Project Jamboree

Chapter Fourteen

Ruby announced our arrival back at HQ. Soon enough, we were back in the Tube.

I was fighting off the dark, reminding myself that it was just a tunnel and I'd been through it before. I also held Jude's hand. He was scared of the dark. I was talking to him as well. He couldn't stand the quiet.

When we got back, there was no one to officially greet us.

"Betray us, and I'll incinerate you," I reminded Clancy, "You're with Ruby, checking on the dorm rooms. Jude with Vida, you guys are looking for Cate. Liam and Chubs, just stick together and don't get yourselves killed, as I assume you have experience in that field."

"Where are you going?" Chubs asked me as the others went off to their various assignments.

I looked around at the dimly lit room, "Control room. I need to make sure I know where everyone is."

"Alright," Chubs sighed, "I'm green, so I'll come."

When I walked into the room full of monitors and camera feeds, I sat down, hacking into the system with my 'green skills' that I picked up from the greens in my cabin at Thurmond.

"Nice," Chubs said, "Not bad for a red."

I smirked, watching as Ruby and Clancy walked down the hallway, and then Clancy was going further.

At first, I thought Ruby was in the girls dorms and Clancy was checking the boys, but he kept walking. And Ruby was talking to someone who wasn't there as she walked into the boys dorms.

"He played us," I hissed, "I'm gonna kill him-"

"Mission first, revenge later," Chubs reminded.

I ignored him, sprinting through the halls to find my brother before he could get someone killed. I ended up in Alban's office.

Alban was on the floor, unmoving with a bullet hole between his eyes.

I backed away into someone. I whipped around, ready to throw fire at them, but as my hand sparked, I just saw Cole. Not knowing what else to do, I pulled him into a hug.

"Clancy betrayed us," Ruby walked in and saw Alban's dead body, "I'm gonna kill him."

I looked at her, "Get in line." We rushed through the halls until we saw Clancy and Nico. What was Nico doing with Clancy? Listening to him. Clancy had a way with people, even before his abilities manifested. And if the two had been in Thurmond together, they likely shared a sort of bond.

"Nico, get away from him now," I warned, holding up the fireball in my hand.

"Nat, what are you doing?" Nico asked, "He's helping us. Put your fire away." Clancy smirked, likely puppeting Nico to do whatever he said.

I sighed, "I'm sorry Nico." As I said it, Vida snuck up behind them and knocked Clancy unconscious. I high fived her.

"Lets get out," Vida said, "We've rounded up the survivors. The rest have already left."

I nodded. We all started walking through the tunnels. Ruby and Cole were leading everyone, so I hung to the back with Jude.

The tunnel made quaking noises. The lights went dark. Then came the explosion.

It threw me to the ground, forcing me to curl up in a ball to avoid the falling rocks that threatened to crush me.

When the dust settled, I looked behind me. My leg was trapped under a huge slab of the roof. I sighed. I was still in shock, thankfully, so I couldn't feel it yet.

I heard a soft whimpering.

"Who's there?" I asked.

A shape moved over, "Nat?"

"Jude," I let out a breath of relief, "Hey. Are you okay?"

"Still in one piece, he let out shaky laughter. I smiled faintly. He hated the dark and quiet. I'd have to tell him a story soon.

But right now, I was just trying to wriggle my leg out before I became paralyzed with pain. Nothing.

The second wave hit, and I heard a slight scream.

"Jude?" I asked, scanning the darkness for the boy.

"Over here," he said. I looked left, to where he'd just turned on a flashlight to chase away the dark. My eyes fixed on crimson spilling through his shirt, "Nat, I'm scared. I don't like the dark. I don't like the quiet. I don't like being alone."

I reached out my hand, which he grabbed and squeezed reassuringly. I sighed and looked at his shirt, a bar of metal had stabbed him just below his stomach. I didn't know if a green could fix that.

I didn't know if anyone could find us.

"Tell me a story, Nat," Jude begged.

I began one I knew by heart. Watership Down.

"All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a thousand enemies, and when they catch you, they will kill you. But first, they must catch you. Digger, listener, runner, Prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed."

When I finished that line, his grip on my hand started loosening. He was barely awake.

"Go to sleep," I whispered, "It's alright. How can you ever expect to dream if you don't sleep?"

I heard the exact moment he stopped breathing. I felt the exact moment his hand dropped out of mine.

I couldn't reach it anymore. I was trapped. Trapped alone in the dark. But I found myself glad it was Jude that left first. Because if I left, it would've been quiet. He would've been so scared.

He would have died alone with no one to hold his hand or to talk him through the silence. I wondered what it would be like, to die alone in the dark without ever being able to walk the road of the future.

The pain in my leg had come through, and it was excruciating. But that wasn't the problem.

Jude had just turned fourteen. He didn't deserve any of this. What happened to him?

He got a virus that affected his brain and gave him powers, his parents called the PSFs on him because they were scared, and he got picked up by the Children's League.

Not his fault.

He had nearly been killed, so he got dragged out on a hunt for a flash drive, and come back to this ruin.

Not his fault.

He didn't deserve this. He deserved to step out of the cave into the light, to run down the road to school with his friends, to be a normal child.

I screamed at the world in fury. I hadn't cried in so long. I had promised to never cry again after what Clancy and my parents did to me, after Thurmond.

Yet I found wet, clear droplets sliding down my face, breaking through the ash and blood streaking my face.

I screamed louder and louder, hoping someone, anyone would hear me. Take me out of the quiet. I didn't care if I lived or died, I just needed sound.

I lit a flame, letting it burn violet, hoping I'd choke on the smoke. I heard voices.

"Help," I muttered weakly, "I'm down here. Please."

Since my voice clearly wasn't working, I'd have to use my fire. I let it burn bright red, as large as I could make it.

I saw Chubs's face as he and Liam saw me, "Lee, she's down here."

Liam got the boulder off of me, lifting me with his powers. He told me I was going to be fine, everything was going to be fine.

None of that mattered.

Jude was gone.