Gone Again: World Hoppers {book two}

Obey

"Could you please relay what happened to your back to me again?" Cas sighed, Michael had insisted on getting a closer look at his scars and after raising his hand more than once he removed his shirt and allowed him to see the jagged lines down his back. "I was-" his breath caught as Michael's cold hands touched his back, "Continue." He continued relaying all that had happened when he was younger. "Hm. Alright that's enough now, I like you Casper. You're interesting. Bea, put him back."

As Bea led him back down the hall he thought about Natalie, she doubted she'd be okay with him poking and prodding at the scar on her face. He thought about Ollie too, did he have any significant scars? He couldn't see to remember. "Were you really an angel?" Cas didn't answer, "C'mon I wanna know!" Cas shrugged, "I don't have to answer to you," Bea paused and grabbed his shoulder, "Don't you worry, I hit too," "I was." She released him with a smile, "Sounds exciting," She added as they approached him room, Cas glared at her, "Getting a piece of me ripped from my back as a child was delightful."

"Here, sit." Natalie crossed her arms. "Don't be difficult now, c'mon dear." She held he defiant stance. "Bea, arms-" Natalie swing back at her, her arms going in every direction. Within seconds she was on the floor, Bea sat on top of her, keeping her arms down as Michael knelt over her.

"That scar looks awfully fresh. Ryan tells us you were burned? Is that so?" Natalie only glared at him. "You're hurting me." Michael smiled, his cold eyes staring down at her. "If you won't tell me I guess we'll just have to find out for ourselves huh?" Natalie didn't understand until he retrieved a lighter from his desk.

He ripped her arm away from Bea and held the lighter beneath it, "Having second thoughts yet?" He asked cooly, "It-it's new." He lowered the lighter slightly, "And?" He asked, "It's acid or something- fire too I think- please." Michael tossed the lighter away and grabbed at her face, "Interesting." It took everything in her not to push him away with her free arm. She lay rigid beneath Bea.

"Alright that's enough. I've got enough information for now. Goodbye Natalie." He brushed himself off as Bea began to usher her out of the room.

"You're all terrible, you know that?" Bea sighed, "Yeah," Natalie continued to rant, Bea didn't care. She could've just been talking to a wall really. "You threw me to the ground. You're like an adult, I'm sixteen-" "You're sixteen?" Natalie paused as Bea stared at her, "You look..." She reached out to touch her but Natalie stepped away.

"It's always been that way. Doesn't matter. But even to think Ryan had turned on us, what an absolute waste of-" Bea grabbed her now. "Waste of what now?" She growled, Natalie paused, the woman was bigger than her, who wasn't really, and had her pinned against the wall now. "Waste of space." She finished, "I thought he was good. My intuition is a little rough around the edges nowadays, I won't make that mistake again." She slid down and bolted down the hall.

"There's a window in the bathroom." Ollie whispered, Natalie nodded along even though they couldn't see each other. "Okay, when do we leave?" There was a long silence, Natalie knocked on the wall a few times, no answer. "Sorry I was talking to York. She's going to try and get Ryan and then we'll leave." Natalie didn't say anything else, she just gave a small hum of acknowledgement and laid back down.

York was put in the labyrinth the next day. Ryan felt awful. Even worse, Bea made him walk along with her, a gag in his mouth. They stared down at her as Ryan tried to subtly point to where she was supposed to go, she was well enough on her own.

It was maybe an hour before they went back to the control room. Bea took out the gag and spun around in her chair. "She's doing better than that other one with the scars." Ryan looked over at her impatiently, "Who?" She snapped her fingers, "Collin? Cooper something-" "Cas?" She nodded, "Yeah, poor dude has these jagged scars all up and down his back. Said he had wings ripped from his back when he was little. Sounds insane." Ryan nodded, he hadn't known.

It wasn't until Bea rested her head on his shoulder that he was brought back to reality. "What are you doing?" He mumbled, pulling away. She looked almost hurt, "I don't like to be touched." Bea scoffed, "Tell that to your girlfriend." Ryan flicked his gaze to the screen, "What? Are you jealous of York? Is that it?" Bea got up from her chair grabbed something from the fridge and went out into the labyrinth.

Ryan followed her. "What do you think you're doing?" He shouted, chasing after her, "Go away." She called back, he lost his footing and tumbled into the labyrinth with a thud. There was a moment of silence before Bea called out, "Ryan?" He gave no answer, intent on listening. Within seconds her head popped up over the side. "You absolute imbecile."

Ryan ignored her, "York!" He shouted, Bea tried to shout over him, he wouldn't be quieted. York turned the corner and they were face to face again. "Ryan!" She opened her arms for a hug, he accepted. Bea cursed. "I was going to help you out but now-" "I already memorized the map." Her jaw dropped, "I completely-" Michael used to call him his 'camera' he could had a photographic memory, most things he chose to remember, others he didn't. "I'll-" Ryan ignored her and started on his way out with York.

Michael was not happy. Not that he usually was. Bea had been given two bottles and then sat outside his office. Ryan came out maybe an hour later. His eyes were rimmed with tears, a cheap blanket thrown over his shoulders. Michael followed him, blood staining his hands. "Go patch him up and then put him back," He offered her a hand but she was already half way up. He turned to Ryan, grabbed his chin and pulled him forward. "I hope you've learned your lesson." Bea watched the drops of blood hit the floor, Michael made no visible acknowledgement.

Michael had carved the word obey into him. It was across his chest and then again on his collar bone. On top of that he had littered smaller cuts all over him, most surrounded by purple-yellow bruises that blossomed on his pale skin.

Bea sat him down on one of the sinks next to a small first aid kit. "That hurts," Bea glanced up at him. "I'm trying my best- what are you doing here?" The second part was to Naomi who'd shown up in the doorway, Atti clinging to her leg. "It's just them- go." Naomi dove at Bea, ripping away her hand before she could reach her taser. Ryan slipped what remained of his shirt back on and carefully got to his feet, taking the first aid kit as Ollie hit at the window. "It's two stories-" Naomi punched Bea before she could finish.

They broke it on the fourth try. The glass shattered. Alarms went off. "Alright, big kid's first. Catch the little ones. Ryan-" She must've just registered her condition because she looked shocked as the others were already crawling out. "Naomi get off her!" All three of them seemed surprised by his words. "She's coming with us," Naomi moved to argue but the alarms got louder, "Leave the taser," She mumbled, throwing it across the room as she moved toward the window, climbing out easily.
"You're really not going to leave me?" Bea asked quietly, "Just make sure it's not a mistake,"

Crawling through the window hurt. Falling hurt even worse. He crashed into Naomi and then Bea fell on top of him. "There's a river that way-" "Shut up-" "Let her talk, she knows what's going on." Naomi groaned and picked up Atti before taking off after the others.

Bea wasn't lying. There was a river just over the hill and even better, a small motorboat on it's shore. Needless to say, all fourteen of them piled in the small boat as people began to flood over the hill. "I don't know-" Bea trembled, "I can, I can, I can-" she stumbled to the front of the boat, one hand on the wheel the other on the dash. She turned the key and moved it forward. They were almost free.