22. Chapter 22
Josiah
Too much time was passing, and everyone was getting restless.
The mundane bustle of constant training and the unknown, loomed over all of us.
I knew it was only a matter of time before Jerrod would finally give us the word.
We would be going to Salioes once more and we would be that much closer to what we all knew was coming.
The inescapability of this fight was beginning to weight on the group, and the outcome was already assumed.
It made me physically ill to think of Camille fighting that fucking monstrosity of a creature.
Camille and I had kind of fallen into a friends type situation and it hurt. It hurt to know that she couldn't be mine. She wouldn't ever choose me again. She couldn't, even if she wanted to. Our time was over and it was time for me to just accept it for what it was.
I walked through the corridors of the ship to grab my equipment to hunt, but before I even got to the room, I ran into Jerrod. I didn't even see him in front of me before I was slamming into him forcefully.
"Fuck, sorry, I wasn't paying attention," I admitted.
"Clearly," he scoffed. "Don't bother grabbing that—it's time."
I looked at him and sighed, "What's the plan? Or… are you going to send us all in blind?"
"You know as well as anyone how the visions work. These aren't nearly as vivid. I have pieces and I'm not sure the pieces will line up where we want them to. I'm just trying to give us the best shot I can," he voiced in frustration.
"Would it really hurt to give us something though? We're all just sitting ducks otherwise," I tried to reason.
"We already are," he said softly, in the most defeated tone I had ever heard out of him.
His face was scrunched like he was in pain.
He looked like he was going to cry. This wasn't something I was used to.
Jerrod had always been so emotionless throughout our lives together.
To see him like this just solidified how I already felt about the situation.
If he was this effected, we didn't have much to hope for.
My body tensed up. The realization was almost too much to bear.
Like the rest of us, Jerrod had lost all hope too.
We couldn't win and he knew it just as well as I did.
None of us were coming back from this. None of us were surviving this war.
I wondered what Camille and Jerrod had seen in the vision that they had both experienced.
Whatever the end was, it was going to be big and it was going to change everything.
"I'd say everything is going to be okay, but we both know I'd be lying," I finally said.
He grunted at me in agreement and took in a sharp breath, "I'll let everyone else know. Pack up your shit. It's time to go back to Salioes."
"Noted."
I didn't say anything else, I just turned the other way and kept moving. I wasn't ready for whatever was going to come next. I wasn't ready to lose her.
Before I knew it, we were on the move again. The trip back to Salioes was a somber journey. I don't think any of us really knew what to say. We were pigs on the way to slaughter. There was no happy ending or outcome at the end of this.
Back on Salioes, we immediately found ourselves in the room Camille first met the Council.
While Jerrod was still the head, he said they needed to convene immediately.
He seemed on edge, more so than I was used to and none of us really understood why.
It was highly unusual behavior for him. Everything had been since that last vision.
Jorel, Jayce, Jeriko, and Jairen sat together as we walked into the Council Chamber.
They kept their faces bowed, hoods up in respect to their leader's return.
Jerrod led us in, hand in hand with Camille.
Veshkru, Kresh, Jade, King Kian and I, all followed silently behind.
I rarely found myself anxious, but my stomach flipped around uncomfortably.
A sudden chill skittered down my spine—a warning I tried my best to ignore.
"Brothers," Jerrod said in acknowledgement of his Council.
"Peace, Brother," they all said in unison.
"I need to finally discuss a concern, now that we are finally back on the homeland," Jerrod said with an unusual tone to his voice.
We all looked at each other with questioning glances. I had no idea what he meant by that.
"We know what you speak of. Do you have any suspicions on who?" Jeriko asked.
"I have my suspicions, but will not share them right now."
We all looked at each other again in confusion.
"What the fuck is going on?" Camille finally demanded.
Jerrod put up a hand in a gesture of waiting.
She scoffed at the dismissal and began muttering under her breath in irritation.
I held back a laugh at the scene in front of me, wondering how my brother still had not figured out how to properly handle situations like this with Camille yet.
Disregarding her was never the best option.
"If you will not share and we have not seen this outcome, do you expect us all to idly stand by in waiting for the coming outcomes resolution then?" Jairen asked in confusion.
"On the contrary, I will disclose this information, but to each individual singularly," Jerrod explained.
Like the Counsel was reading my mind, Jayce added, "That seems to be quite a large waste of time, does it not?"
"It can't be helped, unfortunately," Jerrod said seriously. "Camille and Josiah will be the only ones to meet with me and each individual. It is not up for discussion or debate."
Camille and I looked confused at each other. I shrugged toward her, because I honestly wasn't sure what was going on or what his actual suspicions even were. I began to turn to dismiss myself so I could go back to my quarters when Jerrod grabbed my wrist.
"What the hell, man?" I grumbled.
"You're not dismissed and I want you to stay with Camille and I." He turned his head to the Counsel again and said, "Jorel, I will be expecting you in my quarters within the hour, followed by the rest of you after—be ready."
Jerrod still hadn't explained anything on the way to his living space and the silence was deafening. My discomfort continued to rise and when we finally got in the room and the door closed, I immediately began drilling him for answers. Camille sat on the ground in silence, eyes distant in thought.
"Start talking before he gets here," I urged. "I think Camille and I deserve answers. You need to stop trying to bear the weight of this situation alone and let us carry it with you. It will be much easier to carry if we all take a hand in it."
He sighed heavily and looked at Camille, "I apologize for my behavior, but if this got out to the wrong person, our chances went from slim to immediate failure. I know I've been distant."
She let out a deep breath and made a face I could only explain as unrequited understanding. I was fairly certain she was pissed, but neither of us truly understood the gravity of it yet. I hoped with his explanation that I could at least discern his thought process.
"Go on then," Camille said. "Help us imagine where you are coming from then."
"The day I had that vision on Taylagonia, it was brought to my attention… that we have had a traitor among us," Jerrod finally admitted in a hushed whisper.
Camille gasped and threw her hand over her mouth in surprise. "Fucking hell, who?"
That was about when the wheels started turning for me.
I thought back to the weird questions. The secrecy.
Hiding our location. It all made perfect sense and how I hadn't put it together until now was frustrating.
I was usually not this unprepared or this unobservant.
I was not unintelligent at all, and rarely didn't put things like this together on my own.
But, unfortunately, the situation with Camille had once again been a factor in my clouded psyche.
She consumed me entirely and all of my usual wits went with her.
"You think it's one of the Council members," I said in a stunned realization. "We aren't leaving here—are we?"
The absolute terror on Camille's face was disheartening, but I could see it in her facial expression. She was piecing it all together now too. A single tear rolled down her face in the realization that we were on the end piece of the puzzle, and we all knew what the stakes were now.
"We both kept assuming that the end game was on Earth, but we were wrong.
I realized it that day," Jerrod pointed out.
"I think Amelia and Kyril may have been sneaking Gilarian here for weeks, infecting the population.
I… I don't know… how many exactly. I don't know that we can win this.
This changes everything. Fighting humans was one thing, fighting our own kind, makes us on even playing ground, and that's not even factoring in Kyril. "