Overdose

27. Yvonne Mcreary

To put it simply, we were lost. Surrounded by trees and winding roads that I had never seen in my life.

"Guys, don't look now, but there's a car that's been following us for a while now." Damion whispered. I whipped my head around. "I feel like I said don't look."

It was the same red car that was in the parking lot at The Facility. When I looked at it, it stopped. It just sat on the side of the road, and I was sure whoever was in was staring at us. I was tired, I was hungry, and I was feeling a lot of emotions. I started walking towards it.

"Yvonne, what are you doing?" Damion yelled.

I knocked hard on the window. "Who are you? Why are you following us?"

The window rolled down. I stepped back. It was the same guy from The Facility, the one with the cane. He looked at me, both hands on the wheel.

"It's you. You were the one who was checking on Lilith that day she returned. Why are you following us?" At first, I was mad. But then I remembered something Heath and Marina said. "He walks with a cane." "Have you seen his cane? It's so sick." "You're Lazarus."

He unlocked the doors of his car. "Would you like a ride home?"

One of the first things you're told to do when you're younger is to never get into a car with a stranger. They're dangerous, and you'll probably never be seen again. But they never bring up a circumstance such as "If you walk for another minute, you're going to die from heat exhaustion and dehydration." Also, from what I've been told, Lazarus was not dangerous. And if Heath and Marina trusted him, then he couldn't be that bad in the first place.

I walked back to Damion and Lilith. "He's giving us a ride home."

"What? I'm not riding with a stranger." Damion huffed. Lilith still said nothing.

"It's Lazarus, The Master." I breathed. I was out of breath just from walking to his car and back.

Damion's eyes widened. Lilith looked up. "You're sure?" He asked, leaning in like he couldn't hear well.

"Yes. He's driving the other car from the parking lot. And I've seen him before, but I didn't know it."

"Holy shit." The words fell out of Damion's mouth. I knew it was taking him a moment to comprehend what I was saying.

"We either get a ride from him, or we walk and get even more lost." The ultimatum seemed pretty obvious.

"Lilith, do you feel like walking anymore?" Damion asked. Lilith shook her head. "Alright then. Let's get a ride."

We got in the car. I sat upfront, as it was clear to me that neither Damion or Lilith wanted that honor. Lazarus' car was fancy, and a strong smell that was probably some expensive cologne that I'd never heard of or never smelled seemed to be a part of the car. In his cup holder was a key card, one of the ones the Facility staff had, and a fidget spinner. Besides that, everything about that man's car was expensive. In fact, everything about him was expensive.

"Thank you for the ride." I said, trying to start some kind of conversation.

"Have any of you slept yet?" He asked, starting to drive.

"We took a few naps in the woods. But we're still tired."

"I must say, you're all very perseverant if you've made it this far. I can't begin to imagine what you must be feeling right now. I am ashamed to say that I didn't do much to help." He reached for his fidget spinner while keeping his eyes on the road. "It's childish of me, I know, but it helps."

"I'm not judging." I tried to laugh but my throat was so dry that it hurt to even talk.

"Do you know how long you've been gone?"

"Few hours maybe?"

"You've been gone for almost a day."

"It did feel like we've been walking for hours." Damion chimed in. "Maybe it was the heat exhaustion."

"It's sixty degrees out." Lazarus said, not even bothering to look at him. I stifled my laughter, but I'm sure Damion heard it because he said something under his breath.

"Thank you, again, for the ride."

"You're welcome. We're still a bit aways from Ivingly."

"How far?" Damion leaned forward, trying to look at the map.

"Far." Lazarus didn't even look at the map. But I saw his eyes move up to the rearview mirror. "How are you holding up, Lilith?"
Lilith looked up, but didn't say anything. She had been crying, and I felt horrible. I had no idea what she could be feeling, but I imagined I felt similar when I watched my dad and James die.

"I'm just glad that you all are alright. I wish more people could have escaped."

"If you had done anything, you could have helped everyone escape." Damion snapped. "And you could have stopped people from dying."

"Damion, stop." Lilith muttered.

"What? It's the truth. Heath and Marina talk about what a great guy you are, but I'm starting to think that was all lies. I mean, come on. If you really made The Facility and wanted it to be such a safe place for people with powers, why would you let Xander take over? Clearly you didn't care that much."

Lazarus' hands gripped the wheel tighter, but he didn't say anything. Damion kept going.

"You weren't even showing your face when I arrived, and that was like two years ago. I wonder how long you were actually in hiding. If you had come out, you could have prevented so many of the things that Xander did-"

"That's enough." I interrupted. Heath and Marina did say Lazarus was a good person, and I wanted to believe them, but Lazarus could easily just snap and drive us into oncoming traffic. Also, I really didn't want him to kick us out of the car. I didn't feel like walking.

"Thank you." Lazarus mouthed, knowing only I could see it.

"Sorry." Damion didn't even sound sorry, but it was the least he could do.

"I admit, I have made some mistakes." Lazarus seemed to have calmed down. Damion opened his mouth to say something, but Lilith kicked him. "When my wife died, I didn't see a reason for living anymore. I gave up someone close to my heart, and it killed me to know I wasn't a good enough father for her. After that, I couldn't handle seeing all the patients, I felt like I wasn't good enough to be a role model for them. So I locked myself up. And Xander took over."

He took a deep breath. The fidget spinner was going crazy in his hand. "At first, everything was going fine. Then, a year later, the staff started coming to me, saying that Xander was ruining everything. The Prodigials were being trained too hard, they were having many unnecessary tests being done, too much blood being drawn. Training their powers turned into training to fight. Instead being encouraged to make friends, they were encouraged to fight each other. Many people left. But some stayed."

Lazarus pulled the car over to the side of the road. His hand was shaking badly. He put the spinner down and leaned his head against the back of his chair.

"But by then it was too late. I was ashamed at what had happened to my work of art, so I stayed hidden. Finally, a few weeks ago, Heath demanded to see me. He told me everything that Xander had done, what he had done to Yvonne and Lilith. He told me he was escaping with you all. I promised to do what I could do to help. But I knew if Xander found out that I helped, he might hurt more people that I cared about. I blame myself for the deaths of Veronica and Evelyn. I blame myself for the people who were locked into Containment. I blame myself for the horrible experiments he did on you two." Lazarus sounded like he was getting choked up, but then he composed himself. "I spent those years being a coward, hiding myself away. But I can't do that anymore. I have to make things right."