Alphas War

Chapter 45

"Ella!"

"Ella!"

"Ella!"

The repetitive sound of someone shouting my name only grew louder as I came to. My head felt hollow as the sound of the deep, croaky voice seemed to bounce around my skull. I parted my dry lips, hoping to breathe out some sort of response, but no sound came.

"Ella!" The voice called again. I recognised it this time. Zach sounded terrified as he called for me, his voice weak but determined. "Wake up."

Coughs and spluttered echoed in my head and I could feel hands on my shoulders, shaking my body gently. I desperately wanted to tell Zach I was awake, to go to him and hold him and kiss him. But I couldn't.

My entire body felt like a rock, completely immovable and heavy on the ground. Every single one of my limbs burned in agony and my stomach felt as though it was a firework on the brink of explosion, sizzling and sparking inside of me.

"El," Zach's voice broke as his hand moved to my head.

I tried so hard to at least peel my eyes open, to look at him and show him that I was awake. But I'd forgotten how to even do that. It was like the muscles in my face wouldn't abide by what my brain was telling them to do.

Zach's fingers stroked down the side of my face while I battled with my exhaustion, wanting to see him, alive and okay, more than anything.

Suddenly, I felt his soft lips on mine, moving slowly over my own, taunting me. Unlike the rest of me, my brain had no control over my lips as I kissed him back, able to do that despite the pain I was in.

"Open your eyes," his deep voice commanded, his breath fanning into my open mouth. "Look at me."

I obeyed. Using every last drop of energy, I peeled my eyes open and reached up to grasp his arm, needing to support my weight as he helped lift me into a sitting position. I wailed at the pain that splintered through my head as I moved, a tear streaming down my cheek.

"I was so worried about you," I managed to force out, my voice a mere whisper.

"I was worried about you," he muttered back, burying his face in my hair and holding me against him.

I peeked over his shoulder to see our friends crowded in the hallway, most of them positioned near the windows that lined the wall, allowing themselves some relief from the pain.

Chris sat closest to us, taking long deep breaths and watching everyone else closely. Liam and Lexi were curled up together in the corner, their faces buried against each other. Olly and Liv sat together with Ryder and Blake, the four of them with their heads hanging out a wide open window. And then Caroline and Jordan comforted each other, their hands linked as both of them had tears streaming down their faces.

It hadn't occurred to me until now that Caroline had been dragged away from Mason with absolutely no idea what had happened to him after we were taken away. Mason was human, so hopefully he was sent home with the rest of the humans after we were taken.

"We need to get out of here," I croaked, pulling away from Zach and attempting to get to my feet.

"How?" Liv grumbled. "None of us have the energy to stand, let alone run."

"If we stay, we'll most likely be killed... or worse," I muttered, clutching Zach for support as he shakily stumbled to his feet beside me.

"Worse?" She asked, her brows raising. "What could be worse?"

Flashbacks of when Zach and I were taken by humans appeared in my mind. It seemed like a lifetime ago but the pain was still fresh in my mind. The agonising experiments, the constant poison, the knowledge that were were trapped and alone - it caused my stomach to churn just thinking about it.