A Second Chance (book 2. of Transport)

18) Not Your Fault

After breakfast we had waited for Gally to leave before pulling everyone to the side. Seeing as he would be gone for a little bit our best bet was to talk for as long as possible while we still could. Now we were all in our room with the door tightly shut.

"Okay. Everyone have a seat,"I instructed, ducking my head to sit on the bottom bunk. Everyone else did the same besides Frypan who was standing there with a mortified look.

"I'm not sitting on your guys' bed. I don't know what shenanigans you two have done last night,"He pointed out.

"Then, sit on the floor. We just have to get this meeting rolling,"I directed. He was stubborn enough to do so. Did this dude actually think we had done something the first chance we got? And on this bed that's been who knows where? At that point, he's just insulting us.

Does he think that we-
We are not even going to touch that topic with a ten foot stick.

"Now let's start with what we know,"I recommended.

"You mean what you know,"Harriet tried to correct.

"No. Someone has to know something emse,"I pointed out. She rolled her eyes but didn't argue with me. "Here's my information. Just after thinking we're safe we're somehow going to end in the back of a truck full of immunes. We're going to be bloodied up, with you getting the worst of it for some reason,"I explained, pointing at Aris.

"Well that's just fantastic,"He mumbled.

"Somehow we end up in a WICKED building. We're going to be in a Maze. Meanwhile, Thomas is fighting them. He'll make his way towards everyone which will start a huge fight. By this point we'll trust Brenda and Jorge. Gally will be on Right Arms side when he blows up the building we're in. Eventually, he'll be strictly on ours. With bloodshed, we end up winning with more deaths than original people after going through a Flat Trans,"I laid out, trying to stay at a reasonable pace so I wouldn't have to repeat. Judging by their horrified looks they had heard just fine. Taking it all in, we sat in complete silence for what seemed like forever.

"I should probably get back,"Frypan pointed out, being the first to stand up and leave. Harriet and Sonya were quick to follow his lead. Just as Teresa was about to join them I grabbed her hand and pulled her into the bathroom where Aris wouldn't hear. She didn't object as I shut the door.

"It's not your fault,"I promised.

"What-"
"Newt's death. Everyone's death. It's not your fault,"I assured her.

"I know,"She lied, staring at the ground.

"Teresa."

"What?"

"This isn't your fault. None of it. It's WICKED's."

"I-I know,"She uttered, still looking down.

"No. You don't."

"And what if it is though? This-this is my fault. If I had just-"
"If WICKED hadn't constantly lied to you it would be okay. They did though."

"All I wanted was a cure. So people didn't have to go through what my mom did. She lost herself. I tried to look after her. I really did. I stayed up for days on end making sure that she was okay. Even if she barely seemed human I didn't let myself slack off or give up on her. And the one night I had to sleep I woke up to her thinking it was better. She said she couldn't see it anymore, but she would never say what. Y/N, she couldn't see anything because she ripped her eyes out. With her own hands she tore them out of their sockets,"She rushed out, taking a breath before continuing. "I didn't want anyone to go through that so I listened. They said they could make it better, and there was nowhere else to go. Everyone hated me, even as a child. They would call me a munnie. They outcasted me. I just didn't want anyone else to suffer. I didn't want immunes to watch people they love lose themselves, and I didn't want them to be hated, and I didn't want anyone else to end up dead because of the Flare. I wanted to fix it. I thought I could fix it,"She finished, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Do you, uh, need a hug?"I offered, not really knowing how to comfort her. To my surprise she nodded so I wrapped my arms around her. She didn't really cry hard, but I felt a few years drip onto my shirt as I patted her back.

Maybe right now isn't a good time to tell her. I don't know when it will be, but I don't think it's when she's crying in my arms.

I'd find a way eventually though. She was going to live this time. I'd make sure of it.