Youngblood Chronicles: Light Em Up

Chapter 11

Present Day

We had run to the base and grabbed our backpacks. Each held clothes, some food, a walkie-talkie, and a weapon or two. We were heading to the airport in Las Vegas so that we wouldn't be detected.

We were getting close to the border of the state after about 2 hours. We had our flight at 3:30 and needed to get to Vegas soon. As we got close, I saw two or three people in bulletproof vests.

"Uh oh," Mallord said. She quickly began fishing around for something.

"What uh-oh?" Mallord grabbed her wallet.

"Voiceless took over the government of California. They must have stationed these people here. You need to get down,"

"I can't, there's no room!" We were nearly at the checkpoint.

"Fine, keep your stump out of sight," We pulled up to the guard.

"I need your identification," He said. He was in full army fatigue, camo, and everything. Mallord fished out some papers.

"My driver's license, birth certificate, and a current picture," Mallord told him. The guard looked over the papers for a while, then handed them back. He spotted me.

"Who's that?" He asked. I smiled and waved.

"She's a friend of mine from Vegas. I was heading back to drop her off. We got delayed on the way up,"

"It's still like 9 at night,"

"I know. I was gonna stay the night up there with her anyway,"

"What's your friend's name?" I gulped silently.

"Jayden, Jayden Right," I said. He nodded.

"And are you a legal resident of Las Vegas Nevada?"

"Okay, this is kinda confusing. I live in a little-unincorporated town right outside of Vegas. It doesn't show up on the map so you can't look it up. It is counted with Vegas in income tax forms and the census, and is really not acknowledged by the Feds." He nodded.

"That's a mouthful,"

"I have to tell everyone that when they ask where I'm from," He nodded again.

"Okay girls, you can go," Mallord rolled the window back up and drove away. As soon as we got far enough, we let out a sigh of relief.

"That was close," she said.

"No kidding. I didn't know if he'd believe me,"

"You're a really good liar," I chuckled.

"Don't tell me that," She laughed for a moment. We kept talking for the rest of the trip.

We made it to the airport about midnight. We had to stop for gas at least once. Then a bathroom break. And we got lost in the stip. Twice. We were both fed up by the time we walked into the airport and up to the ticket counter.

"We made reservations on the 3:30 flight to Kansas City, Missouri. The ticket lady typed something into her computer.

"It's been overbooked,"

"Shit," I muttered.

"Do you have any other flights leaving soon?" Mallory's voice was tense. Another moment of tacking on a computer.

"We have a 5 o'clock flight that isn't overbooked. I can get you two seats in coach," I nodded.

"Please," Mallord said. "We really have to go," The lady took out two tickets.

"That'll be 300.78,"

"Wait. Wouldn't they technically be free since we got bumped from our original flight?" The lady facepalmed.

"Your right, sorry about that," She gave us the tickets. "Terminal 9 boarding tube C," we quickly made out way over. The terminal was very quiet and still. The huge windows showed the vast darkness outside, with the lights from the strip illuminating it.

"It's, it's beautiful," I whispered sitting down in a chair.

"Eh, whatever," Mallord said. I looked at her.

"How can you not think it's beautiful?"

"Um, it's just city lights," I shook my head.

"Not to me. It's innocence. It's hundreds of thousands of innocents oblivious to the battle we're fighting. I miss that innocence," I started out the window.

"Wow, that was really deep,"

"I've been locked in a cell for a year. I've had a lot of deep thinking time," Mallord cleared her throat.

"What was it like?" She asked. "What was it? How did you survive?" I shook my head.

" A miracle. It was horrible," I breathed in sharply. "They stuck me with almost every sickness imaginable. They hit me, cut me, burned me. Everything you could imagine," I inhaled sharply again. "It was horrible," I felt tears running down my cheeks as I started out the window. I slowly lifted up my shirt and revealed my hip. On it were the words Young Blood.

"They burned those on me," I lifted up my shirt revealing a long ugly line of sloppy black stitches. "They took out one kidney, my appendix, and my vomeronasal organ. No idea what that is, but it's in my nose," I pointed to a tiny line of neat stitches. "Whatever they did to Stump, they tried to replicate on me," Mallord pulled me into a hug.

"I'm so sorry," She muttered. I smiled, tears streaming down my face.

"Thanks so much," I smiled. "Now we better get some sleep, our flights at 5," Mallord nodded.

"We have to leave Kansas City by 7 tonight. We're flying directly into California from LA. They might have guards there, so we have to be ready,"

"Hopefully your prosthetic won't trigger a metal detector," I laughed.

"I'll stick it in my carry on," We laughed for a moment. When I stopped I kept looking out the window and ended up falling asleep in a little over 15 minutes.