It was hard to tell what happened next. First, there was a huge ball of fire, completely filling up my vision and its roaring echoing into my chest. It was like standing right next to the sun. No, not the small yellow marble you see in the sky, the GIANT ball of fiery gas that is suspended in space. And it was hot, so very, very, hot. The heat wasn't just rolling off in waves, it cut through the air like knives.
Then before I could close my eyes and wait for the end, something pulled me by the back of my collar, hard. I twisted around to see who had grabbed me but the ground gave way and I was falling. In the rumbling of the explosion, I could hear rocks crumbling, I could feel air rushing…it was like the tombs of Blackthorne were alive.
Then two thuds sounded, a few sickening snaps and the world went dark.
"Zach. Zach! Wake up. You have to wake up. Zach! Can you hear me? Come on, I can't carry two of you." Someone was shaking me, calling my name. For a moment, I thought it was Cammie's voice coming back to me from the back of my mind until some fuzzy memory told me that it was really the voice of Chester Parker, high pitched with fear.
"Chester…?" I groaned, opening my eyes. And I felt as if I was sinking back into my body. I could feel my arms and legs and…like an elephant just stampeded my head. "Are…are we dead?"
"Not so much." Chester came into view. "But we might if you don't move fast enough."
I sat up, the throbbing in my head getting worse and I noticed that I was sitting on a huge pile of rocks, "What happened?" My voice was croaked and hoarse. My throat felt like I had swallowed a whole bucket of sand (which I probably did).
"Joe Solomon grabbed us right after you shot the explosives, the ground crumbled and…we survived. One millisecond late and we might not have made it." Chester said, breathing heavily. "Solomon's broke our fall, he's right under you. He might not have made it."
The pain in my head immediately numbed and I stood up, "Where is he?" I looked down and Joe's limp body was half covered in rubble, his forehead was covered in blood and a thin trail of blood was still trickling down from the corner of his mouth. "Joe!" I fell to my knees and started to shove the rocks away.
"Zach, the place is still on fire!" Chester yelled urgently. I started to hear a familiar crackle and my still blurry senses registered that the air was choking and filled with smoke. The tombs were alight with flames. "We should go."
"I'm not leaving him," I snapped and put a finger to Joe's neck. "He still has a pulse." A miracle. Chester fell silent and I expected him to run but instead, he knelt down to help me.
"Do you know how to get out of here?" I asked while we worked.
"Yes, I've been exploring the caves. I know them a lot better than the other agents." Chester panted as he heaved a particularly huge rock out of the way. Finally, Joe's body was completely uncovered and suddenly Chester grabbed my arm, "WATCH OUT!"
I was again pulled to the side with Joe's body draped over me as a loud crash sounded, it was metal scraping against stone. A huge wall of orange sparks flew up and I could see one of the shelves was on fire and had fallen were Joe, Chester and I were just seconds ago.
My blood was still pounding in my ears as I looked up. The explosion had caused two 'level' of tunnels to crumble through so from two stories below, I could see the cave where I shot the explosives. I could see more burning shelves, the fire eating through the metal, all the folders and documents all going up in flame. For the first time, I started feeling the heat again. And all I could say was, "Wow…"
"Yeah, congrats. The explosives had enough power to make two floors cave in, now run!" Chester shouted and pulled on my arm. I carefully slung Joe over my back and started after Chester down a tunnel. I stumbled a few times, blinded by smoke and suffocated by the heat of the fire. After swerving left and right a few times, the tunnel slowly sloped upwards and the sweet fresh air rushed into my lungs. I greedily gulped in air, I had never felt so grateful to be outside…wherever outside was.
"Where are we?" I managed to gasp.
"On…on the ridge of Blackthorne," Chester was also coughing and puffing. "The waterfall's just over there." He pointed to his right and the wall of white water was just two yards away.
I nodded and set Joe gently on the cool grass. I felt his sides and limbs, "This is crazy-" Another coughing bout attacked me. "He's broken half of the bones in his body. His skin is burnt, maybe the second or third degree, I'm not sure."
"Internal bleeding as well," Chester dropped onto the ground and pointed weakly to the blood from Joe's mouth. "You're no sight for sore eyes as well." I looked down at myself for the first time. The front of my jacket was burned off, leaving only scraps on my shirt. Thankfully, the shirt was still intact, if not a bit singed. My pants had holes burned into them, cuts and scratches on my arms and legs peered out of the holes and there was a particularly large gash on my right arm that was only starting to throb when I noticed it. I didn't have any broken bones but I was sore all over. Besides that, I was in one piece.
"Hey, look. You're girlfriend's over there." Chester had crawled to the edge of the ridge. He pointed to the bottom of the waterfall. I could see helicopters and tiny figures of people surrounding her. Something white flashed under the moonlight and I knew Cammie was being carried onto a stretcher. Even from up here, I could see her writhing on it while someone (her mother?) stood beside her. I sighed in relief- she was alive. She had survived. And so did I.
I shook my head, "How am I still alive?"
It was meant to be a statement but to my surprise, Chester said matter-of-factly, "Solid volcanic ash. When the box exploded, it was soft enough to crumble and we fell out of the fire."
I frowned, "How did volcanic ash get here?"
"Zach, Blackthorne is in the middle of an extinct volcano crater." Chester said softly.
The news slammed into me and if I were standing, I would have stumbled backwards, "What?"
"Look, Zach. We're standing on the ridge of the volcano crater." Chester gestured to the cliff we were standing on. "Down there is the crater and the waterfall," he pointed to the falls, "falls from the rim of the volcano, into the crater."
I studied Blackthorne with new eyes- the cliffs were shaped in a crescent, with the waterfall pouring downwards in the middle. The cliffs then faded away into the hilly woodland of Blackthorne and in the middle of the crescent, were our training fields and the main campus. And at the far side, where there were no more hills or cliffs, was the main entrance of Blackthorne that the public knew about. Chester was right- I had always thought that Blackthorne was in the middle of a great, big stone hollow but it was really a gigantic volcanic crater.
"The volcano must've erupted millions of years ago, perhaps when the dinosaurs were still around. The lava and volcanic ash is still here, solidifying over time. Somebody probably tunneled into the ash, creating the tombs. Yeah, the ash was hard enough to stand on, but soft enough to crumble when the box exploded." Chester gave me a sideways glance. "It saved our life."
"Thank you, lava." I grinned.
"So…we'd better get Solomon to a hospital." Chester got back up on his feet and put one of Joe's lifeless arms around his neck.
"Wait, you're not going to kill me? Or him?" I asked as I slid under Joe's other arm.
Chester shook his head, "Only for this time, Goode. I'm still impressed by that stunt to save your girlfriend. It was really…knight-like of you."
"How do you know I was saving her?" I said.
"Come on, we were trained to be brilliant." Chester laughed. "We wouldn't have blown up the tombs just to take out such a small bit of the Circle. So I knew there was something special about that girl." A twinkle in his eye told me that he probably knew about the journal hidden with her. Apparently Blackthonre Boys did know too much for their own good.
"Joe Solomon would've." I said softly.
"But you're not Joe Solomon." Chester replied. Then he stopped walking. "This is where I leave you. The helicopter's right there- we were supposed to use it right afterwards." I looked up and saw the familiar outline of a chopper.
"Chester, why do they need her?" I asked as I continued to the chopper.
"Catherine told us that we just needed to ask her some questions." Chester said quietly as I set Joe into the co-pilot seat and started to do pre-flight checks. "Nothing else."
"Hey, if anyone asks, you did this because I threatened to kill you, alright?" I said, flipping switches. Chester nodded silently.
"Do you want to come with me?" I offered. "Really, I'm serious."
Chester shook his head and shifted his weight onto the other foot, "I'm with them."
"You could come with me, run away from them, we can end this." I said. "Then we'd be free."
He shrugged, "No thanks but I'd rather die fighting than running away. Besides, I'm in too deep. I wouldn't last two months, that's what happened to Solomon."
"I could, and I did." I said, leaning back into the pilot's seat.
Chester smirked, "Of course you did, you're Zach Goode."
I smiled and started to buckle my safety belt when Chester called over the whooshing blades, "Stay safe out there."
"I don't know." I yelled over the blades and nodded in the direction of Blackthorne. "Safe doesn't like me very much." Then the door slid shut and the copter lifted off the ground.
03 53 hours
Operative Goode returns to the Gallagher Academy infirmary with a very injured Joe Solomon. He was treated, cleaned, and rested. But he was not offered a new set of clothes since, well, he was in a girls' school. Operative Goode also saw Operative Morgan lying on a sick bed, unconscious but alive. Operative Goode was so happy he could've kissed all the doctors and agents who kept her alive.
17 38 hours
Operative Goode was on his way to visit Joe Solomon when he saw Rachel Morgan entering the room with Cammie already inside Joe's room, awake on a wheelchair and holding Joe's journal. Mrs. Morgan catches Operative Goode's eye and motions him to wait outside.
After a couple of minutes, the door opens. Cammie was pushed outside and for the first time since the tombs, we were alone. I looked at Cammie- she was bruised, bandaged and still looked completely exhausted. I didn't want to tire her with any more secrets, any more thinking or any more holding hands or such. So I kept quiet.
I didn't know what she was thinking when she saw me still covered in soot and my cuts bandaged, looking more broken than ever, standing in front of her. I didn't want to know either. And most of all, I knew I wouldn't be able to take Cammie not…caring for me any more. So I kept quiet.
Even Cammie didn't make a move. She didn't smile, she didn't reach for me and she didn't even ask about my well being.
She just said emotionlessly, "Hey. You should have this." She held out Joe's journal. "When he wakes up…" I didn't want to hear such a robotic tone from Cammie any more so I took the journal from her hand.
Our fingers brushed and for that split second, I think I saw a familiar light flicker in her hot chocolate eyes. I think she wanted to say something. I think she wanted to look at me the way she did before the tombs. And I wanted to reach towards her and say that no matter what happens, I'll always be here, right by her side.
But I heard the footfalls of Bex, Liz and Macey from the far side of the hall and I was already backing away into the shadows. My last glimpse of Cammie was of her wrapped up in Bex and Macey's arms.
Things I Did In The Last Few Weeks Of My Junior Year At Gallagher
(A List By Zach Goode):
1) Explored the campus more thoroughly. I found the pigeon coop and read Joe's journal using the code written on the blackboards.
2) As mentioned above, I read Joe's journal…and I can't even…
3) Hung out in the pigeon coop, reading advanced senior year texts for pretty much the whole time. Not like I needed it but…it never hurts to revise a little.
4) Avoid everyone. Because girls are mammals that are specialists in staring at boys. Especially when you're the only boy. So whenever I had no choice but to walk across the grounds, I kept my head down and hands in pockets. Body Language 101 for: I'm not in the mood. Besides, Bex, Liz and Macey almost never leave Cammie's side so I can't even get some privacy with her. So avoiding everyone is simple.
5) Did my best to stop thinking about Mom and the Circle. I was safe…finally.
It was a Sunday when the inevitable came- when I had to tell Cammie about…everything. I was visiting Joe in the early morning. It was Sunday so no one got up except for Cammie. The door was slightly ajar when I was going to walk right in and a familiar blonde head slammed backwards into me.
"Oops!" Cammie spun around.
"Sorry," I said, gripping Cammie's shoulders. Common sense told me that Cammie was the one who should be apologizing but at that moment, the 'sorry' meant a lot more than just a bump.
"I didn't see you… Sorry." Cammie said quickly and fidgeted uncomfortably. Then she ducked out of my grasp, turned around and ran away.
Cammie was standing in the pigeon coop when I went up there after lunch. I don't know if she knew I was up here all along or did she just come up here on a random guess. I was about to ask when she said, "He should be awake by now, shouldn't he? He's never going to wake up."
"Of course he is."
"This is never going to be over."
"Of course it is."
"This is-"
"Cammie, listen to me." I cut her off. "Don't talk- listen." I started right into her eyes, willing that she would just understand. "This isn't going to stop on its own. It's not going away. We can't stay here- we can't hide forever."
"She's your mother?" Cammie suddenly asked. I winced internally- I had known it was coming but I never expected it to hit so hard.
"I'm sorry, Cam. I-"
"You could have told me." Cammie's voice trembled slightly.
"No." I shook my head. Like I would ever, ever say that. "I couldn't. I couldn't lose the one person who didn't see her when they looked at me. I couldn't lose that." I thought of Dr. Steve, I thought of the Mr. and Mrs. Baxter and I thought of Grant and Jonas.
"Is my father alive, Zach?" Such a simple question but there was so much more at stake.
"I don't know." I told Cammie truthfully.
"She said he is."
"She lies." I said coldly.
Cammie paused then continued, "We should be dead."
I almost smiled at the irony, "I know."
"Mr. Solomon isn't waking up," Cammie said.
"We don't know that." I replied softly.
"Why does everyone get hurt but me?" Cammie asked.
"And me." I tried to smile but I couldn't.
"I can't go to Nebraska this summer. It's not safe for Grandma and Grandpa to be near me." She ran her fingers against the stone of the ledge. "I'm not safe."
"Where will you go?" I inched closer.
"I don't know."
"What will you do?" I asked.
Cammie shook her head, "I don't know." She sounded so hopeless, so fragile, so helpless. But then we were against the Circle. Perhaps we were that hopeless, that fragile and that helpless. So I hugged her and kissed her. I wouldn't describe it as romantic. It was gratefulness and passion, just surging through us. I was grateful that she had made it. I was grateful that I had made it. And I was sure that we were passionate about each other. It didn't matter that my mother was Catherine Goode, it didn't matter that I was kissing someone who she could've been and it didn't matter that we were two of the most dangerous people on the planet. We were both here, and we were alive.
And a crazy idea popped into my head, "Run away with me." Cammie didn't seem to hear me and kissed me again.
"Gallagher Girl," I pulled back and cupped her face in my hands (this took an amazing amount of self-control). "We can go. We can run. We can get off the grid and stay off the grid until it's safe. For everyone." I leaned closer, almost resting my forehead on hers. "We can keep each other safe."
"What are you saying, Zach?" Cammie tried to push me away like she couldn't believe it.
"We're the only two people in the world the Circle will think twice about killing." I said.
"That's not funny." Cammie frowned.
"I'm not laughing." I said urgently and pulled her close to my chest. "You're right- no one's safe with us around. Listen to me, Cammie, we could do this. We've been training our whole lives to do this."
"I can't." Cammie shook her head. "No. No. My mother-"
"Would understand." I insisted fiercely. "I'm surprised she hasn't had the same idea." I took Cammie's hands in mine. "We. Can. Do. This."
Cammie studied me for a long time, her eyes roaming my face. I knew she was weighting options, calculating risks…until she said, "I can't leave with you, Zach." And she kissed me lightly.
The knot finally eased in my stomach as I rested my chin on her head, breathed in her comforting scent and said, "I know."
A/N: School has started, which means all teachers have to go over all the basic things (that everyone already knows) like lab safety, what notebooks are you supposed to use, how many folders are you need to use and such so I can tune them out for 70% of the lesson without even missing anything important and VOILA! Le chapter appears in my head, I go home and type out everything and there you go. A new chapter. :)
And I'm afraid that there is slim chance that I will be writing OSOT in Zach's POV. Unfortunately, Ally Carter has blessed us with a 90% appearance of Zach Goode in the fifth book so there really isn't much space that is available to work on. But I might try to re-read OSOT and hopefully, find some loopholes and stuff to 'build on'. But if there isn't, I think 'Wolf Moon' will end when Zach gets word that Rachel Morgan has found Cammie. Nonetheless, I am still looking forwards to the rest of this story that I'm going to write and hopefully you are too! And thank you to EVERYONE who has read, review and favorited. Thank you all so much!
Cheers,
AwesomePP