Outcasts

Chapter Seven

My world was falling apart. My brother was going to die. My mom didn't love me or him. Ryan was almost dead. And Cassie had no idea what was going on. As I lay there, unconscious, I regretted For the hundredth time dragging Ryan and Cassie into this with me. It was my mess, after all. I wished I'd been less trusting in the forest yesterday. Why did I have to immediately trust them? Now they were in this with me. I wished I'd said no when Ryan asked me to join them. Then I couldn't get anyone hurt but myself.

I lay in my coma-like sleep for what seemed like an eternity. I vaguely noticed Ryan shift into a lizard and crawl down the side of the building, looking for something, but I couldn't get a hold of my body long enough to look where.

Sounds flashed by. Eventually I got in contact with my hearing. My eardrums popped. 

"Bree!" Cassie called to me. But it was muffled.

When I tried to speak back, my mouth wouldn't obey.

"Bree!" Cassie tried again. "Wake up!"

Finally, after what seemed like hours, I woke up. Cassie was looming over me. "Bree!" She said. "You're awake!"

I moaned.

"What's the matter?"

I didn't feel like talking about Kile. But I did it anyway. "Kile Adelson... He's my brother."

Cassie gasped. "What?!"

"Yeah. I think my mom signed him up as punishment for my running away."

"Bree, I'm so sorry!"

I groaned again. "It's okay." Even though it wasn't. 

"No, it's not. Bree, are you going to be okay?"

I started to nod, but was cut off by Ryan's voice. 

"Cassie, I couldn't find any vet offices." Ryan said. "Is that-" he stopped. "Bree! you're awake!"

I chuckled. "You've said that way too much in the past two days," I told him. 

He laughed nervously. "Yeah. You okay?"

I sat up tenderly, though I didn't feel any signs of physical injury. "I think I'm fine."

Before I could blink, Ryan wrapped his arms around me.

My heart skipped a beat.

"Then thank you," He said. "You saved my life."

I blushed, glad my pink cheeks were hidden in his shoulder. "Well I couldn't have just let you die," I said.

He let go of me. "I know," He said. "But I'm still thankful."

"It was really messy-" I started.

"I don't care how pretty the bandage looked, it saved my life. Saved me."

I blushed harder. "Then it's good you were unconscious because it was ugly."

He laughed. "I don't care."

"I'm sorry for interrupting," Cassie said, "But the police know where we live now. We can't go back."

"So," Ryan said, "We have to run away?"

Cassie nodded.

My heart sunk. "What about Kile?"

"Who, that new soldier?" Ryan asked. "What about him?"

"He-" I choked on my words, tears springing to my eyes. I pushed them down. "He's my brother."

"What?!" Ryan exclaimed. "How-"

"My mom nominated him after I ran away. It's the only way a soldier could ever be appointed younger than eighteen."

"And he's..." Ryan asked.

"Fourteen," I answered. "Only fourteen. And now he's a guard, and-" I choked again on my unspoken words. And now he's good as dead.

Ryan hugged me again. Since when did you meet a stranger one day and the next day he was hugging you?! But I can't say I didn't like it. So I leaned into him, hoping he didn't care that my tears were leaking out onto the shoulder of his shirt. 

There was a couple moments of sad silence. No one dared to speak for a good couple of minutes. 

"What do you want to do?" Cassie asked me.

"I..." I couldn't think. I sat pondering for a couple minutes, then said, "I want to find him and convince him to come home."

"You know he's probably already halfway across the world right now, right?" Cassie asked. "He might be... Already in the war by the time we get there." Already dead. 

It filled me with determination. I nodded. "We have a race hover. We'll make it."

Getting out of the city was more difficult than getting in. There were patrols everywhere. My stomach squirmed at the thought that that was one step below what my brother was going to do. He was going to be trained for combat. Trained to kill.

I tried to stomach it, but not the way I should. My body wanted to kill. But it also wanted peace. I was so confused at myself, I wasn't even aware of where I was until Cassie pulled me through the same exit door we entered through. She and Ryan were panting.

Our race hover sat gleaming and pristine, the driver's seat window shattered from when Cassie stole it.

"Get in," She told us.

We obeyed.

"Buckle up."

We obeyed.

Cassie fished around for a couple of minutes for the right wires underneath he dashboard of the hover car.

We waited patiently, but my pulse was racing.

Kile. In the milliairy base. Possibly dead.

Finally, Cassie found the right wire. 

My heart was pounding. First we just wanted to survive in the forest. we just wanted to not be tested on. we just wanted to not be a part of society. Not make the news. Now we were chasing down the military base to illegally bring a soldier-in-training back home. that was going to make the news. We were going to be known by all of society. heck, we were going to be infamous. What had gotten into us? Or more like, what had gotten into me? But all thoughts were squished out of my head as Cassie turned the hover on and we went flying across the land. We were going to bring Kile home.