway, with a smile on his face that grew when she turned around. She was happy to see him back and returned the favor. Hina looked up from the food stand she had been rummaging through and walked over to her cousin.

"Who are you?" She asked, looking directly at Liam, one hand on Zu's shoulder in case they had to run.

"My name is Liam and I'm one of Zu's friends. I was the one who looked after her after we escaped." Zu confirmed his words by nodding at Hina, who in turn relaxed a little but only slightly.

The initial confusion was quickly cleared up and before long they were all talking like long-term friends. Well Liam and Hina were, Zu just kinda stood there, interjecting with quick signing to Hina when she had something to add. "So how are Chubs and Ruby?" Liam looked confused but Hina continued, "Zu has told me a bit about them."

"Chub's is fine, but I don't know how you would know Ruby." Neither Zu or Hina could understand his words, they just didn't make sense. Why wouldn't they know Ruby? Zu wanted to press further, but that chance was ruined by a loud sound that echoed through the building.

"What was that?" Hina asked, saying what they all wanted to. No one knew, although it sounded like something falling it was difficult to tell if it was actually as loud as it seemed or just the echoes of an empty and very large building.

"I'm not sure what it could have been, but I do have a semi-working security monitor that we could try to use." Liam stated and gestured for them to follow him. They did but they didn't find anything.

It wouldn't take long, between the three of them, with Liam's minimum knowledge but experience, Hina's book-drawn intelligence but lack of practical usage, and Zu's power over electricity. However when they came to the last few monitors they found that they had no more parts. This system would be helpful, especially considering that there may be others in the building.

"We might need to split up to cover more ground," Hina said and even though it was not the safest option, it would be the quickest. The other advantage was that the mall had three floors, one for each individual. None really knew the layout of the area or where they might find the necessary materials, so staying together would take too long.

They split up and Zu was on her own. The monitors had been briefly scanned and no danger was found. Hopefully there was no one there and it had just been the building settling or something. Maybe there had been something but they had left.

'Yeah that's probably what happened.' Still after everything, one could never be sure.

She had taken the top floor because it was the smallest. The design of the building was a bit weird. The bottom floor covered the entire span of the silhouette, but after that, the second and third floors were rounded in the center. They formed two rings that were focused on a giant fountain. From there the rings formed what could have become a staircase for a giant.

It had taken roughly an hour but she was nearing the end of places to search. There had been a hardware store stuffed in a corner and although she had been able to find a few of the necessary things, the chances of finding anything else were slim.

The last store sold stationary and cutesy notebooks. Zu was about to head back and call it quits, when she heard a loud scream echo off the walls. Her head snapped towards the sound, which had come from the lower levels. The muscles in her limbs tensed, preparing for a fight, but when none came to her, she took off towards the source.

It was most likely Hina; Liam probably wouldn't have screamed that loud and even if there were someone else in there, they likely wouldn't be the ones screaming. She ran as fast as she could and almost flew down the stairs. Any faster she would have been tripping and falling over her own feet. Once on the second floor she passed for a minute, unsure where to go next, but then another yell rang out. This one wasn't as loud or as frightful, it was more like someone was determined to not go down without a fight.

'The only thing that is that far right-' She thought, '-is the food court.' So the young Yellow had her destination. When she arrived, the first thing she saw was Liam with his eyes trained towards the ceiling. He gave no indication of living, other than the rise and fall of his chest. His face was completely blank when she looked at it and gave no indication of fear whatsoever. It gave no indication of anything really, but when she followed his gaze, she found her suspicions to be right. Her cousin, her brilliant-even-before-she-was-a-Green cousin, was being held by the shoulders by an individual, whose gaze cast an orange glow on Hina's face.

AN: Guess who had to completely rewrite a chapter because they hadn't done their research when the chapter was first written and the new information messed with the chapter progression, so the chapter got longer and more complicated in order to keep the next chapters the same and now really need sleep. This dumb ass. (It also took so long because of school and heightened anxiety/ stress) Anyway my birthday is in a couple of days and is on Friday. I also won't be in school tomorrow because my family is in town. Writing will be done, but I don't know how much. Maybe the next chapters will stay the same, but from there I am almost flying in blind. (I might have five chapters laid out already)