Revolutionary Love (The Revolution Series Book 1)

by Jessica Miller

  Chapter Eleven

  Rugter let go of my arm so we could sprint. I was running the slowest out of them. Even with the adrenaline pumping through my veins, I wouldn't be able to go much longer. I was vaccinated, but from the noises coming from behind us, I knew they would tear into my skin and rip me to shreds. There was a group of them. I could hear all of their heavy footsteps. A shriek pierced the air.

  "Faster." Rugter panted.

  Jewel ran faster. She wasn't winded at all. My lungs were burning. I was too far out of breath and out of shape. What were these things? Their brains were fried, yet they could keep pace with perfectly healthy human beings? It didn't add up.

  Rugter tripped over something and went sprawling to the ground. Without thinking twice, I threw my body over his. The diseased pounced on my back. I screamed when I felt its nails dig into my flesh.

  "Mine." His scratchy voice breathed over me. Something wet globed onto the side of my face.

  More nails clawed at my legs. I panicked, kicking. Rugter groaned from underneath me. I didn't know if he was vaccinated. I attempted to cover him as much as I could.

  I heard three gun shots. I wiggled to get the bodies off of me. I was shaking so bad I could barely stand. Rugter stood with ease.

  "Let's go! More are coming!" Jewel shouted from ten feet away.

  Rugter looked at me for a beat and started running. Tears of pain streamed down my face. My back and legs were on fire.

  I was surprised when Rugter took my hand and pulled me along with him. I was slowing down. I was out of breath and energy. I was the weak link in the group.

  "They will stay on our trail. We need to terminate them." Jewel said, only a little out of breath.

  "The second we stop and turn around they will pounce." Rugter responded. He gripped my hand tighter when it started to slip.

  "Let's split up. Someone run forwards, someone run to the right, and someone run to the left." I barely got the words through my wheezing.

  "Good idea." Jewel started to head off to the right.

  "No!" Rugter shouted. "Evelyn doesn't have a weapon and if we supply her with one she will take off." Now Rugter's grip was loosening on my hand.

  "Where will she go? She can't fend for herself." Jewel snapped.

  The footsteps behind us were gaining on us.

  "What if she turns on us?" Now Rugter was coming up with excuses.

  "Then we shoot her." Jewel stated like it was simple.

  Rugter nodded his head and let go of my hand. He pulled the handgun that was strapped to his thigh and placed it in my sweaty palms. "Good luck. Jewel you go right, Evelyn you go left, and I'll keep running forwards. We all will meet at the car on the highway."

  I turned and headed left. Two pairs of footsteps kept pace with me. I was afraid. I didn't want to kill them. It wasn't their fault they were sick. The disease was man-made.

  There was a shed out into the distance. Maybe I could make it inside and lock the door. I attempted to pick up my pace, but I ended up running slower. I could feel the blood dripping down my back and legs. Once I made it to the shed, I slammed the door shut. There was no light inside. I tried locking the door, but it had no lock. I used my body weight to keep it shut as the diseased slammed into it. They began to scratch at the door.

  "Open, open!" It was a woman's voice. "I just want to play."

  They were throwing their weight at the door. I wouldn't be able to keep it closed much longer. I was too weak.

  "Please go away!" I cried.

  "Play!" This time, it was a man's voice.

  The girl cackled with each thump on the door. It smelt terrible in here. Keeping my back pressed against the door, I felt around with my hands. A chair. I slid it closer with my feet and jammed it under the door knob.

  I felt around on the walls. Finding a light switch, I turned it on. It stayed dark. I don't know why I thought there would be electricity all the way out here.

  After ten minutes of them trying to come inside, it got quiet. I didn't dare move a muscle. I was just beginning to get my breathing under control. Maybe Jewel and Rugter would come looking for me. Maybe they would save me.

  A while passed. There was no movement outside. I was sitting on the floor. I could barely keep my eyes open.

  It startled me when I heard a voice. "Evelyn?"

  It was Jewel. Relief made my shoulders sag. I moved the chair and stepped out into the dark. I looked around. There was a figure five feet away from me. Except it was too short to be Jewel. The figure lunged at me. Without hesitating, I raised the gun and shot her. She fell to the ground but rose again. I stepped backwards. Another figure came running. I shot at the figure. This time, it thumped to the ground and didn't rise.

  I looked at the girl. She was on her knees. I kept the gun pointed at her head and stepped closer.

  "How do you know my name?" I inquired, hands shaking.

  "All over radio. All over posters around the cities. Ever sense you were a little girl. I watched you grow" The girl spluttered blood out of her mouth. "Stephan's daughter. I found her! I found her!" When she started screaming, I shot her again. This time in her head.

  After she fell to the ground, I collapsed to my knees. I was tired. I was so tired. I didn't know how much more of this I could take.

  The day I woke up, my life was changed for the worse. I remember always thinking I had it hard. I didn't know what hard was. This was hard. I was barely surviving and always staring death in its eyes. I was a murderer now. I've shot four people. Four human beings. Somewhere out there somebody loved them and I just ended their lives. I had no right.

  I wanted to break down. I wanted to scream and cry about the unfairness of it all. Each day, my heart broke more and more. The pain in my chest was unbearable. Instead, I pushed myself up and got back onto my feet. I couldn’t give up and I wouldn’t give up.

  The rebellion may have organization and it may have a group of people, but they weren't fixing anything. They were murdering. They were making things worse. It needed to change. I stared at this diseased girl. This needed to change. Human logic: Don't spread a disease that is man made without having a cure. Somebody out there had a cure. Stephan needed to be brought down. The Unit needed to be brought down and the rules needed to change.

  "Evelyn." Hearing that name, I quickly turned around and shot. I dropped the gun when I saw it was Jewel.

  She lifted her left hand and brought it up to her arm. Jewel pulled her hand away. There was blood, but only a little bit. "It grazed my skin." She stated like it was no big deal and like she got shot at all the time.

  With tender legs, I lifted myself from the overgrown grass. "Sorry, they knew my name." I nodded towards the dead bodies.

  Jewel nodded. "Everyone knows you."

  Or they think they do. It was quiet now. No heavy breathing and no running footsteps. I could hear the wind brushing through the dead grass. The noise was comforting. I closed my eyes and breathed in the smell of nature. The dead grass stood to my waist. I softly touched it with my hands, noticing the prickling feeling.

  I stayed like that for a few minutes. Calmly breathing and enjoying what Earth had to provide. I knew we needed to leave. All too soon, I opened my eyes. Jewel was watching me. Something changed in her face. I wasn't sure what to do, so I gave her a tentative smile. She didn't smile back.

  Jewel nodded her head for me to follow. She didn't take the gun away from me. I think she had a feeling that I felt safe with it in my hands like nobody or nothing could hurt me. We were heading back to the country road. I listened hard. I paid attention. We were not being followed by a diseased person. Subconsciously, I noticed that when the diseased are around, things got abnormally quiet.

  Rugter was leaning against that old, broken down car we had initially hidden behind earlier. His demeanor relaxed when he saw Jewel. A smile flitted across his face. I watched her shoulders tense, then relax. I wasn't expecting it, but she ran to him and threw herself into his arms.

&
nbsp; Rugter held onto her tight like he never wanted to let go. He spun her in circles. Adam flew across my mind. The way he grabbed onto me and spun me in circles. How he talked to me all night that night and held my hand. The way he tried to protect me from Rugter.

  Watching Rugter and Jewel made me feel lonely. I suddenly missed Adam's presence. His musky scent filled my mind. The way his face would glow every time Mare gave him one of her smiles. In a world so cruel, Adam was soft.

  If he were anyone else in the rebel group, I would have died that night in the tunnel. It was because of his softness that I was still here. Breathing. Alive. No wonder Rugter outranked him.

  Rugter put Jewel down, and she avoided eye contact with me. She was embarrassed. She didn't capture me as the affectionate type.

  "Let me see those battle wounds, Evelyn." Rugter ordered, motioning for me to turn around.

  Following his command, I turned around and lifted my shirt over my head. Goosebumps broke out across my skin. My teeth began to chatter. Rugter clicked the flashlight on and inspected the damage.

  "Your back is destroyed." He mumbled to himself.

  He was talking about the burn marks from the bombing. I gave a half shrug. I couldn't see it, so it didn't bother me. I hissed when Rugter put rubbing alcohol on the scratch marks. It felt like my skin was on fire.

  "They got you good..." Rugter trailed off. His voice sounded sad.

  I shrugged. "Nothing I'm not used to. Have you seen my face?" I made a bad joke, I knew it the moment the words left my lips.

  "You can put your shirt back on." Rugter muttered when he was finished bandaging my back. "Lift up your pants."

  I lifted my dirty cotton pants and he began to work on my legs. I was surprised he was taking care of my wounds. I figured he would let me suffer with them. He didn't seem to care about my well-being.

  "Jewel can we have a moment." Rugter asked.

  Jewel didn't say anything, but I heard her leave. I was nervous now. Why would he send her away? Was he going to hurt me? That didn't make sense. Why would he hurt me if he was fixing me?

  "Why did you do it?"

  I crinkled my nose at the burning sensation. "Do what?"

  "Throw your body over mine when I fell. Why would you do something like that? You could have died." Rugter’s tone was curious, but I could hear the sorrow beneath his words.

  I thought for a few seconds. "It was reflex. You fell, I didn't know if you were vaccinated, and I was."

  I dropped my pants when I felt him stand up. Rugter turned me to face him. He had the flashlight on my face. He wanted to watch my facial expression. I couldn't see his.

  "So you would risk your life for me just like that? Ignoring the fact that I have not fed you, gave you water, or a comfortable place to sleep."

  I chewed my lower lip. "Two wrongs don't make a right."

  I could see Rugter's shadow. He was slowly shaking his head back and forth.

  "The night that you broke me out, I was already supposed to get broken out by Adam and his group. I had a mission to complete. A mission they didn't know about." Rugter recalled.

  "What was your mission?" I knew he wanted me to ask.

  "The man at the top is a very intelligent man. He is good at planning. He can predict people's moves. Adam, Mitchel, Chantel, and Bret had their own mission. Scope out Stephan's property. Check the security there. They came back to him with information about you. You were different. Something was off. He dug a little only to find out you had no memory." Rugter took the flashlight off of my face. I think he didn't want to see my facial expression anymore. "They were all sent back to bomb the property to make Stephan go somewhere else. The man at the top knew where Stephan would go after a bombing like that. The Unit's military base. That's exactly what Stephan did."

  Rugter stopped talking.

  "Then what?" I encouraged.

  Rugter began to pace in front of me. "Then that night when Adam was supposed to break me out, in the chaos, I was supposed to find you, kill you, and report back to my seeker."

  I was unfazed by what he was saying. I could tell he expected his words to upset me, but it didn't. Most people nowadays wanted me dead. What he was saying was nothing old, nothing new.

  "That troubles you?" I inquired, softly.

  Rugter spun and looked at me. "Yes, that troubles me. When you came into the jail cell and you looked at me, I knew. I just knew. Your innocence was basically pouring out of you. You are not you anymore. You’re not the Evelyn I knew all of my life. Even when you were a child, I always knew something was different about you. I had a strong feeling you would follow in our father's footsteps. He was your hero. You looked up to him. But that night at the jail cell, you told me it was going to be okay. It felt like an apology. Then, you broke me out." Rugter seethed, he was angry now. "After I threw the grenade down the stairs, I had time to kill you. I had the gun pointed right at you head, but I couldn't do it. I hesitated. Next thing I know, Seth is opening the door, telling me to run, and taking off with you in his arms." Rugter dropped his head in his hands.

  I felt awkward. I didn't know how to comfort him, so I kept my mouth shut. I watched the young man struggle with all of his emotions.

  "Adam and Seth always loved you. They were supposed to kill you with that bomb in Louisville. Seth had it in him. He did his part perfectly. It was Adam who couldn't. When he looks at you, he just sees the girl you once were."

  I watched Rugter struggle with the weight on his shoulders. I hated it when they did this. Confessed to me. Talked about their feelings to me. I was not Evelyn. I was a stranger. Someone they had never met before. I just happened to share the same body as Evelyn. How did Dr. Lynn do this? Live in a body, live in a life, that wasn't his.

  Sometimes I got confused. I felt like I really was Evelyn, but with no memory. Except, I remember. I remember the life I used to be living.

  I broke the stretched out silence. "What is your mission now?"

  Rugter ran his hands through his brown, curly hair. Hair that was just like mine, but shorter. "I need to bring you to the man at the top."

  Chapter Twelve

  We walked for a couple of days. Rugter and Jewel didn't say much. Sometimes I would find them whispering to each other. I didn't try to hear what they were saying. I didn't want to.

  My death was inevitable now. They were bringing me to the man who meant to take Stephan down. I didn't think the man at the top would give me a nice quick death.

  He would probably drill me. Ask me questions that I didn't have the answer to. I imagined the worst. That I would get locked in a dungeon with no light for days, dropped off in a heard of the diseased, or tortured. I imagined things that I had seen in movies.

  They would tilt my head back, put a washcloth over my face, and pour water on me. Slowly drowning me. Trap me in a basement full of hungry rats. The worst scenarios kept playing through my mind.

  Rugter and Jewel shared their food with me. I couldn't keep it down. All night long when we would sleep on the uncomfortable gravel, I'd toss and turn. I felt like a walking zombie.

  My wrists were getting smaller. Since I woke up, I had not been eating enough food. My ribs were beginning to poke out from my sides. I saw a reflection of myself in a car window. I was a sick pale color, my hair was in knots, my eyes were droopy and tired, and I was thin. I looked fragile.

  By day three of walking, we were close to the mountains. The air was fresh and cold. I could smell a creek nearby. Leafs covered the ground. We began to see more and more trees. It was beautiful here.

  "I love the mountains." Jewel took in a deep breath.

  Rugter nodded but didn't say anything. The closer we got, the more tense he appeared.

  We stopped beneath a tree. Even though it was winter, the sun made us hot and sweaty.

  Jewel took her shirt off and poured some of her water on it. She had the same marking on her back as Rugter. Except hers went all the way down her spine. She had more than him. She must have be
en higher ranking. The designs were beautiful. The first one started at the name of her neck. The ink was black. It was a small simple symbol. A spiral circle. The next one was a line with a dot below it and a dot above it. Before I had the chance to view them all, she put her shirt back on.

  "So much better." She commented.

  Her tank top was soaked and sticking to her skin. Looking at it made me feel cold. I stepped back out into the sunlight.

  "How much longer until we are there?" I inquired, nibbling on a thumbnail.

  Rugter and Jewel looked at each other.

  "Soon. We need to blindfold you now." Rugter stood up and stretched.

  "Why?" I couldn't bring myself to care. I didn't understand how I was meant to trek through the first blindfolded.

  "You can't know the way there. You shouldn't have even seen the way this far." Jewel answered.

  I didn't even know where we were. I just nodded my head in agreement. Rugter said something to Jewel and left. He ran down the road towards a barn house. He brought the biggest gun he had with him.

  I watched him disappear inside. A few moments later, he was driving out with a beat up truck.

  When he made it over to us, Jewel slipped a piece of cloth over my eyes. She guided me to the back seat of the truck. It was small. My knees were to my chest.

  I listened as we drove down the gravel road. Rugter turned on the radio station.

  The news was playing. A man was talking about all the burglary going on in the lower parts of towns and what The Unit was going to do to fix it. He talked about me a little bit. I was still missing, but no longer considered a hostage. I was freelanced. They didn't consider me on the rebel side, nor The Unit side. I was to be shot at first sight. I was a danger to the community. My ears perked at the next part of the news.

  "A terrorist of one is a suspect for the bombing at the military unit. All helicopters and military vehicles had times bombs set on them. They each exploded at the same time. The same man is suspected of a twelve different murders. They were military personnel and citizens. If anybody has any information, please let a soldier in The Unit know immediately. We are here to help you and keep you safe, but we can't do it without you."