I knew separating from Liam and the others was a bad idea. It seemed smart at first; Lee was being so over-protective.
"You just took the brace off, your leg still isn't strong enough," Liam had told me. The doctors had said my leg was fully healed, and that I just needed to strengthen the muscles. The best way to do that was to get back on it, but Lee was babying me.
Cate had called me and Liam to the rural area of Oregon, where she said there was still a Rehabilitation Camp running under the radar. She sent Vida and Zu too, but Chubs was too involved with his government work to tag along. I had only had the brace off for about a week, and Liam had tried to talk Cate out of letting me come (he insisted he didn't, but I could see right through him).
We all drove in the Government-Issued SUV Cate had send Vida and Zu down in.
"Don't do anything drastic, promise me," Liam and I were in the backseat, and he was suffocating me with the worrying.
"Lee, relax! I'm fine! I helped rescue Lucas with no issues, and I still had the brace on!" I snapped at him.
"I know! But the doctor said that your leg is more susceptible to another injury… possibly worse than before."
I glared at him. "I don't give a fuck what the doctor said. It's fine!"
Liam tried to continue arguing, but I shut him out. After ignoring him for a bit, he finally shut up and slumped down in the seat next to me.
We reached the area where Cate said to set up base. There was a small wood cabin there, and after taking a second glance, I spotted the crescent moon painted on the door. A safe spot.
"Finally fucking here!" Vida jumped from the driver's seat, and Zu unbuckled her seatbelt and followed suit.
Inside the cabin, there was four beds and rations of food, as well as a space heater. Surprisingly, the place was hooked up to electricity.
"This used to be part of a campsite, but it since closed down and the other cabins were burned by dumb kids," Vida explained as she dumped her bags on the ground. "This one had some problems when Cate found it, but we have since spruced it up."
I grabbed my bag from the car, but Liam came over and tried to take it from me. Instead of handing it to him, I slung it over my shoulder and walked straight ahead. I could see his hands drop to his sides before he slowly began to follow me inside. His head was hanging down. Deep down, I knew he was just trying to help because he loved me. But for fuck's sake, it felt like he did not think I could take care of myself.
The next day, we set out to find the unrecorded camp. Cate said the Government had a few camps that they left out of the records, and that they were more likely doing further testing there even though the Psi had been liberated.
Once again, through the whole trek, Liam was badgering me.
"Does your leg hurt? Do you need to take a break? Guys, maybe we should stop here so Ruby can rest her leg."
I finally got fed up.
"Just fucking stop! I'm not a little kid, I can take care of myself! My leg is fine, it doesn't hurt, and I don't need to rest! So just leave me the fuck alone, okay?"
I was fuming, but I could see the hurt in Liam's face, and I felt Vida's and Zu's stares like daggers in my back. I softened a bit and then out a long sigh.
"I'm sorry. I just… need a little space," I turned around, and Vida was looking at me with an eyebrow raised.
"You okay, boo?" She asked.
"I'm fine. I'm just going to go find someplace to… relieve myself."
Vida gave me the okay sign. "We'll wait here for you."
I nodded, and broke away into the trees and away from the group.
I did not really have to pee. But I was not going to get anywhere with Liam breathing over my shoulder, and Zu and Vida listening into every word. I had to break away and go off on my own. I could take care of myself, and meet back with them later if I found something.
I was gone for about fifteen minutes, and had put over a mile between us. The weather was cool and pretty typical for Spring. It was not hard to navigate through the woodlands either, and with everything so quiet, it was easy to think.
Soon, I realized it was becoming too quiet. The birds had stopped singing, and all the little creatures had run away. It was just me out here, standing among the deciduous trees.
I realized too late I had let my guard down. Within seconds, I had the barrel of a gun pressed to my temple, and someone else was holding my hands tight behind my back. I had no way to grab my own gun that was tucked into my pants, and it was found by a third person while patting me down. Three in total, it appeared.
"Try anything funny, Orange, and I'll pull the trigger," said a low, rough voice. I looked over and saw the man holding the gun. He had a bandana pulled up to his eyes, which were as gray as stone.
They knew I was Orange. Realization hit me hard; these were bounty hunters. Their profession of skip tracers was no longer legal, and instead they were hunting down kids like animals and turning them in for blood money.
The second person zip-tied my hands, while the third person blindfolded and gagged me. My ankles were zip-tied as well. I had nothing in my power to fight back. One wrong move, and I was dead. I was probably worth as much to them dead as I would be alive.
They carried me probably half a mile, slung over the first man's shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I knew I could probably infiltrate all three of their heads, but I had not used my powers in that way for so long. If I messed up, it was over.
"Ruby!"
I froze. The three men stopped walking and listened.
"Ruby!"
The voice was not nearby, but I immediately recognized it as Liam's. A few moments later, my name rung out again as Vida and Zu began to holler as well.
"Let's move," The first man demanded, and the other two began to walk faster with myself bobbing up and down as they moved.
Their calling began to get closer. I could not scream even if I wasn't afraid of getting shot, because they had some sort of fabric shoved clear down my throat.
Ten minutes later, metal doors were pulled open and I was tossed into the back of a vehicle. The ground was cold, hard metal. I could hardly move with my hand and feet tied, and I tried to get myself sitting up. I could hear someone coming closer, and then the blindfold was lifted. I squinted in the bright lighte, and could barely make out the thin, young face of one of the other two men. He was definitely younger than the first man I saw; he was probably just a couple years older than Cole had been.
I blinked a few times, and my vision began to clear. He reached down and pulled the gag out of my mouth. I coughed, spitting out the bitter taste and taking in a few gulps of air.
"Evans, hurry up!" I heard the first man's voice. The engine roared to life.
"Ruby?!" Liam's voice was even closer now… they were probably less than a quarter mile away from our location.
The man in front of me, Evans, looked back to where I heard the voice. Then he turned back to me, and I realized for the first time he was holding some sort of bottle in his hand. Before I could even scream, he poured the contents down my throat. It burned, and I coughed and sputtered and tried to spit it back up, but he grabbed my chin and forced my head back, clamping my mouth closed. Within moments, dark spots were dancing in my vision and my head became heavy. I felt like I had been hit by a truck; my legs and arms felt like they had turned to mush; everything went limp. The last thing I remember was the gag being pushed back in my mouth and the cloth being wrapped back around my eyes.