“Mark,” Tori repeated with a gentle smile. “Please, go find a bed in the bunk room and sleep.”
Mark shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes tight, fighting his exhaustion.
“Seriously, Mark, when was the last time you slept?” Cody asked, concerned. Mark did not make any move to answer. He remained in his position for a few moments before Eun put her hands on his arm, speaking quietly. We watched his younger sister plead with him to get some sleep.
After a few moments, Mark heaved himself to his feet and walked across the bunker, waving and smiling at everyone who called a greeting to him on the way.
“He’s completely drained…” Griffin breathed.
“No kidding,” Tori sighed. “I guess that’s a good sign, though.”
“Why?”
“Because it means that Dana still trusts him enough to charge him with doing tasks,” she explained, turning briefly to look at the closed bunk room door. “You know…he probably came here because it is the only place where he can let his guard down and sleep for a little bit, now.”
“Let’s give him a couple hours,” Mykail agreed with a nod. “Tell everyone to leave him alone. We can wake him up later.”
“He will set alarm,” Josh shook his head.
“Why?”
“He has to pick my mother up,” Clark whispered, looking guilty. “With the raids on the building, Dana has told him to keep watch on her at all times and keep her safe.”
“How long do you think he can keep this up?” I murmured.
“As long as he has to,” Tori answered.
* *** *
Even though I had been angry at my family for everything that had happened the previous week, there was a sadness that pervaded my thoughts on my birthday from not being with them. I was annoyed with my lingering attachment. Even after everything, I still wanted to be with them and wanted everything to be alright as it had been before Central.
Starting that day, I decided that I would no longer let my emotions get in the way. I had more important things to worry about. Pining for the past was going to get me nowhere.
It was nice to wake up to Mykail kissing my cheek.
“Happy birthday,” he whispered when I opened my eyes. I smiled, stretching.
“Thank you,” I hissed, pecking a quick kiss on his lips.
As soon as I got out of the bunk room, I was greeted with cheers and people crowding to hug me. Even though I knew that Tori had wanted to do something to celebrate my birthday, I was still surprised. It felt like everyone in the fort was there to wish me happy birthday at the same time. A few of the teenagers we had saved gave me hugs, thanking me for everything I had done and telling me that if I wanted anything to let them know. Even some of the Commish Kids who had run away from home were wishing me well.
The entire bunker sang happy birthday, which nearly made me cry, though I tried to keep my happy tears at bay. Eun wrapped her arms around the arm not holding Mykail’s hand, hugging me through the entire song.
After what felt like an eternity of well-wishes, Mykail and I finally got to the other side of the bunker and he led me down the hall of mechanical rooms. I followed him silently, not sure where we were going, but not too concerned. There was a fluttering in my stomach as I realized that this was going to be our alone time, and I was highly anticipating it.
He opened one of the doors and pulled me into the boiler room. It was warmer than anywhere else in the fort, and I felt more comfortable and relaxed almost immediately.
Mykail walked behind me and pulled my jacket off my shoulders. I could feel him smiling as I looked around the room with wide eyes.
“What is this?” I gasped.
“It’s not much…” he murmured, folding my jacket over one of the boxes near the door. I looked at the two mattresses covered with sheets and given pillows, surrounded by candles.
“Candles?” I blinked, turning to him with a grin.
“Well, I was going to find roses as well and make this as stereotypically romantic as possible.” He took my hand and pulled me close, wrapping his arms around me as I settled against his shoulder, closing my eyes and feeling the warmth coming from his skin.
“You’ve outdone yourself.”
“I wanted to do something special for you…” he breathed, holding me gently, yet securely. “Admittedly, I feel a little responsible for everything.”
“Why?”
“Well…I kinda helped you get into this whole thing…” he started. “I was the one who kept telling you that it was a good idea to go after Dana and find a way to take the Commission down, but now you’re kicked out of your home, you’re a wanted criminal—”
“And I’ve never felt better in my whole life,” I cut him off, my eyes locking with his. “I have been going to school and listening to what everyone told me to do my whole life. I saw nothing I wanted in my future. And then you came along…and showed me that I could help to change the things I didn’t like. I have you to thank for that…”
He took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
“You really are happy with this?”
“I have a purpose now,” I said with a nod. “I never had one before.”
He pressed his lips to mine.
When we had gone to the boiler room, I thought we would be hungrily pawing at each other, too frantic and desperate to take things slow. However, Mykail took control of the situation and set the pace.
He draped over me just as he had before, his wings supporting his weight so he could use both hands to touch me, lighting my body on fire and creating a dull, but exquisite, ache. We moved and danced with one another as though we had never been apart intimately. I started getting impatient with the slow pace, though I tried to force myself to endure it.
When we were connected as one, there was a small twinge of pain as my body tried to readjust to the intrusion it had forgotten. The pain heightened my pleasure and sent a delicious shockwave through my body. I tried to move against him to bring him deeper, wanting to speed up, but he kept a painfully slow rhythm.
In a way, it was nice to have the slow build that led to my entire body bowing in pleasure, but I longed for us to move faster, more desperately. The slow pace made me nervous.
Therefore, after we had rested, I initiated our second union. It was faster, more intense and it made me more comfortable than the slow lovemaking we had enjoyed earlier. There was no need for the sensual removal of clothes, both of us comfortably nude in the heat of the boiler room. There was no slow build into passion. I partially leapt on him, pushing him into a sitting position and climbing on his lap.
He held me and allowed me to take control, not opposed to picking up the pace either, though he was tired from restraining himself through our first romp.
I came down from the high, holding onto him and shivering as the last ebbing waves of my orgasm left my body. He kissed my collarbone, gasping for breath.
“I’ve missed you,” he whispered.
I leaned my head on his, kissing his temple, trying to slow my breathing.
“I’ve missed you, too,” I breathed, swallowing hard. He smiled gently and his hands tightened around me. The action spoke in volumes and I felt an intense love pour out of me from every pore. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and laid my head against his neck, seeing the still-visible sores on his wings. I looked at the spots of dark red, feeling the love in me cause pain at the danger I had put on his health.
Not only was Mykail someone I cared deeply about, he was also the symbol of our revolution, the element of unity that expressed our movements against the Commission, and that meant that he was the biggest target. I remembered with a sick feeling the Rhodes Annual Parade when the shots had been fired at him and how terrified I was that he was going to be shot out of the air.
Knowing that our revolution had turned into war made me feel as though I was the one putting him in danger. He worried he had put me in danger with helping me un
derstand that taking down Dana would be best for the whole country. However, I felt more responsible for his life since I had put it in danger not only from the revolution, but also from himself—his body fighting the appendages that Dana had attached.
All I could do was hold him until we both were asleep on the makeshift bed, kept warm by the boiler as it heaved and roared behind us.
I was awakened by hands on me, running over my chest and torso, familiar lips against mine. Still hazy from sleep and the heat of the room, Mykail and I worked each other into bliss once again.
I had no concept of time, or even where we were. We were simply enjoying one another to the fullest extent.
We eventually redressed, cleaned up the area—though we did not remove anything from the room—and went back to the bunker.
It was another incredible shock when I saw what was going on. Everyone immediately stood and cheered for me, including a lot of very familiar faces that had not been present earlier. Josh ran forward and hugged me, spinning me around as I laughed.
Again, everyone sang happy birthday, but this time, Josh grabbed me and began pulling me into a ridiculous dance that had me grinning ear to ear as I laughed, spinning in a circle with him.
“And, we have a surprise for everyone!” Tori called when the song and applause died down. “There was a reason that we sent everyone to different rooms for different tasks. The Eight Group wants to show their appreciation for Lily on her birthday and for Clark as well, even though his birthday was a few months ago.” Minsoo, Rin, and Ichiro ran to the door for the strategy room as we all turned. “So, they have set something up for all of us to enjoy.”
The three experiments slid the large door out of the way and my eyes went wide when I saw what was on the tables. There was food—food that was not rations—that had obviously come from caterers with the way it was perfectly set up. People cheered and shouted in loud celebration.
I turned to Josh in shock, who was grinning devilishly.
“How the hell did you manage…”
“Don’t worry about it.” He waved the question away. “This is your present from us. Oh, and this,” Josh remembered, reaching into his pocket as Tori yelled at everyone to get a plate. Josh pulled out something wrapped in newspaper. I blinked at the parcel, surprised that he had a gift. Hesitantly, I unfolded the paper, discovering a small, gold-colored object with a hole in the middle, two brown strings tied to it to make a bracelet.
I smiled and picked it up, looking at the engravings on the thin gold surface.
“It’s been my good luck charm,” Josh explained. “It was my mother’s. I was able to get it back a few years ago.” He looked down at it. “It’s a coin from our country.”
My eyes were starting to brim with tears.
“This is very generous…” I smiled, trying to keep my tears back. “But you should keep it.”
“No, I want you to have it,” Josh grinned. “Without you, this would not be happening. I want to thank you for that.”
“Thank you, Josh,” I whispered, hugging him tightly, still trying to keep my tears at bay. We hugged for a short time before Rin grabbed Josh, pulling him away and telling me she would bring him right back.
I watched them disappear into the strategy room and then laughed, looking at the bracelet.
There was a tap on my shoulder and I turned, seeing Mark. My smile widened as he took the empty newspaper and folded it, putting it in his pocket. He took the bracelet, tying it around my wrist and nodding to me with a gentle smile.
“Thank you, Mark,” I murmured. He nodded once. I looked at the excited frenzy as people enjoyed the food.
“How did you pull this off?” I asked, looking at him suspiciously. He just smiled and put his finger to his lips, telling me it was a secret. Looking down at the bracelet on my wrist again, I took a deep breath.
“Did you bring me anything?” I said with a teasing smile. He smiled and looked at the ground for a brief moment before walking forward, wrapping his arms around me in a secure hug and holding me close.
I wrapped my arms around him as well.
“Is this my present?” I whispered. I felt him nod and my smile widened. I felt very safe as Mark hugged me, protected from the negative feelings that pervaded my thoughts, shielded from the blood of the growing revolution. It was one of the best gifts I had ever received.
Mark did not break the hug. I did when I was ready to let him go.
“You give great hugs,” I told him with a grin. He laughed silently, looking at the ground, embarrassed. “You should give them more often.”
He gave me a second hug.
Chapter Sixty
“We’re finally all here,” I said, looking at the people sitting at the table in the strategy room. For the first time in what felt like years, everyone in the main strategy group was in the fort at the same time to plan.
“We have a lot of things we need to figure out,” Clark sighed.
“I think the first thing we need to approach is whether or not we’re going to do anything about the people in the camp that publicly supported us,” Tori started.
“I think it would be foolish to not do anything,” Griffin said. “We’ve already been out of public light too long. People are getting nervous about our disappearance.”
“I agree,” Josh nodded.
“Then, what do we want to do?” I pressed.
“I’ve been thinking we need to get our supporters out of the camp, but do it quietly, at night, and let people find out about it after we are safe. Like what we did before,” Clark suggested.
“To plan a silent raid like that again, we would need a lot of information on the camp,” Griffin sighed, shaking his head. “Right now, we don’t even know where CEO Parker and the others are, or whether they’re even in the same place.”
Mark reached into his inner coat pocket and pulled out several folded pieces of paper, sliding them across the table. All of us watched the papers move, confused and curious. Griffin slowly unfolded them, glancing up at Mark briefly before looking over the information on the first page.
“What is it?” Tori asked.
“Holy shit…” he hissed. He looked at Mark, his hand falling heavily to the table as he shook his head in disbelief. “No wonder you’ve been so busy!”
“What is it?” I repeated Tori’s question.
“The Carolina Media employees are in three different locations right now, but Dana plans to bring them into the Commission for interrogation. For that, he plans to move them to one location for one night before taking them in.” Griffin lifted the papers. “This is the camp name, location, and the schedule for the transfers.”
Everyone turned to Mark with wide eyes. He looked around, confused why we were staring.
“Damn,” Clark chuckled brokenly.
“But there might be some actual criminals in the camp,” Mykail interjected. “We don’t want to break any of them out. How are we going to know who to get?”
Mark tapped the table to get everyone’s attention and then pointed at the papers again. Griffin flipped through the sheets, stopping on the third page. He stared at the information for a moment before looking up with an affectionate, but surprised, smile.
“You are the most badass person I have ever met,” he told Mark with a chuckle.
“He has the cell numbers?” I grinned.
Griffin nodded, looking back at papers.
“He has everything we…” He blinked as he turned to the fourth page, trailing off.
“What?” Clark questioned.
“This is one of the higher security camps,” Griffin whispered. “I never worked detail on one, but one of my friends did. He would always tease me that I got full meals while he had rations…” Griffin turned the paper around and showed us a map of the camp compound, pointing at one structure. “The supply house…if we could lift some rations we could ease the strain on our own supplies.”
“Food is not the only thing we need to worry abo
ut,” Mykail added. “Bullets will become hard to come by later on.”
“That’s true,” Griffin agreed.
“We did inventory on all the weapons, and we have enough weapons to outfit everyone,” Tori noted. “However, bullets will go quickly if we are called upon to fight. We’re going to need to be sure we have enough to last us through this war.”
“There’s no way to predict that,” Clark shook his head. “We haven’t fought once, yet.”
“The people can’t easily access guns and weapons,” I whispered. “Against the military, they are practically defenseless, and they can’t offer us any support in that respect.”
“Mark, you bought your gun off the black market?” Griffin asked. Josh spoke up for the silent experiment.
“We’ve bought several guns and several cases of bullets.”
“You have?” Tori blinked. “Where are they?”
“I don’t know,” Josh admitted, making a face as he looked at Mark suspiciously. “He never told me.”
Mark smiled and put his finger to his lips, motioning a few things very quickly.
“…okay,” Griffin said slowly. “I guess that’s a good idea.”
“What?” I asked.
“He wants to keep them secret until we absolutely need them,” Tori translated. “It makes sense. If we count what he has as accessible, we’re more likely to be careless about the bullets we already have.”
“How much time do we have?” Clark asked, nodding to the papers. “If Dana is only keeping them there for one night, then that is the only night we have to strike.”
“We have four days,” Griffin answered.
“But…” Mykail looked at Josh and Mark, “isn’t it dangerous to attack on that night? It will expose the fact that we have inside information on what Dana is doing, and could expose you as well.”
The table fell silent, all eyes on Mark. The leader of the Eight Group looked down, his eyes pensive. We waited. He finally sighed and reached into his outside coat pocket, pulling out the small notebook and pen he used for short messages when he was around us. He scribbled something and turned it for us to read.
Inside Page 113