Terror

Chapter Thirteen

Back at camp, Mark stood over one of the two small gardens. They were planted in rows with mainly cabbages because that was one of the few seeds they could actually find.

"Everything has been harvested much quicker," Landon remarked, who had been a boy who helped with the gardens. "Now that we have the store inside, it helps a lot! I can't wait for peanut butter cookies."

Mark wanted food, just like anyone else around here. How stomach twisted at the thought of cookies, but Ashley, along with her followers, still roamed the area. Going off to get the food wasn't the ideal choice. Instead, he stood with a plastic bucket of cabbage, the weight of it heavy on his arm, carrying it back to one of the base areas.

Mark spotted Emma pacing back and forth. "Emma," he called.

"I'm not panicking!" Emma blurted, but her teeth sank into her bottom lip. "Cindy came. She brought those four somewhere. They were supposed to go somewhere else..."

Mark raised a hand gently. "Relax."

"Ashley's still out there," Emma snapped. "And I don't know if Jade found Esme. All of it—"

She cut herself off with a shaky breath, then dropped into a faded blue lawn chair like her legs gave out.

"All of it is too much."

"They might be going to that meeting with River," Mark offered. "Apparently, his mother was at the barrier."

Emma didn't respond. She just stared at the dirt beneath her boots.

Mark watched her. This wasn't just worry. It was the same pattern she fell into whenever someone disappeared—pacing first, the lip chewing, then nothing holding her up.

"Nobody told me," she whispered, her voice raw. "Most of the helpful freaks are gone. If Ashley shows up... we're sitting ducks."

"We're not safe until Ashley's gone," Mark said.

It wasn't just fear, but a fact.

Emma's gaze flickered up. "I think people are starting to offer themselves," she said.

Mark blinked. "Sacrificing themselves?"

"I don't know how many," Emma replied. "But some already have."

She swallowed hard.

"Bella volunteered."

Mark went still.

Bella? Of all people?

He hadn't expected that. Not her.

"Did she say why?" he asked with disbelief.

"There's been a shift in her behaviour," she said. "The obsession with protecting Jason is gone. It's like she made peace with something."

Emma looked away.

"And now she thinks that is what she's supposed to do."

Mark shook his head. If Bella had decided this was right, convincing her otherwise wouldn't he easy.

"She just go back," Emma added, voice rising. "Why would she leave again? I thought maybe she was suicidal at first, but it's not that. She wants to do it. Like it's some type of redemption."

Her fingers twisted the hem of her sweater.

"The followers are almost gone," she said quickly. "But they still have powers. Cassandra controls most of them like puppets, but some still have their own abilities. We're not safe."

Mark reached out and grabbed her shoulders to stop her pacing. "You can't worry about every little thing. You'll turn out like Emma, who passed out in the infirmary during the storm."