The Fall of Hope

Chapter 23

            “Alex's been spending a lot of time with Chase,” Nick said as he sat down next to Blake.

            They were all sixteen and Alex, Nick and Chase have been mission runners for four years.

            “Yeah, I've noticed,” Blake grumbled with a frown. “You don't think they're-”

            “No,” Nick said. “They would have told us.”

            “You mean Alex would have told you,” Blake said.

            “No. I mean Chase would have told you,” Nick said.

            “Nick is right,” nine year old Caleb said as he walked over.

            Nick and Blake looked up, “Do you know what's going on?” Nick asked.

            Caleb nodded, “Of course I do,” he said. “I asked Alex why she was spending so much time with Chase and she told me.”

            “Will you tell us?” Blake asked.

            “Why don't you just ask them yourselves?” Caleb asked as he tilted his head.

            Nick and Blake shook their heads, “No way,” they both said.

            “But... they'd tell you,” Caleb said.

            “We know,” Blake said.

            “Then why won't you ask?” Caleb asked, keeping his head tilted as he stared at Nick and Blake.

            Nick chuckled, “You're just like your sister, good with machines and bad with people.”

            Caleb waved his hand dismissively, “Yeah, yeah, I know. Now tell me why you won't ask.”

            Nick sighed, “Because some questions we don't want answered, some we are sure about and other questions, very few questions, we want answered, but not by certain people because we don't want them to know we know the answer.”

            Caleb frowned, “That doesn't make sense,” he said.

            “Yeah, we know,” Nick and Blake said.

* * *

            “Where do you think you're going?” Denzel asked Alex after he made her pull over on her way out of the city.

            “To get my brother,” Alex said.

            “No you ain't,” Denzel said.

            “Why did they take him?” Alex asked. “Why didn’t they take me too?”

            Denzel shrugged, “I don’t know,” he said. “It was probably Victoria’s plan. Antonio isn’t that smart.”

            Alex tilted her head, “Antonio?”

           “The Nameless,” Denzel sighed and leaned against the car. “He wasn’t always like that. He used to be human. His name was Antonio, he was my half-brother. He started working with Veronica when we were teenagers and… well, you know the rest.”

            Alex nodded and thought for a moment before looking over at Denzel, “Why'd you make me a runner?” she asked. “Why'd you choose me when I was a kid?”

            Denzel looked surprised “You want to know why I chose you?” he asked. “I thought it was obvious, you're the best shot we've got and the best tech we've got. You've been working with guns since you were a kid and you're a genius. You're the best runner we've had in twenty years.  You've got something to fight for and you don't fake it. According to Veronica, you’re Public Enemy Number 1,” Denzel took a deep breath, “The rebels respect you and you still want to know why I chose you? Because Teracon gave you something to fight for and they all fear you because of that.” He sighed, “That's why.”

            Alex stared at Denzel for a moment before nodding, “Alright,” she said.