The Golgotha Initiative

Chapter 9: Caleb

Hey guys! Exciting news. My other book, Rimwick, is up for Wattpad's Story of the Year Award. If you've read and enjoyed Rimwick, I would really appreciate a vote! You can do that by going on to Wattpad's story of the year page and then tweeting your vote. I'll leave the link in the comments.

Thanks, kisses, and I wish you a beautiful day in which you are not attacked by ninja!

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Jamari won't tell us the plan.

Something about security, something about leaks. We convene in our room to try decide whether or not to get into what we don't know we're getting into.

"It might be dangerous," Kyle says, "but not more dangerous than what you've been through before."

"Yeah," I snap. "Not more dangerous than crashing a helicopter or having our hearts stopped."

"Not more dangerous than being thrown out of a helicopter." Kyle grins at me. Cheeky bugger.

Logan coughs. "Sorry about that. Look, we sort of have a lot to talk about. So if you wouldn't mind..."

"Let me know if you need anything," he says, and leaves.

We don't say anything. I consider throwing a punch at Logan, getting a little practice in, but his arm is around Kiko and he's staring at empty air. Now isn't the time to train.

"I can't choose," he whispers. "I don't know what to do."

Eric fiddles with the buckles on his fake leg. "I'll do what the rest of you do."

Kiko is silent. She's so quiet now, like Compass took the air from her lungs. As I look at her, I feel like I'm sinking, like everything has whirled out of control because this girl is slipping from my fingers.

"Kill them," I say.

Kiko stirs against Logan. Her gaze flits to me, and then she finally speaks.

"I tried to starve myself. I hated them so much. But they started force-feeding me, and then they threatened to hurt you. So I couldn't even take myself away from Compass. They cut my hair and performed laser eye surgery so I wouldn't need glasses. If Jamari has a plan I think- I think-"

"We can't trust Jamari," Logan warns, rubbing Kiko's back.

"I know," she mutters. "I know-" She turns into Logan's shoulder, hiding her face from all of us.

"How long were we in there?" Eric asks.

"Three or four weeks. Does it matter?" I don't care that my tone is harsh, angry. I'm thinking about Kiko and wishing she would turn to me instead of Logan.

Eric slips off our bed and hobbles to the door. Opening it, he calls,
"Kyle!"

A moment passes, and then, from the hallway, "Hey Babe."

"Be serious. How long were we at Compass?"

"After running away? Um... they caught you just after Christmas, in early January... and then it took them awhile to stabilize all of you, especially after amputating... and now it's August so..."

"What ?" I stand up, almost without realizing I'm doing so. "August?"

"That's... eight months." Eric stares, slack jawed, at Kyle. "Eight..."

"Eight months?" I don't believe it. No, no, no... not this much time, not months in a hospital bed, months in the barracks...

"I'm seventeen," Eric says.