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( 42 一 TROUBLE IN PARADISE. )
Clara hadn't intended to fall asleep against the wall in the small closet. She'd been avoiding sleeping ever since the fall of Los Angeles because every time she did she'd wake up shaking from another nightmare.
It wasn't any different this time as Clara woke suddenly, her breathing shallow which made her still unhealed ribs ache. She tried to pull air into her lungs but it wasn't filling them up as much as she needed. She flinched at the feeling of a hand against her back.
"Shh, you're okay, Clara. You're okay," Chubs said soothingly. And Clara knew that she was okay. But Jude wasn't.
"Sorry," Clara muttered shakily once her breathing had slowed.
"I don't mind, I get them too sometimes," Chubs said. It was dark in the closet, the lights from the halfway no longer illuminating the dark space.
"How long was I asleep?" Clara asked Chubs. Chubs shrugged but Clara couldn't see that. "Not long, a few hours I think. I would have woken you but it looked like you needed the rest."
Clara nodded to herself as she stretched her neck, trying to work out the knot that had formed from her position against the wall.
"We should head back to the room," Chubs said as he stood, his knees cracking. The thought of having to go into that room with Vida where she knew she would lie awake for hours was not remotely appealing.
"I think I'll walk around for a bit, go back later," Clara said, not meaning the words she told him.
"Okay, just make sure you get some rest. Exhaustion is no joke," Chubs told her scoldingly. Clara laughed a little, using the wall to help her stand.
"Don't worry Chubsie, I'll sleep."
❊❊❊
Clara didn't sleep. She spent the night wandering the halls in the dark, tracing her hands along the cold cement walls. She showered and changed into a spare pair of leggings and a hoodie she'd found inside a washing machine before eventually settling into an office with a book she'd found under a pillow in one of the rooms.
At six in the morning, the lights turned back on and by about eight almost everyone was up. Cate and Dolly were leaving, going back out to find the other agents and bring them back. They were the only trained professionals they had and as Cate had pointed out, they were the only ones who could perform the camp hits Cole and Ruby were planning. But still, Clara would prefer they didn't come back. She'd been around enough adults who hated her for a lifetime.
Clara didn't know what she thought of the camp hits. She wanted to free the camps, there wasn't a doubt in her mind about that. But it just seemed so unattainable. Thurmond was like a fortress and as far as Clara knew her and Ruby's escape was the only successful one ever completed. And even then it was only possible with an entire organisation backing them. Now, they had no one. No resources, no connections, no plan. Clara didn't like those odds.
