The Five Unnecessaries

Chapter 27 Part 2

I woke up, weary, confused, and freezing. I remembered not to move. I tried not to think about what I couldn't afford to think about: a friend dead, my little girl in the woods waiting for me, Collin. They made my heart hurt far more than my arm, which was throbbing. Collin must have thought that I had died.

I wasn't sure how long I needed to stay here. There was no context for how long I had been asleep. Then I heard something outside, hovering. The drone. I froze again, remembering Alex's words. It flew away seconds later.

I closed my eyes, falling into a more restful sleep. It was shorter because the pain kept returning. But with the pain came my ability to process what had happened, and the many questions I had lined up for Alex to answer.

I looked back up at the words on the box, which didn't make any sense. They may have been in a different language. I thought back to the noise above me hours earlier, realizing I must have passed the drone test. My relieved sigh caused me to breathe in the dust from the ground. I lifted myself up slowly, only to hear a bang down the stairs that made me freeze again. I gripped the bare ground and began slow, soft breathing.

The door opened, and the footsteps ran right for me.

Alex pulled me up with one motion. My legs were numb, and it was hard to stand, but he steadied me. He glanced down at my wound and cursed.

"What is it?" I asked, wincing. My arm was still in excruciating pain, but it wasn't feeling as strange as my legs.

"Might be infected," he said, "but I'm not sure. It's not supposed to look like that. We've got to get you out of here. Aislyn, your legs lost some oxygen so they might feel a little weird, even painful..."

I shouted, but he covered my mouth. Invisible pins and needles hit my legs. My mouth opened wide in pain even as he begged me to stay quiet. It was as if my feet had gotten numb from kneeling so long, only the pains shooting up my legs were much more intense.

"Yeah. I can tell," I said. I leaned on him as the feeling started to come back.

"You've got to be quiet," he whispered. "Squeeze my hand."

I nodded, but then whimpered. I wanted to be braver than this, I told myself.

"It's hard," he said, moving his head closer to whisper in my ear. "Breathe. Just breathe."

"Has anyone else...?" I started to ask, but had to clench my mouth shut from the pain. He tried to shush me again.

"Don't worry about anything now. Hydech moved further north and shot some poor kids who were hiding up there. Someone tried to help them. He missed this time. She fell two stories to escape and still made it to the fence. We can't cross the fence, according to our regulations. She had reddish-blond hair, really curly. That's all I can tell you right now."

So, Cassidy was okay.

"Alex, you can tell me more."

"No, I can't. I need you to make it. I've risked both our lives for it. Get home. Mourn them then."

He penetrated my fears with his. He had almost died for me twice today, and I owed it to him to keep going.

The shards of pain intensified, but it felt better to be moving. He had to hold my hand down most of the stairs, and I had to stop and lean on him a few times. I was afraid my weakness would frustrate him, but he waited with me, told me to squeeze his hand, and said, "It's okay, you're doing great," over and over again. By the time we were on the ground level, I could walk. My arm didn't bleed again. Alex said it was about half a mile to the fence. We jogged to the border.