“When does the first bus run?” I asked, rubbing my face in a futile attempt to keep myself awake.
“I don’t know…maybe about six or so…” Clark sat down next to me and took a deep breath. “We have another problem,” he said quietly, dropping his voice. “We’re going into the Commission tomorrow, or today, whatever,” he said, obviously exhausted himself. “Dana is going to be furious, and if we’re acting this tired, he will be suspicious.”
I nodded, understanding but not sure what he wanted to do about it. Even if I slept a little, it would not be enough to fight off the exhaustion of my body.
“A few of the other Commish Kids are heading home now,” he whispered. “They’re going to walk.”
“What about the curfew?”
“They live not too far. They’re going to stick to residential neighborhoods and back allies,” Clark nodded. “In about forty minutes, another group will leave as well,” he added. “You and I live further away, though. We could wait for the bus…”
“How do you think Mark is doing?”
“I couldn’t guess,” he whispered, troubled. “But we shouldn’t expect him. If he can’t get away, he won’t.”
“I know,” I breathed. “I guess I’m just worried about him being found out.”
“I am, too.”
“Why don’t we just get the first bus and head home then?” I decided, smothering a yawn in my hand. “If Mark isn’t back by then, then Dana can’t expect us to come to the Commission.”
“That’s a good point,” Clark agreed. “But if he does show up, we’re going to need to load up on coffee.”
“Do you really think Dana will bother us?”
“There’s no telling what he’ll do,” Clark sighed. “Maybe we should catch a little bit of sleep here…”
“Is everyone doing okay out there?”
“Yeah,” Clark nodded, smiling and glancing behind him into the main bunker. “A bunch of people are catching up with their families and friends. Several of the experiments are meeting the humans, but they’re not talking about testing or anything like that. They’re just getting to know each other. Tori and Griffin are finishing taking out tracers and then they’re going to assign guard duties and beds.”
“Seems like they’ve got this handled…” I chuckled, thrilled since I was too tired to play any authoritative role.
“Seems like it,” Clark agreed. “But they have to be. We can’t be here all day every day.”
“True.” I stifled another yawn and stretched.
I must have fallen asleep shortly after my conversation with Clark finished because it was five in the morning when I jumped, sitting upright at the sound of my name. I looked around frantically and saw Griffin standing near the door of the strategy room. The fort was much quieter, but I could still hear conversations in the main bunker.
“Sorry,” he smiled apologetically, walking over, holding a big bottle of pills. “You will need to catch your bus soon, so I thought I would wake you up.” He handed me the bottle, which I took, trying to blink the sleep from my eyes. Clark was also waking up, rubbing his eyes awkwardly around his glasses.
“What’s this?” I asked, my voice thick and rough with sleep.
“It’s something we used to take when we weren’t allowed to sleep in the military,” Griffin smiled. “It will keep you awake and alert, though you kind of feel like you’re high if you take them too often.”
“Thanks. How is everyone?”
“Good, too excited to sleep, it seems,” Griffin chuckled, glancing toward the main bunker. “Everyone’s quieted down, but they’re having fun talking and just being free of the Commission.”
“That’s good,” I nodded. I looked around, tapping the big bottle of pills. “I take it Mark isn’t back yet?”
“No, not yet,” Griffin whispered, his eyes betraying his worry.
I nodded, starting to feel worry churn in my gut, getting concerned that Mark and the Eight Group had gotten into trouble with Dana somehow.
“I’ll bring you some water and something to eat with those,” Griffin nodded to the pills as Clark took the bottle from under my hand and looked at the label, squinting to read it.
“I think this stuff could potentially be very dangerous to our health…”
“Not as dangerous as if Dana finds out we were behind yesterday…” I groaned, lowering my head back to my arms, feeling the pressure of my brain against my skull.
Eating the strange crackers and taking two of those pills woke me up enough to return to the main bunker. A lot of people turned to me and smiled before going back to their conversations. A few were drinking from the canteens we had filled with water that was piped into the fort, others were nibbling on food rations. Two or three experiments were sleeping and a few humans as well, but with everyone in the simple clothes we had found around the Mackay Power Plant and Fort Daniels, it was difficult to tell the experiments from the humans.
Everyone had a bandage on their right foot from where the tracers had been removed. I briefly wondered how we planned to dispose of the tracers, even though I knew the signals were jammed in the fort.
“How are you feeling?” a young man asked. I turned to him, surprised. He was quite young with dark brown hair and eyes. I recognized him as the Ward Nine experiment I had released.
“Oh, just a little tired,” I lied.
“I can imagine,” he chuckled, standing and brushing his hands off on the jumpsuit. “That was quite a feat you accomplished.”
“Thanks.”
“Cody,” he introduced, extending his hand, which I took with a small smile.
“Lily.”
“I figured you were Lily Sandover.”
“People talking about me?”
“Sort of,” Cody chuckled, sticking his hands into his pockets. “Nothing bad, don’t worry.” He turned to the young man and woman who he had been in a conversation with. “These are my siblings, my younger brother Zane, and my older sister Candice.”
“It’s nice to meet you.”
“The last time we saw each other was over a year ago,” Cody told me. “We really appreciate what you’ve done for us, and for everyone else here. It was an immense risk on your part.”
“I’m just happy that you are together again,” I grinned sincerely. I could tell that the pills were starting to kick in because I felt more alert. I looked between the siblings, trying to remember the reason that they had been brought into the Commission, but it had been so long that I could not remember them from my earlier research.
Just as I was about to ask, there was a clanking sound that surprised everyone. The bunker silenced immediately and everyone turned to the source of the sound, on alert. Griffin stood, as did Tori, watching cautiously as the large door to one of the passages slowly slid open.
At first, there was a feeling of relief, and then there was a great excitement around the bunker.
“Mark!” a lot of experiments cried, jumping up and running toward the man as he walked into the fort, a nervous smile on his face. I saw a bruise on his left jaw and two cuts that sliced across his temple. His suit was bloodied, the jacket torn and the tie nowhere to be seen. I was worried that he was actually harmed, but I did not know what blood was real and what had already been on the change of clothes. The very real marks on his face made me think he was truly injured.
But before I could study further, all the experiments ran forward to hug and pat him, thanking him over and over again, also turning to Josh, Rin, and two men of the Eight Group that I did not know.
Mark smiled, overwhelmed by the intense gratitude that surrounded him. Several of the humans also ran forward to thank him, having heard from the experiments that he was the brains behind the plan.
As the experiments backed away from the nervous and overwhelmed Mark, Griffin laughed and stepped forward.
“Come here, you crazy little ninja!” Griffin boomed, wrapping his arms around the smaller man and picking him up, squeez
ing him tightly as Mark laughed silently, cringing in the hug that looked painful. Griffin set him down and chuckled. “What the hell happened to you?” he laughed. “I thought Goliath was supposed to only pretend to fight you,” he teased. There was an underlying question in the jest.
“We had to make it look realistic,” Rin laughed. As I looked over the five members of the Eight Group present, I noticed they all appeared injured and disheveled.
“What about Dana?” Tori asked, pulling away from her tight hug with Mark.
“He’s furious,” one of the others chuckled.
“But he doesn’t suspect you?” Griffin asked hopefully.
Mark shook his head with a grin and everyone let out a long breath of relief. I turned to Clark and both of us shared the same look of happiness, thrilled that the man who had been our strongest ally was free from suspicion.
A meek voice sounded near the front of the circle around Mark and everyone turned to one small woman as she pushed through the people and launched herself at Mark, throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her face into his shoulder.
Mark’s arms went around her as his eyes went wide, stunned at first before he let out a shaky breath and wrapped his arms tighter around her, his fingers tangling in her hair and pulling her closer, his head dropping to her shoulder.
Josh and the other two men smiled at the display. I felt my heart soar. Many in the circle turned and walked away with a smile, feeling as though they were intruding on a very private moment. I could not stop the happy tears that came to my eyes at the reunion between Mark and his younger sister.
After a long embrace where Mark’s younger sister began crying, Mark broke their hug and sniffed, brushing the tears that had gathered in his eyes, pretending that he had not done so at all. His little sister laughed, her hands still on his shoulders as she also sniffed, her tears running freely down her cheeks.
Mark tenderly pushed the tears away from his sister’s face and nodded, his eyes telling her that everything was alright. He hugged her once more.
When they broke apart again, Josh walked forward and she gasped, launching forward to hug him tightly as well. The other two men walked up, obviously having been friends with Mark and his sister before the Commission.
Mark turned to look at the dispelling circle and his eyes rested on me. I smiled, thrilled to see him so happy. He walked toward me and my smile widened until it was almost painful.
“Hey,” I breathed. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
Mark smiled and nodded, swallowing hard, his eyes dropping to his feet briefly. He took a deep breath and, as he let it out, he stepped forward and hugged me tightly.
At first, I just stood there, shocked, but when his arms tightened, I wrapped my arms around his back and returned the hug. Once again feeling the tears rise to my eyes, I closed my eyes and pressed my face to his coat, hugging him tightly. I could feel his gratitude at what we had done for him and all the prisoners we had freed from the Commission of the People. I could feel his relief and his elation through the hug.
I wanted him to understand how grateful I was, so I held him even tighter, smiling against the fabric of his coat despite my tears.
It was so quiet I almost couldn’t hear it, but there was a rush of air past my ear, choked and forced past pain I could not quite imagine, but that made the message much more powerful, even though it was just below a whisper.
“Thank you…”
Chapter Forty-Six
I was not sure what was in the pills Griffin gave us, but I felt that I could handle absolutely anything I encountered that day. I was completely alert as Mark drove me home, worrying that Mykail was pacing a hole in the floor, thinking we had failed and we were captured by Dana.
So when we pulled into my driveway, my seatbelt was already off and I had opened the door before Mark fully stopped the car.
I ran up the stairs and to the front door, not bothering to close the car door behind me as I fumbled with my keys. Hurriedly unlocking the door, I left my key in the lock and ran into the house, straight into Mykail’s waiting arms.
He let out a laugh and his arms wrapped around my waist, lifting me off my feet and spinning me.
“Congratulations!” he breathed, setting me down, though we still held on to one another.
“How did you know we succeeded?” I gaped, surprised to see him waiting but not anxious.
“Because if you had been caught, Dana would have been here to take me back,” Mykail explained. “By about three a.m. I realized you had done it.”
Smiling like a moron, I lunged forward and kissed him, our lips locking together desperately, revealing how thrilled we were. I never wanted to stop kissing him.
But he finally pulled away, even as I tried to keep his lower lip in my teeth. He chuckled as he reclaimed his lip and then smiled awkwardly, glancing over my head, which caused me to turn to the still-open door and confront the startled faces of Mark and Clark.
My face burned hot with embarrassment and I quickly backed away from Mykail.
“Uh…sorry…”
“You…you’re…you two…” Clark tried to say.
I had never really meant to keep it a secret that I was in a relationship with Mykail. I had been more embarrassed about the sexual aspect and being as worried as I was with Dana finding out, I had kept our relationship quiet, even from Mark and Clark.
“Sorry…” I whispered. “I didn’t mean to keep it a secret…”
“How long?”
“A while…”
“I hope you are being careful so Dana doesn’t find out,” Clark said seriously.
“Of course,” I nodded, choosing not to be offended, knowing he was only worried.
“Okay…”
Clark was nervous. I could hear the tension in his voice, and I knew he was worried that we were going to endanger ourselves and the revolution. I had realized that, in terms of the rebellion, Mykail was my weakness. My love and caring for his well-being would make him an easy way to get me to break. In the same way Dana kept Mark’s sister to keep him loyal, I was sure that if Dana were to harm Mykail I could not remain strong.
My feelings for Mykail were dangerous in many ways to all of us.
Mark finally looked away, extremely uncomfortable and raised a hand to rub his face distractedly. He nodded to me, and while I was unable to see his eyes, I knew that he was embarrassed about what he had witnessed between us.
“I guess…we’ll come pick you up?” Clark said, looking at Mark, who nodded once and turned away, walking to the car. Clark watched him leave and I could not stop the smile that tugged at my mouth. Mark was not at all worried about storming into the Commission of the People and breaking out experiments from under Dana’s nose, but seeing Mykail and I kiss made him so uncomfortable he had to leave. Mark was surprisingly innocent.
“We’ll see you in about three hours,” Clark told me, glancing at his watch.
“Okay. Do you have those pills?”
“Yes,” Clark assured. “We better get going though, before someone tracks the GPS.”
“Okay,” I repeated. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”
I closed the door behind Clark as he ran through the cold December air to the car. I turned back to Mykail after I locked the door and he smiled, looking radiant.
“We did it…” I whispered.
I ran back into his open arms, kissing him as though my life depended on it. My head was light by the time we finally broke away from one another, so I knew we had been kissing for several minutes in the foyer. Mykail took my hand and led me through the kitchen.
“I have a fire going and hot chocolate,” he grinned.
“Hot chocolate? Not coffee?”
“Hot chocolate is more romantic,” he grinned, walking to the warming drawer and pulling out two mugs as I smiled at his thoughtfulness. Handing me a delightfully warm mug, he led me to the smaller living room where the fire was roaring in the corner fireplace. It was not unti
l that moment that I realized I was still cold. I had not taken off my jacket even after entering the house and my clothes were still a little damp, making me colder.
“I’m going to change.”
“Okay, but hurry,” Mykail grinned. “Your hot chocolate will get cold.”
I scurried upstairs and slipped out of my cold, damp clothes before pulling out something warmer. As I was reaching for my favorite baggy sweatpants, my hair, which had the appearance of straw from drying in the fort, covered my face, reminding me of how filthy I was.
I ran into the bathroom, jumped in the shower and washed myself in record time before pulling on my sweatpants and a shirt and rejoining Mykail in the living room. He laughed.
“Drink your hot chocolate,” he smiled. “I was about to put it back in the warming drawer when I heard the shower running.”
“I was really gross…” I chuckled, plopping down heavily on the couch with my warm mug as Mykail wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
“So, everything worked out,” he grinned.
I nodded, a huge smile splitting across my face. He kissed me on the cheek.
“Tell me about it.”
“There’s not a whole lot to tell,” I shrugged. “Really Mark and Griffin did most of the work, along with the other members of the Eight Group—”
“Wait, Griffin? Not Ward Nine Griffin,” Mykail said, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. I blinked at him skeptically.
“Yes…”
“How did he get involved?”
“He’s a friend of Mark’s. The two seem pretty close,” I told him, wondering if I had really never mentioned Griffin’s name before.
“Wow…” Mykail said, his eyes turning distantly to the fire as he raised the mug to his lips and sipped the hot chocolate. I watched him, waiting for him to elaborate on why he was so surprised. When he saw I was still staring, he chuckled brokenly. “I’m just surprised. Mark has a lot of friends…”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“No, not at all,” Mykail shook his head. “It’s just amazing. Most of the experiments I knew were terrified of the Eight Group. And here is Mark with all of these allies…”
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