But Bella will never be Lauren, and that’s what scares me. Darlia may tell herself she’s cruel and heartless and doesn’t care about the other girls in The Academy, but it was clear as day she loved Lauren.
I still haven’t had the chance to tell her how she’s coping with that, not that we have the time to now either, but I will eventually.
“Cars. Now.”
Luke and Caleb move off to their Jeep they’re taking while I get into the driver’s side of the Mercedes. I start the engine just as Bella opens the front passenger side door, sitting down beside me and adjusting her tactical belt, while Marcus and Weston move to sit in the back, placing their guns in their laps and adjusting their bulletproof vests.
All of us are taking up far too much space with our weapons. I would’ve taken the SUV, but I don’t want Darlia in anything from The Academy, not after everything they’ve put her through. And besides, the Mercedes is faster.
“Marcus, ETA?”
“Fifteen minutes. It’s just on the other side of the hill.”
I press on the gas, determined to be there in half the time it takes to get to her, almost losing control of the traction for a moment as the tyres fight against the gravel driveway. The second we reach the tar seal, I put my foot down on the gas almost completely, trying to make up for lost time.
The towns of before can only be accessed through the elites’ side of the hill. There are no check points, considering the new order doesn’t give a fuck what we do. The elites’ pay too much for them not to care, or at least the others do.
Every turn around the hill makes us lean, the car going far too fast for the turns to be considered safe. It’s a miracle we don’t drift and lose control completely.
“Do you…do you think she’s okay?” Bella asks, a fear I’ve never heard from her before in her voice. I know they’re friends, but there’s no point getting emotional until we know something certain. Thinking like that now will just fuck with the plan, and I can’t have Bella getting herself killed just because she’s thinking with her emotions and not her brain.
“Darlia will be fine, she’s Darlia.” I try my best to sound convincing, but goddamn it, now she has me thinking the worst.
We know Darlia has been through hell. Despite not having her location, The Academy has been thoroughly updating her file, taunting me.
It’s almost like they’re saying Here, see all the horrors and abuse your girlfriend is going through, but her location? Shit man, we lost it, sorry!
Girlfriend? Wait, is Darlia my girlfriend? Nope, so not the time for that thought.
Despite the fact we’re racing to go and break her out of a torture prison, the thought of Darlia being my girlfriend makes my lips curve into a smile.
Get a fucking grip, Cayden.
As soon as we round the hill, the old hospital comes into view, the outside of the building is falling apart. The walls are covered in overgrown vines and dirt. The paint is falling off in cracked chunks. Broken glass lines almost all of the windowsills on the bottom floor, the windows clearly being smashed in.
Most likely from before the new order took over, when everyone was killing each other for scraps of food or medicine. To their credit, they did stop those killings; they just caused so many more. And while the people are no longer hungry, they’re now starved of hope.
Life from before simply doesn’t exist anymore.
The lights are clearly visible from outside the old hospital, a blinding white from the middle floors. Fuck. All this time, I could’ve run to Darlia if I needed to. But no, we couldn’t fucking find her. I’m going to have a lengthy conversation about why our drones didn’t check this area when the first place we checked was all the towns from before.
The second the car stops, I don’t even bother turning it off. Bella and I run out instantly, raising our guns as we enter the hospital, trying to remain as quiet as possible. Entering through a broken window and avoiding the broken glass, we move in sync towards the staircase.
Bella stands beside me with a pistol in one hand and then the M8 Military knife in the other. The boys enter behind her, both with their semi-automatic rifles raised and wearing the bulletproof vests, something Bella and I didn’t stop to put on.
Avoiding the broken glass and debris on the floor, I click on my torch as we make our way through the abandoned reception area. The reception desk has been left empty, patient charts just laying out in the open while the chairs have been ripped open and the springs removed.
This would have been cleared out years ago by the people left in the cities of before. It’s been fifteen years since the new order took to the streets and killed over half the population, but in the weeks leading up to it, the cities had become feral. Everyone was killing each other for food, water. Kids lay dead in the streets from starvation.
I can never unsee what I saw walking down the street that day. I was only a kid myself, and I had to watch my friends die of starvation, or the murder of a junkie who was forced to go cold turkey.
But now, anyone left not moved into the Zones would see the broken windows, the empty beds, the empty cupboards, and move on. It’s the perfect cover for The Academy to bring Darlia, maybe more.
The thought sends a shiver down my spine. The realisation that Darlia probably isn’t the only girl here, being tortured and abused, all for having humanity.
I point up the staircase and Bella nods, following closely behind me as we make our way over to the staircase. Clicking off my torch, I allow the moonlight to lead the way as we start to climb up the staircase.
We keep our steps careful, making sure not to make any more noise than necessary by stepping on glass or something else that would alert anyone we’re here.
