Authors Note: Onto chapter 11, thank you again for your kind support the whole way through this fic so far! After this chapter things are about to change though, the atmosphere should hopefully get a bit lighter.
I think this chapter may be up a little earlier than normal, but I'm going away for the weekend so I wanted to get it up now! Was what I was going to say... But then as you know the log in was down Friday so here it is with my apologies.
I don't really know what to say right now… I guess, please leave a review and alert me! :) It means a lot. But it's 00:06 right now and I'm tired so get on and read! :3
Chapter 11
The Curveball.
Greta went first into the wall of leaves, holding out the telescope as a weapon. Kurt and Aimee followed while Blaine took the end, making sure to cover their steps.
Greta froze for a moment and Kurt, not looking where he was going, went straight into her. "What?" He asked, stumbling backwards.
"I thought I saw something," She shook her head in doubt and her gaze fell to her boots. "Never mind, let's go."
Kurt eyed the girl in front of him and then glanced back to Blaine and Aimee who shared looks of concern. Greta went ahead and they carried on following her footsteps.
Kurt felt weary, he felt like he was being watched. Which he did not like not one little bit.
A heavy hand suddenly landed on his shoulder and there was Blaine, walking behind him and giving him a quick, weary smile.
That was what he needed to bolt him to the earth.
"How do we know when we've hit the middle?" Kurt asked the question that had been lingering on his mind for the last couple days.
The sky was getting dark now. It had been a long day and all four of them were tired, so hopelessly tired.
Bordering on the edge of day three, they had decided to give it another hour and call it a day.
Or night.
You know, whatever.
Blaine decided to pick up the question when the girls said nothing. "There's gonna be a metal plate with the Dalton D engraved. They have to put it somewhere in the arena and we're not sure why but it's always the centre." He shrugged to justify his answer.
Kurt thought it somewhat strange. This Inspection or whatever it was called. It happened only once every five year, but. Blaine seemed to know so much about it, like he'd been here before. He hadn't though, because he wouldn't have been old enough, would he?
Kurt shook his head and then a metal clanging happened beneath his feet. He stepped back and kicked some of the dead leaves away to reveal a rusting, copper emblem.
The Dalton D.
It was dark and only the moonlight led their way, but Kurt could just about make it out.
Kurt lifted his head to meet Blaine's eyes, and they gave each other bright and hopeful smiles.
"The middle," Kurt breathed and Aimee made a sound that surely wasn't human.
Greta grabbed Kurt and pulled him into a hug. They didn't know why they were all so happy but… it felt like an accomplishment. Kurt slipped the bag from his shoulders and let it drop to the ground just before he collapsed. Aimee joined him.
"Okay. Time to call it a night, I think." She decided and patted down a root behind her as a pillow. "Night." Kurt nodded and let his head rest on her shoulder.
Blaine and Greta looked down at the pair with sour expressions. "I'll take first watch then," Greta sighed and made her way to a tree, a clutching a branch and hoisting herself up on to the first branch. She settled herself in as Blaine leant back against a tree.
"Greta," He called out and she hummed in questioning. "Wake me in a few hours, yeah?"
She smiled slightly and nodded. "Sure thing," She answered and Blaine tipped his head back against the tree to finally get the sleep he needed.
Harry woke again to find himself mid-air and being carried, led across some kind of stretcher.
He still hurt, but he found within due time he could almost feel the whole left side of his body.
A whine from the back of his throat erupted, and Eli's eyes shot down to him. "Hey." Eli smiled but his eyes were swollen and red. Harry could just about move his neck.
He glanced to the girl in front carrying the front of this makeshift stretcher.
Her hair was bright and an unnatural red. He had to wonder to himself how the hell she got away with it… He was so sure it was against Dalton rules to have hair like that.
Making a mental note, he then turned to the girl walking by his side. It was the same face that he'd looked up to earlier. She had a kind smile and dirty blonde hair tugged in front of her shoulders.
She was looking at him now with that same smile. "Good morning,"
If Harry wasn't in such an extent of pain right, now he would have rolled his eyes. A dark blanket was draped over them already and Harry had to wonder how long it'd been since he'd fallen.
He tried to speak but his whole body was blistered in aches and he couldn't bring himself to do it.
And then tears filled his eyes all of sudden, with the realisation that he was weaker than he thought.
He wasn't strong enough.
It was ridiculous, what was wrong with him?
He'd been trained for this, he'd learnt how to deal with the situation. There wasn't always going to be people around to help him out in times like these.
God, he was pathetic!
He'd always convinced himself that he was the protector, not the one needing protection.
The was the one who would always be there if needed.
He was letting Ben down and it hurt a lot just knowing that.
He made the decision quickly, not to let himself re-think it. He was leaving as soon as they returned.
Just pack his bags and go, leave Dalton for good. They'd be better without him.
In a moment of self-pity, Harry wallowed in a pit of despair that was just digging deeper.
Suddenly he heard muffled calls and then footsteps running towards him. "Harry, we've- we've hit it! Kurt! Blaine!" Eli yelled and laughed shortly. "We're at the middle!"
"Greta, Aimee!" The girl by the side of him was screaming and she took off at a sprint.
Blaine hadn't yet fallen asleep. He was in a dazed state and when he heard his name, he thought it might have been a dream. A vivid dream nonetheless, but a dream. The footsteps rattling through his brain, however, convinced him that it wasn't all in his head.
Blaine perked up suddenly, only to notice Greta asleep in the tree. He scolded himself then for not offering to take the first watch, poor thing must've been knackered.
He leapt to his feet and listened.
"Kurt! Blaine!"
Eli! That was Eli's voice and there was no denying it. "Eli! Harry! Is that you!" he yelled. Kurt stirred awake at the loud voice.
"Blaine what are you-?" Before Kurt could get another word out, Blaine had disappeared in the trees. Kurt frowned.
Blaine almost ran straight into the girl coming at full force the other way, yelling "Greta, Aimee!"
"Woah," He held his hands out to stop but instead she ran straight into them and hugged them tightly. She let go again and ran straight past him. Was that Daisy?
He looked back over his shoulder to where she was running – the base camp – and then kept moving forward. "Eli, is that you?"
"Blaine!" It was a feminine voice that definitely did not match Eli's.
"Marilyn?" He called out and squinted in dark. He heard nothing for a while until a "Yeah, come help us!"rang out in the distance.
Help? Help with what? Oh, crap. His minded flooded with the worst.
Two people came into view, appearing to be carrying something. "Harry!" He hollered and then went into panic mode, sprinting towards them.
He reached them and took the branches Marilyn had been holding from her and she went off to see the others again. "What happened?" He asked in small whisper. His friend was dressed with cuts and grazes.
"I fell," Harry's voice was just a broken breath. The broken breath of a broken boy.
"He slipped, Blaine, and I thought I'd lost him!" Eli was finally spilling everything that he couldn't to Harry. He had to be strong back then, but now he could relax a little in the knowledge he wasn't alone anymore. Not anymore. "I was scared Blaine, and he's still dropping in and out, I don't know if he's gonna make it Blaine!" He took a shaky breath, "I just – I just don't know."
Harry heard the words and he – well he, he lost faith. Was he going to die? He was pretty sure he was right now. Certain in fact. Wait, was he dead already? No? Okay…
Blaine looked down to the broken boy and spotted the wincing in his eyes.
Tears slipped down his temples and Harry released a small sad noise; he sniffed.
"I'll talk to you about it later Eli," Said Blaine in an ominous voice. He didn't know the full details of what had happened so he didn't know what to think about it, but he was sure that Harry hearing that his partner had lost faith… well that wasn't going to help him one bit.
Eli sniffed and nodded into the darkness. He knew what he said wasn't smart. He knew that Harry could most likely hear him, but Eli couldn't help it.
He was so scared.
Quinn pulled Izzy close to him as they lay under the moon. She snuggled down into his chest and disappeared into a dreamless sleep. He didn't want to sleep anyway, too many things to think about.
He wondered how Tyler was doing, if he'd woken up yet. Aaron, how was he feeling… Well, how he had felt the moment he died, the thoughts that filtered through his head. Knowing that the world had given up on him.
He thought of the boys back home, he thought of the boys in here and soon enough he thought about himself. He would probably be stronger now that he had Izzy to look after. It would keep him going knowing that there was someone who needed him.
He'd already let Aaron down.
"Aaron!"
"Quinn!"
"Please don't make me..."
"Fucking hell! Quinn! You don't have enough time-"
"AARON!"
"NOW!"
He wasn't strong enough still, and he let everyone down.
He let Tyler fall.
He let Aaron die.
And now Izzy relied on him and he didn't know how he was going to make it. It was too hard now.
The next morning Kurt awoke.
The night before was just a blur to him.
He distinctly remembered Blaine taking off out of the camp and afterwards, a girl showing up and crying with Aimee and Greta.
Three boys had returned following yet another girl and that was when Kurt had dropped back out of consciousness. He awoke to a strikingly sore back.
He scanned the 'camp' quickly and was relieved to see whilst Harry was looking damaged, he was here and safe. Eli was sat in a tree… upside down, dangling from one of the branches.
Well he was glad to see something's never changed.
This was day three now. There was still four left, but Kurt had a feeling there was a reason there hadn't been many tests thrown their way.
He'd dreamt last night, he was sure, and they weren't alone anymore. Well, that's what his dream told him, anyway.
But Kurt decided to push it away.
After there had been no fire, of which he was aware of, everything he speculated he'd kept and would continue to keep to himself from now on. Maybe he had been little dehydrated and his mind began to play tricks on him? That must have been it.
Had to be it.
Suddenly, he felt a weight on his shoulder; Kurt looked up and saw Blaine's head. He smiled faintly and brushed Blaine's hair out of his eyes.
He really admired this boy, in fact, he would go as far as to say he looked up to him.
Metaphorically, of course.
Blaine was a hobbit in actuality.
Also, Blaine was a mystery and he reminded himself to interrogate his partner further when they got ba- if they got back that was.
He'd no longer allowed himself the use of the word 'when' as everything that followed in the sentence sounded improbable or too high of a risk to let him fantasize.
Blaine awoke with a sudden and stared at Kurt with confusion for a moment, his eyes searching Kurt's face and looking for an answer.
It always happened like this; Kurt would awake first and then would be followed by a confused Blaine. God knows what he dreamt about- Oh.
Blaine had hastily pulled Kurt into a bone crushing hug and buried his face in Kurt's shoulder.
"I thought you were dead,"
What a pleasant thought, Kurt grimaced. What a thing to hear first thing when you wake up in the morning.
"Good morning to you too," Kurt rolled his eyes whilst his insides danced with the prosperity that Blaine had dreamt about him.
"Sorry," Blaine mumbled and pulled away again, reddening at the cheeks.
"You're okay," Kurt reassured him. He glanced around. "Who kept watch last night?" He asked before noticing the missing soul.
"Well I was, then Greta took over again, then Aimee, but where the hell she's got to, who knows…"
As if on cue, the red head dropped down out of the tree and grabbed Blaine's shirt sleeve, pulling him to his feet.
She aimed a kick to hit him in the ribs which he defended easily, blocking another punch coming in from the left. She dropped down and swung her leg out to trip him, he jumped out the way and caught her ankle, flipping her over on to her stomach. She scrambled to her feet and sent another few punches his way, he swung out and grabbed her arm, twisting it behind her back and pushing her forward. She stumbled and face planted into the ground.
She was down and a little groan filtered from her throat.
Blaine grinned whilst Kurt stared in horror. What had just happened?
"Fair play Anderson…" She wheezed, holding her shoulder and wincing. "Remind me to never jump you. Again."
Blaine looked mildly proud as he helped her back up. Kurt sat in shock, his blue eyes wide.
The curly hair warbler laughed at the sight of him.
Kurt's eyes narrowed.
"Sorry, we do that every now and again, to make sure we're all on our alert," he explained and Kurt gave him a 'what the hell is wrong with you?' stare.
Blaine grinned and walked over, ruffling Kurt's hair as he went by.
Kurt swatted him away and fixed it quickly. He scowled at the boy.
Blaine grinned and then carried on over to where Eli was trying to get Harry to drink something.
Kurt smiled slightly, letting his head roll back against the tree. Blaine was finally returning back to the person he'd met on the first day of his arrival.
The Blaine that had been comforting, who hadn't yelled at him. He preferred this Blaine a hell of a lot more. Blaine glanced over and flashed a small smile.
Cassidy sat with Ben and Wes in David's room. Cass worked on his French, Ben on Maths whilst Wes and David supposedly worked on science. They were all silent apart from the muttering being frantically exchanged between Wes and David. At one point Ben and Cass had been curious, but they had just learned to drown it out.
Cassidy sat tapping his pencil against his book, staring at the wall. He suddenly brought it to a stop and sighed. This brought on all the boys' attention.
David frowned and Wes knit his brows together.
"Everything all right, Cass?" David asked, and the blond nodded slowly at first before coming to a pause and turning to them all.
He chewed on his lip. "Can I be real honest with you guys for second and can you promise you won't… well… Can you give me your straight opinion?" He winced a little as he spoke.
Ben frowned in concern and glanced at Wes and David before turning back to Cass. "You know we would, what's bothering you?"
Cass was silent for the next few seconds, clogs turning in his head as he thought. He lifted his shaking hand to watch it and then exhaled.
Ben, David and Wes all watched with concern. "Cassidy-"
"What do you think happened?"
The three boys sat back at once. Ben put his pad of paper splattered with equations and sketches down next to him and shifted his position. "What do you mean, what happened? When?"
"Oh come on guys," He sighed and Wes and David shared a look of confusion.
"Cass, we have no idea what you're talking about. Honestly," David said apologetically, seeing as his friend seemed rather upset with this.
Cass almost crumpled as he glanced between the three. "I- uh- I," The corner of his lip pulled. "I mean- it's obvious, isn't it?" Silence. "Well, I'm not really like the rest of you, am I?"
"In which way?" Wes asked, raising a thin brow.
"Well for starters, and not meaning to sound arrogant or anything, but my intellectual intelligence is borderline impossible but I can't manage the simple task of being, well, normal." He threw his hands out in defeat. "I can't even let someone I like be nice to me for more than five minutes. I mean, what the hell is wrong with me?" Cassidy picked at his nails in his lap and kept his head down, letting his words simmer for a moment. Ben clicked straight away, then David whilst Wes still fought it through with clashing thoughts. "Is that what this is all about?" David asked slowly, cautiously as if the boy was a time bomb just waiting to detonate. "Cameron, right?"
Wes clicked.
Cassidy just left his head hanging and his shoulder jolted and then slumped again like a child being scolded.
Ben glanced to Wes and David and they returned it. "Cassidy…" Wes began slowly.
The blond looked up slightly, "I mean, why is it that I'm so screwed up like I am?" His eyes were shining with fresh, new tears. He inhaled sharply. "I'm crazy, aren't I. That's it. I'm nuts. Oh, god."
Ben lunged forward and hit his arm.
"Ow!" His hand shot to the violated part of him.
"You are not crazy Cass! Stop trying to convince yourself!" He scolded and Cass pushed his lip out.
David rolled his eyes and stuck his legs out, resting them on Cassidy's crossed ones.
His arms went behind his head. "I'm sorr,y can we back track again? What's this about Cameron?"
Cassidy turned the colour of a tomato.
He brought his hand to his lip. "Oh yeah, well, I just…" He sighed and fell back against the bed.
"It's ridiculous you know… Every time I see him, my insides scream at me telling me to back away, to run, get out whilst I can. But I don't want to. And it freaks me out, honestly. It makes me angry and my cheeks get hot and I feel a little bit sick, like a tingling sort of feeling in my stomach."
Cassidy's head hung off the edge of the bed, bringing a red tint to his cheeks. "What's wrong with me?" He asked longingly, a long sigh escaping him. His hands lay flat on his stomach and he breathed peacefully.
Ben's neck snapped to the other two boys who were wearing similar smiles. Ben was trying hard to stifle a grin. He knew exactly what Cass was talking about.
David nudged Wes in the ribs and they smirked. David winked.
"So uh, Wes, remember that time you were crushing on Lucy, god you were a wreck!"
Wes shoved him playfully. "David!" He prodded him in the chest and Cassidy's ears perked up.
"But how did you feel, Wes, I'm curious!" David rested his elbow on his thigh and stared with dreamy eyes at Wes.
Wes clicked.
"Oh, OH!" He winked to David who just rolled his eyes. Ben bit his lip to prevent flutters of laughter spilling out.
"Well, I remember first meeting her in training, she showed up for the wrong lesson and I had to take her to the right one. At first I couldn't stop staring at her eyes." He played it up and Cassidy rolled his eyes, still upside down and not falling for it.
Wes fluttered his eyelashes. "I remember feeling butterflies in my stomach and then, I'd get all embarrassed and run away whenever she spoke to me," He sighed longingly and rested his chin on his fist. "Wasn't little me just adorable?"
Cassidy sat up suddenly, his face scalding red. "I do not have a crush on Cameron!" He snapped, opposing his earlier statement.
"You do. Face the facts dude," David grinned to himself whilst chewing on the tip of his pen and whittling down some calculations. For a moment his eyes sparkled with delight as he decided he'd finally got it, before frowning and scribbling it out again.
Cassidy sat with a blank expression on his face. He was not crushing on Cameron. There was no way!
He'd never even had a crush before!
Holy crap. What if they were right? What the hell was he supposed to do now?
Ben bit his lip, smiling and gave him an apologetic shrug. "I-I…"
David leant forward and pinched Cassidy's cheek and shaking his face, the blond didn't fight back, too caught up in what had just been said to even make an attempt. "Aw, you're adorable Cass, you're almost as adorable as Blaine," he cooed and grinned.
Wes, also chewing his pen cap, removed it from his mouth and chipped in with, "Almost, but not quite," He returned the cap to his mouth and began to scribble bits out again. His eyes never fled the paper the whole time.
"Oh, yeah, no. No one can beat the adorableness that is Blaine." He paused and glanced over to the animal propped up in a cage on a table a little bit away. "Apart from Kiki, she's in a close second." The small animal made a little bark sound, clinging to the inside wire.
David punched his fist in the air.
There was a knock, which brought all the boys back to reality, and they scurried into motion to cover up the evidence of the animal.
Apart from Cass. He just sat there.
David quickly ran to cover the cage with a sheet and hide it round the corner. "Just a minute!"
Wes still couldn't believe how long he'd gotten away with that thing…
"Guys, it's just me," Arjun strolled in waving a key card in his hand and the boys all slumped down onto the bed again in relief.
"You can't keep walking in like that Arj!" David frowned and Arjun just raised a brow.
Challenge accepted.
"What if you walked in one day and we were all stark naked or something like that?"
The whole room fell silent and stared at David. Even Cassidy blinked a little and turned to him.
Wes took a breath and found himself speechless.
"Well, well yeah, the four of you all in here naked together? That- that would be a little weird, honestly."
David crossed his arms and nodded, "Exactly."
A beat.
"… Well then, anyway," Arjun cleared his throat awkwardly and dropped into the seat pushed behind David's desk. He drew it out.
Ben was waving his hand in front of Cassidy's eyes, trying to bring him back again.
"I've spent the last four hours trying to pick up a signal, and it's been no use. The hackers have locked us and everyone else who could get in out. The staff is going mad and nobody knows what's actually happening in there," he informed them on his update and Wes and David groaned, falling back against the headrest. "It's a losing case and there's nothing we can do."
Ben's ears perked up and he looked around, Cass shook himself from his state and joined in staring at Arjun. "What do you mean, lost signal?" Ben asked slowly, with a quizzical look on his face. Cass, suddenly alarmed, turned to him. "What? Wait, are Kurt and Blaine all right?"
"What about Harry and Eli, and Quinn?" Ben hurriedly asked and lunged forward, hopping off the bed and grabbing Arjun by the collar. "I swear to god, if you don't tell me-!"
David pried Ben's hands away and pulled him back to the bed, letting him sit in his lap and wrapping his arms around his shoulders.
Arjun straightened out his collar and exhaled. These boy's were supposed to be older than him, right?
"You might as well tell them Arj," Wes shrugged and pulled out his phone, trying to get hold of them once more to try and recruit their help.
"The boys, your friends, are lost. In that arena. The testers have no way in, and they've been blocked out of the system. As have I."
Ben's eyes were wide now and he struggled in David's grip before eventually burying his head into David's shoulder. His whole body shook and David held him close, hushing him.
Cassidy fell onto the bed in shock, his elbows resting on his knees. He peeked out between gaps in his fingers. "You mean-?"
"They are in extreme danger, the hacker is most likely to have people on the inside-"
"Inside the arena?" Cassidy gasped cutting his sentence off, sitting up ram rod straight.
Arjun breathed calmly and adjusted his glasses. "-the arena. Thank you Cassidy."
The blond's face fell into his hands. "Sorry," he spoke weakly, still ingesting the news.
"We have to do something!" Ben cried out, struggling in David's grasp around his waist.
"Please!"
"There's nothing we can do Ben," David assured him, Arjun took over.
"First we'd have to go to the staff, then we'd have to explain to them how we know, then we would all get in huge trouble for breaking into the server and we'd probably end up getting in major trouble or maybe possibly even kicked out-"
"Then let them kick me out!" Ben protested his eyes shining. "Honestly I care more about Harry, Eli, Blaine and the rest of them to care!"
He stared at the rest of the room. "Well? I would rather be kicked out of this place if it meant I could save them."
There was a knock at the door then and David jumped into another hurry in order to hide the cage once more. "Relax guys, it's just me," Cameron's voice filtered through the wooden beat up door and Cassidy felt a blush rise to his cheeks.
"Hey, is Cassidy in there with you, I need to talk to him," Cassidy froze and everyone looked towards him. Ben wiped under his eyes with his thumbs and took a deep breath.
"Hey Cam, hold on!" David called and he turned to Cass, "You need to hide that blush my friend." He hopped over Cassidy to make his way to the door when Cassidy grabbed him, trying to stop him from getting the handle and opening the door. His eyes begged him not to open the door.
David sighed. "Cameron, Cassidy said he's not here."
Cassidy stared back with his lips hanging and his eyes wide and scandalized.
"God dammit." He pushed a now grinning David back and flung open the door. "What?"
He asked the boy who stood with wide eyes. Wide swollen and red eyes. Cassidy eased up and pushed his shoulders back. "You're crying, you don't ever cry."
Cameron ducked his head and bit his lip. Cassidy looked up at him expectantly. He looked back at the boys standing behind him, who were all watching, gazes cast upon the pair.
"Cassidy, can we talk privately for a second?"
Cassidy evaluated the boy in front of him for a moment, his hands wringing his t-shirt.
"Please," Cameron whispered, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "I need someone to talk to and I didn't know who else to go to…"
Cassidy took one more glance back and left the room closing the door behind him. He held out his arms and Cameron pulled him into a hug. The boy broke down completely like a toy that had been kept together by a worn string. He just broke.
Cassidy rubbed a hand on Cameron's back soothingly, though with his new found 'crush' – that was not a crush, by the way – he really didn't know what to do.
"Alright," he said after a few moments and pulled Cameron away a bit, he took his face in both of his hands, "I'll just tell the guys, then we'll go to my room so you can tell me what's wrong, alright?"
Cameron rubbed a hand beneath his eyes to wipe off some of the tears.
Cassidy poked his head in the room. "Guys I'll see you later, I'm gonna go talk to Cameron."
"Use protection." Arjun quipped ever so seriously and was met with a scorn from the older boy.
David's eyes widened at the surprising joke the younger boy just made. That was the first time he'd ever… "All right Arj!" David leaned across holding his hand out and waiting for a high five. Arjun just stared at him and blinked behind his glasses. His cheeks were only bordering a pink touch. He left David hanging.
Cassidy slammed the door.
David sighed and fell back against the bed. He found Wes sleeping.
Ben was pressing Arjun for answers.
David frowned and pulled down the quilt Wes's face was buried into. Wes shook awake and blinked at David before inhaling and sitting up slightly. "Sorry, haven't been sleeping much lately." He informed David then went back to scribbling down words that were losing their meaning all together. The dark-skinned boy watched him for a second before snatching the pad and pen from Wes's grasp. "Okay Wes, I think I need to take you back to your room so you can get some sleep…" David told him decidedly and began to get up off the bed.
"David!" Wes snapped getting up and reaching for his notebook.
"Wes!"
The Asian-American frowned.
David raised a brow.
This spectacle went on for good thirty seconds before eventually Wes gave up and closed his eyes, letting himself fall against his best friend. David picked him up and walked him to the door, taking him across to Wes's room.
Kurt dropped into a spot next to Blaine, who was whistling that same tune again. Bedouin Soundclash. Most of them had huddled around a small fire again.
Eli and Blaine had moved Harry so that he was propped up against Eli, who leant against a tree, his head on the redhead's chest. Eli's arm was wound around Harry's shoulders.
Aimee sat in the tree above them, whilst Greta and Daisy hung around nearby.
Marilyn was collecting wood.
Suddenly off in his own world, Blaine began tapping his foot.
Eli was stroking Harry's curls and he looked up and grinned, bemused.
Kurt sneaked a smile over to Eli. He picked up where Blaine was with his whistle.
And when the light has left,
I'm not sure of my *every* step
Follow the wind that pushes me west back to my bed.
Blaine quickly looked around to Kurt who had his head ducked, whilst hitting the notes. Eli decidedly joined in. Harry just smiled softly, his eyelids drooping.
Aimee used the brass telescope and started tapping against it.
Hey hey heeeyyy, hey hey hey (hey!)
HEY Beautiful Day (hey! hey!)
HEY Beautiful Day.
Heeeeeyyyy, hey hey hey (hey!)
HEY Beautiful Day (hey! hey!)
HEY Beautiful Day.
Kurt grinned and the group swung into full accapella. Daisy and Greta 'oohed'.
The five all stopped and joined for the bridge.
When the night feels my song,
I'll be home, I'll be home.
Blaine leaned across and squeezed Kurt's hand just a bit, just for reassurance. Not just for Kurt but himself included. To let him know that they were going to be okay.
Eli pulled Harry in closer without hurting him and let his head rest on top the curls.
When the night feels my song,
I'll be home, I'll be home.
Marilyn had just swept into the camp and she was met by silence. And then,
When the night feels my song,
I'll be home, I'll be home.
She dropped the load she had and grinned, "I feel like I've just stumbled upon a horror movie!" Daisy laughed and ran to her, wrapping her arms around her neck and pulling her in. Blaine pulled Kurt to his feet and they all fell into a group hug.
Eli just stroked Harry's curls. They stayed against the tree; Eli didn't want his friend hurt.
Cassidy sat on the floor, leaning against the bed, with a slightly open mouth. His eyes were big as he watched the screen in fascination.
The little boy with brown curls had baby food down his chin and his large brown eyes shined in delight. "Ah, boo!" The person holding the cheap camera would say every now and again and the child, no older than two, would be sent into another fit of giggles.
"Home videos," Cameron stated, sitting behind the blond and leaning over. His eyes were still as full and brown as they had been back then. Right now, they were brimming with tears.
Cassidy nodded in understanding.
"My mum, she would play with me like that, before dad came home…" A small smile lit up the highlights in his eyes. He laughed sharply. "Then it would change…"
Cassidy just nodded again. "And you said you found these things where?" He asked, avoiding Cameron's sentence and carrying on. He gestured to the videos circling around them.
"I broke into the vault. There are hundreds of separate sections in there, one for each kid. I went to mine first…" He explained and then shifted uncomfortably.
The Vault was a part of the school students were not permitted to visit. It had been of interest to most students and some had even tried to get in once or twice, without success.
Normally there would be guards on every inch of the place.
Cassidy figured that the Inspection was top priority today, with what was going on and all that jazz.
Cassidy just blinked at the screen; the woman now held the slightly older boy's hands up above him. He looked about three-ish. She walked him to the steps and then he broke free and ran across the garden before falling onto his knees.
"You were a cute child," Cassidy complimented, a smile pulling on his lips. His gaze was focused on the cheeky grin the child wore on the screen.
Cameron felt a flush to his cheeks and decided to ignore the statement. He pulled a separate tape from his bag and held it tightly.
"I went to yours after."
Cassidy snapped his head back and shot a look of disbelief. His eyes fell on the video. "What?"
"There were a few videos… I just grabbed the first one and got out of there." He told him and handed it forward. Cassidy stared at it for a moment.
"Mine?" His voice was small and jarred.
He had a flashback, to his very first memory.
"Did it work?"
"Is he awake?"
"He's waking up sir,"
"Good, I want to be the first face he sees." This was a gruff tone and it sounded farther away than the rest of them.
Cassidy pulled his eyes open.
A man was standing over him, white light surrounding in the background. His hair was greying, asides that it was black. His eyes were a sharp ice blue colour.
"Hi there, kiddo." He greeted the boy, with the same gruff voice. Said boy just blinked again.
He had a suit, a grey one, that looked freshly pressed with a warm red and blue striped tie. A 'D' resided on his left chest.
"How are you feeling?"
"I don't know."
"I think the operation was a success, sir," a man with glasses said, and the small child blinked at him. He was getting good at blinking. The glasses man seemed to be young, maybe twenty, late twenties tops. His lips pulled up at the corner awkwardly and he gave the child a small smile.
The man in the suit seemed to be pleased. The small blond sat up and stared around him, men with white coats stood around and they all seemed to be staring at him.
He didn't know where he was.
Who he was.
What he was doing here…
In fact he didn't know anything…
He looked down at his hands and scrunched them up then opened them again, it was fascinating…
"Hey there," He looked up again to a women's face. She wasn't a woman yet, she still looked to be in her young teens. Brunette curls billowed down her shoulders and her back, it was tied up.
She wore a black shirt with cargo pants tucked into shined, brown military boots. "I'm Helen," she smiled and patted his curls gently.
The little blond experiment stared back at her. "Don't worry, you're safe. Daddy wouldn't let you get hurt, you're way too special to him."
"John, I think you should take a look back over these notes…"
"Come along, Cassidy…" the man looked his way. He didn't know what to do.
"Cassidy!" The woman followed and held her hand out.
"He means you," She whispered, and gave him a small wink taking his hand and giving it a squeeze.
He slipped off the bed and found he could move on the legs he'd been given.
"Cassidy," The newly named boy repeated quietly. He liked it.
"But I've never…"
Cameron frowned and stared at him, he pushed the video into Cassidy's hands. "Here, just…" He scratched the back of his neck. "Just watch it if you want…"
Cassidy stared down at the tape in his hands. He nodded. He wasn't really sure what he wanted to do with it just yet, so he hugged it tight to his chest. "I'm gonna get back to my room." He told the taller boy and Cameron nodded.
"Alright, I'm gonna watch some of these. It's good to hear her voice again, you know?"
Cassidy bit his lip. "Bye Cam,"
He tore from the room.
"Kurt,"
Silence.
"Kurt!"
Kurt squinted his eyes at the sharp hiss. He blinked a couple times and sat up. It was dark now and most of the group was asleep. He turned to see a mysterious face.
No wait, that was Blaine, he could tell once his eyes adjusted. He glanced around to where everyone was asleep, huddled together.
"Blaine?" He asked and narrowed his eyes. "What is it?"
It wasn't long until Kurt saw the frantic worry of Blaine's face. His eyes widened. "Oh god Blaine, what is it?"
"Do you feel it?"
Feel it? Feel what? The only thing Kurt could feel was the aching in his leg where Aimee had fallen asleep on it. He shoved her off. "What are you talking about?"
"Kurt!" he whispered harshly, his head flicking back and forth. "I feel like we're being watched." His voice was small and tedious; it sounded like he was in pain. For a moment Kurt wondered if Blaine was dreaming. But then when he thought it over… He'd felt the same.
He felt as if eyes were lingering over him, awaiting movement.
Maybe it was right, the vision, what if they weren't alone anymore? If the rest of the vision was to come true, that would mean… they would be expecting some late night visitors.
His eyes grew large. If it was correct Quinn should be there, Quinn should be just arriving and then they would come out to play. No Aaron though, Aaron was not present.
Men dressed up in military wear.
Kurt took Blaine's hand. It was okay. As long as Quinn didn't turn up they should be fine. They should be just fine.
John Murphy scratched his head.
He let a frail finger trace over the prize.
"Anything sir?"
The screen remained black.
"No," He answered with a sigh.
The computer screen had flashed up an image a moment ago and it had triggered John Murphy to hurry back to his office and inspect.
Alas the image had failed to show again. No one could really tell what it was; it was blurred and the ones who did see it were too stunned to actually recollect it properly.
"We'll have to keep waiting. We have to work them out of there." His lips pursed and pressed against his fist as he stared out of the window.
Miss Valentine stepped up from the corner. "Mr Murphy, if I can please," She had seen the whole spectacle. "I think we need to go in there and pull them out ourselves, no more waiting for the hacker to go away." She insisted and opened her clipboard. "Now I know that it's risking, they could track us back here if they followed the scent, but I can honestly tell you that I don't think-"
"Sweetheart,"
Helen Valentine froze, her eyes still locked to the board, she lifted them slowly. "Sorry?"
"That's enough Hel, whilst I appreciate your input, it's not needed. Thank you." He waved his hand. "Now run along, go do whatever it is that you… do around here." He smiled at her and drew some papers from the desk and began to read them.
She stared at the men lining the outskirts of the room. They all awkwardly abashed their eyes.
She took a deep breath and nodded. "Very well," she stared with despise at the man behind the desk before making a swift exit.
Fine. If he wasn't going to do anything about this, she would do it herself.
A twig broke and Kurt snapped his head around to the where the noise had just come from.
It was now officially day five.
Day four had been silent. Nothing much had happened. Blaine's worry had merely turned out to be a dream, a dream where he had been surrounded by people in a crowded high street.
One misfortune was that their packs were all robbed over-night, which made them a lot more wary but none of them thought much of it. The testers were obviously working their stuff again.
They took all the food.
And the purple sharpie, which Blaine, surprisingly, took quite well.
Kurt shuddered though; he wasn't really sure what to think anymore, to be honest.
It was early morning on day five and Aimee had just returned from filling their canteens up from a small stream that cut across the ground about a mile off from where they were.
Harry had been ordered not to move or do anything until this was over and they could get professional advice on his condition. Whilst he admitted that he still ached all over, he wasn't going to stop doing everything.
He was momentarily curled up against the tree with Eli's shirt wrapped around his shoulders.
It was quite warm actually, baking in fact, but Harry had insisted that he was frozen.
The topless boy stood with his fists on his hips and his foot propped up on Daisy's back.
He had a long strip of grass tied around his forehead and he'd picked up some mud from somewhere and drawn stripes against his cheeks.
Daisy shrugged and pushed him off. "Dammit, Eli! Go bug someone else. Why don't you go see Aimee or something?" She growled and swatted him away.
Eli blushed. Aimee? You mean glorious perfect amazing Aimee? Because Aimee totally wasn't the girl he had a crush on or anything…
"Yes that Aimee. Just leave me alone!"
"Did I say that out loud?" He asked incredulously.
"Yes." Marilyn nodded from next to her partner. "Now go talk to her."
He blinked a couple times staring at them. "What now?" He was shoved away and sent to the red-headed girl, who was tying a piece of rope to a tree.
Not for any reason in particular of course just… You know… Tree. Rope. Boredom…
"Hey Aimee-" he began to be interrupted by a loud gasp behind him.
"Izzy!"
Kurt's head flicked round and he saw something that made his stomach twist and turn. "Quinn!"
Appearing through the trees was the boy himself. He had a smaller girl slung over his shoulder and looked quite warn.
"No," Kurt's breath shuddered. There was no Aaron.
"Izzy, are you okay?" Quinn lowered the girl down and she squirmed. "She passed out, dehydration I think…" He told them in his Irish accent. It had become stronger since the last time they'd seen each other.
"Quinnton!" Eli called and ran towards him as the girls dispersed to find the smaller girl a drink or something. Eli ran into Quinn's arms and he hugged him close, patting his back.
"Good to see you man," Quinn puffed out and let go again. Eli passed him a canteen and he fell to the floor, chugging down the contents.
Blaine patted Kurt on the shoulder, who realised he'd just been staring.
Who knows what had happened, but no one had seemed to realise except Kurt and Blaine.
"Quinn," Blaine asked slowly.
The blond looked up.
"Where's Aaron?"
Everything went terse and Eli's eyes widened.
Harry blinked a couple times and Quinn lowered his head. "First day, there was a fire, second morning I found him dead…" He summed up the happenings and Kurt went pale. It was ambiguous and Quinn had left out every detail imaginable but that was Kurt needed.
Blaine paused. As did Aimee and Greta.
They all shot a look over to Kurt but said nothing.
Izzy was slowly coming back around. She sat up and as soon as she was passed the canteen she downed half of its contents. Pulling it away she asked the first question on her mind. "Where's Becky?"
No one had the heart to tell her.
They didn't need to.
Next thing they knew there was a sound of a gunshot and Eli flipped to the ground, he let out a long howl. Harry's eyes flew wide, but he found he was incapable of movement for some reason. "ELI!" He screamed.
Kurt whipped his head round. This was the vision. It was coming true.
Blaine looked frozen in fear. He glanced to Kurt. "MOVE!" he screamed and pushed Kurt to the ground, another shot following.
Footsteps came out and surrounded them. They came from every direction. Quinn pulled Izzy close to him as they gathered around in a circle. Blaine pulled Harry to his feet and Kurt, Eli and they were grouped together in a cluster. All ten of them.
They just had enough time to hear a noise above, like an airplane, or a helicopter. But whatever it was, it was flying low and hovering just above them.
They saw the masked faces equipped with gas masks from the war days. Men with guns were about to spring on them.
And suddenly, the ten recruits all felt the sting of an electric shock paralyze them and knock them to the ground.
Everything went black.
Game over.
Authors note: Holy Christ… My longest chapter yet I think, a little under 8,000 words that one…
Please leave a review and alert it if you want more, that would be brilliant! :)
Also, would you guys let me know about my OC's… They appear a lot and I'm not sure if you guys like that or not… Just to let you know, this now signs the end of the Inspection arc.
There will be more to come.
OH! And you know, if you have any questions throw 'em my way! I'll answer all of them! :)