Terror

Chapter Thirteen

Back at camp, Mark stood over one of the gardens. They were planted in rows with mainly cabbage 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 food."

Mark wanted food, just like anyone else around here. However, Ashley, along with her followers, roamed the area. Standing with a wooden bucket of cabbage, he carried it back to one of the base areas.

Mark spotted Emma pacing back and forth, chewing her lip. "Emma," he called as she jumped.

"I'm not panicking!" she exclaimed, but she chewed on her lip. "Cindy came, bringing those four somewhere. They were supposed to go somewhere else, not wherever she took them."

"Relax," Mark said, but she still paced.

"Ashley's still out there, plus I don't know if Jade found Esme. All of it is stressful," she said, sitting down in a blue lawn chair.

"They might be going to that meeting with River," he implied. "Apparently, his mother was at the bubble."

Mark had never seen someone with as much anxiety as Emma.

"Nobody told me," she murmured, hanging her head. "Most of the helpful freaks are away, which doesn't help if Ashley appears. I know we have those followers, but it's still not completely safe."

"We aren't safe until Ashley's gone," Mark said.

"I think people are starting to offer themselves."

"Sacrificing themselves?"

"I don't know who or how many, but people are already deciding to die. How could you make that choice? Like... Bella wants to."

Mark still heard what she said. Of all the people, Bella wants to sacrifice herself? She was the least expected person he thought would make that choice.

"Did she say why?" Mark asked.

"We don't even know if she'll be chosen. Why leave when she just came back?" Emma panicked. "I thought she was suicidal, but she wants to do it. Followers are close to being destroyed, but they have supernatural abilities. Cassandra is basically a puppet master to them, but some of those only have supernatural power."

Mark 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."

"I didn't pass out that much."

"Every time I went there, you'd be passed out on the ground. There had been a rare chance you were awake."

"I'm better now," she muffled in her hands.

"Says the one who forgot to eat last night."

"Stop teasing me. You sound like Bryce."

"You have to eat."

"I get busy with all the chaos happening."

"Distracted."

Mark then spotted Bella walking toward the two. Her lips were pressed in a tight line, and her hands were trembling.

"Don't ask me more questions. Scarlett might know, but not me," Emma stated.

Mark knew she meant the Divina situation. Bella looked uncomfortable but nodded, walking away.

"She really wants to do it?" Mark asked.

He would have assumed Bella might have been lying. Then again, he didn't expect her to go off the grid for six months alone.

"Why?" Mark asked, but Emma shrugged, letting out a sigh.