Project Jamboree

Chapter Fifteen

Dead. He was dead.

My mind ran in a loop, and I knew I was mumbling nonsense as they pulled me out into the light.

"Natasha!" Cole ran over to me, "Oh my god, Nat."

"Go back," I muttered, "You gotta go back."

Ruby looked at Liam, "Where's Jude?" Vida started visibly shaking. My legs were giving out under me, but Cole caught me.

"We didn't find him," Liam admitted, "I'm sorry-"

"We have to go get him," Ruby started mumbling, "We can't just... He can't stay down there. He doesn't like the dark- he can't handle silence- he shouldn't be alone."

Liam pulled Ruby into a hug, "Ruby. There's not going to be anything to get. And I think you know that."

"I c-can't. I can't- he was alone," Ruby continued, "He didn't have anyone with him- he must've been so scared. I told him we would stay together."

I reached out to Ruby, "He wasn't alone. He had a flashlight, and I told him a story. He wasn't alone."

Ruby sat down, shaking as Liam tried and failed to comfort her. But she didn't cry. Vida didn't cry.

"Where's my sister?" Clancy demanded from somewhere nearby.

Someone had detained him, though I didn't know how he escaped in the first place. I glared at him as he just looked at me. He seemed relieved.

"I'm so glad you're safe-"

I hissed at him, "This is on you! You did this! You killed him!"

Fire started sparking up nearby, and Clancy looked genuinely scared of me. He should be. This was the monster, the part of a red that stayed locked in a box. This monster was unleashed and wanted to kill.

"Nat," Cole warmed quietly in my ear, "No."

I ignored him, "I warned you what would happen! I warned you! Now Jude is dead! HE WAS A GOOD PERSON AND HE'S NEVER COMING BACK BECAUSE OF YOU! He never did anything wrong, he-"

There was a tickling in my skull, but this was rough. It couldn't be Ruby- she was still too shaken to focus on anything. Clancy was trying to hurt me. So much for the 'I love my little sister' angle.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" I screamed as images from Thurmond and Project Jamboree swirled in my mind, mixed with Jude's voice.

This was the sort of torture that worked on me, that kept me docile while I tried to fight it off. This was the sort of torture that only a malevolent orange like my brother could pull off.

Nat, this isn't real. Push him out.

Ruby. She was risking a lot being in my head at that moment. She was seeing all my pain- it was horrible to know there was someone that knew what I'd been through. Who'd seen it.

My scars were mine. My burden was mine.

I threw Clancy out with all I had, and felt a slight breath of relief as he left, my mind settling.

But when it did, Clancy started talking, "One strange voice, piercing through the night. Singing a little song, fighting a little fight."

I tried to keep it out of my head, but this was wired into the deepest parts of my brain. The first command we'd ever been trained to follow at Project Jamboree.

A command code, one that made us explode into an inferno, incinerating everyone around me. I couldn't let him do this to them.

"No," I muttered. They all looked confused, but as my twitch got worse and worse, Cole understood.

"Two strange sounds, hearing through the storm," Clancy continued.

There was only one way to stop him.

I ran over to him and punched him straight up under the chin. His head rolled back as the light left his eyes.

As he fell unconscious, I finally felt it all.

Grief and pain. Anger. I collapsed to the ground, unable to steady myself on my good leg anymore.

The world went dark.

When my eyes opened, I was staring up at a dusty grey roof. There was something around me, something holding me back.

I quickly fought with every instinct inside of me, succeeding in waking up my 'attacker.'

"Calm down, Nat," Cole said calmly, "And stay off that leg. Greens said you had multiple fractures."

"What are you doing?" I asked, "For a second, I thought I was back- there."

Cole sighed, clutching his side where I'd elbowed him quite hard, "Yeah, but you were freezing cold, and something about hypothermia, so..."

"So what?" I asked.

"So we've got no blankets, I'm a red, and so I decided to keep you warm while you were unconscious?" Cole tried.

I nodded slowly, something making me sleepy again.

"The greens gave you some painkiller medicine. It'll make you really tired for a while," he told me.

"That's definitely the scientific term for it," I smiled faintly, hearing how slurred music voice sounded.

I sat back down and leaned into Cole's arms somewhat awkwardly, but he let me sit there until I fell asleep again.

I didn't know how much later, but someone woke me up and told me about everything that happened. Chubs.

He explained my injury in scientific words that went in one ear and out the other. He continued about different things happening at camp, the ex-League agents finding us supplies.

I sighed, "Can I walk or no?"

"Solid no," Chubs told me, "Unless you use crutches." He nodded to some makeshift crutches nearby.

I took the crutches and sighed again, "Where's Cole?"

"Probably on a supply run," Chubs said, "But he could be talking to Ruby, who is also on a supply run."

"Great, thanks," I muttered, taking off in the direction he pointed.

Chubs made an exasperated sound and quietly shouted, "You really shouldn't be on that leg."

"You really shouldn't try to tell a red what to do," I replied, sparking a small flame at my fingertips.

Chubs backed off, as predicted, only muttering, "You're worse than Vida sometimes, honestly."

I sat in the ruins.

They'd bombed LA. The League has supposedly sent a blue to assassinate President Gray- even though the president himself likely sent that assassin to rally support- and now they were retaliating.

I sighed, looking out over the city. My seat was high enough that I could see the whole camp, but hidden under a few slabs of rock for shelter from above.

Someone was walking up behind me. Trying to be quiet. They were sneaking up on me. I didn't know who it was.

A hand landed on my shoulder.