Project Castaway (Sequel to Project 14)

Chapter 14

A wave of uneasiness washed over me as we neared the warehouse. I took in a deep breath and followed Josh into the warehouse. It was pitch black. We turned on our flashlights and scanned the room. My shotgun was clutched close to me. Josh has his back turned, looking at the items scattered amongst the table next to him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a shadow move in the corner of the room. I whispered Josh's name and he looked at me over his shoulder. He noticed the worry in my eyes. I slung my shotgun over and pointed it towards the back of the warehouse. The shadow moved again.

"Cass, we need to go." Josh pulled me back towards the door, but we were stuck. Someone blocked our way.

"Ain't this a big surprise?" My heart dropped at whose voice it was.

I turned and noticed the man from my nightmares. "Thomas." I spat.

"Oh Cassandra," he walked up to me. "I've missed you so much."

I took a step back and raised my gun. "You take one more step near me and I'll blow your brains out."

Thomas chuckled and clapped his hands together. "You've matured. You're not that baby who cried all the time."

I cocked my gun as a warning. Josh glared and Thomas. I took in a deep breath and rested my hand on the trigger. "I know something you don't."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"You're dad," he stated. "He's still alive."

I looked over to Josh. His eyes wide with shock. I wanted to pull that trigger so bad. But my mind was telling me not to. Josh killed my dad after he attacked me. There's no way he's still alive. I sighed. I told Thomas I wanted proof his life. Thomas called my dad's name. I watched a shadow come out from the back of the building.

Josh looked as stunned as I was. I pointed my gun towards my dad. Thomas looked over his shoulder. As he walked into the light, then I noticed it was really him. Scratches covered his face and he was hunched over. Then it clicked. If he was alive, then who killed Junior? He couldn't have. There was no blood on him the day he attacked me. I wanted to blow his brains out.

"Who killed Junior?" I demanded and my voice lowered.

"I told you, I did –" He stepped closer to me.

"That's bullshit! You didn't kill him! You did the same thing to me as you did to Mom. I know what you did. You made up these lies to plant your problems on her. You make me sick." Dad stepped closer to me and I instantly stepped back. "Stop walking towards me." I spat.

Josh came up to me. I threw the shotgun to the floor. "Cassie, whatever you're thinking, please don't do it." Josh whispered.

I shook my head. "I have to go find Junior. There's nothing here."

I began walking out of the building when I heard a loud bang and a white hot flash ran through me. Before I knew it I collapsed on the ground.

Cassandra was walking away. I noticed Thomas pick up the gun. Before I had time to stop him a bullet flew through the air. Cassandra fell to the ground. I ran over to her and I could hear her whimpering in pain. Tears were flowing down her pale cheeks.

I looked over to Thomas and noticed he had a smug look his face. "I don't get how you dated her, Josh. She was annoying; always begging for help."

I shook my head. "You don't know her like I did." Thomas chuckled. "Stay with me babe." I whispered in Cassie's ear.

Cassandra's Dad held her own gun in her hands. I walked up to him and punched him hard in the face. He staggered backwards. "Do you really want your daughter dead?" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Once Cassandra's Dad gained his footing, a fire was lit in his eyes. "Her mother never cared about me. Cassie never cared about me."

"She may have. But now you took that away. So now you'll never know."

Thomas was lost in my line of sight. The next thing I know is me being picked up and slammed to the ground. I hissed in pain from where my broken rib was. Thomas smirked. He threw a punch down hit me across the cheek. I groaned and began coughing up blood. As he was about to kick me, I grabbed his foot and threw it up in the air. Thomas landed hard on his back and I swore I heard something crack. He howled in to the quiet air.

I went back over to Cassie and she wasn't breathing. Rolling her on to her back, I set my jacket under her wound and began trying to revive her. I breathed in, counted to three, and began pushing down on her chest. Nothing was working. I kept doing it until someone pulled me back. I kicked and punched but it wasn't doing anything.

"Let go of me you sick bastard!" I screamed and kicked the guy in the knee.

Cassandra's Dad collapsed onto the floor. I rolled on the hard cement, cutting up my arms. Suddenly gunshots went off. I covered myself and then everything went silent. Looking over towards the gunshots, I saw August and Lily. Painfully I crawled back over towards Cassandra. "We need to help her!"

As if on cue, August ran over. He pushed me away and continued what I previously started. Tears were flowing down my cheeks. August examined Cassandra's wound.

"She has lost a lot of blood. I'm gonna need someone who has the same blood type help give some blood."

"I don't know what her blood type is."

"We gotta take her back to my place. I guess it doesn't matter. Someone is going to have to give some blood."

August picked up Cassandra and carried her back to the apartment carefully. "So I have a question, you tried to kill her but all of a sudden you're helping her? Why?"

"I can't explain that now. All I know is if we don't get her back to my place, then she will die. I don't think that would end well for you or her."

I shivered from the cold. I had to leave it back at the warehouse. Along with Thomas and Cassandra's Dad. I sighed and looked over to Lily. She was quiet and looked towards the ground. I wanted to ask her if she was okay but I didn't. We reached the warmth of Augusts' apartment. He brought Cassandra back to the guest room.

"I told you not to go to the warehouse so why the hell did you go to that warehouse?"

"I knew there was something at that warehouse that would save us."

"There was nothing there that could save you. You guys just put yourselves in harm's way and look at what happened."

"I didn't know. You never told me anything like that."

"That's the thing with you Experiments. You guys never listen to what other people had to say because you got all your shit handed to you."

August slammed the guest door shut and I stepped back in fear. He was pissed. There was no doubting that. Lily stood in the kitchen, her sweatshirt sleeves pulled over her hands.

I asked her what was wrong but she didn't respond. She just shook her head. I didn't even bother to ask questions anymore. I went back to my spot on the couch and just stared out the window. Lily went back to her room. I was left to contemplate my own thoughts.

tjourn]M