Survival

15

Update No.3

Don't forget to vote and comment guys! And it'll be back to the weekly updates hopefully

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The car rolled to a stop outside our house, but no one really made a move to get out the car. The tears had stopped, and I just felt rather dead inside. Chance had told Thompson about us.

And now they were hunting us down.

Linus and Kit shared a look before spinning around in their seats to look at the four of us.

"I'm not going to ask what happened between you and Chance, but I'm guessing he told them about you" Linus guessed, and the boys were the ones to nod.

"Maybe you four should lay low for a while. Get your thoughts in order. We'll be here if you need us" with that, the two men exited the car. As soon as they disappeared inside my house, no doubt to tell the other parents what happened, I snapped out of my silent state.

"Spit it out guys. I can tell you want to say something about what happened with Chance" they jumped to the sound of my voice, surprised after not hearing since getting in the car.

"Did you mean all of what you said? About how it's your fault?" Hi asked, looking around Ben and Shelton to meet my gaze. He unbuckled his seat belt, sitting on the edge of the seat, providing more room for the four of us. Soon we wouldn't be able to do this; we'd have to go places by ourselves more.

"And how you'd give yourself up for us?" Shelton added, voice quiet and wobbly. His eyes looked somewhat larger through his glasses, although I'd never noticed it until now.

"Of course I meant it. I'd do anything for you guys, you know I would. I meant every word I said to him" my tone suggested it should have been obvious I meant it, which it should have been. I would do anything for these four.

"Everything?" Ben echoed. I nodded. I suddenly couldn't take the silence any longer, so I exited the car quickly and almost tripped over my own feet. I wasn't surprised that they followed me. I only got a few steps, before spinning on my heel to look at them.

"I'm sorry guys. This is all my fault. Everything we've been through, all the trouble I've gotten you in, putting your lives in danger" I apologised sadly, feeling like I needed to actually finally say those words to them.

"I don't regret any of that, Tor. We are who we are because of you, I mean besides the fact we're all science nerds" Hi instantly argued, offering me a cheeky smirk at the end.

"We wouldn't change anything" Ben confirmed Hi's words.

"Well, besides the life threatening stuff. I'd rather not have to do that again" Shelton seemed to almost be thinking out loud, successfully making me giggle.

"We're being hunted by government jerks. How can you be so relaxed about that? How can you not hate me for anything I've done? I mean, I can't count the amount of times we've been shot at" I asked, genuinely intrigued by how they are acting at ease after seeing Chance in prison and this whole situation. Coop suddenly appeared from my house, and made his presence known to us by rubbing his side against our legs. I knew it was Kit's way of making me feel better.

"We're all here, all alive and together. That's how it's going to stay, pack or not" Hi swung his arm around Shelton's shoulders. As he spoke, Coop stopped nuzzling our legs and chased a rabbit through the dunes. "Even dog-breath over there"

"I mean, we've done amazing things. What could we possibly regret?" Ben said.

"Dark tunnels going underground" Shelton was quick to answer. I giggled once more.

"Blowing up Downtown Charleston" Hi added, and my giggles got a little louder. Soon we were all chuckling.

"Okay, apart from that" Ben chuckled to himself, shaking his head. He wasn't exactly expecting that response "Helping the Gamemaster was a big time regret, should have known something was wrong" my mood dampened slightly at the mention of that psycho.

"Even with your superpowers you can't deny you weren't fast enough to put the dots together" Hi tried to bring the humour back, but I wasn't feeling it.

"No one said I was a genius" Ben defended playfully, shoving Hi's shoulder forcefully. Hi actually stumbled at the force of it, and fell into Shelton who ended up being the one on the ground.

"But it doesn't take a genius to do the math" I muttered as Hi helped the scrawny Shelton back to his feet. I glanced up at them before following Coop down to the dock.

"Oh shit. Shouldn't have mentioned the Gamemaster" I heard Ben say as I retreated.

"You got this Ben. We'll be inside" Hi's voice was quiet as I left them by the car. I knew they would be going into my house to help Kit and Linus with explaining what happened with Chance.

I on the other hand, sat myself on the dock heavily. I waited a second before removing my shoes and dipping my feet in the cooling water. My eyes actually fluttered closed at the calmness. It was, however shattered when Coop barked and ran head first into a dune in chase of a rabbit. The mutt is a pain in the ass.

Ben didn't take long to sit down next to me, dipping his own feet into the water. Except the water went passed his ankles, it only went to my heels. He didn't say anything, there was nothing to say. Instead he sat there silently, swinging his legs back and forth gently to cause slight currents in the water. My eyes flicked up, and he was staring out over the water and his gaze was intense as he looked over the dock. In the distance, though unseen, was Loggerhead Island.

Eventually I came out of my pity party, and began to swirl my own feet in the water. I flicked my foot up, and the water splashed up on Ben's front. He stilled, looking down in mourning at his shirt before glaring at me.

He brought his feet up out of the water, and just when I thought he was going to leave the dock in a mood, he lifted me up with arms around my waist. I squealed in surprise as he spun me round, laughing when he put me back on my own two feet.

"The water's freezing by the way" Ben notified me as he cocooned me with his arms, my back against his front. I looked over my shoulder at him, giggling like a maniac.

"That's why I did it" I smartly replied. I was rewarded with his fingers tickling my sides, causing me to squirm in hysterics. Coop seemed to see that as an invitation to run at the pair of us. We landed side by side, both being lovingly attacked by the furry beast. When we finally managed to escape Coop, we made our way to my house, where everyone was being fed by Whitney.

She loved it. She loved socialising, she loved cooking and she loved seeing Ben and I together. So when we walked in, she was instantly snapping a photo and excitedly chattering like a parrot. How Kit managed to put up with her all the time in beyond me.

When the time came to finally call it a night, to say my spirits had lifted would be an understatement. Being with my family on Morris was definitely enough to put a permanent smile on my face and make me forget about our problems...

At least for now.

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I just realised how short this one is. Sorry, but to be honest the last one was really long, so it kind of balances out. 

Look out for next week's update! Will probably update on Friday morning, bye for now!