Bliss

Chapter 26

"Garion?" Zack said, stumbling back a bit. Margo held him steady.

"What are you doing here?" Garion demanded. His face showed no joy at seeing his friends. In fact, his fingers curled around the gun in his holster.

"You're alive!" Zack exclaimed, surging forward to hug Garion.

His gun was out in a flash, not aiming at Zack, but at Margo's head. "You shouldn't be here, Zack," he said steely.

Zack seemed to shrink. His eyes lingered at the gun pointing at Margo. "Put down the gun," he said.

"You need to leave," Garion replied.

"Put down the gun, Garion."

"Zack, just go," Holland said. He looked freshly awaken and Freya was stirring beside him.

Margo swallowed hard. "We're here to take them home. We want to take you home too."

"This is my home," Garion said.

"No, it's not. Eden is your home," Zack told him. "We're going to save you."

It was funny words coming from a guy whose girlfriend had a gun aimed at her head. 

Garion took a step closer to Margo and Zack's hand darted to his pocket. "Don't touch her," Zack said. "I swear, if you touch her—"

"Zack?" muttered Freya. Her red hair was wild, and so were her eyes. "You idiots! Get out of here!"

Now Garion had his gun pressed against Margo's temple. "You have to listen," he begged. His voice was thick and one of his tears landed on Margo's head. "These aren't the bad guys. They never were."

"They captured you and killed your friends!"

"No, Linden. That wasn't them. It was the leaders of Crud," said Garion.

"Now you're out of your mind," Zack barked.

"No! Listen! They sent troops to Eden that day and disguised them as Spartans. Those of us who were captured were taken here. The Spartans get paid for each prisoner, and as long as we keep them—"

"We?" Margo asked, picking up on his word choice. 

Almost subconsciously, he pressed the gun harder to her head, and she made a mental note not to speak again.

Zack's eyes blazed with fury. "So you expect us to believe Spartans are good?"

"They are! They care about each other! They don't try to fight Crud or the cities. They don't intervene."

"So they suck up to the cities instead?" Zack accused.

"You don't understand. You weren't born in the cities, Linden. You wouldn't get it."

"These are our friends!" Zack exclaimed, gesturing to Holland and Freya, who were both on their feet now.

"The cities gave them to us for a reason. They're a danger."

Freya barked a harsh laugh. 

Garion whipped around to her, swore, and turned back to Zack. "You need to leave. Right now."

"Put down your gun."

"You're not taking them," Garion said, nodding his head at Freya and Holland.

Zack's lip quivered. "Everyone misses you. Loveridge and I take walks every day looking for you. Davia and Elliott are destroyed without you, man. We want you to come home."

"Get out!" Garion shouted. "Get out before I kill you all!"

Zack let out a heartbroken sob before pulling a small device from his pocket and shooting it at Garion. He fell, seemingly electrocuted, his body convulsing.

Freya and Holland raced forward as Zack and Margo ran out of the cell. The mayor wasn't at his desk. There was screaming outside.

The group burst out of the building to find a massacre. 

Bullets flashed by, but not at Zack and Margo. The Spartans' focus was on the woods, where Jess and the others had been.

Zack swore.

"Just run," Freya said. 

They all sprinted forward through the chaos. Zack shot his gun at the woods for good measure. It was a blind shot, but it stopped anyone from suspecting them.

Once they reached the woods, there was silence. The shooting stopped. The screams ceased.

It had turned into the Hemlock Massacre, except Eden was the one to incite it.