"You help us bring back the Zoe you knew." Keri replied. "But if you leave, you're not going anywhere near her. I mean it, Dan."
Dan sighed. His conflicting emotions kept crashing against each other. Part of him wanted to stay here, to bring Zoe back to herself, but he couldn't deny that he wanted to make the man who'd done this to Zoe pay. Finally, he turned and brushed past Keri, walking back inside the school. Keri smiled to herself before she followed him back inside.
Dan sat down in a chair, dipping his head back and closing his eyes as he groaned. He didn't even look up as Keri walked in. She gave Dan a quick smile before she walked into the next room, where she'd left Zoe sleeping.
When Keri walked in, Zoe was awake, looking around her. As soon as she saw Keri, she backed up into the wall like a frightened and cornered animal. Keri immediately stopped moving and watched her sister with sad blue eyes. "Zoe?"
"Who are you? Where am I? What am I doing here?" Zoe asked, her voice tiny. She'd changed out of her filthy and worn clothes they'd found her in and now donned a pair of black leggings, a green tank top, black boots and dark blue jacket.
"My name's Keri. I'm your sister." Keri said. "You're here because we rescued you. Do you remember what your name is?"
"Of course I do." Zoe snapped. "My name's Zoe."
Keri nodded. "You hungry?"
Zoe nodded warily, watching Keri as she walked out. Only ten minutes later, Keri returned, carrying a tray with a plate and a drink bottle on it. Keri carefully placed it down on the floor beside Zoe's bed before she backed up, keeping her hands by her sides where Zoe could see them.
Still looking slightly like a caged animal, Zoe kept her eyes fixed on Keri as she snatched up the plate of food from the tray and placed it in her lap. She gave Keri one last cautious glance before she turned her attention back to her food, scoffing it down so fast that she didn't even bother to recognise that it was pasta. Zoe choked on her food several times during her meal and each time, she'd simply force herself to swallow it and have a quick swig of the water in the drink bottle before she returned to her food while Keri watched sadly. This girl, although she'd only just met her, was as much her sister as Libi was and she was having to force down her food and nearly have a heart attack whenever anyone came near her while Libi was safe and sound in her MI9 foster home. It wasn't fair.
When Zoe was done, she placed the plate and drink bottle back on the tray and slowly raised her eyes to meet Keri's. The two girls stared at each other for a long time until Zoe thanked her, her voice quiet and childlike.
Keri took the tray away. When she came back, she decided to try something. "Zoe, do you remember where your name came from?"
"From here." Zoe said, pushing up the sleeve of her jacket to show Keri the 'V.9.5.Z.O.E.6' stamped into her skin. "Aneisha Jones saw the 'Zoe' in my name and then, from then on, that's what everyone, what Aneisha, what Tom, what Frank and what . . . Dan called me."
"Zoe?" Keri said softly. "Do you . . . Do you remember how you got to that KORPS base?"
Zoe nodded slowly, pushing her jacket sleeve back down and wrapping her arms around herself, but she made no move to say anything.
"Can you tell me?" Keri asked finally, realising that Zoe wasn't going to tell her of her own accord.
"About . . . two months after I found about . . . Mastermind and everything, I had Dan over. We were just watching a movie when he kissed me." Zoe said.
"And then what happened?" Keri asked.
Zoe looked away, her breathing coming in heavy gasps as she tried desperately to hold her tears back. Even so, when she looked back at Keri, her broken green eyes sparkled with tears and even though Keri had only known this girl for a little over a few hours, it broke her heart to see Zoe like this as she whimpered, "Then he raped me. And took me to that KORPS base because he never really wanted me."
She curled up and started sobbing on the bed. Keri moved towards her and rested her hand on Zoe's arm, but then Zoe whimpered and cringed away from her, whimpering like an injured dog. Keri withdrew her hand and watched her sister, so broken, so helpless, for a moment before she got up and walked out.
She wasn't surprised to find Dan leaning against the wall. From the broken look in Dan's eyes, paired with his stubborn temperament and his inability to think clearly whenever there was something wrong with Zoe, Keri didn't find it surprising to learn that he'd heard every word that had Zoe had just said.