The Four - Book 2

Chapter 20

Juris

I woke up only a few minutes after the needle went into my neck. I wake up in a back of a huge van. I can't see the driver, all I can see are the gray walls surrounding me.

I stand up, trying to see if there's any way I could get out. Of course there's no way, but it makes me feel better if I try.

Try try try.

I can't even count the number of times I've tried. Well, not just me, but the other three. We tried to make it through Hanson's experiment, but half the world ended up hating us. Us four tried to escape together, but Paytah got captured. We tried to get him together, but Lana ditched us. We continued to try, but we were also captured.

I'm done trying, because every time we do try, it never works.

Paytah. Lana.

They are probably dead, and I can't wrap my mind around that thought. If Lana made it, for sure they would kill them. Maybe they've killed Paytah before she even got there. I tell myself, almost force to tell myself, that they are alive. Lana made it, and for now they are just keeping them in a room, not touching them until Aira and I come.

What a wild thought.

At least I know Aira must be here, in another van hopefully. But I don't know who these people are. They were just like the men who captured me from the beginning, before any of Hanson's tests. Maybe President Jackson ordered Hanson's men to come get us. It didn't seem like she cared that we were leaving, but James did say that we were still in danger.

The van abruptly stops, and I jerk forward into the wall, grunting as my shoulder takes the hit. I stay silent as the drivers door opens and shuts. I can hear footsteps, a ton of them, actually, walking on the gravel. I also hear a ton of doors slamming, like there's multiple vans. Did they really being this large of a group to take down two people?

Or maybe they thought it was three people, like it was supposed to be.

I picture Lana in Paytah's place, when we watched him on a tv screen, when we heard him cry and scream in agony. I picture her doing the same.

I push away the thought.

But it comes right back when I actually hear screaming. Aira, I automatically think.

"Aira!" I yell, slamming my hands on the wall.

But I freeze when I hear a male cry out. Then another scream.

We aren't alone.

I press my ear against the inside of the vehicle and try to listen. It's all scattered;

"Stop!"

"Please, what is happening-"

"Mom!"

I can't think of any reason why all these people are here, even some young children. It doesn't make sense, why is Hanson capturing all these people?

I push myself back when I hear someone opening the van I'm in. When it opens people are on me immediately, cuffing my hands behind my back and dragging me outside. I look around, seeing dozens of vans. There are a ton of guards, as well as innocent people. I watch as a van opens and a pile are inside, all trying to scramble away, but it's useless.

"Juris!"

I look back, seeing Aira also cuffed, but walking a few people behind me. I yell her name back so she knows I heard her.