Shifters

Chapter 37

THEA
"How much farther is it?" Luke grumbled. "I'm exhausted. We've gone so far."

"No, you're just not fit enough," Will said.

"Hey!" Luke exclaimed indignantly.

I rolled my eyes. Ren, next to me, shook her head. "Are they always like this?" she asked.

"I guess," I replied. "I mean, I haven't seen them together for a while, since we thought Will had died."

"I see."

"How much do you know about the Facility?" I asked hesitantly, deciding that after she'd shared she was part of a rebel group, she didn't have much more to hide.

"We knew teenagers were missing," she replied, her expression cool. "We tracked one of 'em to the Facility, but then the scout was killed. We didn't send another. The scout got a little information—that they were against the government, that they were doing some sort of genetic experiments. Nothing more. Your stories confirmed our theories."

"So, who do you work for?"

"I can't tell you exactly," she replied, back to her normal guarded self. "Not 'til the leader decides you're safe."

"How big is your group?"

"I can't tell you that, either."

"How—"

"I can't tell you anything!" she said, exasperated. "Do you know what it means to be part of a secret organization? You take an oath not to reveal any secrets!"

"They didn't bother at the Facility," I said grimly. "They thought escape was impossible; we couldn't do anything with the information we had." I paused, thinking. "Was the Facility an independent organization, do you think? You know, just that building?"

"I have less information than you do," Ren said dryly. "But I believe so. If there were more branches elsewhere, they're gone now—the government would've seen to that."

"How would they have found all the locations out? I'd assume once the Facility workers realized they were losing, they would've erased everything, so that on the off chance someone came searching after, they couldn't find anything on any computer that survived."

"Good point," Ren acknowledged. "I certainly hope no government official went in and found any surviving information, because if that were the case, the government could very well know about you, and be hunting you down."

I swallowed uncomfortably. That dark thought certainly didn't make me feel any better.

"Really, how much farther is it?" Luke called from behind us. We had been walking all day, since we had agreed to follow Ren to the rebels right after breakfast. It was nearly dinnertime.

"We'll stop for the night soon," Ren said. "Then we'll walk 'til mid-morning tomorrow."

"It's so close to the Facility?" I asked, surprised.

"I said we'd walk 'til mid-morning," Ren repeated. "I never said we'd get there at mid-morning."

I was confused.

~~~

We stopped in a clearing similar to our old site. We had been walking through the forest for hours, somewhat randomly in my opinion, though Ren seemed to know where she was going.

"What's for—" Luke suddenly broke off, remembering that morning and not wishing to repeat it.

I sighed.

"It's hot dogs," Ren replied shortly.

We gathered fuel for the fire, and Ren lit it. We clustered around the small flames to cook and eat our dinner.

"Happy family camping trip," Luke mused.

"Not even close," Ren said.

"All of our parents are dead, aren't they?" Will said softly, his dark hair shielding his eyes.

"Yeah," I said.

Luke nodded. "Orphans unite," he said, somewhere between sarcasm and quiet remembrance.

A/N: Dedications: @apostolic_girl072101 @craftylamma @EmberThomas