The God Codex

22. Shield

BOOK OF MIA: 2081

Chapter 22: Shield

The door thuds close behind us as soon as we step out into the tall, unkempt, wild grass surrounding the bunker. Nate and I glance at one another as if to say 'where do we go now?' We look around, only to see grassland, trees, and the tiny mound where the hatch to the outside is. Other than that, there are no traces of Hill's compound to be seen.

"You think we are still near Camp Sweep?" Nate asks me, though he averts his eyes, awkward and aware of the little nugget of truth we must now digest. Brother and sister... who would have thought it. Though, looking at Nate now, I can see a slight resemblance, and it makes me feel sicker.

I shrug, avoiding his gaze as much as he is avoiding mine. "We could be anywhere. We were both passed out when they moved us, remember?"

I pout. This would be a brilliant time for the resident in my head to pipe in and help us out, but it seems the man has left the building as we stepped out. I wonder if he's — grandad's AI — tethered to his lab, his building. Hence the quiet tundra in my head right now.

"She said she would send us the coordinates when we were away from the facility," I utter, eyeing the dense tree line. "So maybe we just have to get away from it a bit."

Nate glances at the sealed door behind us, serious. "She said, Hill and her men."

"How are you feeling?" I take a peek at him from the corner of my eyes, still trying to boot out the thought I had wanted to kiss him several times since we fled the school camp. The thought of which makes me shudder.

He grabs my wrist absently and ploughs ahead, treading the tall grass as he'd done often in the past. My skin burns beneath his, aware of the touch. I pull my wrist out and trudge along beside him, my shorter legs disappearing deeper in the greens than his. I'm acutely aware this is Australia, the land of deadly snakes and spiders galore.

"You don't think they are still around?" I feel my chest constrict at the mere thought.

"Who are still around?" He takes a glimpse at me before facing our heading.

"That there are—" I take a step and something leaps up at me. I scream, throwing myself at Nate in hysterics, for all I see is a slim shape flying towards me. "Snakes!"

Nate grips my shoulders and gives me a dirty look. "It's a branch, Mia." In his grip is the said 'snake' and it definitely resembles a branch now that I'm not so focused on snakes. He throws the branch back into the grass and carries on, forever the leader he was born to be.

"How far do you think we have to get before we 'get away from Hill and her men'?" He wonders out loud, eyeing the sky that was moments ago dazzling bright. "It will get dark soon and I'd like us to put some distance between wherever that was and us."

I nod. I am up for putting some distance between the woman who wants to carve me open. She had wanted to study me prior to my 'upgrade'. I shiver to think what she'll give to get her hands on me now — once she discovers what I have become. I don't even know what I've become.

"What did she do to you?" I ask Nate, careful of each step in the grass.

"What do you mean?" he asks.

"She did something to you that almost killed you." My voice catches in my throat and I struggle to shake the image of his blue lips. Lips I had wanted to kiss. Yuck! Not that Nate is yuck.

"I don't remember a lot. I just remember coming in and out of it in that room." A darkness of sorts veils his face and I wonder what it is he's not telling me. "She wanted to know things, things I didn't know. Like why we were fleeing Camp Sweep. Why us?"