Defiance | Book 1 [EXTENDED]

CHAPTER 43

I walked down the hall to the last room. I took a deep breath and pushed the door open. I was relieved when I saw it empty, but just in case I checked the rooms. I walked into the kitchen, looking around with my gun up.

And then I heard, "Put the gun down" 

I suppressed a scream and did as I was told once I heard the cock of the pistol against my head, "who are y-"

"Don't talk," the male voice interrupted, "Put your hands above your head" 

"I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to help"

"That's what the last mutant said before shooting my uncle in the head, so right now, I don't know who to believe"

"I'm human!"

He didn't say anything for several seconds and then finally he hesitantly said, "turn around"

I turned and looked at him. He was tall and his hair was a very dark, earthy brown, as were his eyes. He was slightly tanned and his jawline was sharp and boyish. I looked at the arms that held the gun at me, strong and not too muscular. I felt like I knew him, but I didn't know from where.

"Oh my god!" he exclaimed dropping his arm, the gun no longer pointed at me,

"What?"

"You're...you're human!" he exclaimed, "I haven't seen a human for years and to finally see one, is unbelievable. Are there more?"

"Yeah, lots more, and even more when we find a cure"

"A cure? There's no such thing"

"We'll find a way"

"Oh, I'm Will by the way,"

"Alex," I say shaking his hand,

He packs some stuff into a backpack and we head out of the building,

"Well I won't miss this place" he said with a laugh.

We walked out into the humidity once more and started walking to the meeting point. Demi was already waiting and upon seeing us she said, "There you are, about time! Who's this?"

"I'm Will," He says reaching out to shake her hand but she ignored him and continued,

"Max and Rodriguez should be here soon, and then we can leave"

"Max is out here?" I asked looking around,

"Yeah, he's scavenging the outskirts of the Triangle, there's usually nothing there but occasionally we send people out to look for mutants"

"Why?"

"Don't ask me. It could be to experiment on them"

"Like dissect them?"

"Enough questions, just don't talk, or you're gonna get us all killed"

Will nudged me, "What's stuck up her ass?" he whispered and I laughed a little too loudly,

"What?" She said whipping around,

"Oh, nothing" he replied seriously and I nodded with a straight face, and when she turned back around we started laughing again,

"Alex? What are you doing out here? It's not safe! And who's this?" Max said walking up to us, his gun down, pointing at Will,

"Oh, I'm Wi-" Will began,

Max cut him off, "Alex, you shouldn't be here"

"Tell that to Bek"

"Bek asked you to come out here?'

"Yeah, it's not a big deal, I could handle myse-"

"It is a big deal! You could've gotten hurt, or worse, gotten captured!"

"That wouldn't have been so bad" Demi said quietly,

"Shutup Demi, you shouldn't have let her gone" Max snapped at her,

"Oh, piss off Max! We had orders and besides, she's a part of the team now, she doesn't get special treatment, we all have to pull our weight. And why do you care so much? She's a human like all of us, like me. You were never like that with me"

"Demi, not now, okay?" He pulled me aside and continued, "Alex, listen it-"

This time I cut him off, "No Max, you listen! You don't have to take care of me, you're not my boyfriend!"

"I know, didn't you make that clear last night?"

"Then stop worrying about me! Go crawl back into Demi's bed and get over it!" I said walking away, heading back towards the group that waited,

"Well that was awkward," Will whispered as we walked back to base,

"Yeah, sorry about that"

"Did you two..." he began, raising his eyebrows,

"No. I mean, at one point... but then things changed. He became a prick"

"Oh, that's unfortunate" he said shrugging, "Oh well, at least there are other humans to hook up with"

"Oh god, no. I would never want to have anything to do with the people in my team"

"Let's hope I'm not in your team then," he winked, with a smile that reveiled his dimples,

"Oh shutup" I say with a smile, as I nudged him. I was pretty sure I was blushing,

Once we had finally reached the camp, I was surprised to see Calvin waiting by the door, "Hey, what's going on?" I asked when I saw his anxious face, "Bek needs to speak to all of you"

"Why?" I ask,

"Get inside" he said opening the door, and pushing us through. Once we were in, he grabbed for his flashlight and shone it into Will's eyes, "What the hell?" Will said, surprised at the sudden brightness,

"Just making sure," he replied, putting it away.

Before walking into Bek's office, we dropped of the guns in the store room and changed. I knocked on the door of Will's new room, "Hey, I brought a change of clothes and some things you might need while you're here," I say handing him the new clothing,

"Thanks"

"Yeah, of course. Oh, and the bathroom is at the end of the hall, just turn the knob left and don't use it for two long, we're lacking a few resources recently"

"You have running water? Wow, not bad, I didn't have running water, I had a sink full of distilled rain water that I had to use sparsely. Finally, a proper shower!"

"Don't get too excited, you haven't seen the mutated animals yet"