Captor

29. America

"Ashley!" I screamed at the very top of my lungs. "Ashley, help!"

The door to the private class crashed open to reveal my sister, who first noticed the tears streaming down my face as I looked up to her from my position of covering Sebastian's body with my own, almost as if I was trying to become a protective shell.

"Annie," Ashley gasped as she rushed to me. I shook my head in denial as she helped me carry him over to the twin mattress lying on top of the cot next to the window. I was gasping for breath as I cried, "I don't know what happened. I was just..."

My words stopped cold the moment that I laid my eyes on his wrist. The veins that typically mimicked a blue color through our skin had turned a deep, soul-crushing black. Pursing my lips together, I took hold of the fabric and ripped straight up the sleeve and down the chest until his chest was bared. It was not just his wrist.

It was his entire body.

Ashley took a step back simply because she was thinking the very same thing that I was. Neither one of us had ever seen anything like it. Whatever Sebastian had managed to catch, nothing seemed to match every disease that I'd ever studied before my time on the Hunt.

Scrambling for my cell phone in my pocket, I heard Ashley ask, "What are you doing?"

"Calling 911!" I screamed. Ashley took hold of my wrists and drew them down. I fought her with as much strength as I had left in me, but it was no use. I heard her cry out, "In mid-air? Annie, they can't do anything!"

Just as she finished, my phone started ringing. Looking down to the screen, I could see that it was an unknown number. Underneath of the number read one word depicting the location: Africa.

"Hello?" I said, quickly picking up the call.

"Annie?" Lillian's voice echoed over the line. "Annie, can you hear me?"

I gasped and cried out, "Yes, is everything okay?"

There was a pause.

"Nothing is okay, Annie," she spoke darkly. "You need to get back to the headquarters as soon as you possibly can. Gabriel and I have been looking into Project Messiah, and hope isn't the only thing that you're meant to spread..."

I drew in a sharp breath as I barked, "Then what?"

I could hear the tears in Lillian's voice as she said, "Connor lied. The disease had never been released. He injected it into you. You're the carrier, Annie. You're meant to destroy humanity."

In basic biology, I remember learning about carriers. It could be as simple as a tick carrying lime disease. It could not physically show symptoms of the disease, but it could spread it. Connor had told me that I was immune.

He just managed to leave out one little detail.

The phone fell out of my hand as the world around me began to spin. I didn't know whether I was going to puke or pass out, but all I knew is that Connor had promised a disease, and Sebastian was the beginning...

I fell back onto the floor and smacked my head off of the side of the cot just before hearing Ashley cry out my name. The world was going into a blur, but I didn't care. All that was left to do was pray that when I blacked out, I wouldn't wake up. I didn't deserve to.

"Annie? Annie, stay with me. Annie, please! Don't close your –"

***

"Annie, wake up. We're home..."

I woke up to the sound of my sister's voice. When I opened my eyes, I could see her standing over me. She let out a breath once she saw that I was awake and urged me to a sitting position.

I was lying across the seat of the booth where Ashley must have placed me, looking around and watching as the medics wheeled two cots into the private class. One for Sebastian and one for me, I assumed.

Sure enough, I heard the sound of several familiar voices as I was lifted onto the stretcher. I was still watching as they attached wires and tubes all through Sebastian's body, covered his face with an air-mask, and even began talking to him in hopes that he would wake up from his sleep.

I attempted to push one of the medics away, demanding that I needed to stay with him. The throbbing pain in my head insisted that I do the opposite, so I gave up and eased myself down onto the mattress.

I heard one of the medics speak softly, "He'll be right behind you, sweetheart. Just hold on. Your mother's waiting for you."

I closed my eyes and felt myself being wheeled out of the jet and toward the entrance to the emergency room of Scott Memorial. I heard the swoosh of the doors opening on their own and the chaos of the waiting room on my way through the doors to the main corridor where my mother performed surgery.

When I felt my hand being lifted, I opened my eyes to see Ashley jogging beside of the stretcher. She smiled down to me and whispered, "Stay awake, Annie. This will all be over soon."

I had a bit of trouble hearing her words, but I could hear the screams from over a mile away.

"I want to see my daughters! Let me through, God damn it!"

The door crashed open as I lifted my head to see our mother running down the hall toward me, her white coat catching the wind behind her and her glasses still perched on her lip. Tears streamed down her face as she cried out, "Anastasia!"

The medics paused me in the center of the hallway and allowed my mother to come to me.

She swept me up into her arms, my head resting against her shoulder, as she sobbed for the sake of her daughter being safe. More importantly, she was home. I could feel her fingers trailing over my back as she breathed, "Oh, Annie..."

Ashley did not interfere.

My mother whispered my name over and over, as if it was the only word that she was capable of saying anymore. She held me close to her, clinging to me as if she were afraid that she would lose me again if she would let me go.

I managed, "Hi mom."

She laughed as the joy in her heart was finally able to return. When she shifted her hands to my shoulders to look at me, that's when Ashley cleared her throat. My mother turned her head just enough to catch a glimpse of her first born.

Her face turned pale and ashy. Her eyes glossed over like glass.

"Ashley?" she whispered, furrowing her eyebrows. Ashley smiled lightly.

"It's wonderful to see you, mom," she spoke softly.

My mom left my side and turned toward Ashley, reaching out slowly before drawing her hand back in fear that Ashley would not be real. Without hesitation, Ashley scooped our mother into her arms. The look on my mother's face softened.

"But I... I didn't think it was true," she said quietly.

"It's a long story," Ashley said. "But believe me; soon you can hear it all. First, we need to take care of a greater issue."

Ashley turned to me, causing my mom too as well. Behind me, the doors opened to reveal the medics wheeling Sebastian down the hallway quicker than they had with me. He wheeled right past us and our mother caught just enough of a glimpse to catch the wave of shock.

But as I was being wheeled into my own room for examination, I heard Ashley say, "Annie deserves to be the one to tell you. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her, after all. Annie?"

I turned my head to face her.

"Well," I said, my voice scratchy. "It all started with Luke..."