Dorothy

Chapter 18

     Dorothy peeked through groggy eyelids at the sun that was coming in too bright through a crack  in the shades. Her legs throbbed. She turned her head to see her friends strewn across the floor and arm chair, all seemed to be asleep except Thayer, who was sitting up against the far wall. His eyes snapped to her when he heard the stir.

    "How are you this morning?" It wasn't the most appropriate thing to say, but there was simply nothing else to say. Dorothy shrugged.

     "How long have you been awake?"

     "I never really slept," he replied.

     "You've been up all night?"

     "Mh. Most of it."

     Dorothy looked hard a Thayer. He looked like a mess. Dark circles were starting to show under his eyes and he was starting to look severely underfed. As she looked at her other companions, she  could see the signs of wear on them too.

     "Hungry?" Dorothy asked.

     "That hasn't really stopped throughout this journey either."

     "Why did you come? Why did you pull that thing off me? I don't think that you were entirely honest. You could have gone back. Why didn't you? You wouldn't have had to go through any of this."

     Thayer sighed. He looked distinctly like they had hit upon a topic that he didn't want to discuss. Dorothy almost took the question back, but not quite. If he was willing to say, she really did want to know."

     "Honestly, because I was sick of it. Sick of the fights, enemies, rules. I was sick of being treated like the queen's pet. I never wanted to be this thing, or anything else that comes with it."

     Dorothy nodded, picturing, for the first time, what Thayer must have been like before the transformation. A scrawny little boy, much like his brother. A boy with hopes and dreams and plans. 

     "How did you get chosen?"

     "I'm not even sure how they do it. Test scores, observation. They just showed up at my house one night and told my parents that they were taking me, that it was a great honor, and that they'd never see me again."

     Thayer ran his hands over his face. "I was so selfish. I wasn't thinking when I pulled the mutant off you, it was more instinct. But when I left, I knew what I was doing. I knew there'd be consequences. I knew they'd go for my family. But I went anyway," he looked disgusted. "My brother was almost turned into a monster because of me."

     His hand was pressed in his face; he was breathing heavily. Dorothy wanted to put an arm around him, tell him it was okay, but how could it be okay? He lifted his face and met her eyes. "You probably think I'm a monster."

    "For what it's worth, I'm glad that you came with us. We wouldn't have made it this far otherwise. And honestly, I would count you a friend before a monster."

     Thayer looked like he would have said something, but Ronan stirred just then, kicking Connel in the process. Connel groaned and rolled over, while Ronan took it upon himself to wake the others. He hit Auden's foot, which was dangling over his head from a chair, until he grunted and pulled it in. He whacked Rosie's on button. Thayer and Dorothy exchanged a look. He nodded to her slightly.

     Cressida wasn't on the main floor when they woke up, and no one was particularly eager to change that. They raided the pantry and had their first truly satisfying meal. Cressida didn't seem big into meat, to Thayer's dismay as he picked over some celery and bread.  Auden did pull out two raw steaks and set them on the table in front of Thayer. He attacked them like a wild animal. They were gone in seconds, juice and blood left dripping down his chin. He looked up to see everyone frozen and staring at him. Connel, in particular, looked mortified. He suddenly looked extremely self conscious. He wiped his chin on his sleeve.