Marked

Chapter 3

Around six o'clock, Ellie was leaving to go get some food.

"Let me come with you," I tried.

"Jonas, no," she said firmly.

"Please?" I tried again. It had been about the tenth time I've asked her. I'm sure I was getting to be pretty annoying, but that was the plan.

"Fine," she huffed, giving up. "but if something happens to you I'm not helping."

"Yes, you will!" Reese called out, probably eavesdropping as usual.

Ellie ignored her and walked out the front door. I followed her. We got into her beat up truck and drove into the city.

The city still looked like it's boring and depressing self. Most of the roads were dirt and gravel, because the Authority probably didn't want to spend money on us middle classers. As we continued to drive through the city, I pulled my jacket hood up over my head. I watched out the window as we passed by stores selling the produce made by the Lower Class in stands in front of them. I loved it when they did that, because it was easier to sneak a few items or two.

"Where do you go first?" I asked her.

"I usually never go to the same store two days in a row," she replied. "Too risky."

"So, you steal?"

"No," she immediately replied. "Well, yes, but some of the shop keepers help me. They give me the food."

"They won't turn you in?"

"They wouldn't get much of a profit," she chuckled. "I'm a lower classer."

"Oh," was all I said.

Ellie parked the truck behind a store.

"Okay, let's go," she said getting out.

I followed her.

She knocked on a back door.

An older woman answered. "Hello, El, I'll have your food ready in a minute," she smiled at her. She then saw me and her mouth dropped.

"What is it, Mel?" Ellie asked.

She pointed at me. "Is he with you, El?"

She nodded.

"You both need to go," the old woman, Mel, said. "Now! The reward is high for him. I'll go get your food and you both get out of here as quickly as you can." Mel turned around and walked as fast as she could.

I thought it was odd that Mel warned us and didn't turn us in, but I would have to ask about it later. There wasn't much time.

"Alright, so word got out about you fast," Ellie said. She grabbed the hood of my jacket and pushed it further over my face. "Don't show your face too much."

Mel came back with a basket of food. "I'd ask you why you would want to hide with a mark like that, boy, but I'm afraid you don't have much time."

"Thanks, Mel," Ellie flashed a smile. She grabbed my hand. "Come on, let's go." We ran to the truck and hopped in. "Here, hold this." She tossed me the basket of food.

"You don't have to help me, Ellie," I said.

"I like a challenge," she smirked. "Nothing exciting ever happens around here." She backed the truck up and sped off.

In less than three minutes, the Authority was after us.

"Shit," Ellie mumbled under her breath. She sped the truck up. As we curved around a bend in the road, we lost them. "Quick, get out of the truck," Ellie instructed.

I listened and took the basket of food with me. We ran through the forest, hopping over logs and twigs.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

Ellie didn't respond.

I knew that meant nothing good. I looked behind us. There were about five Authority members chasing after us. "We need to hide!" I yelled at Ellie.

"I'm working on it," she shouted back at me. She looked around frantically. So did I.

I quickly hid the basket of food in a bush. I saw a large hollowed-out log lying on the ground. I grabbed Ellie's hand and pulled her under the log with me. I made sure to cover us completely. It was very tight quarters, and maybe not the cleanest hiding place, but it was all we had.

"Nice catch," she whispered, I assumed talking about my hiding spot

"Thank-," I began to whisper.

Heavy footsteps approached us.

"I think we lost them," one of the Authority agents said.

"Shit," another cursed. "The boss is going to kill us. They really need this kid."

Need me? For what? I thought Upper Classers were only born from other Upper Classers, but what if they were more rare than I thought? Whatever plans their "boss" had for me were big, which made me want to consider going underground and hiding for the rest of my life. I'd live under a rock if I had to. Whatever responsibilities they wanted to throw on me, I didn't want any of it.

"Come on," a woman Authority agent spoke. "They couldn't have gotten far. The Middle Class section isn't that big."

Authority agents were considered lower Upper Classers. They had power over the Lower and Middle Classes, but everyone in the Upper Class had power over them.

"This kid's worth ten million dollars in the Upper Class if we catch him," a fourth voice said. "When we catch him, we split the money five ways."

I looked at Ellie wide-eyed.

In shock, she mouthed the words "ten million" back at me.

Ten million dollars was worth more than the entire Lower and Middle Classes combined. Of course, the reward for me in the Middle Class would probably be no more than ten thousand dollars, but that's the most that's ever been rewarded before. People would do anything for that money.

I tuned back into what they were talking about.

"Quit arguing about the money," the woman said. "We won't be getting it if we don't find this kid. Hell, we'll be lucky if we live another day without finding this kid. I bet..."

Her voice got more distant as she talked. They were walking away. I waited until she was barely audible to talk.

"Ellie, this is bad," I said. My stomach had butterflies in it. I felt like I was going to be sick.

"Jonas, I'm so sorry," Ellie said. Light from holes in the log illuminated her face. Tears had begun forming in her eyes. "I don't know how to help you. People are going to hunt you down. Everyone in the Middle Class plus the Authority will be looking for you. And that means that Reese and Ryan and I..." She trailed off and began to cry.

I knew what she was going to say. Her and Reese and Ryan would be found, too.

I lifted the bark off of us and tossed it to the side. The light from outside surrounded us. I could see how miserable Ellie was.

"It'll be okay," I said wrapping her in a hug. She nuzzled her head into my chest. "I'll make this all better soon. I promise. I'll fix this."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hello:))
I have made some changes with this book as you may have noticed. Cas's name is now Jonas-just because I didn't want to steal Supernatural's originality with that name lol.
Also you will notice some new terms. Instead of "the government," I've changed it to "the Authority." I've also added more information on Jonas's family.

So I guess it wouldn't hurt to skim back through the previous chapters to see what was added. Plus it'll give you something to do while you wait for the next update :)))

Remember to comment and vote, because it'll give me more motivation to update lol

Thank you ilyyyyy