Rebels

Ch. 27

Lyla had gotten them all food to eat, even for Arin, who didn't eat it anyways. Luca hadn't wound up dead in his sleep, which meant Arin hadn't killed him. Jack's migraine had dulled, but his head was still pounding. Even after he had eaten, it still hadn't gone. "This is possibly the worst pain I've been in." He complained, setting his head in his hands.

"Well, Arin seemed to have gotten you good yesterday." Lyla replied.

Jack peeked his head up to look at Arin, who was sitting against the wall, staring off into space. He now had bruises around his neck, and Jack somewhat felt good about that. "Hey, Lyla?" Jack asked, noting that Luca was still asleep on the ground.

Lyla perked her head up. "Yeah?"

"Does this mean we're the rebellion, now?" Jack asked.

Lyla took a moment to think about this. She smiled, "Well, if this is the rebellion, I am not impressed." She laughed.

Jack laughed along with her. "Yeah. I don't know, though. I mean, I think we pulled together a good stunt back there at the palace."

Lyla nodded. "That was something else."

Jack then became curious. He glanced around the room, but found no television. "If we're the rebellion, what does the tv show now?"

Lyla became curious then, too. "I don't know."

"I was taken." Arin spoke, breaking Jack and Lyla's conversation.

Jack and Lyla both stood, staring at Arin as if he was an alien.

Arin continued. "From the church that you and I were staying at." He looked to Jack. "They took me to the palace. They asked me who I was, and where you were staying, Jack. I retaliated, though. They tied my hands, and hit me in the back of the head. Everything had been dark from that moment on. When I came to, one of the guards had a knife in his hand. He carved into the side of my head. You want to know what they carved?" Arin asked.

Neither Lyla nor Jack could speak, for both had no words to say.

Arin turned his head, revealing dried blood that had ran down his neck. Sure enough, through the mass of blood, Jack could make out letters.

"They carved out a KP." Arin looked up to Jack, his eyes glossy. He stood. "Jack?"

Jack's eyebrows scrunched together. "Are you... Okay now?"

Arin nodded his head, letting a tear slip down his face. "Yeah. I- Jack, I'm so sorry about... W-what I did to you."

Lyla crossed her arms, skeptical of Arin. "Why did you do that?"

Arin turned serious. "You both have to listen to me. T-They did something else to me... I don't know what. All I know is that here and there I black out. Then, I wake up, not knowing how or why I blacked out. B-Back at the palace, the guards... They left me in that room to die. But I kept blacking out... I couldn't focus."

"Are you trying to say that the guards did something to you, that makes you go completely insane?" Luca asked. Jack didn't know how long he had been standing beside of him or when Luca had awoken.

Arin nodded, another tear escaping. "I don't know what they did to me." Arin's hands were shaking at his sides.

"It's okay." Jack responded, looking for confirmation from Luca and Lyla. "If what you're saying is true, then it's okay. That means that we didn't rescue you for nothing."

Arin only nodded, trying to smile through his pain. "S-so, where are we now?"

Lyla sighed, looking around the small, wooden square they all were holed up in. "We are at an abandoned building a few minutes away from the palace."

Arin's smile quickly faded. "W-what are we doing so close to the palace?"

"We had to get you somewhere inside." Jack responded. "You were shot."

Luca broke up the conversation. "Enough with the chit-chat. We need to know when Arin's gonna black out again."

This was true. Jack knew that much. He just couldn't see how they would be able to predict such a thing.

Lyla spoke up first. "I agree, Luca, but we also need to figure out what our next move is."

"Kill the king." Luca said, causing Lyla to flinch.

Lyla glared at her brother. "That's absurd. We can't even pull that off. Jack nearly died, and Arin's unstable, no offense." She said. "You're also an alcoholic, Luca. Besides, there's only four of us."

Luca frowned. "I'd appreciate it if you'd stop humiliating me, Lyla, or else there's only going to be three of us."

"Please, both you just stop." Jack groaned, rubbing his temples. "We need to rest, first. We also need to pull ourselves together. This rebellion is turning us into idiots."

"Jack," Arin muttered, leaning against the wall.

Jack turned to him, while Lyla and Luca bickered amongst the two of them. Arin was beginning to turn pale, and he was also beginning to sweat. "Arin, what's wrong?"

At this, Lyla and Luca both stopped what they were doing and were on full alert.

Arin's hands were beginning to shake once again, and his eyes became glossy. "I-I'm going to blackout." His knees buckled beneath him, and he slid to the ground.

Jack turned around and spotted the knife Luca had dropped yesterday, now lying on the ground. With shaking nerves, Jack grabbed it and turned back to Arin. When Arin saw the knife Jack held, he backed away as far away from Jack as he could.

Luca swore under his breath. "What are we supposed to do?" He practically yelled.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Jack said once again, trying to calm Arin like before.

Arin had a look of fear in his eyes. Jack saw this as an advantage, and turned back to Luca and Lyla. "We need-"

Jack felt the knife being swept away from his grip. He turned back around to face Arin, who somehow had managed to grab a hold of the knife. Jack immediately put his hands up, trying to seem innocent to Arin. "Arin, listen to me. You don't want to do this."

Arin swiped the knife at Jack, who dodged it, causing Arin to cut open Lyla's arm. Lyla gasped in shock, and Luca stepped in front of her, enraged.

Arin swiped again at Luca's head, catching him by the neck. Luca winced but didn't back down. He lunged at Arin, slamming him against the wall. Luca grabbed Arin by the neck and threw him to the ground, stepping on his chest. Jack noticed the knife was out of Arin's grasp, and was ultimately surprised Luca had managed to do this.

"Don't ever try to hurt a girl again, especially not my sister." He then slammed his foot into Arin's face, immediately knocking the poor man unconscious.

Jack turned to Lyla, who was grasping her arm. "Are you okay?"

Lyla nodded, swallowing down her shock. "I'm okay, but Luca isn't."

And he wasn't. When Jack turned to face Luca, he had a knife protruding from his stomach, and he was pale.