Rebels

Ch. 35

When Jack had awoken, his throat was aching. His entire body felt foreign to him, and he was too warm in his clothes. He groaned from the pain in his throat and slowly propped himself up on his elbows, his hands feelings as if hundreds of pins and needles were being poked into them. His vision was blurry, but he could make out someone sitting across the room from him. As he squinted, he found it was Lyla. He tried to speak, but this only brought more pain to his throat. He rubbed his hand against his neck, confused.

Lyla stood, crossing her arms. "You can't speak, can you?" She asked, her voice dripping with concern.

Jack paused, remembering the poison he had drank. He didn't remember what had happened after talking to Luca, and this startled him. He shook his head no.

"T-that's okay." Lyla said, although to Jack, she did not sound convincing. "It will just take time for you to heal. I'm sure you're wondering how you're alive." She smirked.

Jack glanced around the room once more, trying desperately to clear his vision. He couldn't see any other person in the room, and his mind wandered towards Arin.

"Arin had the antidote." Lyla spoke, her lips now pressed into a firm line. "I don't know how. He's been in the basement since yesterday, and I managed to get the antidote from him, though he was having his blackout. I didn't get hurt though, in case you are wondering." She cleared her throat. "Luca is asleep still. Nothing's changed, I know it's only been a day or so since you've been out, but he's still not doing the best. Breathing is better than nothing though, I suppose."

Jack laid his head in his hands and rubbed his eyes. His head felt as if it weight a hundred tons.

Lyla went towards the kitchen counter and grabbed a water bottle that lie on top. She handed it to Jack, who warily took it. He examined it cautiously, now hesitant to drink anything at all since he had drank poison.

Lyla unfolded her arms. "It's okay. I bought it. It's just water, I can assure you that."

Trusting Lyla's words, he opened it and drank eagerly. His throat burned as he swallowed, but his mouth was dry. When he finished, he set the water bottle down and attempted to speak, though he winced as he heard his own voice, for it came out as a faint, pathetic whisper. His own voice didn't sound like his. "I think I'd rather die at this point."

Lyla frowned at this. "You'll change your mind when you get better. The worst part about it all is that I'm the only one left who's actually physically stable. Arin's looking more exhausted each day, Luca's still healing, and now you're down."

Jack now doubted this entire situation. If they were the rebellion, then they weren't much to look at now. Link surely was a much better leader than them all.

Jack's thoughts wandered back to the photo of the original crew of the rebellion. They all had had their faces covered. Jack supposed that they were running as well, so he figured at least he had something in common with the rebels. They were running from the law, and Jack had been doing so his entire life. They all had something to say. They also were all harmed by the King, and lost people they cared about all until only one was left standing, and he was stabbed to death. Jack realized that they were similar. People were losing their freedom by constantly being watched, and it was not right. The King was taking people off of the streets, only to kill them for no reason except for breathing.

The door to the bedroom suddenly flew open, and Luca stood there, his eyes clouded. Jack knew this wasn't a good sign, but he couldn't say anything. Luca's fists were clenched so hard that his knuckles were white. He pointed a shaking finger at Lyla. "This is your fault." He said, and Jack recognized his words were slurring.

Jack stood from the bed, his head pounding. He ignored the horrible sensation and stepped towards Lyla, in case Luca began to do something more irrational.

"If you hadn't gone out, then you wouldn't have been seen." Luca snarled, stepping towards Lyla.

"Luca, are you insane? You're drunk." Lyla said, crossing her arms. Jack could tell she was trying not to lose her cool, but he could tell she was growing more upset.

"So what?" Luca spat. "Those monitors, they caught you, Lyla!" He began laughing, stepping near her even more. "What an absolute joke of a sister I have."

Lyla's eyes widened. "I'm the joke? Who's drunk out of their mind right now? It's not me, Luca. I've had to babysit you and watch over you for all of these years because you're too dumb to do anything right!"

Luca's eyes grew cold. Jack tensed, knowing something bad was about to happen. Luca shoved his sister so hard that Lyla stumbled back, and she would have fallen to the ground if Jack hadn't caught her. Jack then stepped in front of her, not liking the situation. He desperately wished he could talk, though he was useless.

Luca's gray eyes fixed on Jack. His hand suddenly grasped Jack's neck. Jack was shocked and surprised Luca was holding him by his one hand, but his throat began to burn even more now. "Luca, let me go." He said, although it was barely audible.

Luca smirked, "Why?" He wavered a few steps, causing Jack to be able to free himself of Luca's grasp.

Jack suddenly got a strange feeling in his gut. He felt at first he would vomit once again, but when nothing happened, he knew that wasn't it. It was as if he could sense something was wrong, aside from Luca being drunk out of his mind. He looked around the room, and Lyla noticed this, giving him an odd stare. It seemed too quiet, and even Luca had stopped his nonsense for a moment.

Jack heard movement from just outside the door. Butterflies began to flutter through his stomach. "Someone's-"

An ear-piercing boom shook the whole house, and Jack couldn't feel his feet on the ground anymore. His body slammed against the opposite wall, his head hitting hard against the wall. He felt his body hit the ground, and warmth enveloped him. Someone was shouting in the distance, but Jack could not identify the person to which the voice belonged to. Soon, everything became dark, leaving Jack unconscious.