Sitting on the ground next to him, I put my hand on his arm for comfort. I had expected him to pull away like my skin was acid, but instead, he seemed to almost lean into my touch.
Maybe eventually, things would be okay. For now, all aspects of my life was a disaster but somewhere deep down inside I still held hope. That's what kept me going every day. That little light of hope.
Chapter Twenty Five
The sun had gone down. That's when most of the crazies came out. They were ransacking the broken city. Their laughter was malicious. Random ear shattering screams filled the air.
The rebels had to stop shooting. The noise from the guns attracted them here. It had to be hand in hand combat. I stayed at Adam's post. I watched him carefully every time he left our hidden spot. If one got close to hurting him, I would shoot. I couldn't imagine being trapped in this world if he was no longer here.
I heard a rattle behind me. Pulling my eyes away from Adam, I turned around and aimed my gun at the noise. It was dark in here. The moonlight barely lit the dark store up.
Squinting my eyes, I searched for any sign of movement. Was a diseased in here? Was a soldier in here? The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I knew I was not alone. I could feel it.
The screaming from the diseased sounded far away. Almost like a distant memory. I should have checked to see if there was a back entrance to the store.
I jumped when a glass bottle rolled across the floor to me. I was now a hundred percent sure someone was in there with me. They had the advantage. They could see me from the moonlight and I couldn't see them.
I had two options. Stay and fight or try and get out of here without being detected by the diseased. Earlier I had seen four of them tear apart a rebel. I had a new sense of fear for them.
Fight or flight.
I chose fight. Bending down with my gun aimed, I picked up Adams flashlight. Hoping the diseased outside wouldn't see the light, I flashed it through the store. The store was littered with garbage, torn up clothes, and dead rats. I crinkled my nose. That's where that scent was coming from.
Quick movement shot across the store. I attempted to keep up with my flashlight. If I shot whatever it was, all the diseased outside would hoard around me.
"What are you doing?"
I jumped when I heard Adam's voice, but I kept moving my flashlight around vigorously.
"Brianna stop. You're going to give away our location." Adam whispered furiously, snatching my only source of light away.
I scooted closer to him. "Something is in here."
Adam kept the flashlight off, but I could feel his eyes gazing through the dark. "Are you sure?" He asked.
I nodded forgetting he couldn't see. "I saw the shadow and it kicked a glass bottle towards me." I breathed out.
My skin began to crawl. How long did it sit there and watch me? Hours? Minutes? Seconds?
"It's too dark in here. The only option we have is to evacuate this building and find a new one."
I shook my head no and grabbed onto his arm. "What if it already has diseased people in there?" The image of the rebel getting his flesh torn off jumped to the front of my mind. My knees started shaking with fear and my teeth began to chatter.
Adam turned me to face him. The moonlight glinted off of his green eyes. "I will never let anyone or anything harm you." His eyes were earnest.
Had he forgiven me? Was his silent treatment over now? Deep down I knew I did not deserve his forgiveness. If the roles were flipped, I would not have forgiven him. I pressed my lips together and nodded. He was the soldier, not me. I had no choice but to listen to him.
Adam took my hand and led me outside. We stayed close to the walls. He navigated easily without any light. It was like he knew the streets from the back of his hand. He led me down an alleyway. I stumbled into him when he stopped walking.
He was looking up. Following his gaze, I saw a ladder leading to the roof top.
Adam got behind me. "Jump," he ordered.
Without a second thought, I jumped reaching for the bottom of the ladder. He lifted me by my hips helping me up. When I got a good hold, I lifted myself up and began to climb. The metal bars felt like ice against my hands. The wind got stronger the higher I climbed.
Once I got to the roof top, I looked all around me. I could see fires in the distance. Diseased running around in the streets. The rebellion fighting against them. I walked to the side of the roof and looked down. Coming from the building we were just in, a person walked out. The person was wearing a dark black cloak. I couldn't tell if it was a diseased or human. The person tilted their head back and turned their head towards me.
I chill slithered down my spine. I was right. We were not alone.
"Adam." I turned around and motioned for him to come.
By the time he made it to my side of the roof, the person was gone.
"You need sleep." Adam dropped his backpack and pulled out a blanket. "You’re getting delirious. Rest."
I opened my mouth to argue with him, then clamped it shut. I couldn't force him to believe me. Snatching the blanket from his hand, I wrapped it around me and curled into a ball.
My eyes snapped open. Sunlight was beating on me and I was sweating. Sitting up, I realized what had woken me.
The barrel of a gun was pointing down at my head. Chantel was the one standing behind it. I looked to my right. Adam was leaned back against the roof wall sound asleep. He had gone to sleep when he was supposed to keep watch? That didn't sound like him.
I lifted my eyebrows at Chantel and spoke loudly. "What are you doing?"
Chantel's brown curls fell around her face as she bent down to be at eye-level with me. "I gave him water and drugged him. He won't be waking up just yet."
I shot her a look. "What are you doing?" I thought she got over the whole wanting to kill me. I saved her life.
She cocked the shotgun. "Where is Seth?"
I stared at her for a few seconds confused. "What? You drugged Adam to ask me where Seth is?"
Something wasn't adding up.
Chantel pushed the gun further into my face. "He disappeared last night and I know you know where he is. I know you know who he is."
I scrunched my face in confusion. "I'm lost. Can you move the gun before you accidentally blow my brains out?" My tone was icy.
"You're really not lost. Before David left, I heard him and Seth talking to you. You knew that he was working for Stephan. You knew David was your father. You always seem to know. Don't play stupid with me. Did he switch sides again?" Chantel's voice shook with anger.
I blinked. "I knew he worked for Stephan the day we got taken by The Unit. I didn't know David was my father. I honestly don't know anything. I'm as lost as you are."
Chantel's eyes brimmed with tears. "Do you not get it?"
I gave her a look that said obviously not.
"If Seth ran back to Stephan we are going to get slaughtered out here. We can't do this without him. He is too smart. He is too good at strategizing. He knows too much. He either needs to stay with us or we have to kill him." Her voice broke on the words kill him.
I sat up a little straighter. "He went missing last night?"
Chantel nodded but didn't lower her weapon.
I squinted my eyes from the sunlight. "Last night when Adam and I got up here I saw someone in a cloak. They looked right at me. The person had been watching me." I remembered.
Chantel froze.
My heart beat picked up. She lowered her gun and fell to her knees.
"What's wrong?" My hands started shaking at my sides. Her reaction scared me more than her pointing a shotgun at me did.
"That was the assassinator." She lowered her head.
"The what?"
"The assassinator. The freelanced person who blows everything up and assassinates people. He's on neither side. He just assassinates and does stuff for money. He's only been seen a few times but every time he wears a cloak."
I caught up with her. "You think he took Seth?"
Why would he kidnap Seth? What would that do?
She gave me a broken look. "I think he assassinated Seth."
I vaguely remembered hearing about that person over the radio when I was with Jewel and Rugter.
"Why would he do that?"
Chantel gave me a confused look. "I don't know. He normally doesn't go for people high up in power." Chantel dropped her head in her hands. "What are we going to do? We don't have a leader."
I looked at Adams sleeping face. Could he lead? What would he do if he woke up just to hear of Seth's death... He had already been through this. I stood up. We had no proof that Seth was dead. As far as I was concerned, he was out there somewhere.
"What does the assassin usually do with the body?" I asked.
Chantel looked at me with fearful eyes. "He normally displays it out in the open so everyone can see what he did."
I looked around. I saw dead bodies littering the streets. "Have you seen his body?" I asked.
She shook her head no.
"Then he's not dead." My voice sounded sure, but I felt unsure. He couldn't be dead. He was too smart for that. Too calculating.
Adam stirred but didn't wake up.
"What do we do now?" Chantel's lower lip quivered.
I looked down at the broken girl before me. "We fight. We fight for our freedom. We fight for our brothers and sisters. We fight to take this country back."
I glanced at Adam's sleeping form again. He didn't have what it took to be a leader, but maybe he could do it with supportive people by his side.
Adam lifted his head up and rubbed his eyes. He tried to speak, but his voice was scratchy. When he stood to stand, he wobbled to the side. She meant it when she said she drugged him.
I helped him stand straight.
"Did you drug me?" He slurred.
I glanced at Chantel.
She stood up and pulled her shoulders back. "No, I did. I thought Brianna betrayed us and I knew you wouldn't let me do anything about it."
Adam gave her a faint smile. "You look funny."
All his weight landed on my shoulder when his knees gave out. I put my hand over his mouth, "Sleep." I ordered him much like he did to me last night. Adam leaned back against the wall and passed out.
"Who will be in charge now?" Chantel wondered out loud.
I kept my gaze on Adam.
"He can't lead us to victory. He is too soft."
I gave Chantel a look. "He can do it. He just needs the chance. He's as intelligent as Seth, just not as ruthless."
Chantel laughed without humor. "He can't do it."
Adams stirred in his sleep. "I have faith in him. I thought we wanted peace." I pointed out.
Chantel tilted her head back to the sun. "It's too quiet."
I listened to the birds chirping. She was right. It was too quiet. There were no gun shots, no screaming, and no shouting.
"Maybe we won this town." My stomach sank. I had a feeling that wasn't the case. "What did you drug him with? We need him awake."
Chantel swiped off invisible hair from her shirt. "I'm not sure. Found some pills in a rundown drug store. It said night time sleeping aid. I gave him half the bottle."
Running my hands through my hair, I sighed heavily under my breath. Walking over towards Adam, I shook him. Adam stirred and lifted his head. Looking up at me with his hazel eyes, he gave me a lopsided grin. Bags clung underneath his eyes. He looked beyond exhausted and sleep deprived. I felt guilty for waking him up, but we needed to find his brother and to see where everyone went.
Adam blinked a few times, then sat up straight. He swayed a little. Dropping his head in his hands, he mumbled something.
Kneeling down, I put my hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"
Adam bolted up and ran to the side of the roof. Leaning over, he began to barf. I looked back at Chantel. She pursed her lips together and frowned. Guilt filled her eyes, but she stood up straighter. I turned back to Adam and walked to his side. Looking down at the streets, I saw bodies littered everywhere. How had I slept through that? There was no movement, nor noise other than Adam throwing up the remains of food and drugs in his stomach.
When Adam quit barfing, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked around. "What happened?" he croaked.
We made eye contact. Something shifted in his eyes. "I am not sure." I looked at the cuticles on my nails. "Your brother is missing. Chantel thinks the assassinator took him or killed him. She drugged you." I went with the short, simple part of the story.
Adam furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Chantel. "Why would you drug me?"
Chantel popped her knuckles but met him dead in his eye. "Because I thought Seth getting taken had something to do with her, and I know you would die for Brianna." She nodded towards me.
Adam backed away from the roof and walked towards the latter. His steps were unsteady. I had to jog to keep up with him.
"Where are you going?" I exclaimed, pulling on his arm.
Adam didn't budge. "To find my brother."
I tugged harder than before, forcing him to come to a stop. "You do not even know where to start. You are not thinking right. You need to slow down. You have sleeping aid running through your system."
Adam spun around and faced me. His eyes blazed. "The assassinator has no reason to kill him, nor take him. If he is missing, he is one of those dead bodies down there."
I pressed my lips into a thin line. "What are you going to do? Flip over every dead body and look? You will give your location away and get killed."
Adam took a step forward and peered down at me. Anger shone bright in his eyes and his nostrils flared. I took one step back. "If there were a possibility that your father were down there, wouldn't you do the same?"
I opened and closed my mouth, hating that he was right. Chantel could be wrong. He may be dead. I flinched from the sharp pang in my chest and squeezed my eyes shut. Please, don't let him be dead. Opening my eyes, I took a deep breath and nodded. "I will help."
Adam put a hand on my shoulder to stop me from marching down the latter. "My ass you will help. We can't risk two people at once. Take my sniper rifle and cover my back."
I shrugged his hand off of my shoulder, ignoring the butterflies that floated through my stomach at his soft touch. Since when did he give me butterflies? "I am a lousy shot. Chantel can take cover."
The way Adam' gaze slid over me, I knew he was holding something back. Something he wouldn't dare say out loud. "You are staying up here and that is final."
I lifted both of my eyebrows. "When did you become large and in charge? I do not have to listen to you." I began my trek back to the ladder.
"Brianna, if I have to hog tie you to keep you up here, then I will." He warned slowly.
My jaw dropped. Did he really just say that to me?
Chantel grumbled under her breath. "Every minute you two waste arguing is a minute we lose."
I looked at Adam. His face was dead serious. He meant it. I backed up and put my hand up in surrender. If that was how he wanted to play, then so be it. After he disappeared down the latter and Chantel took aim, I quietly snuck down the ladder.
He could threaten me all he wanted, but it wouldn't stop me. When did he become so domineering? Walking around the side of the alley, I watched him check every single body, then sigh in relief when it wasn't his brother.
I cringed when I accidently stepped on a dead person's hand. Bile rose in my mouth and I forced myself to breathe. I attempted to not think about all the lost lives surrounding me. How is this a win? All these people that are now dead. It was a big loss. If this was what it took to win this war, we would never win. I rubbed my eyes and opened them. For the second time that day, the barrel of a shotgun was in my face.
"Don't scream. Slowly back up into the alley." I cringed internally when I recognized the voice.
I followed his directions and walked backwards. Chills slithered down my spine and my hands began to shake.
He lowered
his shotgun and gave me a cool, easy smile. His dark eyes took in my appearance. "You could have had it better with me, yet you chose the losing team. May I ask why?" Stephan walked around me in a slow circle.
If he was an animal, I was his prey.
"Why won’t you just leave me alone?" I bit out, furious at the shake in my voice.
Stephan stopped in his tracks, directly behind me. "I know you're not Evelyn. I knew the moment you woke up and looked at me. I kept telling myself I was wrong. I repeated in my head that you had just lost your memory, but my gut knew that you were not really my daughter."
Revolutionary Love (The Revolution Series Book 1) Page 25