Mission 'Don't get killed'

Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

When Matt is done explaining his plan for tonight, we all scatter around again, now all we have to do is wait. I'm feeling anxious for tonight because I may have been able to find out that an attack was planned for tonight, but I don't know how hard my father is going to hit. I know what he's capable of and it doesn't make me feel very comfortable. I just hope we can hit back hard enough. I also know that by now my father has undoubtedly realised that I'm a traitor and that I've run off to Matt, any other options would be too coincidental. I just hope that he thinks that I don't know anything about his plan, and by that I mean that I hope he hasn't broken into Barbara's mind or that the guy who involuntarily provided me with the information I needed hasn't told him about my actions. But then again, I tell myself, my father was going to hit as hard as he could anyway, it's only going to be harder for him to succeed, there's not much he can do about it.

This doesn't really calm me down and I sigh. I've pacing around my room for the last fifteen minutes, rethinking everything that could possibly go wrong, which is a lot. Matt didn't have a lot of time to come up with a good plan and even though the one he has finally decided to pursue sounds good and watertight, I keep wondering whether there really are no holes in it, making it possible for my father to take everything down here.

Then it's six pm, time for everyont to take their positions. My father's men could arrive any moment now and my father himself will probably be with them as well.

Matt has ordered me to stay away from everything and stay in the infirmary with Sara and Zac, who are obviously not able to join in on the fun either. I don't protest, though I feel bad for everyone who has to go to the frontlines Rachel is also in the infirmary, she needs to be ready when people need medical attention. She's silent and I know that she's just as nervous as I am. Zac is asleep, Ellen made sure he would be asleep the entire time, which also helps with his recovery and Sara is awake, she refused to get sleep medication, or, as she said herself, get herself drugged into oblivion. She looks pissed, the medication Barbara had given her has finally stopped working, which resulted in a killer headache no longer being masked by the drugs.

'I could give you something for that, you know.' Rachel tells her for the millionth time when Sara makes an unpleasant sound when she moves her head even the slightest bit.

'No, Rachel. I don't want anything.' Sara replies, which is what she keeps saying.

Rachel just shrugs. Sara has a severe concussion and needs to lie down for at least the next week, maybe even longer.

'Whatever.' Rachel says. 'But tell me if you need anything.' Before Sara can say something else that dismisses Rachel's help, we hear some noises outside and some shouts inside. The first scouters have arrived.

I don't know what's going on outside and it makes me feel uncomfortable. What if someone just barges through the door right now and takes us all? Or even worse, kills us? The idea is enough to make me shiver. I'm done with the Arlana syndicate, this time forever. Without wanting to I think about the day I decided to leave my father's gang for good. It was a nice day and I had been in town with my mother to do some groceryshopping, something we were rarely allowed to do and only with at least three scouters guarding us. When we came home, my father had been in a horrible mood, though I didn't think much of it since he was in a horrible mood almost all the time. He didn't say much to us, also something that wasn't new. Late in the afternoon, I overheard him and my mom arguing about something. I could only hear their voices, which sounded very angry, but couldn't make out the words, or at least not enough to determine what they were fussing about. My parents fighting was an unusual thing, their relationship was moslty based on silences. Suddenly I heard my mother scream, only for a second, and then she didn't make another sound. Ever. My father burst through the door and saw me standing there but instead of getting angry about eavesdropping on their conversation, he just ran past me, an enraged expression on his face. He left the door open and I hurried inside, knowing that my mother was still there. And she was. She was laying on the floor, her eyes open but not seeing anything. I knew it was already too late but I shook her anyway. I screamed at her, yelled that she had to wake up and when she didn't, I cried. Then Jenn came in along with several others, they had heard my screaming, I suppose, and when they saw my mother, they were shocked but there was something else on their faces. It was as if they already knew this was going to happen. Not much later, I learned that they had known indeed, it was a week after it happened and I had asked Jenn about it. She told me that my mother had told her that she wanted to escape with me and that when my father had learned about that, he got angry and he killed her in his anger. Jenn did some poor attempts at defending my father and I got very angry at her for it, even though I knew she did it because she was afraid of my father, she had already betrayed him by keeping the plans my mother had made hidden from him. After she had told me that on that particular morning, I decided that I was going to do what my mother had wanted but would never be able to do. I was going to run away forever. I didn't have a plan, I just wanted to escape my father's tyranny. He had killed my mother and I was convinced that I could never ever talk to him or even look at him again. That night I sneaked through the hallways and climbed through the window of the basement. I managed to get away unnoticed and was later found by Matt's scouters, who had taken me to Matt. He decided to keep me, though I doubt whether he would have wanted Kendrick Arlana's daughter among his people if I hadn't been an intruder.