2634: Dalmore

Chapter 11

‘Join the Rebels,’ the words echo through my ears over and over again. ‘Don’t trust them’, ‘AIC can rot in hell’. Whoever wrote this is mad out of their mind.
‘As you were saying?’ Kyle says as I snap out of my thoughts. It is currently breakfast time and the words from the puzzle pieces still remain alien to me, though I haven't told anyone yet. Though something even bigger has been bugging me, Ares, Jaxon and Levi have still not returned. Ophelia hasn't said or appeared to notice their disappearance and I don't want to mention it in case her answer is going to be that they died.
‘Huh? Oh right, yes. So when I told Zion your plan, she said no because something about family and stuff,’ I answer.
‘OK, then that leaves one option, escape,’
‘What? We can't escape! They'll find us and kill us,’ I yell at Kyle’s pathetic idea.
‘OK, I got it, no escaping. You're giving me a headache, stop yelling so much, I was only trying to help,’ He groans.
‘Sorry,’ I mutter looking down at the almost finished food. If Ares were here, he would have gulped down the whole thing in seconds.
‘Hey, what’s up with you?’ He asks.
‘What do you mean? I’m fine,’ I huff, leaving the Dining Hall and heading to the jet.
Whilst I sit there in the seat of the jet, waiting for everyone to join, I notice that there are less people in the hangar. Usually there would have been at least thirty or forty people around but today there are approximately twenty of them. Alec jumps in and nods a hello at me, which I return. I open my mouth to tell him about Ares’ disappearance but then close it because Ares might be there at lunch. Eventually Reeve and Cora join and we wait for Zion.
“Have you seen Cleo?” Cora asks, with extreme concern that I’ve never seen her with me.
“No, I don't think I have,” I furrow my eyebrows, trying to remember the last time I’ve seen her.
“I haven't seen her for days,” Cora mutters, head down.
“I’m sure she’ll turn up,” I comfort her, though not entirely convinced myself. Is she with the other three boys?
The side door slides open and a blonde haired girl takes a seat next to me. “Um, hello?” I question.
“Hi…” She says, giving me a strange look.
“Hey stranger,” Reeve smiles at her, “Get out, thank you,”
“Why?” She says.
“Look here we don't know you, so it’d be a pleasure if you get out,” Reeve sneers.
“I’m sure Reeve here doesn't mean to be rude-” I begin.
“Yes, I do,” Reeve butts in.
“-What’s your name?” I ask.
“Guys,” She waves her hand in our faces, “It’s me, Zion,”
“What's wrong with your hair?” Reeve yells, pointing at the blonde.
“She dyed it, idiot,” Alec yells at Reeve and starts the jet. Everyone falls awkwardly silent whilst Cora and I gawk at Zion. I thought she said she didn't want to dye her hair. After exchanging weird glances with Cora, that's when Zion speaks up.
“You know I can see you,” She raises an eyebrow.
“Right, yeah. Um, so why did you bleach your hair?” Cora asks nervously.
“The whole thing with the dead girl really got into my head. The whole thing was too messed up,”
“How did you bleach your hair?” I ask, surprised that Veritas even has bleach.
“There's a laundromat here. I crept into the laundromat, obviously making sure that no one was there and looked through the cabinets. It wasn't that hard to find but I stole it and ran off to my dorm. There I went and dyed my hair, it was epic,”
“Yeah, it looks epicly stupid,” Reeve mutters, eying her hair.
“Shut up,” Cora hisses, “You wouldn't  have the brains to do that in the first place,”
“I would, in fact you didn't even need a brain to sneak in and steal some bleach,” Reeve argues. Cora is about to argue back when the jet lands. “See ya later, losers!” Reeve yells, opening the door and exiting.
“Thanks for noticing, any other life-realizations you’d like to share?” Cora yells back, to which Reeve answered with a rude hand gesture, his face burning with anger. I push through them, Zion following behind me. Still hearing their quarreling from 300 metres away.

“You know the real reason I dyed my hair was because what you said was true, I just needed a scary realization for me to do it. When I left lunch, I thought about what you said, that's when I ran in on Feyrer talking about ‘potential threats’ and ‘eliminating’ them. I had a feeling that he knew I was there. So that's what made me change my mind,” Zion speaks up after minutes of silence. I respond to her with a look. Feyrer looks way more dangerous now. But, my thoughts are cut short when a giant meat slob of a creature tackles me to the ground. It tries to inch its way to my face, trying to tear it. That's when it hit me. A sudden rush of deja vu hits me, of the hairy Mutant eating the girl’s face. I temporarily lose my strength on pushing up the Mutant off my face and for a second I imagine my face getting shredded into pieces. Letting out a loud bellow, the Mutant slumps to the side and Zion stands behind it, holding out a lighter. Taking it, I mutter out a thanks. “It’s still in your head, what happened yesterday,”
“Yeah,” I murmur.
“This isn't a word of encouragement or anything but it’ll stay there forever. Things like that don't go easy,” She replies with a sympathetic look.
“Thanks,” I fake a smile and continue my walk. What happened yesterday wasn't scary, it wasn't disturbing...well at least I didn't feel anything like that. I felt...threatened, it was an alien feeling, something I haven't felt in a long time.
After killing off a few Mutants we go back for lunch. As I make my way to the Dining Hall, but soon I hear someone in the corridor and immediately hide in a corner.
“Are they dead?”A familiar voice speaks.
“No Sir-”
“Keep an eye on them,”The voice snaps.
“But sir, the-”
“I don't want to hear it!”
There is murmuring too soft for my ears.
The voice finally says, “Do what I tell you!”
“Yes sir,”
“Fail me once more and I’ll have your skull on display in the office,”
I hear footsteps moving away, further from me so I peer my head over the wall staring at a man. Feyrer. Of course it was-. He turns around as I duck my head behind the wall, once again.
“Who’s there!” He calls.
I hear sounds of feet clicking against the ground coming closer and I begin to run for the Dining Hall, running for the Niyth table all the way at the back. As I take a seat I hope he didn’t get a glimpse of me.
“What’s up with you?” Ophelia nods at me, brows furrowed.
“Oh, uh, just really hungry,” I stutter, picking up a spoonful of slop.
“I thought that was- what’s his name again? I think it was Alfred, no Alvin-”
“It’s Ares,” I answer, though no Ares sits at the table today. This is the third meal that the kid's missed, if he doesn't show up at dinner I might have to go around asking people. Jaxon and Levi aren't here as well. They must be together, they possibly couldn't die together. Though Reyna wouldn't take Jaxon’s death kindly. After giving up trying to feed myself, I get up and leave.
“Your one for dramatic exits!” Ophelia calls out behind me, only then I realize that I’ve been strutting.
Mutant hunting in New Orleans so far hasn't been going so well for me, but for Zion it's going brilliantly. Everytime I try attacking a Mutant I keep seeing the scene in The Warehouse, which doesnt bring me a lot of focus so Zion’s been slaying my Mutants. I give it a try again, digging my dagger into a stage one Mutant. All feels well when my bones go weak and my grip on the dagger loosens, Zion pushes me away and wrestles the Mutant to the ground before shooting it.
“If you aren't feeling well you should go to The Ward,” She insists for the millionth time since we got here.
“I told you, I’m fine!” I tell her, “I’m just a little...shook,” That’s one way of putting it.
“Huh? A little shook? More like PTSD,”
“It's not PTSD!” I groan looking out from the balcony of an old building. It would have been beautiful if the city weren’t in destruction. Doing the same thing, Zion lets out a sigh of annoyance. “You don't have to be irritated, I’m holding up OK, I’m not a charity cause,”
“I’m just worried about you. You saw far more than any of us, and that makes me more scared of Feyrer and if you're going to be OK,”
“Feyrer Isn't the end of the world, besides he can't hurt you with this many people for no apparent reason,”
“Who knows what you can and can't do in this place,” Zion says. We stand there for minutes, just thinking and talking, until we hear a grunt behind us. Two gorillas, veins popping out from their skin and a fixed angered expression on their faces stand at the door of the building. Both of us grab our guns and approach the monsters. The first one swoops their hand at Zion, sweeping her off her feet and crashing into an office cubicle. It moves over to where Zion is, I try shooting it but Zion yells, “Get out, I’ll handle it!”. Angered, I shoot at the second one and it chases me back down the stairs. Running out the door, I feel it try making a grab for my leg. I stick the gun muzzle behind it, poking some part of the gorilla in turn it bellows and increases its speed. I reach into my pocket feeling for something that might be useful, pulling out a lighter. Up ahead, I spot a barrel of oil, aiming my gun at it I shoot. The bullet spikes a hole in the barrel, the oil spilling faster than I can count. Now or never, I light the lighter and drop it in the oil. It works, the oil lights in flames, just in time, I turn back around and the gorilla runs right into the flames before it comprehends what’s happening.
“Adria?” A voice behind me says, turning around I see that it is Soren.
“Nice mess you’ve made there,” Alec joins, eyeing the flames.
“You know a simple ‘hey’ would have sufficed,” I reply.
“Eh, you know us, we’re different,” Alec says.
“You’ve been strangely normal ever since you’ve got here,” I tell him. The fire looks to die down a little. 
“I’m figuring out what to do next,” He replies.
“So what are we doing together as a group again?” I ignore his response.
“Yeah, a group without Ares, you seen him?” Soren asks.
“That's what I’m worried about, I haven't seen him at dinner, breakfast or lunch,”
“OK, well then I guess we’ll have to talk to Angrove without him,” Alec sighs.
“Wait, so you're not concerned about Ares’ disappearance,'' I ask in disbelief.
“We’re talking to Angrove?” Soren asks.
“No,” Alec replies, pointing to me, “Yes,” He points to Soren. Looking up at the sky and then at his watch-
“Wait!” Soren yells, pointing to Alec’s camp watch and lifting up his sleeve to show his camp watch. Shocked, I lift up my sleeve, showing my watch. “Angrove gave us all watches?”
Rolling his eyes Alec says, “Obviously idiots. You're not special,”
“And you knew?” I ask in even more disbelief.
“You guys this stupid? Honestly I may as well feed myself to the Mutants,” He says, I take great offence and glare at him, “Anyways, back to talking to Angrove, we have to tune our watches to Acres Valley. It’s sort of like a radio people used before The War. But, be warned, our meetings with Angrove have to be short otherwise Feyrer might pick up on it. We have to limit it to ten minutes. So the first thing you do is twist the button here,” Alec demonstrates, twisting the button on the side. Copying what he does, our watches glow blue, “Then you press down on the rim,” Steam rushes out of the watch and a holographic touchpad appears, “Then tune it to ‘.289AB’” After clicking on the numbers, our watches make a static sound.
“Hello? Jean Angrove speaking,”
“It's us, or at least only Alec, Soren and I here,” I respond.
“Ah, you finally cracked it!”
“Yeah, I did. These morons couldn't figure it out,” Alec says.
“You must all work together and all of you must be here for our meetings. No exceptions, now tell me why Ares is not here,” Angrove asks in a sharp voice.
“He’s missing, he wasn't there at dinner yesterday and breakfast and lunch today. There were two other people missing as well-”
“Yeah, but that doesnt matter,” Alec interrupts.
“If I were you, I’d be worried, especially in a place like Veritas,” Angrove says.
“What's that supposed to mean?” I ask. “Is he dead?” I whisper.
“I don't know but you should check your leads,” She responds in a calm manner.
“Yeah, to Feyrer supremacy?” Alec fumes.
“I don't know what you're talking about,” She says. I wish that woman would stop riddling everything.
“I need info on the Rebels,” Alec says, clearly annoyed and in a rush. I face the fire, I think I can see some gorilla Mutant ash.
“The Rebels live in New Tyro, look into them yourself. I can't tell you anything through here,”
“What? The last time I tried that, they tried to kill me,” I whisper.
“Your name means something to them, use it,” Angrove says.
“What's that supposed to mean?” Alec asks.
“We’re all working for Feyrer, but there's always the Rebels,” The static starts again and Angrove’s voice disappears.With that, Alec storms off. I don't blame the kid, Angrove’s being less than useless. 
“What now?” I ask Soren who looks deep in thought.
“We find Ares,” He says with a troubled look.
Not so long after, we are searching on hands and knees for Ares. We’d all agreed that he’d most likely be inside a building if something bad happened. We call out his name and break down doors.
“I met the Rebels yesterday…” Soren says, in a slightly distant voice, kicking down the door.
“They didn't get anyone, right?”
“Actually they did,” His voice cracks, “Cleo,” I open my mouth to react, but no words come out. “We were running and then one of them shot her and we didn't notice until we reached shelter. Then we traced our steps but couldn't find her, I think they took her,”
This is too much, I’m already full enough with the girl dying and those boys who may be potentially dead, now I have to factor in that Cleo is dead? No. I continue my search, opening doors, calling out their names additionally, receiving stares from Soren.
“What?” I ask him, although knowing the answer. Up until our pins flash a blue five, our search is a complete flop. The only productive thing we did was run away from two stage seven Mutants, which mind you isn’t what I’d call fun.
“Take care,” He says, leaving the old office. I stay a little longer before doing the same. Back at the jet, everyone is waiting for me, Alec especially irritated.
“Took you long enough!” He hisses as I take my seat.
“A little patience please, I’m messing up my life as fast as I can,” I retort.
After taking a relatively long shower, I head down for dinner. That's when I bump into Ephiel, “Hey,”
“Hi,” She says breathlessly, both hands on her knees and panting.
“What happened to you?” I ask her, sweat dripping off her face and neck.
“This morning I got up and a bunch of scientist dudes came over and took me into an operating room. They started taking tests and stuff,” She says between breaths.
“OK? But that doesn't explain why you look like you've ran 100 miles,”
“Uh, well, that’s hard to explain but I’d really appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone that you saw me,”
“You ran away from them? You’ll get into so much trouble!”
“Shush! And, yeah, I did run away from them, they put shrapnel in my brain,” She whisper-yells.
“What?” I ask, but Ephiel’s already taken off, disappearing behind a corner.
At the Dining Hall, Levi and Ares still haven't shown up yet. Ophelia starts talking about something. I fidget with my watch, undoing it and redoing it.
“So?” She says, I place my watch on the table giving her attention.
“Um, what?” I ask, jumping in my seat a little.
“Have you had your tests yet?” She says, narrowing her eyes at me.
“What tests?” Did she mean the tests that Ephiel had?
“Nevermind,” She waves the subject away, “What is wrong with you?”
“Where did Ares, Jaxon and Levi go? I haven't seen them for 24 hours,” I confront. “If you're going to say they died, don't speak,” I add.
“They might be having their tests, but don't rule out dying,” She smirks.
“The tests that Ephiel- this kid had?” I ask. “She also talked about shrapnel in her brain,”
“Pft, shrapnel, no, it’s a brain monitor. They also do blood tests of all sorts. Some people had their tests when they were knocked out unconscious with those needles when you got here,”
“Thanks, I guess,” I say, a burden lifts off my shoulders knowing that the boys were having tests. I guess Ophelia isn't that much of a pain.
“But if you go missing, don't blame it on me,” Her mouth curls into a psychotic smile. Forget what I said, that girl’s the spawn of the devil. I leave the hall and move to bed. Upon scanning my pin on the door, the first thing I notice are a handful of people crying on the couch. Another handful are comforting them, I decide to help because I don't have anything better to do.
“What's wrong?” I ask them, thinking it a good way to start. Apparently no one else thought the same from the numerous glares I get from everyone.
“Her boyfriend died,” Ophelia says behind me. I turn around, she points at a girl who looks to cry the hardest.
“H-he fought it, he fought the beast. It was a 9, but he fought it as hard as he could,” The girlfriend sobs.
“What are you doing here?” I hiss at Ophelia. “I thought you were eating?”
She holds up my watch, “Dropped this?” I snatch it out of her hands, “Anyways what are you doing with a camp watch?”
“That’s ironic, what about your camp watch?” I ask, remembering the watch from my first night here and motioning to her wrist.
“That's none of your business,” She snarls, placing her other hand on her watch.
“You know, we sort of knew that he...you know,” We hear one of the girlfriend’s friends say.
“Died?” Ophelia shouts far too blithely in the situation. The girl cries even louder.
“He went missing for days, I found his body rotting in a corner,” The girlfriend stutters, “If anyones gone missing for over a day, they’re dead,” The girl sniffs. A sense of lightheadedness sweeps over me and I grow completely numb. What if that's what happened to Jaxon, Ares and Levi? And Cleo died. I climb up the stairs, swing the door open and crawl into bed feeling exceedingly hollow and empty just like a log.

I must have laid there for hours when I hear, ‘Pst, Adria? You awake?’
‘No, go away,’ I groan
‘If Zion doesn't want to-’
‘Please Kyle, stop,’
‘I just want you to hear me out, I promise it’ll be quick,’
‘No, Kyle, I’m not feeling OK,’
‘Hear me out-’
‘Stop,’ I roll to my side, groaning, facing my sleeping dormates.
‘Just-’
‘No, Kyle. Your friends aren't dead nor missing. Mine are, you don't know what it's like!’
‘I have no one, at least you have someone,’ He argues
‘Don't guilt trip me! You have everything! A family, a safe stable life, education! I don't, I don't have any of that!’
‘My dad’s dead-’
‘Your dad’s dead? Guess what? Both my parents are dead. Plus I get used by the military as pest control!’ I yell.
‘I knew my dad and remember him, and now he’s not hare, unlike you!’
‘At least you have your mum!’
‘You know you're not the only one with problems. I know mine aren't half as bad but they’re still problems! And I’m trying to be understanding but you keep being such a prick to me!’ And with that, he cuts off.