The Insiders

Chapter 18

Chapter 18- Sharlene

I begin to scream even more but the a man puts his hand over my mouth. I bite it. He yells out in pain. I kick the men who have hold of my arms. They seem to be holding me tighter the more I kick. The man on my left falls to the ground. I think I knocked the wind out of him. I quickly swing around and punch the man on my right arm out. I hold my left hand as it throbs. My hand looks like it's already bruising. I quickly look up as I hear shouting from the camp. The men are coming. The men are coming for me. I begin to turn around to run but there's already two men behind me. I don't to anything. There's nothing really for me to do. I slowly begin to rotate. As i turn I see a circle has formed around me of men with guns and knives. I try hearing their thoughts to see who's going to act first but there's too many men.

" Arms at the ready." One man says as they all lift their guns to point at me. I begin to turn looking for a way out. I'm about 30 seconds away from my death. I need to find an escape, but I don't think there is one.

" State to who your loyalties lie." The same man commands. I feel the tears welling up in my eyes but I don't let them go. I've done enough crying in my life. I guess the only thing left to do is except my death. I slowly close my eyes.

" Aim!" I take my last deep breath of my life.

"Fi-"

" Stop!" I hear a voice scream. I never thought I was going to hear that voice again. I quickly launch my eyes open.

" You do not want to shoot her." He explains calmly. I want to turn around but I can't. I don't believe what I'm hearing. I hear footsteps coming directly toward my back. They're slow steps but I know them all too well.

" Sharlene," He says in a shaky voice. "Is it really you?"

I slowly begin to turn around towards the voice. The voice that has been with me for two years. The voice that reminds me of everything that I've been longing for these past weeks.

" Peter." I run into his open arms. He holds me close.

" It's you. It's really you." He whispers in my ear. We break apart and stare into each other's eyes. My smile that I wear slowly disappears off my face but I force myself to keep it on. I forgot that Peter's eyes are hazel, not green like Coren's. A soldier coughs and snaps me out of my thoughts.

" She's one of us." Peter explains. I look around the circle at the men with their guns still raised.

" Prove it." The soldier replies. One man marches over to him and hands him a gun, although it doesn't look quite like all the other guns. This gun is white unlike the others and it's bigger. It has lots of amo in it. Whatever it's loaded with must be big to fill that gun. The loaded gun has a point coming out of it. Why would a bullet have a point? I look a little inward from the point to see what appears to be black liquid. I gasp as I realize what it is, as I realize how many people that poison has killed. My breath quickens. Do they know that I'm an insider? I try to control my breathing. If there's any chance of me getting out of this, I'm going to need to master my poker face.

" You don't want to me do this." Peter tells the men very calmly.

" And why is that?" The head soldier spits back.

" Because she's Sharlene Fraser. The sergeant's daughter." He explains as he turns to me. There's whispers all around me. The men slowly begin to lower their guns. They look at each other with questioning eyes.

" At ease." The head soldier tells his men. The men completely lower their guns which puts me at ease. The men apologize as they head back to the camp. Peter scares me as he grabs my hand. His fingers go between mine. It takes me a minute to realize I should do the same.

" Let me show you around." He says casually. It's surprising how calm he is considering what just happened. Maybe this is his new normal? Have both of our normals really changed that much?

We walk around camp hand in hand. I'm so uncomfortable I want to let go but at the same time it's nice to have a piece of my old life to hang on to. Literally. The campsite is a lot bigger than what I first thought it to be. They even have a luxury tent with games and a radio. As we walk by different tents, many men welcome me back. At first I thought they were being nice but after four of the comments I'm assuming they don't want Sargent Timothy Fraser mad at them for almost shooting his daughter.

" Here we are." Peter announces as we approach a smaller tent. He finally lets go of my hand to open one of the flaps on the tent. I bend over to walk in the tent. There is a cot on either side of the tent.

" The one on the right is my bed. The one on the left is Gregory's. You've never met him but he's the same age as us. He'll be on watch tonight so you can sleep there if you'd like."

"What?" Slips out of my mouth. I'm not sure what's more surprising, the fact that the outsiders are watching for us or the fact that Peter just told me he's sleeping with me tonight.

"Like if you want. You could sleep in my bed if you wanted to. It's just everybody here is a man and I honestly don't want you to be too far away from me. I'm afraid I'll loose you again." Peter says so fast I wonder how he did it all in one breath. I can't help but smile at him. I hear a few shouts that make me jump. They're like the shouts from last night but these shouts are for dinner.

" You hungry?" He asks me. I nod. He walks towards me.

"You okay?" He asks me as he tucks my hair behind my ear. My smile disappears. I nod again.

"C'mon we'll get some food." He puts his hand out for me to grab. I grab it. The feeling of being close to him again is familiar yet somehow unwanted.

We eat with many men around the campfire. Everyone's eating various different foods. Peter eats a banana while I eat an apple. Everyone here still has their grey suit on. They tell stories of their lives. No one brings up the battle last night. I want to. I want to know why they attacked us and why they're here. I don't though. I can't. It'd blow my cover. I don't even know what my cover is. Where did they think i was? It's not like my absence hasn't gone unnoticed like I thought it had.