Numbered

Chapter Twenty-Two

Kylie gasped for breath; her eyes snapping open. She felt the ground shake beneath her and her hand gripped the stretcher she was lying on. She realised she was in a helicopter as she listened to the chop-chop-chop of rotors.

"Kylie."

Jared was next to her in another stretcher, a worried expression on his face. He pushed his stretcher back and knelt by her side.

"They caught us again," she cried. She pulled on Jared's sleeve. The wound on his head had been stitched, though bruises had appeared on his face from the Officials' beating. He had a black eye and a cut lip but he still looked as handsome as ever.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Kill me before they do," she pleaded, trying to loosen the straps around her waist holding her down on the stretcher. She didn't want to face another public execution. She would rather die in his arms than suffer that trauma again.

"Kylie, the rebels have won," Jared said, his hands gently taking off the restraints.

"What?" She couldn't understand what he was saying. It didn't hit her; it didn't seem real. "The Official?"

"He was a rebel in Official uniform," Jared explained. He tried to calm her down as she grew increasingly agitated.

She frowned, shaking her head. "No! It was a trick?"

"Look what happened while you were unconscious." He lifted her wrist to reveal clear skin, free of any marking. 

"I'm not a Zero anymore," she murmured, staring at where the large black Zero used to be etched.

"You never were. Not to me."

She reached out to him, letting out a sigh of relief. It was finally over, she thought, as he held her, running his hands over her back. The fighting, the deaths, the fear. It was over.

"You're shaking," he remarked, pressing his warm lips to her neck. She felt a pang of need in her chest but was quickly overcome by guilt. How could she be thinking about Jared's effect on her, when Nico had died in front of her eyes?

Flashbacks of her hands covered in his blood tortured her mind. They abandoned him! They could have rescued him but instead they ran.

"There was nothing we could have done to save him," Jared whispered, as if he could read her mind.

A strangled cry escaped her mouth as she buried her face in the crook of his shoulder.

He rested his head on top of hers, his fingers running through her hair.

She could almost hear Nico's voice in her ear; "That's what friends are for." It echoed in her mind, taunting her. What kind of friend was she to leave him to die?

"He saved my life and yours," Jared whispered. "I won't ever be able to repay him for that."

"Ellis," Kylie said, her mind replaying the conversation they'd had in the hotel room. The girl he loved would never know about his demise.

"What?" Jared replied, his forehead creasing in a frown.

"His..girl," she replied. She swallowed. "The government moved her away from him but we could try to find her, let her know."

He nodded. "It won't be easy, but we can try. We owe him."

Jared shifted his body so Kylie could lie against him. His presence calmed her down. He was warm and breathing and alive. She felt so lucky to have him, to have survived with him.

"Look," Jared said, pointing to the window. Kylie looked out to see green fields and blocks of flats. She could see the lake where she used to swim. She could even make out the wasteground where she often fought.