Fever Dream Red

24

I woke up early in relative peace. All of the worrying must've drawn me to sleep.

It all then came flooding back to me like a tsunami. Danny and Zack were missing.

The fact of it held heavy in my soul like a bundle of stones I had been forced to bare.

Danny had knowingly burdened me with the knowledge of a secret, and ran away so he didn't have to face the consequences. I thought that was cowardly.

I managed to pull on some sweatpants and a tee, before trundling down to the cafeteria to get something to eat. A lion was awaiting guts in my stomach.

I stumbled down, the veneer stunning my bleary eyes. I grabbed a bagel and landed myself down into one of the seats wearily. I must've gotten up late- the place was desolate.

The stench of guilt hung in the air. I had reasoned my actions out last night in bed. I was sure I was of no fault. All he had told me was that he was escaping, not how or when or to where. My knowledge could be of no help to anyone. I was sure everyone would simply assume Danny and Zack had tried to escape. It was the obvious answer.

All of a sudden Nick stormed in with a couple of his henchmen. His slicked back hair, for once, had become fiery. Hairs were lying off the beaten path. His face was distorted in rage.

His men pulled me up by my arms and dragged me out of the cafeteria and down the hall and into a room.

I looked back at my buttered bagel as I left. Yet again I had been seperated from my food way too early. That bagel would never be eaten. It would be left to grow cold and weary with age. Aren't we all, in the end.

I was forced into a metallic room. Chrome tattered every surface of it. The room must've tasted of blood.

I was thrown into a chair, the sliverly silver stinging my bare skin with its chill.

Nick towered over me, spiteful as anything.

"Where are they?" He spat out through gritted teeth. Anger encased every movement of his body.

"I don't know." I answered truthfully. My legs started to shake against the chair and my breath started to catch in my throat. He could easily decide to do anything to me if he deemed me untruthful.

Nick sat down opposite me with a sigh.

"Last night Danny went to talk to you down at the beach. What was it about?"

A pause dragged on into eternity.

"He told me they had to go get supplies."
"Really?"

I nodded.

"Didn't that strike you as odd?"
"What?"
"That they were getting supplies. We don't need supplies here at The Base." He whispered to me, catching Danny's lie out and letting me in on a known secret.

I shrugged.

"Not really. I don't know what goes on around here. I wasn't going to question my older brother, was I?"
"You're a teenager, Pheonix. All teenagers question authority. You're doing it now, in fact."

So I was. He got me there.

"He told me you sent them." I pulled out my last trick. I didn't know if her would buy it, but it was the truth. "I didn't want to question you."

Nick stared into my eyes for a while, freaking me out.

"Why would I do that?" The grit in his teeth had returned.
I shrugged and tried my luck.
"You tell me. You sent them, didn't you?"
"I didn't, and YOU know that. YOU knew they would escape, and YOU didn't tell your won sister. Worst still, YOU didn't tell me."

I think Nick would be the last person I would tell that piece of information to.

"YOU have lost us precious time to find your family. You will think about what you have done."

He left me alone with the two men guarding the door.

I breathed a silent sigh of relief. I had told him all I knew. The heavy burden had been lifted.

I only thought minimally about what I had done. I thought that I had done the best in the circumstances.

I was more concerned with Danny and Zack and where they were now. They could be anywhere. It was clear they hadn't been found yet.

If they had found a working car they could've been anywhere. They had only to retrace their steps from the pickup truck. By running, they could've made it to the mainland in an hour if the tide was low. Me and Inez had been looking for that amount of time, pretty much, before Nick was notified. It was pretty reasonable to assume that Danny and Zack could've really made it out of there.

I hoped so, anywhere. I really, really hoped so. I hoped he was out there having the time of his life. It was the end of the world- what was he waiting for?

I wondered if Inez would find out that I had lied to her. She probably would. In the state that she was in, though, I wasn't sure she would care all that much. And she didn't.

After half an hour I was taken out and put straight into Inez's outstretched arms. I think that she thought everyone had abandoned her. Nick kept telling Inez how I was practically evil for doing what I did.

Inez was just happy I hadn't died in that room.

Skye and Inez were sat together for the rest of the day, clutching each other in fear of what could have happened to their siblings. I felt the same, although relief awakened me.

They had escaped and they were probably fine. They were definitely having more fun than we were.

I was bitter at Danny though, for making us all this way. It was okay for him, running away. It wasn't so great for those left behind.