Chapter Twenty-Three
“ W e still have time to turn back.”
As a group, I think we all rolled our eyes in unison. This was probably the hundredth time Rainer had uttered the words.
He had been a grumpy recluse the past four days, refusing to do anything but sit in a corner and pout with his arms crossed against his chest.
“Hate to break it to you, man, but this is a fight you aren’t going to win.” Murphy clapped a hand against Rainer’s shoulder, shooting me a wink over his shoulder.
Rainer continued to mutter incoherently under his breath, probably cursing us all for our idiocy. But I tuned him out, knowing that his attitude didn’t matter. Once we were closer to the camp, he’d be sharp, ready to follow through on his portion of the plan.
Warner strolled to my side, his long legs catching up to me quickly. On a whisper, he asked, “Are you sure this is going to work?”
For the first time, I could confidently answer yes. It seemed when we had seven heads working together, plans were much easier to formulate.
Science was my forte, but the others had intelligence where I lacked. Sasha had been the biggest surprise, most of her ideas being used.
Our steps slowed collectively as the fence around the camp came into view. A heavy silence fell over us. It seemed the confidence dimmed in light of the day, the camp an imposing view before us.
“Everyone know what they need to do?” I checked in and I received six nods.
“Don’t make any detours. We need to leave for the trains by nightfall.” Murphy stood at my side, addressing the entire group.
Everyone began breaking up into two groups, Murphy pulling me into his arms. His nose nuzzled against my neck. “Be safe. And don’t do anything stupid.”
I rolled my eyes against the side of his head. Why did these men think I was prone to bad decisions?
We broke away, Murphy heading toward Sasha and Warner. We had decided that two guns should go with each group. There had been a hushed debate between the men about who would go with who.
Eventually, it was decided that Aiden and Rainer would head inside with me and Mina, leaving Sasha and Warner with Murphy. I struggled to separate from anyone in the group, but I had to admit that I was happy Aiden had been placed with me. At least then we didn’t have to worry about each other’s whereabouts when all hell broke loose.
And I knew chaos was about to ensue. There was no other option around it.
We approached the front of the gate from the left, not bothering to hide as the guards spotted us. Immediately, they raised their guns, but so did Rainer and Aiden.
As we stood a mere ten feet from them, I took in their movements. I was used to the robotic motions, the trained men and women that didn’t seem to blink in the face of a threat.
These weren’t those people. They blinked repeatedly, their gazes darting between Aiden and Rainer. Their feet slid from side to side, their movements jittery.
The ordeal inside these gates had shaken them. The people they knew, some of them possibly their friends, had been killed at our hands. The man in charge of them was gone. Warner had been right when he said they would be scared, out of their element, and unsure of what to do.
Finding my voice, I said, “No one needs to get hurt.”
Four sets of eyes fell on me. A stocky woman in the middle of the group raised her brows at me, never lowering her gun. “Is that what you told the men and women you killed?”
Alright, so they weren’t in the mood for forgiveness. That was okay. The blood spilled inside those walls would haunt me forever.
“Do you even know what you’re protecting?” I asked, taking several steps forward until I stood in the middle of the two opposing forces.
“Lessy,” Aiden warned at my back, but I ignored him.
For too long, I viewed them all as the enemy. But they were people like us. Not all of them were vicious like Vex.
The guards looked to each other cautiously and I knew I had them. No, they didn’t know what they were protecting. Which meant Sasha’s plan could work.
She had been the only one to realize that not every guard would be making it on those trains, if any of them. What was the purpose of corralling a group of people into a camp if someone wasn’t going to keep them here until the meteor hit?
“What are you talking about?” The woman said, clearly the leader of their small unit.
I took another step forward, ignoring the warning bells ringing in my head. I had never spoken to the guards. But now, Sasha’s words played on a loop in my head. Play to their humanity. In a sea of monsters, there will always be someone on your side.
When she spoke those words, my mind jumped to the blonde woman who had lost her life, trying to save ours. She had been on our side. I could only hope these four guards would feel the same.
“The world is ending,” I began.
Their eyes widened instantly before slanting. “You’re lying.”
Sasha had also anticipated this. Pulling the files Warner and I had stolen from the bag on my back, the papers that were the catalyst for the past few months, I held them out toward the woman.
“My father, Antonio Accardi, was a scientist. He discovered a meteorite that was going to wipe out nearly all of Earth at the end of the year.”
Unbelieving frowns met me, but I continued to hold out the papers. Taking the last few steps, I was finally in front of the woman. Up close, I realized she was older, probably around my mom’s age.
“Do you have children?” I whispered.
Her eyes were perfect circles and she gave me one singular nod. Her gun was mere inches from my face, but I didn’t flinch under the threat.
Pushing the papers into her hands, I murmured for only her to hear, “My father lost his life to protect us. He was killed because he didn’t want to keep this a secret. I need you to believe me, not for you, not for me, but for your kids. Who deserve a chance to survive.”
The woman blinked slowly and then she took the papers from my hand. When she lowered the gun pointed my way, an audible sigh of relief left me.
Her eyes scanned the paper quickly, the color in her face fading until she was white as a ghost. Shuffling through the stack of papers, the other three guards leaned over her shoulders. In a few minutes, the papers were back in my hands.
“What do you want us to do?” The woman asked, her voice shaky.
I recognized the fear in her voice, the same fear that had coursed through me when I learned the news. There was no easy way to hear that the life you led was going to end soon. But maybe now it didn’t have to.
“I need you to gather everyone inside the camp. It’s time we tell the world the truth.”