Hexed

Chapter Twenty-one

We drive for a long time. A little while after driving away from the city we stopped to move Benji in the actual truck so he can lay down and get some rest. So now the four of us are sitting in the back. For the longest time nobody says anything. They ask me if I'm okay, I tell them I'm fine. But the truth is that I feel so extremely exhausted, when I was alone in the building, I didn't think they'd come back for me. Because all I've really done is make things more difficult than they need to be. I should've taken the responsibility and stayed home, I should've taken control of my actions, I should've shot when Benji and Willow did. I'm a coward. If Kasper knew what I'm thinking he'd tell me that it's just in my head, that I'm worth it, but I don't tell him. I don't even look at him. Because every time I do, I see the person that I punched in the face, the person I threatened to kill. That person is still in there. He'd tell me that wasn't me. But it was, the serum might've triggered it, but I still did it. I'm not the hero of this story.

The sun is setting when we finally get to the lab. We stop on a hill near the building, Luca parked her truck behind some bushes and trees for cover.

"Well, here you guys go. Have fun with doing whatever you're doing." Luca says when we all stand outside.

Benji seems to be doing alright now, he's limping only slightly but he assured us that he's fine. Luca is about to turn around again to go back to her truck but stops in the middle of it. She walks past Jerome and towards the lab.

"What the hell." she whispers.

We follow her, trying to figure out why she looks so shocked. Slowly the building comes into view, and I think we all understand why Luca seems shocked. All the lights are turned off. The place looks completely abandoned, but not broken down like the cities before, it looks like they left only yesterday.

A single light in the building turns on.

"Shit!" Jerome says as he, and the rest of us, rush back behind the bushes.

"What the hell is going on here?" He says as he turns to Luca.

"Don't look at me, as far as I know this should be the buzziest lab in the country."

Jerome lets it go and turns back to the building.

"Alright, we're not going to figure anything out from here so we need to get in somehow. If everything is shut down chances are the eclectic fences are too. This might be a good thing." He pauses to look at us, I'm not too excited to break into a lab that may or may not be abandoned, though I think we all know it needs to be done.

"I'll go in first." Kasper says.

All eyes turn to him. We're standing right outside of the building, Jerome made sure the fence wasn't electrified, the security cameras didn't seem to be working and there are no guards to be seen. This could all be trap, they might be watching us all along, but we take the risk anyway. Kasper has just agreed on being the first one to going through the vents and get inside. The doors are locked so the ventilation system is our only way in, and since Willow, Kasper and I are the only ones small enough to fit it has to be one of us.

"Are you sure?" Willow asks. "I mean I can go too."

"yeah," He says confidently. "I'll be fine."

He bites his lip, I think I'm the only one who notices.

"Okay, let's do this then. With this we'll be able to talk to you," Jerome says, handing a small earpiece to Kasper. "We'll guide you through and if it is really abandoned you can open the door for us on the other side. If you see anyone, guards, hexed, anyone... You turn back. Got it?"

Kasper nods, he shifts his balance from one foot to the other, and back again. I want to talk to him, ask him what's going on. I don't get the time for it, right before he leaves to be the brave hero, he turns to me and smiles.

"see you on the other side"

I laugh, like I always do.

"Alright."

He nods and then turns around again. I watch as he and Jerome walk to the start of the vents. I just stand there, while the others behind me are already walking back to the truck.

"Hey." I hear Willow say faintly. "Fynn!" she says more loudly this time.

I turn around.

"Let's go."

I sigh. There's no use in waiting any longer. I trust Kasper, I'm assuming the others do too, but still there's something in me not wanting to let go of him again. Just in case something happens.

We get back to the truck fast enough, Naomi tells me to stay behind the bushes when I stop to stare at the building. I didn't mean to stand there all out in the open, but being honest I just didn't think about it. I feel like I'm not thinking about a lot of things, I just go through the motions. I sit down next to Willow, her face looks pale though she quickly looks the other way. I hadn't even thought about how the serum could be affecting her. I'm sure the others have been looking out for her, especially after what happened with me. I've just been so caught up with myself, Kasper, and just everything, I feel bad for not having thought about it sooner.

I open my mouth to ask her if she's doing alright, but get interrupted by Benji. Benji sits down next to me, he waits a moment and then leans closer.

"What do you think she's still doing here?" he asks, a suspicious tone in his voice.

"What?" I ask, I'm not following.

"Luca." he pauses. "Why is she still here?"

I look over at her, she's standing with Naomi and Jerome –who just came back- and I guess helping them with the navigation.

"I don't know. I don't blame her for being interested, this place is known to be crawled by soldiers, and now there's nobody? She probably just wants to find out what is going on." I say, trying to calm him down. "Besides, you said we need all the help we can get."

I can tell he's struggling to trust her, from the start he's been acting weird about her.

"What if she works for them?" he says after a moment. "What if-"

I interrupt him. "We don't know that, alright? Just let it go for now, and we'll figure that out later."

He just looks at me, slightly frowning, and eyes focused.

"He did it." Naomi says all of a sudden, catching out attention. "Guys let's go, he did it!"