Chapter 14:

Alexander and Adonis, the two half brothers I didn't know I had. So far, I've only met Alex. Unless you can count watching Adonis walk upstairs to his room with a girl on each arm, while his eyes never even glance in my direction, meeting him… then, yeah I've met him. Nice guy. Anyway, Alex and I have been down stairs taking for the last hour. We finally have a good system going; I ask him a question and he answers, he asks me one and I tell him as little as possible. He loves me right now. On some questions my reply makes him want to strangle me. I don't know why it makes me feel so good when I annoy people like that. Though I have to give him credit; he really wants to get to know me. And not me from the wanted posters, but the person behind all of that. Even though I want to believe him, I still have my guard up. As he's telling me about something I started tuning out a while ago, I can help but stare into his eyes. He might act happy to see his long lost sister, but his eyes are telling me a different story; and it's a very sad one. Someone this young shouldn't be that sad. Alex told me that things haven't been the same since his mom died, a couple years back. So maybe that's it. Each one is dealing with their loss in different ways; dad buried himself in his work, Adonis distracted himself with alcohol and women, both at the same time leaving Alex to fend for himself.

"Yachara," I'm so busy thinking, I don't even hear him. "Yachara…?" He waves a hand in front of my face. He grins when he sees I've snapped out of it. "Apparently I've bored you long enough with my stories, why don't you tell me a few of yours?"

"I'm sure I don't have anything to say that Jacobsen hasn't already told you," I told him.

"Actually he hasn't told us anything."

"So, why'd you come with him to get me?"

"Because, Adonis and I are Mountain Men. Dad made finding you top priority."

"Let me guess, he didn't even mention we're family?"

"No, he didn't," he replied, "None of the men knew." Well, that explains the welcoming party. I've had enough talking for one day. "Let's get out of here."

"What do you mean?" he asked as he ran his hand through his hair. Both boys have blonde hair where as mine is jet black.

"I mean, I want to go explore the city." I held out my hand, "Come on." He looked at my hand, then me, and back again. Why was this making him think so hard? It's simple, yes or no. I finally shrugged my shoulders and then headed for the door. I slipped on my old pair of boots as I opened the door, just enough for me to slip out. Then I felt something pull the door out of my hands. I looked over my shoulder and saw Alex with his hand on the door. "Not for very long."

"Last I knew, you weren't my parent." I saw him smile out of the corner of my eye as I walked past him. It didn't take long for him to reach my side. We walked down the middle of the road, passing house after house. I memorized every turn we made, just in case I need to escape. People walked up and down the streets or stood outside their houses. Once they realized they'd never seen me before, people started starring and pointing. I don't care what they think, but apparently Alex does. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, quickening his pace as he guided me around to the side of a house, at the end of the road. "What are you doing?" I asked. He looked in every direction with a frantic look on his face. "Alex, what are you afraid of?"

"We should head back." I could feel his heart racing through his hand as it rests on my arm.

"Then go ahead. I'm not done looking around yet. We're only a hundred yards away from the house." I walked away expecting him to catch up, but he didn't. So I kept walking, making sure to resist the urge to look back. I rounded the first corner I came to and discovered another row of buildings. But this one was different. In front of each building was a stand or tent. Which means this is the street with all of the markets Alex told me about. I spent the next hour walking up and down the street, looking at everything everyone was selling. And while I'm doing this someone's following me. But I'm not too concerned because I know it's Alex. I've caught glimpses of him out of the corner of my eye. I still don't know what his probable is. But I lose my train of thought when I see someone else I know. But that's not the creepy part. I know him because I've seen him inside the hundred camp. He looks about sixteen, dark hair, and about three inches taller than me. He's standing a few stands down talking to some people. Back in the day – you know, a week ago – I'd spy on the hundred, and I know for a fact that that boy was with them in the camp. I slowly inch myself up the row until I'm a stand away from him. Once he's done talking and the people have left, I make my move. I tapped him on the shoulder. As he turned around I said, "I know what you spent the last few weeks doing and if you'd like it to stay quiet, I'd suggest coming with me." His face went blank, losing all color. He slightly nodded, so I grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the closest ally. Once we were out of sight, I grabbed his collar and slammed him against the wall. He's twice my size and could easily over take me, yet he lets me hold him against the wall.

"What is this about?" he asked, "Jacobsen said I'd never be bother with the hundred again." Why does everything come back to him? I guess he's the most feared person in town.

"I'm not Jacobsen, nor do I work for him."

"Then what do you want?"

"I want answers." I tightened my grip, "What were you doing in their camp?"

"I'm not telling you anything." He seems afraid of me but he's not trying to get away. "Jacobsen doesn't know I'm here and he never will. So spill." I told him. "Why did he choose you to go in to the camp?"

"My name is Caleb Riley, and my parents were on the first drop ship." He replied. "Now tell me who you are and why you're here, or I won't say another word." Riley. That helps a lot, and this time I mean it. But I can't just go ask my dad to spill all of his secrets so this guy's my only shot.

"Yachara Crystal." I replied, "The hundred was taken by Mountain Men and I need to know why."

"Like all of them?" I nodded. "That's not good."

"Why?" He looked down at my hands still clutching his collar. One by one I removed my fingers from his shirt. "Sorry." After he put his shirt back where it goes, he began talking.

"Once it was discovered how many fell from the sky, Jacobsen knew exactly why they were here. Whatever that reason was, he didn't like it. So, he sent some people to come and get me, bring me in. He told me all I had to do was blend in with them and learn as much as I could. So I did. I thought what I was doing was harmless, until a week ago." Caleb glanced down the ally and then lowered his voice. "When I went to the mountain to check in, I heard a rumor was spreading that Jacobsen wanted to brainwash the hundred and use them as his personal army. I didn't want to take any chances, so I backed out."

"Why would he let you leave, knowing so much?"

"Our families were friends. And he promised my parents he'd watch after me if something happened to them."

"So what does brainwash mean?" I asked. He gave me a dumbfounded look right before something else stole his attention. "Let me guess," He said, "There are people looking for you?"

"How many?" I asked as I kept my gaze on him. I saw his eyes look down the ally to my left, where we came in at. "A few." His eyes locked with mine again. "I don't think running is an option, right now."

"Then what is?" I could see his gears turning. How are we going to get out of this? I'm going to be in big trouble if my dad's men find me. And if the find me with Caleb, it'll be bad for both of us. "They're getting closer."

"I know." Was all he said. They're only six feet away now. Caleb put his hands on my hips and pulled me in to him until we were touching. He saw the look on my face and smiled. "I'm going to kiss you now." He whispered as he leaned down. His hands came up and cupped my face as his got closer. Our lips made contact and the rest of the world just disappeared. I can't hear or feel anything but him. All of my thoughts about getting caught go right out the window. The kiss lasts for what feel like forever. And I don't want it to stop but I know it has to. As if on cue, we pull apart at the same time. But we don't separate. We stay there, hovering a couple inches away from each other. I open my eyes and then mine meet his. "They're gone," Caleb whispered. We slowly separate, still not sure of what just happened, and I take a step back. "Sorry, about that. It was all I could think of."

"No, it was a… good idea," I replied, "Anyway, thanks for that. And I need to go find a way out of the city." I shook his hand and then turned down the ally. Caleb ran up beside me and started walking.

"You're not from around here are you?"

"No."

"Okay, follow me." He grabbed my hand and started leading the way. After an hour of walking around this massive city, we walked behind a building and stopped. As we walked I'd gotten glimpses of the wall that surrounds the city. And now I'm starring right at it. "It's a three story wall, meant to keep us in and them out. And it's failed at both." I'm not going to bother asking how tall a story is. He walks up to it and pulls up two of the six inch wide panels, creating enough room for me to get through. "So, what's your plan?"

"I need to find my friends and tell them that we need to move up our plans, to get the hundred out."

"You plan on breaking them out?" He asked. "How many of you are there?"

"Seven, including me." He looked more shocked than I thought he'd be. "That's suicide. You know that, right?" he asked. I do know that. So why am I still doing it?

"I know. I have to go."

"Are you coming back?"

"Yeah, I have to. I shouldn't be more than an hour."

"Okay." Caleb looked at the stars that had taken over the sky before I knew it. "I'll wait here." He smiled. "Someone's gotta let you back in." I nodded and then started walking. Once I was out of his sight, I picked up the pace and started running. No matter how much I want to think about him, finding the others and warning them is more important.