Desolation

Chapter Thirty

((thank you all so much for over 5k reads!! and yesterday Desolation was ranked #12 in the adventure category on Wattpad!!! how are you guys liking this story so far? leave it in the comments below! and here is a picture of tessa and tristan))

For a moment when I first wake up, I am actually pleasantly surprised.

First, I am not in a cage.

Second, I am in air-conditioning.

And third, I am on a bed.

But then this feeling subsides when the memories of what happened last night begin to creep back into my mind.

We have been captured by them.

I am laying down on a cot in a small, white walled room, similar to the one that I was in the first time I came down here. Bright fluorescent lights shine down the ceiling, immediately making my head begin to pound. I still feel lightheaded and disorientated, as if the tranquilizer dart is still in me. I touch my neck, feeling the spot where the dart was plunged into me. There is a small, swollen lump.

I sit up and jump when I see that I am not alone in the room. There, sitting on a bed across from me is Tristan.

He looks up at me and I can see that his eyes are red and puffy. We both look at each other for a few moments, hopelessness reflecting in both of our eyes.

I wonder why they put me in a room with only Tristan. That's when I remember.

Ian.

The memories flash back, staining my mind. I left him when he get shot. I left him for them to take.

A lump forms in my throat as tears threaten to spill out of my eyes. I try fight the tears back, but before I know it, tears begin to run down my face.

I am an absolute mess.

"Tessa..." Tristan murmurs, his blue eyes locked with mine.

Before I know it, I find myself sobbing in Tristan's arms. He wraps his arms around me, pulling me into a close hug. We stay there for what feels like an eternity. I cry into his shirt, soaking it with my tears.

"It's okay," Tristan whispers soothingly.

That might be the biggest lie that I have ever heard.

"Tristan, we've been captured by them. We're locked in this room and we don't know where the others are. Nothing is okay," I sob, my voice trembling.

"Yes, but at least we're still alive," Tristan says.

I don't know how he can manage to be so optimistic. I have completely lost hope.

"I...I don't know what happened to Ian," I whisper, pulling away from him and wiping the tears from my face.

Tristan looks at me, then asks,

"Did they get him too?"

I pause, the lump in my throat growing even larger. I don't want to recount what happened.

"I...um..." I stutter.

"Just tell me, did they capture him?" Tristan asks gently.

Finally, I blurt it out. I tell him everything. How we were running through the jungle and Ian got shot by the tranquilizer gun. How I hid with him when they arrived. And how I ran away when they found us, abandoning Ian and leaving him for them to take.

The tears begin to stream down my face again after I tell him this. Damn, I am a crybaby.

"I...I just feel like a terrible person. I was so selfish for leaving him behind," I say.