Can't Hide Forever - The Darkest Minds

Three

Cate leads me to a table with a few kids. They all stare at me with pasted-on smiles. "This is Tess, she will be joining your group for a while until we can put together another on, she's a green". Cate starts going down the line of all the kids "This is Nico and that's Chubs, both green, Vida's a blue, so is Liam. Little Jude over here is yellow so is Zu. Ruby is an orange."

I scan over all of them, a little surprised to find an orange amongst the mix. I notice Jude run to get a chair for me and I sit down, giving him a small smile in return. "I see you came from Thurmond, I saw the uniform when you walked in. I was there too, so was Nico," Ruby tells me. I nod. "Cate broke me out of camp too actually," Ruby adds.

I give her a questioning look. "They didn't break me out of camp," I say and realize it was a mistake because all of their eyes trail towards me. "How the hell did you get out then," Vida says with a harsh, accusing tone.

I freeze. What am I supposed to say? I released my unholy wrath upon them, burning the whole wing and then mind controlled all the PSF to open the gate. Instead, I let my eyes drop down and let the silence answer their lingering question. "Where did the league find you?" Ruby decides to ask intead. "In the woods. I was trying to cross a road and didn't see them coming around the turn." I pause, "Then they took me."

They all wince at the harshness in my tone when mentioning how I was taken, not rescued. "Well, you should be happy your here, you probably wouldn't last by yourself." Vida says in an insulting way. "I was doing just fine actually," I defend. Her eyes trial over my body, undoubtingly taking in my malnourished state. "Doesn't look like it," she mutters. Then Liam chimes in. "How long were you out before they found you?" I think for a moment. "Probably a few weeks," I say and they all nod.

I turn to see Ruby, giving me a questioning look. Her gaze drags across all my features as if trying to uncover all my secrets. The second she sees me notice, her head whips away. She might be an orange, but so am I. She can't get in my head I tell myself to calm her indecisiveness when accepting my answers.

I feel a light tap on my shoulder, I turn around to find Cate. "Hey, Alban wants to meet you." When she sees my confused expression she adds, "He likes to meet all of the newcomers." I follow her hesitantly as she leads me out of the cafeteria.

We swing through a few hallways to find a door. Cate opens it. Inside I see Cole, with a now purple and green bruise sitting on his jaw. Rob sits beside him with a cowardly grin. Behind the desk is a man who I assume is Alban. Cate gestures for me to sit in the chair. When I do Alban begins to speak. "Hello Tessa, I'm Alban and I just wanted to check in to see how you're doing," he says with a smile.

"Great," I say with a tinge to my tone. Alban sighs "I know you were a bit - well - uncertain when they brought you here. I want you to know you are safe here and there's nothing to worry about." I think about how easy it would be to reach into his mind to find out the truth. There's something off about him. "Got it," I reply. "Ok well I just wanted to check-in, you are all excused." I stand up fast and head towards the door.

I'm halfway down the hallways when I feel another hand on my shoulder. What this time? I whip around to see Cole standing there. "Hey. I know he can be a bit intimidating so I wanted to ask, are you actually doing ok?" I can see the kindness in his words and eyes, I ease. "Given the circumstances," I reply. He nods and turnes to walk away.

"Hey, sorry about your face, I kinda freaked out," I say which makes him laugh. "Don't worry about it T, I've taken a lot worse than an elbow to the face. But I must say, very impressive darlin'." I wince at his nickname. "Don't call me that." He chuckles but doesn't repond as he continues down the hall and out of sight.