Walking Amongst Them (Among Us, Book 2)

fleeting moments

That night I dreamed that I was the one in Michael's tube.

By the time I woke up, I had sweat through my clothes and left an impressive wet puddle on the sheets I'd slept on. I sat straight up, looking around the room groggily. The curtains blocked out a lot of light, leaving the room dark enough that I suspected we both slept later than we'd meant to.

I changed my clothes quickly, pulling on what I found in the closet. The pants were too small for me, so I kept my sweats that I'd been given the previous night. It occurred to me while I stole Stephanie's clothes, that we'd need to act like we planned on staying.

Sam had left last night with the promise of sharing the plan with the others.

My stomach fluttered at the thought. It was a nervous feeling, though. The plan was loose at best. It could work, if everything went perfectly and no variables got in our way. The more I dwelt on it, the less confidence I felt.

We would all get out of here.

I had to believe it.

Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that Sam had been holding back about something. I wasn't sure what he could possibly have been avoiding, but the feeling remained. I just hoped it wouldn't effect our escape. Maybe he and Clarke had finally stopped making eyes at each other from across the room and had moved on to other things.

"Where did you find that shirt?" Cody's sleep heavy voice startled me.

I turned from the window I'd been trying to look out, and stared at him. He had sat up, and was rubbing his hand across his face in attempt to wipe the sleepaway. I stepped away from the window, hyper aware of the black band t shirt I'd acquired.

"Stephanie's closet."

He nodded. I wasn't sure what to do with myself as he hopped down from the bed he'd taken the prior night. He walked over to the closet and raided it for himself, finding a shirt that she probably used to sleep in, and putting it on. He tossed his discarded shirt in the corner of the room and fixed the shoes he'd left on to sleep.

When he'd finished tying, he brought his gaze back to me.

"Ready?"

My thoughts must have been on my face.

"What's wrong?" he looked genuinely interested in my answer, and impatient at the same time.

"We're cool, right?"

He looked taken back, the impatience lessening in his eyes as he regarded me closer. I wasn't even sure what I meant by it. Such a general question. It was inadequate compared to all we'd been through the last couple of weeks.

"We're more than cool, Kodi."

His words made me feel as though I'd been reset. All of my anxieties, faded so quickly that I wasn't even sure what the core of them had been about. It didn't matter, anyways. As long as we were on the same side, problem free, it would work.

Cody narrowed his eyes in my direction, "you okay?"

I inhaled deeply, feeling new life enter my lungs as I did. I gave him a quick nod," yup! Ready to go meet a power happy researcher?"

He gave me a look and then shook his head, smirking a bit as he turned and opened the door. He moved his chin, motioning me onward and I walked out the room. He shut it behind us, and after adjusting to the mid morning light, we started walking in the direction that we'd come from the night before.

I was hungry, but it was closer to noon than it was to whenever they did breakfast over here. The uninterrupted, unworried sleep I'd gotten during the night made up for the choice words my stomach was giving me. I could tell that Cody felt similarly. He stared at the gardens when we passed, but didn't say anything.