Shards

chapter 25

Chapter 25:

“They don't know you have that, do they?” I raised an eyebrow.

Shay shrugged, and Ian answered for him. “We told them we had guns, they filled out the paperwork. They never asked to look through our stuff.”

“Whatever.”

Dropping my crutches to the floor, I flopped backwards onto the mattress. Seeming to have missed the entire conversation, Shay continued taking the gun apart; cleaning it.

“Best thing about robot boy over there:” Julian made a gesture with his thumb, “we're never going to have to clean another gun.”

We were left to our own devices for the rest of the night. Showers, an absurd amount of room service, and an early bed time; I knew to appreciate it while it lasted. With these people, I never knew what was to come.

By the sound of creaking bed springs, I determined that at least one of my roommates was having trouble getting to sleep. I knew the feeling, but tonight I was much too tired to worry about that.

I heard my own laughter, coming from somewhere unseen. I felt air on my face.

“Here we go again,” I whispered, hugging my pillow to my chest.

Ian pulled ahead. His ATV flew off a bump and crashed to the ground in a flinch worthy fashion. I made sure to slow up as I followed him. It was easy to forget what we were doing. Racing through the forest was just so exhilarating, it was easy to forget what we were running from. Swerving dangerously around a tree, I scolded myself. This wasn't a game, but the freedom was like a drug. Slowing down a little, Ian's ATV moved into step beside mine. The trees were thinning out a little and we were able to stay more of a straight course.

“So...” The rest of his words were ripped away by the wind. He tried again. “...going! Do you have any idea where we're going?”

I shook my head, but began to feel slightly guilty. What were we doing, wasting an opportunity like this? This had to be the farthest we'd gotten... maybe. All the jungle looked the same. Maybe we weren't nearly as far as we thought we were.

“Just keep heading straight!” I yelled over the roaring of the wind. “The farther we get away from that place, the more ground they have to cover.”

Ian probably hadn't heard me over the racing air, but he nodded all the same. We had to be thinking something similar. Ahead of us, the canopy parted and I caught a glimpse of cloud obscured sky. The trucks lay between us and the opening, gun men leaning out of the doors. Ian skidded to a stop and I followed suit.

“Don't try anything.” Lukas swung out of one of the passenger seats.

His brown military cut had began to grow out, and he dragged his gun across the ground behind him. He raised it, clicking off the safety a centimeter from Ian's forehead.

“I should just blow your brains out right here, say you tried to resist. It's not like we need both of you.” His green eyes flitted up to rest on me.

Of course he was lying, but I tensed up all the same. Ian and I were untouchable. We were safer—even now—than Audrey and the others were back at the Compound. They needed us, we were the only Resistants they had. One of the guards pulled my hands behind my back. He slipped the zip cuff over one wrist; nudging me forwards at the same time. My foot caught on a root and I crushed forwards. Instinctively, I freed my hands to catch myself.

Rocks cut my palms, and I struggled to get my knees under me. In front of me, Ian was pushed into one of the truck backs. Past him, something caught my eye. Through the break in the trees, the ground dropped away. Avoiding the guard, I took a few running steps forwards. What I saw took my breath away. Ocean; we were on the coast. I broke into a sprint. This was the opportunity we'd been waiting for. I could jump off, swim out and hide until they stopped looking!