Group Z

Chapter 16

The first thing I become aware of is fingers stroking my hair, my face, voices murmuring nearby, it reminds me of the first time meeting the family. With some effort I open my eyes and am almost blinded by bright sunlight shining through leaves on a canopy high above me.

Sapphire's face comes into view. 'Hello you.' She murmurs, smiling softly.

I give a faint smile back before asking. 'How bad is it?'

'Pretty bad.' She answers, shrugging. 'You had a few burns and a lot of glass in your back, and we thought you may have broken a rib, but you hadn't. You've been out for a couple of days. You were pretty lucky considering.'

'I dug your chip out too.' Comes Lizzie's voice from a few feet away. 'I threw it into the fire so hopefully the Master will think you died.'

'Hopefully...' I echo. 'Do Malcolm and Sofia know everything?'

'Yeah, kinda...' Sapphire says sheepishly, 'I had to though! They saw your back! I'd taken them through the wall to keep them safe from the blast which is how they got there.'

'It's fine. Were they ok with it?' I ask, resigned to the fact that they know now and probably despise me.

'Hmm, kind of again, after a while. I mean you'd just saved their youngest sons life, he's fine by the way.' Sapphire adds seeing my stricken expression, anticipating my next question. 'They wanted to see you when you woke up.'

I sit up with a groan as the wounds in my back stretch a little. After a minute the pain fades to a dull ache and I know that it can be dealt with, I've had worse after all. I look around noticing that I am a completely unfamiliar environment.

'Where are we anyway?' I puzzle aloud.

A smile lights up Sapphires face, her multi-coloured eyes ablaze with excitement. 'We're at the lake! We made it Zi! We needed a safe place with a water source and I suggested here. Mum and Dad weren't pleased I'd been out here before but there wasn't much they could say. I mean, it was in the past, plus it saved them. Lizzie carried you.' She explains. 'That girls got stamina! Damon was very impressed.' She gives me conspiratory wink and I hide a smile.

I stand up wincing as I do so needing to lean against Sapphire for support. Deep down I'm disappointed that I wasn't even awake to see Sapphire reach the lake for the first time, there's nothing I can do about that now though.

The feel of a soft leafy floor causes me to pause and ask. 'Where are my shoes?'

'We took them off to make sure there was no glass in your feet. There wasn't by the way. Do you want to put them on?'

'Nah.' I wave her away. 'It's ok.' I take a few steps forward, feeling for the necklace still in its place on my neck, its smooth surface reassuring to the touch, and feel a heavy weight in my pocket. I reach down and pull out Sapphire's drawing book, slightly singed.

I hand it to her. 'I couldn't leave it to burn.'

'Thank you.' She responds taking it from me leaning in with a soft kiss.

She stands by my side and Lizzie mirrors her on my other side, neither touch me but both are there for support. We make slow progress, my back protesting with every step, but each step I take becomes stronger. Luckily it only takes 5 minutes before Sofia and Malcolm come into view standing at the border of the trees talking quietly. Hearing our approach, they both turn, I open my mouth to begin an apology but before I can get a single word out, I'm wrapped in a tight hug.

'Thank you so much for saving Benny.' Malcolm whispers tearfully in my ear.

'Lizzie and Sapphire have told us what you've been through. I'm so sorry. We'll support you any way we can, we owe you that much. We'll leave you guys alone for a while, come and find us when you have a plan ok? We're in a little cave about a mile East of here.' Sofia says letting go of me.