Searching for Paradise

Chapter Seven

I woke to someone shaking me. "Hey, Goldilocks, wake up. We need to move." I was suddenly hoisted to my feet and I finally woke up fully. "Whats going on?" I asked rubbing my eyes. "Soldiers." Cade said stomping on the fire and throwing dirt over it. Collin handed me my pack and we all quickly got rid of any evidence we had been there. "This way!" We heard voices. "No time to run!" Cade said and started climbing a tree. "Do we really have to?" Reeve said and I shrugged and starting climbing up after Cade. Collin followed closely behind who was followed by Reeve. We each got situated and not a moment later three soldiers ran below us. I recognized one of the soldiers as Reeves older brother, Jasper. I glanced at Reeve, his face as white as a sheet as he watched his brother. "I dont know how they found us." Cade said shooting us all a glance. I looked back down watching them as they checked the ground. "What do you make of it Sir." Jasper said to the third soldier, and I had a sick feeling in my stomach that I knew who it was. I was right. I watched the soldier, my father, remove his helmet. "They couldnt have got far." He said kicking the ground bringing up burnt pieces of stick. "Shit." Cade swore. "Branches are still warm. They didnt leave that long ago." "Havent even left." Collin joked. I smacked his arm. "This is serious." Cade said. "If they are on our trail like this, getting to the mountain is gonna be hard." A static crackled over our voices and a disembodied voice came through. "Understood." My dad spoke to the radio clipped to his shoulder. "Orders are to head back." My dad said holstering the gun he had. Jasper and the other soldier nodded and they left the area. "Whew." I said sliding down from the tree. "That was close." I said brushing my shirt off. "Too close if you ask me." Cade said watching all of us. "You think one of us tipped them off." I stated. Cade shrugged. "Ive never had soldiers on my case like this before. So why now, why when I bring along three stragglers." He said evenly. "Cade we wouldnt do that." I said. "I dont think it was you." He looked past me to Collin and Reeve. I glanced at them. "You think one of them did it?" I asked incredulously. Cade just shrugged again. Collin stayed quiet and Reeve just stood there. "Maybe it was a fluke." Collin said. Cade thought about it. "Gabi, when I found you in the woods, there were soldiers. Why." I sighed. "The third soldier you saw.. Hes my dad." I said watching Cade as his face turned to a mixture of surprise and something else. He nodded. "Thats how they know where you are. Theyre tracking you." Cade said. "How?" I said skeptical. "Come here." He motioned me over. He pulled my hair away and looked behind my ear. "Thats how." He said showing whatever it was to Collin and Reeve. "What is it." I said. "Your chipped." Cade said dropping my hair.

"Explain this to me again." I said rubbing my forehead. "Its actually pretty common. They take you when your a baby, so you wont remember, and they implant a chip in your head. And seeing as your dads a soldier it doesnt really surprise me." "If theres a chip in my head, how did they not find us in the tree." I said feeling behind my ear. The skin was smooth, no notification anything had ever happened. "Only thing I can think of is its somehow malfunctioning. Sending haywire signals." Cade said watching me. "Can we get it out." "We could, but it would be dangerous to try." Cade said brushing his hair back. A long jagged scar ran across the back of his ear and up into his hairline. "You tried to remove yours." I said reaching out and running a finger along the scar. Cade nodded. "Did it work." I asked. "Not the first time no." Thats when I noticed the other scars around it all leading back to the biggest one. I shuddered. "So how do we get hers out." Collin said. "Well.. We could try and cut it out now," Cade said taking out a switchblade. "Or we could wait until we get there, but I dont think theyd let you in knowing theres a chip in your head." I looked at Reeve. "Wasnt your dad a soldier too?" I asked Reeve. I knew his father had died a few months after Reeve had been born, but other than he went down fighting I didnt know much. "Yes. So?" Reeve said. Cade watched him. "Let me see." He said moving towards Reeve. He brushed the hair away from Reeves ear. "Yeah. Hes got one too." Cade said sighing. "Alright. Your turn." He said turning towards Collin. "What? I thought it was because their dads were soldiers." Collin said looking at me. Cade shrugged. "Could be. Might as well check anyway." Collin nodded and swallowed hard. Cade brushed Collins hair back and suddenly he smirked. "Looks like someone already tried to remove theirs." Cade said. "Did remove it." Collin said reaching behind his ear. "You got yours out pretty easy. Little damage too." Cade acknowledged. "How did you do it." He said straightening back up. "You wouldnt believe me if I told you." Collin forced a laugh. "Try me." Cade said. Collin sighed. "Would you believe me if I said I was literally a human metal detector mixed with the best doctor? That I could pinpoint the exact location of the chip and remove it with presicion?" Collin threw a hard look everyones way.

"How is that possible?" I asked looking at Collin. "I dont know. Something just goes off in my head and I just know what to do." He said staring at his shoes. "Well lets do it then." I said taking Cades switchblade and handed it to Collin. "Gabriella, what if I screw up, what if I seriously hurt you." Collin said staring at the blade. "Hey," I said taking his hand. "I trust you." He sighed and nodded. "Im gonna need a few things though." He said looking at Cade. "Im gonna need a rag, and something to sterilize the knife. Can you get another fire going?" Cade nodded and got to work. "Here." Reeve said handing Collin a shirt. "Thanks." He said. "Just letting you know.." Collin started staring at me. I waited for the horrible news I was sure he was going to tell me. "Your gonna have a bald spot for a while." He laughed. "Ughhhh." I groaned and smiled. As Cade got the fire started, Collin started hacking away the hair around my ear. I squeaked with every chop as I watched my hair fall to the ground. "Might as well shave it all." Reeve teased. "Hey, watch it, your next if he gets this thing removed." I teased back and he shot me a look. Collin finished cutting my hair and then handed Cade the knife. As he heated the knife, Collin gave me a serious look. "Are you sure you wanna do this?" He asked. "Im sure." I said taking his hand. "Alright." Cade said handing the knife back to Collin, the blade glowing a bright orange. "You ready?" He looked at me. I nodded and he let go of my hand.

The blade sizzled as it touched my skin and I began to scream as Collin drew it across my head.