Hexed

Chapter Twenty-three

A few hours later I'm getting my bed ready, while Jerome and Naomi are finalizing and telling the others the plan, the rest of us went to explore the building a bit. Turns out there's a total of fifteen rooms, all with one bed or more. I take out my phone, I hesitate to turn my data on expecting hundreds of messages from Lydia or Mark, they probably stopped caring that I left already. It's three at night and I'm fighting to keep myself awake. I close my eyes tightly for a second trying to focus.

Willow pops in my head, last time I really saw her she was standing in the back. I get up and walk out of my room, I would like to = be sharing one with Kasper but the rooms only fit one bed so we all have to have our own. I'd much rather be with someone else right now. I push the already slightly open door to see Kasper also making his bed.

"Hey." I say. "Have you seen Willow?"

He turns to me, forces a smile.

"She's in the room next to me." he says shortly.

I'm about to turn away again, but I don't.

"We're gonna be okay." I say still standing in the doorway.

"We've never been okay." he says.

I pause. "Maybe we will be. Maybe after all of this is over it'll finally get better. For both of us."

I know I don't actually believe what I'm saying, I've never thought anything would get better. I've hoped, of course. But Kasper was always the one telling me things would get better. Now it's my turn, though I'm probably just making it worse.

"Maybe." he says softly, "But how can anything get better after this? I don't mean to sound too negative but we ran away from home to fight the government who injected you with something that makes you go critically insane and we don't even know how to stop any of it."

He suddenly stops. I don't reply because I know he's right. I just don't dare to say it.

"We'll find a way." I say eventually. "I promise."

I should not have promised anything. I know that most likely I won't be able to keep it. Kasper looks down for a second, then at me again. He nods.

"I should go to bed." he says quickly.

"Yeah, I'll go check on Willow." I reply.

"Hey," he says as I'm already starting to walk out. "If you need me, I'll be here ok?"

I nod and close the door behind me.

On my way back from Willow's room I pass the first room where we found the guard. The chat with her was short, she said she was tired and just wanted to sleep. It's been two days since I had my first episode, and I can't help but wonder when her first one will be. Whenever it is, as much as I will hate it, I want to be there with her. After all I'm the only one here who knows what it's like.

"You don't understand. You don't know what you're getting yourself into." The guard says.

I'm standing half in the doorway, I'm sure they don't mind me being here but I don't wanna risk them getting mad.

"Shut. Up." Naomi says sharply.

Jerome, Benji and Naomi have gathered around a table, with the guard tied up in a chair a bit beside them. The room is dark with only one light above the table.

"It'll be at least 24 hours before the others get in the area, meaning we have that time to get a plan for them and do our part on this side, and somehow we have to go all the way back to the city." Jerome starts.

I'm assuming this is one of the many times they've gone over this, trying to figure out what to do.

"I dug a little deeper through the files they left and I was able to identify most of their targets. They have a total of 30 though 4 were behind a firewall that I can't get through yet."

She pauses, why aren't they telling us this? I mean they might later but I have a bad habit of not trusting people, even if they're close to me.

"Mostly political officials including the president, Vice President and the chief of the armed forces. Who have a conference planned in exactly 30 hours from now. The building is crowded with guards and checks at every corner. I was thinking though, President Wyler must have some sort of hideout where he keeps all the serum, I think I have an idea where that might be." she's about to continue, but Jerome interrupts her.

"I see where you're going with this, but even if we knew where that is, there's no way we are going to be able to take it over. We should prioritize getting the subjects to safety." He says.

"And how the fuck are we supposed to do that?" Naomi says annoyed. "There's an even less likely chance that we'll be able to get in there. If we make sure they can't use the serum, we won't need to protect them."

Jerome is about to say something else, but gets cut off by Benji.

"Guys!" he says loudly. "We've been over this. Alright? Fighting isn't going to solve anything."

"Well then what do you suggest we do?" Naomi asks.

And then it's quiet. Nobody answers. It takes a moment but I start walking in the room.

"You both might be right." I start. Half knowing what I'm trying to say. "Wyler's been planning this for months, and according to the research and analyses you did on him over the past few years he's not very mentally stable. What did you say, Schizophrenia? Alzheimer's?"

"Well, we're not completely sure yet but it's something like that." Jerome says softly.

"He's probably been planning this for years, memorising every detail, overthinking every possibility. Us escaping has probably already thrown him off slightly. Normally a good leader would have a secure plan in place," I point at the man sitting on the other side of the room "Even he doesn't know what is going on, it doesn't seem like he has any close help from anyone to plan all of this, so if we just throw him off in every way possible, he's bound to freak out and slip up."

"...And when he does, we go in and stop them from doing any harm." Benji adds.

"and when everyone knows what is going on the game is over. All the surrounding nations will know to be on alert and everyone here will know what he's been up to." Naomi says, suddenly her voice is filled with enthusiasm. "Guys this is it, we can be the spark for the revolution."

I look at Naomi, then at Jerome and smile. I didn't come up with the plan, they both already had it. I'm not a genius, or very creative, but I think they've just been through so much stress trying to figure out what to do that they've overlooked the easier solutions. I know they'll figure out the rest on their own.

I start to turn around again but Naomi interrupts me.

"Hey," she says. "Thanks."

I don't say anything in return. I just smile and walk out the door.