Chapter Eighteen: The Sunrise on a New Day

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That night, I was asleep when something random woke me up that scared me out of my wits. It sounded like a loud bang from the end of the hallway, and of course, I was the only one that seemed to be awakened by it. 

I sat up in the bed that I shared with Quentin since we decided that Jamie and Bailey should share a bed. I glanced over at Landon, and he was still passed out on the pull-out couch that Donovan shared with him. I sighed, wondering if I should check it out or ignore it. My mind told me to ignore it and go back to sleep, but my gut told me that it could be another imposter.

 I wasn't really sure what to do. I climbed out of the bed and tiptoed over to the door. Listening in, I didn't hear anything right off the bat until voices could be heard towards the end of the hallway. I couldn't quite understand what they were saying since the sounds were muffled through the door. I waited for a while until the sounds stopped, and I relaxed for a bit. 

I suddenly wondered why I was being so paranoid. I guessed that I was so used to any foreign voice that came to the ear could very easily be NGZ, it started to mess with my mind. 

It hit me, right then. It's been just over a month since we left my hometown of Lorena and left for Pasadena in an attempt to rescue my father with my mom, Donovan, Jamie, and Bailey, only to lose my mom and Tanner Welch in the fight. 

I hated myself for that day. I could've rescued my mom if I was just a second sooner in getting into that room. But, it was too late now. 

"Mason?" I jumped as someone called out to me. When I turned around, it was a male figure that started to walk towards me. I opened my palm and released a little bit of electricity to see who it was, and it happened to be Quentin. 

He stopped in front of me. "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." 

His voice was low and concerned. I realized that we've also gained help from somebody that we least expected. We needed it, too. Without him, we'd be up against one more person from Lin's superhuman teenagers. 

I sighed. "I'm okay. I couldn't sleep is all." 

"Are you sure?" he whispered, tilting his head to the side. I could see the dreariness in his eyes from the lack of sleep. 

I hesitated but nodded anyway. "Yeah. I'm okay." 

Quentin suddenly yawned. "Alright then. I'm going back to bed. See you in the morning." 

I smirked as he stumbled back into bed. As he flopped himself down and shifted his body under the covers, I debated on taking a stroll outside to clear my mind. It would certainly be beneficial, but I ended up thinking that something would happen as it did to Donovan the one time he did. 

I didn't want to risk it. I went back to bed and tried my best to close my eyes, but I kept finding myself staring at the ceiling. My body was exhausted from the past couple of days, but my mind was swarming. 

Whatever happened with Alonzo? Was he still in the forest? Did he ever wake up from the crash impact? Did he even survive the fall? I kind of wished that I had an answer. I hated leaving him behind like we did. 

Eventually, my eyes began to grow tired and sleep began to take over my body. I didn't really want to fall asleep, but after being stuck in the woods and feeling like we were on the verge of starvation, I felt like I had to get some rest. 

And that's what ended up happening. 

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Thankfully, fate allowed us to sleep in a little and regain a lot of our energy. Jamie announced last night that the first bus that takes us to Cochabamba leaves at nine sharp, so we set the alarm for 7:30 to give us time to eat breakfast and walk towards the bus stop which was, fortunately, closer than we originally thought. 

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