Rebel Born [FIRST DRAFT]

Chapter 18: Russian Roulette

Cossette's tiny frame shook as she wailed. Hesitant, I approached her and kneeled in front of her and opened my arms. Cossette latched herself onto me, her sobs getting louder. "I don't want to die!" She shrieked, her words slightly jumbled as she continued to cry. "I made a promise with everyone! I was going to help them fulfil all of their dreams! I can't die now! I can't! I'm scared! I don't want to die and I don't want to break my promise! I – I – I –"

I slowly patted her head, "we won't let you die. We're all going to make sure that no one is going to hurt you. I promise."

Cossette nodded her head but she continued to cry. Days' worth of pent up tears were now being released. I softly removed her from my arms and let Max carry her back to her room. Kyle, Hugh and Vanessa came to stand by my side as we watched the two of them disappear up the stairs.

"From now on, one of us has to always be by her side. No matter what. Until we figure out who is behind this, we can't let our guards down." I said, glancing at the three of them from the corner of my eye. They nodded in response before the boys began to head upstairs as well.

Vanessa walked up to me. "You know, you make a good older sister." She smiled at me softly. I glanced at her and found the tips of my mouth turning upwards.

"Is that so?" I muttered, mostly to myself. I started up the stairs as Vanessa did her regular security check around the house. Once I entered y room, I tossed the soaked shirt into the laundry chute and grabbed a new one. I sat on the edge of my bed, thinking over the conversation that I had overheard again, trying to put a face to the voices that I had heard.

Sighing in frustration, I let myself fall backwards onto the bed and let sleep overtake me.

I woke up under my blankets. Someone must have come in and moved me last night. I got up quickly and made my way downstairs where Vanessa was still cooking breakfast. Max sat at the kitchen counter with a mug of coffee, holding a tablet in his other hand.

I pulled out a seat next to Max, alerting them of my presence. Vanessa greeted me good morning and handed me a cup of hot chocolate. I accepted it with a sigh of happiness and looked over at Max who handed me the tablet he was looking at.

"I came up with a schedule of who's going to be with Cossette and when." He explained, taking another sip of his coffee.

I shot him a grateful look and looked over it. On the schedule, it was a list of times where some of us are on patrol. There was a person assigned to be around Cossette every day. Kyle on Monday, me on Tuesday, Max on Wednesday, Hugh on Thursday, Vanessa on Friday, me again on Saturday, and Max again on Sunday. At the bottom was a note stating that if we were to go on a job, a maximum of four people will go so that at least one person would still be with Cossette.

I nodded as I handed the tablet back to him. "I'll send this to everyone's tablets now." He said as he began to tap on the tablet. I nodded in thanks again before enjoying the sweetness of the hot chocolate. It was a Thursday today so that meant Hugh's the bodyguard today. Though, the rest of us are most likely going to stick around unless we're heading out for patrol.

Max and Kyle headed out on patrol first. Today was the second last day that Syndicate 45 was the only syndicate in Aestrea. Syndicate 42 was returning, and with the knowledge of someone wanting to kill Cossette, we were all tense throughout the day. Hugh tried his best to cheer us up and lessen the tension in the room. He managed to succeed for the most part, thanks to Vanessa deciding to humor him by laughing at some of the strangest jokes.

Max and Kyle came back for lunch after spending the morning patrolling. After lunch, Max and Hugh went with Cossette to the camp, and Kyle stayed home to take a nap since he is on night patrol duty tonight. Not long after the three of them left, Vanessa and I began our patrol as well. We decided to go in opposite directions and both patrol Sector 3, then I would patrol Sectors 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6. Vanessa would patrol the rest.