No Way Out ➵ John Murphy

09 //

NINE.
❝okay, so, i'm seventeen years old, you're the last best thing i got going but then the special secret sickness starts to eat through you. what am i supposed to do?❞

Layla left Jaha and A.L.I.E. and found her way back to the room Murphy had been laying in. She placed a glass of water and an apple on the side table and took a seat across from him. He looked peaceful despite the fact he had just passed out.

Layla pushed the hair out from his eyes and left the room. She wandered around the mansion by herself. It was unsettling to her that the place seemed unlived in. It was huge, built perfectly for a family, but it was empty of any life.

Layla turned around when she heard yelling. She stepped back into the hall to see Jaha was no longer meditating and Murphy was no longer unconscious. He had the apple she had given him curled around his fist and tossed it towards A.L.I.E. It went right through her, hitting the wall behind her with a bang.

"I could have eaten that." Layla mumbled, crossing her arms.

Murphy only stopped to flash Layla a glare before turning back to A.L.I.E. to aim his anger her way.

"You know she's the one who set off the bombs that ended the world, right?"

A.L.I.E did not seemed fazed by Murphy's accusations, she just crossed her arms and gave him a blank stare. Jaha was the one to explain.

"She did not end the world. She saved it."

All Murphy waking up did was make Layla more confused and flustered. She had come all this way to find the City of Light, it had been what all her struggle was for, and without it she had struggled for absolutely nothing. But on the other hand, it all seemed too good to be true. Swallowing a chip and then suddenly life becoming perfect seemed unlikely, and Murphy had furthered her concerns by being completely against the idea.

They sat at either end of the couch, Murphy had his head in his hands, crouched over. Layla scouted closer and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Slowly, he leaned back up, taking a long look at her.

"You didn't watch those videos," he said suddenly. "I did. A.L.I.E. is not who Jaha thinks."

Layla nodded. "I don't doubt you, Murphy. I trust you, more than Jaha or A.L.I.E."

"The City of Light isn't going to be some cure-all solution. I know there's going to be consequences. I know what A.L.I.E. is capable of."

She gave Murphy's shoulder a tight squeeze. "Then we don't take the chip. Simple. We'll get through this together."

"Yeah?" He said, giving her a smile that only lasted a second.

"Yeah," she replied. "We've made it this far, haven't we? We're a good team."

"I guess we are."

Layla dragged Murphy off to the dining room that Jaha had taken her to earlier and slid the bowl of fruit his way, he picked up an apple and this time, ate it, instead of throwing it.

"Good boy." She cooed. Layla reached a hand out to fuss up his hair but he swatted it away, already predicting her next move.

She rolled her eyes and pulled up a chair next to him, picking at a few grapes herself. She wasn't really hungry but it was relaxing to know that there was food there if she wanted it, and she couldn't just pass up food if it was in front of her.

"I can't believe you, you know," she said, shaking her head at the boy in front of her. "We haven't eaten in a week. You wake up with perfectly good food in front of you and your instinct is not to eat it but to throw it at some woman, ruining it."