Lethal Love

Kiara

We walked slowly through the center, following closely behind Rachael and Adam.

"Um, Kelsi?" I ask, softly.

"Yes?"

"What about Elise?"

Kelsi freezes.

"Crap!"

"Don't worry. We sent a recruiter to the fourth one's house." Adam called. Not even looking over his shoulder.

I noticed Diana looking at him. She was judging the back of his head, her eyes narrowed as though she was trying to figure out who he was.

"Hey," I say, nudging her, "you like him, huh?"

She turned beet red and looked away.

"No!" She whispered. "Of course I don't!"

Her voice took on an edge, and I realized that she probably didn't recognize a joke.

"It's okay. I was kidding. It was a joke." I tell her.

She turns her head towards me.

"What's a joke?"

I sigh, trying to figure out the best way to explain it.

"It's something people say to try and get people to laugh."

She thinks about this.

"Yours wasn't funny."

"Sometimes they aren't. And sometimes, they're meant to annoy people. Like mine was meant to annoy you. My friends used to do it to me all the time."

"What are friends?"

My heart sank. She didn't even know what friends were. At least I had vague memories that the GKE hadn't destroyed yet. She didn't even have the chance to make any.

"Friends are people you spend time with," I tell her. "You make each other laugh and you enjoy spending time with them."

She considers this answer.

"So you're my friend."

I was shocked.

"What?" I breathe.

"I like talking to you. You know what it was like. The others don't know. They think they do, but they don't."

I knew that Kelsi could hear us, and I could see her walk a little closer to Adam. She came across as the type of person who wanted to be liked by everyone, and not being liked by Diana really hurt her.

Of course, that wasn't her fault. Both of us had been betrayed by the world. It would take a while for us to gain that trust back.

They lead us to a white pillar, where Adam put his thumb on a black box off to the side. Suddenly, the front went up, revealing a white room.

Kelsi went inside, along with Adam and Rachael.

"You coming or not?" Adam asks.

Diana and I look at each other, the memories coming back to both of us.

The injections. The guards. The pain.

"Oh no," I hear Kelsi whisper. She comes out of the room and comes towards us. Both Diana and I are breathing hard, our muscles tensing, ready to run.

"Guys," Kelsi says, "they are not the GKE. They are trying to help us. This white room is nothing more than a transporter. It takes us up or down."

Gently, she takes our hands and leads us into the transporter. I'm trying hard to stay calm, but my breathing keeps coming in rapid short breaths.

The transporter starts moving, and I can feel us going down.