Love Conquers All!
'Can I come?' Cloe asked hopefully.
'Oh, Cloe I'm not so sure- 'Salene started and walked towards the young girl.
'Please, I can help.' She said pleading to come.
'Alright, but you have to be careful' Salene said giving in to her.
They were gathered in the bushes outside the facility waiting for Trudy to create the distraction. 'Shh, do you hear that?' Salene whispered to the others. The faint sound of crashing could be heard from where they were sitting. 'It's now or never'. They group shared the same worried look but slowly moved towards the now unguarded building. They searched their way through each room but only found computers, hard drives and plenty of other Techno gadgets. They reached the end of the corridor and pushed open the last door.
'What are you doing in here'? The Techno guard yelled from his seat at one of the computers. The Mallrats were surrounded instantly. The guards moved them towards a bigger room, at the front of the building and surrounded them so they had no chance at escape. One of the guards pressed his fingers to his earpiece and whispered rapidly into the mouthpiece.
'Ram's on his way, he should be arriving shortly, in the meantime he said we had to keep the verts under a watchful eye' Said the same guard, the obvious leader.
It had been twenty minutes since the guard had made the call to Ram and the Mallrats were sitting inside a small room with the exit heavily guarded.
'So what now'? Salene asked worriedly.
'No idea' Pride answered slowly. They were stuck in room waiting for Ram to show and they didn't have to wait much longer.
They Mallrats were brought from the room into the main entrance again. In front of them was Java, Ram and surprisingly to Cloe, Ved.
'So you were trying to steal my experiments were you'? Ram asked smugly.
'No, we were trying to give our friends their lives back' Lex responded in his harsh tone.
Ram looked over the small group of verts. Sheriff Lex was out in front with the big guy who broke into the power station. Beside him was a girl with bright pink hair looking rather angry. Then there was a girl with purple hair, looking slightly scared and weak. There was another girl with pinkie/red hair with her arms crossed over her chest trying to look brave. But lastly was the most interesting of all the verts, a young girl with dark hair and green streaks through it staring at Ved directly in the eyes, but the look on her face wasn't anger or sadness, not hatred or fear but disappointment, in Ved.
'Well I have no idea what to do with you so I'm going to let my trusted associate decide, Ved? What do you think'? Ram asked Ved looking towards his face but noticed something strange; he was looking into the strange girls eyes. He was looking for something, forgiveness? But why? Java elbowed him in the side and he finally realised Ram had said something, to him.
'I'm sorry, what was that Ram'? He asked quickly, trying not to look into Cloe's eyes again.
'Ved Ved you really ought to learn to listen, I asked you what we should do with the prisoners' Ram said pretending like he didn't notice the look between his trusted friend and the strange vert girl.
'Um I'm not sure Ram, they didn't see anything so maybe we should just let them go' Ved said trying to act like it was a strategic move, not because he couldn't stand it if he lost Cloe.
'Of course not, get your head in the game kid. While you have time to think about their punishment, we'll lock them in one of these rooms. Guards.' Ram said with quick flick of his hand. He guards started pushing the Mallrats back into the small room. Cloe wasn't moving, she stared at Ved intently and he stared back. They were caught up in their own little world, not noticing everything else, trying to send messages through look. Her disappointment and his sadness, guilt and apologies.
'Cloe, come on.' Salene said trying to snap Cloe out of it. She gave Ved one last look of sadness and disappointment then turned her head away from him, leaving everything good about him behind.
The Mallrats all sat together in the small room discussing battle strategies and escape plans, apart from Cloe who sat by herself away from the group. They were all worried about her, even Lex, if Ram finds out that she's been seeing Ved he might try to DELETE her.
At that moment the door opened and Ram, Ved, Java and a handful of guards entered the room.
'Mallrats, Ved is yet to come to a decision as to what your punishment is so in the meantime I'd like to have a little fun.' Ram said cruelly. He looked directly towards Cloe and everyone saw. They group went to move in front of Cloe but were blocked by the guards.
'Don't worry rats, it's not that kind of fun' Ram said smiling gleefully. He slowly moved closer to Cloe.
'I don't like getting to close to a piece of Vert Dirt' Ram said coldly
'She's not a piece of dirt' Ved said moving to stand in front of Cloe. The guards moved away from the Mallrats and went to stand by Ram. 'She's the nicest person you'll ever know, completely trusting and faithful and I-I-I love her'. He said getting more courage by the second. The whole room let out collective gasps at his statement. Ram waved his hand and the guards grabbed Ved and pulled him away from Cloe but still in everyone's line of sight.
'NO! Leave him alone, don't hurt him' Cloe said pleadingly.
'Oh my dear I would never hurt Ved, he's my friend. But you on the other hand, aren't. You're a distraction to Ved's work and starting to be a real pain in my neck.' Ram said effortlessly. He motioned for Java and she moved closer to Cloe while raising her hand with the zapper on it. Ved struggled against the guards and begged Ram no to do it. Just as Java let the zaps fly Ved broke free and knocked Cloe out of the way. They both fell to floor. The rest of the room is unsure as to who was hit.
Cloe sat up and crawled to Ved his breathing was laboured and it was obvious he was in pain but he was alive. Cloe jumped up off the floor and ran to Java pushing her into Ram, his chair tipped over and he slid out, Java was partially on top of him. Lex and Pride ran to the guards and attacked them before they could zap Cloe. Salene and Trudy ran towards Cloe trying to pry her from Java. When Cloe was finally up Java wasted no time, she jumped up and let out three zaps immediately. And the Cloe fell, she fell hard.
The first thing Ved felt when he woke up was pain. His chest burned, he was agony. He couldn't remember how it happened, what happened? He jumped in the way of a zap that was going to hit Cloe, he remembers seeing her take Java down and Ram as well, then Lex and the other big guy took down the guards, Cloe was up and Java was up, then three zaps, then Cloe fell, she fell too hard to have made it then it blacks out. Cloe fell, Cloe fell, Cloe fell. Ved sat straight up in bed, instantly.
'CLOE!' Ved shouted, and then reached for his chest as it screamed in protest to the sudden movement. It was at that moment he was aware he had an audience. The entire Mallrat tribe was there, plus Ebony,Sive, his brother and a blond girl holding a baby. 'Where's Cloe?' Ved asked rapidly. They all gave each other looks then turned back to Ved.
'She isn't here Ved' Jay began to say but he didn't give him a chance to finish.
'No, you're all lying to me, she's here, and she's fine. You're all just hiding her somewhere' He said with a hint of anger. Ved moved quickly out of the bed he was lying and realised it was Cloe's bed, her room. He also realised he was only wearing pants. No shoes and no shirt, but he didn't worry he had to find Cloe. Ved moved frantically about the Mall searching for Cloe, calling her name while going around. The other Mallrats stood sadly in the cafe trying to get Ved to lie back down, this wasn't helping his injury.
'Where is she'? He asked finally standing still in front of the Mallrats in the cafe.
'They've taken her Ved. Ram's got her' Jay in a soft voice, the other Mallrats all looked in different directions, holding back tears. Ved couldn't believe what he was hearing. Ram couldn't have her, he would hurt her. It was all too much for him, the pain and shock all took over him, he saw the world go fuzzy then he felt his body being pulled towards the ground, he hit the floor, then everything went black.
Ram has Cloe. Ved opened his eyes slowly to see Cloe's room around him, it wasn't a dream. He looked to his side to see his audience had returned. They all stood there giving him looks of sadness and a questioning look. They want to know if you're going to go crazy again, stupid. He rolled over so his back was facing them and didn't make another sound.
'Ved?' Jay asked warily.
'Leave me alone' Ved said in a tired voice. He had given up. Cloe was gone, the one person he truly cared about was in the hands of a madman who wanted revenge. He brought her into this; it was his fault, all his fault.
'We don't know if she'd dead Ved, for all we know she could still be alive' Jay said trying to encourage his brother to be social. Ved turned to face them and sat up.
'Why do you think that helps? It only makes it worse. If she's alive in the care of Ram he'll do nothing but hurt her, because I didn't do my job. I failed so now he's angry and thinks it's her fault. Her being alive only makes things worse'. Ved said that last bit slowly, then he lay back down and rolled onto his side again, not wanting to face the family of the girl whose life he just ruined. My fault, all my fault. He wished he had died from that zap but he didn't and now Cloe was in even worse trouble than before, because of him. Because of him.
'Cloe! Cloe where are you?' he shouted across the empty land, dry and barren. Stripped of all its beauty. Then he saw her, standing only a few metres away. 'Cloe, where have you been? I've missed you. Cloe what's wrong?' She hadn't turned to face him yet. She turned around and he gasped. Her face had been savagely carved into, it was covered in scars. Her entire body was.
'Look what he did to me Ved. Because of you! I hate you and i will never love you again.' She screeched at him. She turned away from him and walked slowly away.
'Cloe please, I didn't mean for all this to happen. Cloe please, I'm sorry.' He yelled after her. He tried to run after to her but his legs felt heavy and he was going too slow. He couldn't reach her, she wouldn't stop. 'Cloe please, I love you. I'm sorry. It's all my fault, please forgive me.' He was begging now, down on his knees. She walked towards him smiling her sweet smile.
'NEVER!' She yelled and walked away from him. He couldn't go after her, he was stuck.
The scene changes into the hotel, Cloe is untouched again, but she's strapped to a chair. He can't go to her, she can't see him or hear him. Ram and Java walk into the room with a virtual reality helmet. They place it on her head, even though she struggle. They go to the computer and punch at the keys. They then start to laugh maniacally, Cloe starts writhing in pain and screaming. She's screaming for him to help her but he can't do anything. Her screams get louder and louder.
'CLOEEEEEEEE-
EEEEEEE-' Ved bolts upright in Cloe's bed and finds himself clutching his chest trying to breath properly. His audience is all still there, sharing worried looks.
'Are you okay?' Jay asks Ved in a very concerned voice. Ved face is ghostly pale and he is dizzy but he can't let them see.
'Fine. I'd just really like to be left in peace.' He said hintingly. They small group left but Jay stayed. 'Do you mind?' Ved said as nicely as possible. Jay gave him a half-hearted smile and got up. He managed to give Ved one last worried glance before exiting the room. Ved slowly got out of bed careful not to make a noise, he didn't want to alert the others. He grabbed his shirt and shoes, then grabbed and old backpack and stuffed some food someone had put near his bed in it and a full water bottle. He shoved his Techno jacket on and snuck out past his brother and the unsuspecting Mallrats. He had to save her. He couldn't bear to hear her scream.