Thriving in The Dark [(TDM) ENG]

VIII

I spent four or five days hidden in the small space between the back of an abandoned truck and the wall of an old pub, covering the sides with piles of trash. I would come out only during the night to fetch some food and to look around to see if the area was still clear and safe. I learned my lesson after almost being caught by a couple of skip tracers in the previous hole I used to hide myself from the world. This time, I would take some precautions.

I barely had any sleep during those days. Every stupid little noise would wake me up and scare the shit out of me in the middle of the night. And every time I woke up, I was hungry. My stomach would always make weird sounds and I would pray with all my soul for nobody to hear them. 

Sometimes it would be too dark to even come out from my den and go hunting around the area. That's when I would miss Thurmond, and I hated myself for it. At least, there I would have two meals a day and I wouldn't have to hide. I would just have to quietly follow the rules and I would be fine. I had a bunk and someone to talk to, at least. Claire, my sweet, kind Claire. 

But then, I would think of the gunshots, the hatred, the fear. I remembered being punished by PSFs for no reason other than the fact that they felt like it. The fact that they could. I remembered the handcuffs, the chains, the painful silence even inside the cabins. 

I left them alone to die, I thought the night I escaped, after finding a safe place to hide, as the adrenaline in my body slowly dropped to zero. I should have died with them, that's what I deserve for being a Yellow. I could imagine the gun pointed at each one of their terrified faces, their bodies lying in a pile. I hoped that, at least, other kids had taken their chance and ran after me into the woods. 

Days after finding my new spot, I started feeling weaker and weaker. At first, I thought it was just the lack of sleep and food, but after some time, I realized I had fallen sick. Slowly, that tiredness turned into a cough, then into a fever, then finally into painful breathing and shortness of breath. 

I had got sick many times at Thurmond, but it never got this bad. I tried to remember what the doctor had told me weeks before, when I went to the infirmary for the last time. She described it as a "pretty bad fever" and gave me little medication. But this was much worse, I was sure. 

In a better world, I could just call a doctor and get cured, but I was guilty of being born in the wrong decade. And I was too weak to even pick up a phone anyway.

Being so fatigued and in pain, I couldn't even go fetch the food as usual, so I just lay in my den, resigned, and waiting for my end to come and drag me away, maybe to a better place.

I don't know for how long I lay there in an unconscious state before I felt something squeezing my shoulder. I opened my eyes but I couldn't get a clear view of what was happening. I heard muffled voices that I couldn't distinguish and I knew I was in danger. Only one word resonated in my head as I desperately tried to crawl away from my den: Camp, camp, camp. It would take them a second to read my file in the Psi network and find out my color.

I cried when one of them grabbed my knees and sat me down again. I tried to scream and use my powers to protect myself, but I was so sick it made my head throb in pain to even try. I think they flashed a light on my face, then I understood only two of their words: "Fugitive", "Yellow".

"No!" I tried to beg them while fighting against unconsciousness. I could die right then and there, but I would not let them take me. A hand covered my mouth and a voice shushed me. I was ready to bite and kick them away, but then a new hand started gently caressing my skin. It was the kind of touch I hadn't felt in years. 

I tried with all my strength to open my eyes wide and see what was happening, but my vision was still blurred and my senses were slowly leaving me, once again. I only saw fair skin and blonde hair. A woman. And just when I started to lose consciousness, she said, close to my ear: "You'll be safe with us."