Inhuman

Chapter 8

Chapter 8
Catayla looks at me and my heart sinks when I see her looking for Yana, Keanu wasn’t looking for her though and I wonder why. Catayla runs up to me and hugs me. I am still weak so when she runs in my arms I get knocked off balance a little, “Are you okay?” I ask her, she nods her head at me. 
Sallow walks up to us “Where’s Yana,” He asks his eyes are bright red and he looks like he hasn’t slept once since she left, my heart sinks even more and I want to cry, but I don’t Yana really thinks I’m that stupid I know what she’s doing and her betrayal hurts me, I don’t even want to tell Sallow because I know it will kill him, a different girl was buy him he looks ust like him, with red hair and brown eyes she looks at me and a light blush appears on her cheeks. 
I look at Catayla with a serious look on my face. “Are there bomb shelters in here” I say and she nods her head. Then Sallow understands why Yana isn’t here with me, his head falls and he looks at the floor. “Good because we need everyone in those bomb shelters now” I say and Catyala looks confused.
She thinks for a moment. “I’m not going to just put everyone in a sealed confinement because something tells you Yana is going to blow all of us sky h.” 
Before she can finish her sentence someone turns on the news. “Today a very beloved man was killed by the rebel Lucas Sallow” The new reporter says through the T.V and fear goes through Sallow’s eyes that was not Sallow that was Yana. “His daughter is here now to give a few words” The news reporter says, then he asks, “How does it feel to be the head of Oxitec?”
Yana plays the part of the orphaned daughter well. I look at her in disgust as she starts spewing lies from her mouth. “This is not what this is about” She says sadly, “I want everyone to know that I will never be half the person my father was” No you will be more, I say in my head with disgust in my voice because I know that is what she was thinking. “But rest assured that my father’s death will be avenged, by not just killing him, but killing all of the rebels slowly and painfully” I hear the crowds cheering above us the pipes are very dark and I can’t believe everyone found this place. The only means of lighting was the ceiling U.V lights. 
Fear flashes in my eyes Catayla’s eyes. She turns to Juniper, who looks a thousand times better than when I saw her, Nova is still hanging on her shoulder no doubt. “I want the sirens sounded for immediate evacuation to the bomb shelters” She says and Juniper nods her head the blonde hair on her was shaved and as she hurried off, Nova follows her. 
The alarm sounds and it is so loud and high pitched sounding like a scream. Red lights flash and everyone hurries in a panic to get to the bomb shelter.  I hurry too mostly so I don’t get trampled by the crowds. A little girl runs into me. I grab her shoulders and look at her fear in her eyes. “I left my picture of my family in my room” She says she was maybe only thirteen and through the flashing lights it looks like she has blonde hair and her voice is very kind.
 I debt for a second taking her down to the bomb shelter, but I realize this is probably the only picture of her family she has left. The countdown starts, sixty seconds. “Alright come one, but hurry” I say to her I barely know her, but I'm helping her. She’s just a kid and I would never live with myself if I, a, twenty five year old and the young girl risking her life to get a picture dies. She leads me all the way up to the top of the pipes until we get to her room, thirty seconds.
We run down the stairs after she has the picture then the fire hoses turn on spraying water all over us, about half way down I hear a panicked woman's voice shouting the little girl's name. “Sage” She screams up the stairs, “Sage” She says again then she looks up and I see her we both lock eyes, she is way too young to be her mother. She’s her sister, “Sage.” The sister says relife fills her voice. The sister is beautiful with black hair, and her eyes are a deep emerald green. We make it down the stairs and we have to keep running. “Hold the doors” The girl says but there is no one by the doors we run in and the girls make it in, but I almost don’t make it. The girl looks back at me and I make it in just before the door closes “Thank you, Thank you so much” The sister says hugging me and kisses my cheek. I barely even know these people and yet I feel like they know me then something goes through my mind, not the brown eyes of the girl I thought I was in love with, but the emerald green eyes and black hair of the girl I was in love with a long time ago, Yana changed my memories as well as made me forget them. “Do you remember me?” she asks, true sadness in her voice. 
I shake my head, but then I nod my head. “Her name’s Khaleesi” Sage says and I nod my head at Sage. 
I look at Khaleesi “I do remember you” I say and she smiles at me, “I remember sleeping next to you when you would have terrible nightmares” I say and we walk to the beds Sage takes the top bunk and Khleesi takes the bottom. I slept in the bed next to her so everyone couldn’t sleep so I sat next to her in her bed. “Do you still get those nightmares?” I ask her genuinely curious. 
She laughs, it was a fake laugh though. “You mean the memory of some guy taking me away and running to a helicopter while my parents chase me with a lust for blood” She says and I take that as a yes. “Yeah I still get those” She says I remember her telling me that she had to carry her crying baby sister out of there. Khaleesi was screaming her parents name the whole time,  Sage fell asleep still clutching the picture of her parents, “There is one thing different about my dreams though” She says looking at me, “Instead of my sister I see this stupid white teddy bear that I’m holding” At this I am shocked this is Yana's nightmare, no this was Khaleesi nightmare and Yana stole it. Is that possible though, can you steal someone's memory, with the right technology yes it is especially if Yana was in control, but how could she have been seen as she was only five, but wait no she was never was five in the camp she was twenty five, she knew I was going into the camp but why would Yana change herself to be like Khaleesi. That I don't know, who would want her memories. Khaleesi puts her head on my shoulder and starts to fall asleep. I set her head gently down on the pillow and cover her with a blanket then I go over to my bed and lay down, but I can't sleep. I was thinking about why Yana would do that. Soon however exhaustion took over and I dozed off to sleep. 
I think I might have only got a few hours of sleep when someone tapped my shoulder. It was Sage. "What were you thinking about?" She asks me, was it something about the lady on the news you know she used to have a crush on you? She says and that was it. 
I grab Sage's shoulders, "Sage you're a genius" I say and she looks at me shocked. I'll tell Khaleesi tomorrow for now I'll let her sleep. "So why are you really awake?" I ask Sage. 
She shrugs and says "You want to play cards?" She says and I nod my head and pay the bed for her to sit across from me. It was dark in there but we lit a lantern with a switch instead of fire. I set down a card and that's when the bombs go off, Sage jumps up and I grab her hand. 
I look at her, suddenly I become aware of all my other friends. Khaleesi wakes up at the sound of the bomb and I leave her and Sage to find everyone else. I see Catayla and Sallow sitting  together looking up at the ceiling that has a crack in it. Sallow was rubbing Catayla's back as she was freaking out. Then I see Keanu sitting in a corner clutching a cross, I sit down next to him the bed creaks as I sit down and it breaks Keanu's concentration "Hey" he says miserably, Yana's betrayal hit him the worst, “You know what I did” He says and I shake my head. “I kicked her out, I left her in the street” He says and I can tell he is blaming himself for the way Yana is. 
I shake my head, “Keanu I know at time we don’t see eye to eye, but none of this” I say gesturing to everyone asleep “Is your fault if anything Yana was a snake before you did anything” I say, Keanu clears his throat and I hear him sniffle his nose. Another bomb hits and Keanu jumps up a little, at the bomb I look over at Khaleesi and mouth the words, “Are you okay” she nods her head and Sage hugs her then they start talking about something. 
Keanu looks at me “Who said we don’t see eye to eye” He says and I smile at him and walk over to Sallow and Catayla, Catayla was looking at the ceiling hoping that is doesn’t crack even more than it already has, water was dripping through the crack in the ceiling. Someone tells Sallow that he has to see if everyone made it inside, Sallow stands up still holding onto Catayla's shaky hand. She looks up at Sallow fear in her deep blue eyes. Sallow sits back down holding onto Catayla’s hand not letting her go. 
I look at the two of them and look back at the guard. “I’ll go up” I say and the guard looks at Sallow and Catayla, they nod their heads and I follow the guard up out of the dark cold bomb shelter. Khaleesi grabs my hand and I look at her, “I’ll be back I promise” I say and she nods her head. Her sister is over by Keanu talking to him, Keanu looks at me and rolls his eyes without Sage noticing him. I walk out of the bomb shelter and the light hits my eyes making me close them for a second and when I open them I look around me and see people’s close everywhere, and all their belonging I look up wondering where the light was coming from, and there was a big gaping hole in the top of the street, the morning sun shine through the hole, we are lucky it wasn’t the ocean that the hole was under. Now comes the hard part. I brace myself to see dead bodies as I look around, but there was nobody up here beside me and the guards. I think for a second, really Yana you wanted us dead so why did you say anything. Sallow and Catayla walk out of the shelter and walk over to me, Catalya looks so much better out here and away from the water. Their eyes are squinted and as everyone comes out of the bomb shelter they look around and a new hope dashes around me and I catch it and I never let it go. Everyone looks at me and I find myself standing on a rock in front of everyone, my eyes dart around to everyone, Sallow’s sister stands next to him, “Itzayana Foster is a trader to not us, but to Oxitec” I say and everyone cheers raising their guns, “She killed her father and i’m sure she’s trying to kill many others” The people look at me they still believe in Yana. “She had those bombs come here, it was her” I say and people look around at others in shock.
Catayla lets go of Sallow’s hand for the first time since the bombs hit. “It’s true” She says and I realize that they will only listen to her so I get off of the rock and I stand next to Sallow’s sister and she looks at me then back at Catayla. Khaleesi walks up to us and Sallow looks at her and smiles, she smiles back. Yana messed with Sallow's life too, “Itzayana is not who you think she is, Itzayana is just an imposter for another woman” Catayla says and she points to Khaleesi. Catayla gestures for her to come up on the rock and Khaleesi does as she says, “Please say your name so everyone can know who you are.” Catayla says, shouting out to the crowd. 
Khaleesi looks at everyone nervous and they all start shouting at her and she backs away. I go to help her, but slowly puts his hand on her chest and looks at me shaking his head. “My name is Khaleesi” She says then the crowd finally shuts up and I relax a little. “I look like her, yes I know” She says the crowd was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop, “But I am not her” She says and the crowd starts shouting again, saying things like how do we know that. She shakes her head. “I know you have no reason to believe me, but at least trust me when I say Foster is evil” She says over the shouting crowd that was furious with her “A snake even” She says the crowd becomes quiet again and listens to her. “But you don’t have to believe me you can see for yourself” She says and just then the T.V turns on it has a crack in it from a fallen rock, but miraculously it still works.
The crowd looks at the T.V for answers. “Miss. Foster, tell us, was the bombing successful” The interviewer asks, wanting to know the answers. No it wasn’t you snake. I think to myself.
I look over to see Keanu who was part of the crowd that didn’t want to believe what he was hearing, “as of right now the bombing was successful, my father's death has been avenged” She looks amazing and healthy, for someone who just lost her father she looks like she got a good night's rest. I chew on the inside of my lip in annoyance. How can one person believe her?  Catayla was looking at the screen shaking her head and Keanu walked away from the crowd ashamed of his friend, I looked over at Sallow and it looked like he was thinking. At this everyone’s anger continued to rage on and they started throwing rocks at the screen, Catayla and Khaleesi hurry off the rock before any rocks hit them. The T.V eventually falls to the ground with a crash and sparks begin to fly everywhere, and eventually the T.V is gone. Catayla goes away and we follow her. 
Khaleesi shakes her head and swallows “That was insane” she says sitting down in the seat in the perfectly fine captain corners. Everyone nods their heads agreeing with them. “What are you going to do about this?” She asks and Catayla has a look of concentration on her face, Juniper, Nova and Mateo walk in. “Where’s Nash,” Khaleesi asks and the three of them shake their heads.
Mateo steps up and answers for the other two. “Nash it is no longer one of us” He says with true sadness in his voice his pink eyeshadow shines in the sunlight, that was the only piece of makeup he had however. 
Sallow lets out a fake laugh and looks at the table and plays with car keys that were in his pockets, the car is probably destroyed I don’t tell him that though. “Good he will be the person I kill” Sallow says, what did I miss when I was gone. I think to myself, Keanu was completely silent in a chair just sitting with a look of shock on his face,something before was telling him that she really wasn’t betraying us. Not until she said those words, “We need to stop her, once she finds out we are alive she will send more bombs” Sallow says and everyone agrees with him. “She is relentless” He says the darkness was creeping its way into him and his light brown eyes became darker. “I should know she did this to me” He says as everyone looks at him and he smiles. “Don’t worry I know who I’m angry at this time” He looks around at everyone. 
Catayla doesn’t take her eyes off of him though both filled with fear and uncertainty, “But how will we stop her, she’s going to have guards everywhere” She says and everyone thinks and understands what Catayla is saying. 
Then something comes to my mind for once I’m glad I’m a geek, because I paid attention in school. “What if we just knock on the front door,” I say and everyone looks at me confused. “Have you ever heard of the Trojan wars?” I say and for the first time a light flickers in Keanu’s eyes. “They used a fake horse as a peace offering” I say and Keanu gets what I’m getting at. 
Keanu stands up and walks over to us now a craving for revenge was in his eyes, everyone else looks at us confused of course they’ve never heard of the Trojan wars they were just five and didn’t have enough money to goto school, well Catayla and Khaleesi anyway. I look at Keanu confused. How does he know that he didn’t go to school, but Sallow did. “I read a lot of books,”  He says and Sallow just looks at us. He is trying not to tell a joke, so we tell them what we were thinking.
Eventually Sallow couldn’t help it. “So is this a serious thing?” He says and Keanu and I both look at each other and clear our throats and move farther away from each other. “It could be that everyone hates the Yana club,” He says and everyone laughs.
Keanu thinks for a second, “Isn’t that what it already is” Catayla stands up excitement is in her eyes, you would think she was a maniac, but then I figure it out she likes battle planning, Sallow already knew this though and ignores the manic expressions on her face. 
She goes to the white board and starts to draw, “Okay so what I was thinking is the person that goes to the door will be Keanu” Catayla says and Keanu looks at all of us, “It’s because when we all got into that fight you were the only one she didn’t really yell at, because you were truly one of her friends” She says and we all look at Keanu and think for a second, I can’t go up to the door because then she will know what is happening and that will put everyone in danger. “You will say you want to join her” Catayla says and now Keanu understands he nods his head, “Then once you have Yana distracted everyone else will come in and attack”. She says drawing lines, we all look at her and yet Sallow still isn’t fazed. “Dad used to coach the college football teams. He let me write the plans from time to time,” She says and Keanu looks at her with a deep sadness in his eyes. “Mom thought I should have been playing with the doll” She said, turning back to the white bourd she takes a deep breath so she doesn’t cry. 
Keanu thinks for a second letting the thought of his parents pass over him. Catayla told me that her parents didn’t die, but they ran away from them, “So why do I need to distract Yana?” He asks, pressing a finger to his lips in deep thought. 
I think for a minute then finally say, “So she doesn’t see us sneaking up on Oxitec and calls for more soldiers” I say and Keanu understands.
Then Sallow asks, “When are we going to go through with this?” I could see the anger in his eyes, but I could also see the nerves settling in. I had the same thing it felt as if a million spiders were crawling in the pit of my stomach. I’m going into a battle, and going to kill the person I thought I loved, I knew Sallow was thinking the same thing, Yana was like a sister to him and when she dies it will be like killing a piece of him, and it will be the same for me but she needs to be stopped. She hurt way too many people already.