The Apple

Chapter 11

"Did a great job." A voice from the trees said. "You too, Taylor. You led them straight into our little trap." I couldn't see anything of the man speaking, as I was at the bottom of the net. Taylor's face contorted in confusion.

Justin however, spoke with a smirk in his voice. "With the council out of the way, and her prime protector dead, this'll be a piece of cake."

"You're on their side?" I whispered to Taylor. Betrayl and grief immediately numbed my senses. "You're on their side!" his eyes widened, and he shook his head in denial.

"Yes, I'm a double agent, but not for the side you think."

"I only wish," Justin continued, "that I could have gotten everyone out of the way for you."

The man shouted something, and the net came down. I hit the ground with a thud that knocked the wind out of me. When Taylor landed on me, I squeaked. "Sorry." He said, and rolled off of me. Justin came down, and before he could recover, Garrett was on him.

"How...Could...You?" he said each word at a punch. Justin's nose cracked, and started spraying blood. His glasses were broken. I sat up, and watched with avid interest. Getting up, I rushed at Justin and started beating his head against the ground, while Garrett took a break.

"You...Killed...Nathaniel!" I said accusingly.

"No...I...didn't...Just...Buried him." He smiled at me, exposing his cracked and bloody teeth. "Now he...must be...dead."

Tears sprang into my eyes, and I pounded harder. Suddenly, someone tackled me off of him. "I'm sorry.," Taylor told me, and punched me in the head. Right on the weak spot. The world started humming and my vision grew foggy. Taylor put his fingers on my eyelids and closed them for me.

I struggled to keep conscious, but it felt like trying to grab smoke. Someone picked me upm and carried me into a vehivle. They closed the door after a while, leaving me in pitch blackness.

"Hello?" someone asked. I could hardly hear them through the constant tone playing through my head. I couldn't talk, so I groaned in response.

I heard the person crawl over to where I was laying. "Oh shoot." I now recognized the voice as Will's. He picked up my head, and put it in his lap. "Ally? What happened out there?"

Finally, I found the strength to talk. "Weren't you there?"

"I've been in here for a long time. I think it's a trunk."

My eyes shot open. "Trunk?" I said worriedly, I was claustrophobic.

"It's a truck bed. Pretty spacious enclosure, actually."

"Out there, we found out that Justin isn't on our side. He killed Nathaniel and the council." Tears started trailing down my face again.

"Calm down. Someone re-did your concussion."

"That was Taylor. He's a double agent, but not for the side you think."

"Then why'd he punch you?"

"He's a good double agent." I said.

"Well Justin's hurt."

"Me and Garrett beat him up."

"I'll say. His glasses are broken, he's got a broken nose, and he's limping. He's also got a black eye."

"Good. He deserved more." I sighed. "I wonder how fast they'll kill me."

"Don't you think on that. Not for a moment. We're gonna get you outta here. I just haven't figured out how quite yet.

I smiled. Will could always make me feel better. "Before you rescue me, can you kill Justin?"

"Don't you want to do that?"

"I just wanna make sure it gets done." I said, "Just in case..." he gave me a stern look that made it obvious that he didn't want me to say any more. "At least I'm not being all optimistic and throwing flowers, or being all fatalistic and being all 'what is coming shall come no matter what' and all that."

"You do have a point there. I guess I'm the optimist?" I rolled my eyes. My head was starting to feel better and the tone in my head had vanished. The truck started moving, and my feet hit the tailgate. Will hit my head, and the tailgate opened. "Jump out!" Will said.

"Are you crazy? We'll die!" I shouted. The noise from the road was almost burying my voice.

"Not for sure." Will said. "If we stay in here, we'll be killed for certain."

Gravity was slowly pushing us out of the truckbed. I stared out of the cage, and the gate started to close. "You go out. Find help."

He shook his head. "I'm not gonna leave you to die." The door was almost closed now. I maneuvered myself behind him, and pushed him out with my legs.

"Go find help!" I shouted through the crack. Then it closed and locked, and I was left in complete darkness. I crawled to a corner and curled up. I was completely alone. Maybe now, at least, Will would find help. "Damn you Justin!" I yelled. My head started throbbing, and I drifted off to sleep.

The floor is freezing. So is this room. The cold air penetrates my cotton tee-shirt like it's nonexistent. I sit up, only to find I'm in a room, not a cell. The room has a bed, but I'm laid down on the cold, hard, concrete floor. It also has a bathroom and a closet. Why are they giving me such a nice room? My hand reaches up to run through my hair, but there's a bandage around my head. Why are they healing me? They're going to kill me, so why waste their time healing me?

A panel in the wall slid open with a hiss. There is someone behind it, but in my current position, I couldn't tell who. "Why are you healing me?" I blurt out without thinking. "You're going to kill me. Why are they healing me?

"They aren't healing you." He steps into the light. "I am."

"Taylor!" he walks toward me and smiles. "When am I...?"

"Once you're better. If you're like this, they won't kill you because they couldn't get anything out of you." He knelt down next to me. "If you want to live, don't eat, unless you absolutely have to, don't use the bed, and especially, don't get better." He whispered to me. With that, he got up, and left.

Over the next few days, I only ate once a day, and didn't sleep much. I was getting skinny, and I had huge purple bags under my eyes. I was always hungry and tired. Every day, I only got up because of Will. 'Maybe today I'll get out of here.' I thought every morning.

Then one day, Taylor came in. "You look awful." He told me sympathetically. "But today, don't eat anything. They're putting extra medicine in your food.

I didn't eat anything that day, and I was starving. I ate nothing for seven days. An entire week without food. If I didn't eat something soon, I was going to die.

When the food came in that day, I ate it. Every crumb, even though I could taste the medicine in it. Taylor came in while I was busy stuffing my face. "Ally! NO!" I ignored him, and in less than a minute, my meal had disappeared. "Why'd you eat it?"

"I was starving!" He groaned and left me. I was really tired now, and fuller than I'd been in days, so I should have had no trouble sleeping. I curled up on the floor, but no matter how I tossed and turned, I couldn't fall asleep. That bed was looking very friendly right about now.

No. I wasn't going to completely disobey Taylor's orders-just halfway. I lay down on the floor, and tried to sleep. After what felt like a millennia, I did.