Us Against The World

Chapter 49

I watch as Henley walks out the front door of her house. She does not turn around and make sure that I'm behind her or anything. She just leaves and closes the door gently behind her. She said that 'we' need to get out of here, and I don't know if she was talking about her and I, or her and her family. 

Speaking of Henley's family, where are they? There is blood all over the porch and stairs and the only people I have seen in the last twenty minutes were Drade and Henley. 

Where are Ren and Halten? Or Jonah?

More importantly, where's Jexton?

I try standing from the couch in which I am lying, but topple over and fall onto it again. I grow dizzy and my eyesight fails me. I place my hand on my forehead and try to breathe in and out as steadily as possible. What is the matter with me all of the sudden? Am I going crazy? Am I paranoid?

You're dying. My subconscious informs me. 

My heart rate picks up at the thought, and I begin to cry. I beg and pray that it is not true, but there is no logical explanation as to why it wouldn't be. With everything Ander had told me in the past, I begin to shuffle through the information he has granted me, and it begins to make sense. 

There is no way that the disease is nonexistent inside the community gates. How would they make it that way? If the infectious virus is airborne, then how were the Consilium able to kill the bacteria in one specific place and build walls up to keep it out? 

And how can the prevention shot be explained? If I had gone outside without my mask and already breathed in the disease, how is it possible that a 'prevention shot' can cure me? If it's for prevention and I already had it, there is no way that I could be cured from it. 

Ander had said that the liquid I had been injected with by the nurse back at the community was the bacteria from the virus. Why would the Consilium have the bacteria from the disease within the walls of the safe haven? It's too dangerous. If anything, it would make more sense for them to have it at the CDC. 

Then I think about Jexton.

No matter how many times I think it through, I can never come to conclusion as to why that boy can't walk out of my life and leave me alone. He always has to be there, and when he's not there, he finds his way. In all honesty, I want nothing to do with him anymore. That boy has done nothing but drag me through hell. It is because of him that I have been through everything I have been through. That I have seen the things I have.

The thought of me not wanting anything to do with Jexton tugs at my heart strings. For some reason, I feel for him. Though he tries hard not to show it, I can see that he has mental scars almost as bad as mine, or even worse. 

I begin to think about what it was that made Jexton the way he is. What did he go through that turned him into a delinquent? It had to have been something far worse than the death of his parents. And he doesn't even know that his only brother is dead now.

If Drade was holding Henley and her family hostage, how was she able to save me? Where did she get the gun? If Henley is on my side, then where is Jexton? Drade could not have taken him, because he was busy with me. Jexton could not have gotten up and walked away on his own, because he is, or was, unconscious.

Did Jonah and the kids kidnap him? Are Ren and her family apart of this whole ordeal? If they were, Henley would not have saved me from my brother... would she? Yes, she would have. If Drade was holding Henley and her family hostage, then trying to find the perfect opportunity to kill him makes sense. Drade had nothing to do with Ander and his plans. The two men did not even know each other.

...

I remove my hand from my forehead and am relieved when I open my eyes and can see clearly. I take my time sitting up, and when I do, I stretch. I look down at the floor and flinch, then cringe when I see Drade's dead body lying at my feet. I kick him away and quickly stand to my feet. 

"Hello?" I call, my voice echoing the walls of the empty house. I wait for a couple minutes, and when I get no response, I walk to and out the door.

Taking the fresh air into my lungs, I look around the front yard and see nobody around. I watch my feet as I walk toward the stairs, trying my hardest to dodge the scattered puddles of blood.

Who could the blood have belonged to? I want to ask Henley, because she may know, but she is gone. And I probably won't be able to find her. I try not to think that it was Ren or Halten's, but the connections and possibilities will not leave me alone.

I walk down the stairs of the porch and jump off of the last step. I sniffle and wipe my face free of sweat. I swallow hard and look around the large yard. It is beautiful: full of trees and flowers and little monuments. I walk over to one of the flower gardens and examine the tiger lilies and roses. Two of my most favorite flower types. 

Then, all of the sudden, a silhouette appears out of nowhere so fast that I do not have time to recognize who it is. Something hard is swung at my head and before I know it, I fall to the ground and everything goes black.