I don't think my last chap name made sense. Also, I don't think I'll be able to wait to post this. New rule: if I finish the next chap, I post the previous one.
Willa
"..Angelo." The woman in front of me had cold, determined eyes. Their light amber color complimented her dark skin attractively. Dark hair was pulled into a bun. She had stronger features; she emulated power and commanded respect.
"Yes, ma'am." I rasped. Had my voice really gotten that low? I hadn't noticed it on the road, but here in the quiet of an interrogation room, it seemed to be nothing more than a persistent whisper.
"If you would like to call your lawyer, now would be the ti-"
"No."
"We can provide you with-"
"No, I don't want one."
She looked at me warily, and then at her sickly, green-eyed partner. He laughed. He looked sadistic. Even she was uncomfortable under his stare. She turned back to me.
"Okay. Well, do you know this man?"
Pictures of the boy I had killed were laid in front of me. I closed my eyes.
"There's a reaction!" the green eyes sneered. "Guilty."
The woman ignored him.
"Miss Angelo, do you—"
"Yes." I whispered. I glanced at the number on my arm before closing my eyes again, this time to stop tears.
"Did you attack this man?"
"I… No! I.."
"No, you did not?" Derek laughed. "That's crap. We all know that's crap."
The woman gave him a warning sideye.
"He.. Him and his friends attacked me!" I stood. I had raised my voice. The green eyes shoved my back toward the chair so hard I fell over it.
"Derek!" The woman yelled. "You're off this case."
"She was—"
"OUT!"
The woman helped me up, back into the chair.
"I apologize for my coworker. I'm not sure what has gotten into him today."
"He'd kill me if he could." I mumbled.
"Excuse me? Detective Lancaster is a respected officer in this police force, I will not have criminals like you saying these things!"
"You said he's acting different."
She opened her mouth to react, but thought better of it.
"You claim that this man, along with others, attacked you?"
"Yes."
"I don't believe you."
"Of course you don't." I mumbled.
"Excuse me?"
"I killed him in self defense." I tried to remain calm. "Please, you have to believe me."
"'Please believe me' isn't a widely accepted argument. You've been on the run for weeks. And you didn't kill anyone… He was alive, when we found him. But barely. How do you think we ID'd you?"
I was in shock. I didn't kill him. I didn't kill the green eyes. The brainwashed kid. I didn't kill him. I was shaking. Tears escaped my eyes and tumbled down my cheeks in buckets. I didn't kill him.
"I didn't?" I could barely force the words out. " I didn't kill him? Oh my god, thank god, oh my..."
The woman was baffled at my outburst. I put my head on the table and continued to cry. A weight had lifted off of me. She pulled out a walkie-talkie and explained to someone that I needed a psych evaluation.
"Miss Angelo.." But even she didn't know what to say.
"I'll tell you everything, absolutely everything, but you won't believe me, you won't. You won't, you won't, you won't." I said, through tears.
"Try me."
Where do I start?
"He tried to kill me, to beat me up and do horrible things but it wasn't his fault! It wasn't him! He wasn't thinking- not for himself, anyway, and-"
"Are you trying to tell me he was possessed?"
"Yes! Kinda! Like your partner! That's.. That's why he's being different! People all over the world are!"
We stared at each other. Her eyes softened. She was understanding. She lifted the walkie talkie.
"We're going to need a full psych eval, possibly transport to the mental ward. Keep her on suicide watch."
My blood went cold. She hadn't understood. She was going to let the green eyes here kill me, and throw me in jail. So I did all I could do.
I screamed. I banged my fists on the table- they think I'm crazy, oh, just wait, they don't even know crazy. I kicked at the chairs and knocked mine over. I kicked the table- okay, ow, it's bolted to the floor.
I fell to my knees and continued to scream. About how no one believes me. About how the green-eyed officer was going to kill me. About how horrible it's been, living on the streets. I screamed and cried my throat raw, I screamed as they carried me out of the room. I screamed as they strapped me to a hospital bed and restrained my arms. I cried as they poked me with needles and attached monitors to my head, I screamed until I could taste blood and screamed louder when I saw one of the nurses had bright green eyes, and when I saw the green eyed detective watching through the hospital room window.
They stuck a needle in me. I screamed until I blacked out.
Maybeck
"You're kidding me." I mumbled. The woman had gotten on the train, and sat in the car behind ours. She still stared, according to Amanda, who was facing her.
The four of us sat facing each other, with Amanda and Finn backwards. Amanda chewed on her lip.
"She knows. She has to know who we are." Philby said. He was nervous.
"I'm sure it's nothing, guys." Finn tried to hide his nerves.
I wasn't so sure about that.
"Amanda, can you see her eyes?"
"No."
I sighed. "I'll be back."
Despite their protests I made my way back toward her car. The bathrooms were in between; an acceptable excuse to be walking toward her. As I approached, my stomach felt like a stone. The woman's eyes glowed a sickly green, boring into me from her seat. I ducked into the bathroom.
When I got back, they knew the answer from the look on my face.
"Damn it." Finn mumbled.
"It's okay. It's only one." I said. I couldn't shake the feeling that she was watching me—which, she probably was. "We can take her."
They nodded, and we looked out the window as the train started to move.
"So… Colorado." I mumbled.
"Mmmhm." Phil said.
"Willa's brother is there?"
"Yup. Mark."
"Hm."
Philby glanced at Finn and Amanda. Amanda was already fast asleep, her head resting against him. Finn held her, his head resting against hers. He looked at her like she was the world.
"Philbo, we're gonna go get your girl. Don't worry."
Philby just nodded. "We will."
I was glad he was starting to be more confident in us. He leaned his head against the window.
"Take a nap, Phil. I'm gonna stay up and watch." I said. Phil nodded. In a matter of minutes, his head fell against the window. Him and Amanda were down for the count.
"Maybeck, you can sleep, too. I'm not sleeping." Finn whispered, after a while.
"I can't sleep either."
"You're worried about Charlie?"
"I'm worried about all of them. But yeah."
Finn nodded.
"They're smart." He said. "They're great. They've already gotten us on their tail."
"I know. They're smart, and they're strong and they're badass, but they're family and I'm going to worry about them. I know you're worried, too, Finn."
He nodded again, but stayed silent. When he spoke again, he sounded like he was holding back tears. "Yeah."
I realized all of his "they're smart, the'll be fine" talk was more to comfort himself, not us, and that I just put a crack in his feigned confidence. I bit my lip. Oops.
We stayed quiet for most of the remainder of our ride. Eventually, Finn fell asleep, and as the train pulled up to the last stop, I woke the three of them. We got off and stood on the crowded platform. As we made our way to the main terminal of the station, I realized that it emulated Grand Central terminal far more than the deserted, small-town, dusty train station we had boarded the train from.
A hand grabbed my shoulder. I whipped around. It was only Amanda, but her face was pale and she seemed anxious, searching the crowd.
"Manda, what's wrong?" I said. Hearing this, Finn and Philby stopped short.
"The woman. She's here."
"Where?"
"I don't know.. I saw her through the crowd, she was staring at us, but… I couldn't… I can't find her. I lost her."
I jumped as thunder shook the building.
"That can't be good. That can't be…" Phil started.
"I know." Finn said. "Come on. Let's just get to the next train."
We followed signs through the never-ending train station until we got to our platform.
"Did she follow us?" I said as we descended the stairs. We reached our platform and sat on one of the benches.
Amanda tensed. I followed her gaze. Weaving through the people on the platform was the green eyes. She was intent on reaching us.
"Something's wrong." Philby whispered. "It's four against one, we're surrounded by people… The odds aren't in her favor if she decides to attack a bunch of kids on a train platform."
Still, she strode toward us. I held my breath. She'd reach us in a matter of seconds.
"What do we do?"
"We face her."
She stopped, four feet in front of Amanda, the closest to her.
"You're not getting on this train." The woman spoke. Her voice was chilling.
"Like hell we're not!" I growled. "It's four against one."
"There are much, much more of us than you."
"I don't see anyone but you here." Phil said.
"That's true… But I don't see anyone helping you, either. Shouldn't there be more of you?"
"There are." Amanda bluffed. "They're coming back now."
"Are they?" The woman knew. "Last I heard, you'd lost them."
"We found them."
"Don't even try, little girl." The woman spat. She pulled out a phone, pulling up a video. Reluctantly, we crowded around. "We know you didn't find them."
The video was security footage, in what seemed to be the world's most dismal hospital. Two guards stood outside a door, fully armed and in riot gear.
"What is this?" Finn asked.
"Live security footage. Your friend…" she mumbled, changing the cameras to show a dark room. Though hard to make out, I could see a hospital bed in the middle of the room. The shadow of a small girl- our friend? Willa? Jess? It wasn't Charlie- could be seen... She was strapped to the bed, writhing. It was easy to tell the girl was screaming, pulling against her restraints and trying to wriggle free, but no sound was being transmitted.
Philby lunged for the phone. "What are you doing to her? WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HER?"
The woman pulled the phone back, away from Philby. It was Willa, in the bed, I realized.
"You're attracting attention." The woman said coolly.
"We don't care." I said. "What the hell are you doing to our friend?"
"We aren't doing anything… Not directly. Border patrol, and the justice departments of the U.S. and Canada are holding her. She's… screaming on her own accord."
"I want to talk to her!" Philby screamed. We were turning heads.
"Tell that to the Montana state police."
Philby kicked a suitcase over. The owner glared, but picked it up without comment.
"What… What do you want?" his voice broke. "What do you want? I just want my girlfriend. I just.. I want her, I'll do anything."
I glanced at Finn, but he just nodded. "We'll do anything. What do you want?"
"I want you to know your friend is rotting in an asylum. I want you to know neither her, nor you, nor are the other two safe. " The woman spat.
The fire alarm went off, and the platform hurriedly began evacuation.
"I want you to know we're winning." She said. The sprinklers came on. We were getting drenched. "I want you to know that you are all going to die."
Suddenly, hands were grabbing at us. I fought them, ripped out of their grasp.
"RUN!"
Amanda was struggling to escape the grasp of two big men. Adrenaline kicked in. I ran at one, tackling him to the ground as Amanda used her powers to push the other toward the tracks. I grabbed her hand and dragged her toward the steps as fast as my legs could carry me. She screamed something about waiting for Finn, but I couldn't let her. Finn wouldn't want me to let her go back. I kept running, pulling her behind me until we got out into the street. I kept running until we were stumbling, stopping under the cover of an outdoor café as it started to rain. I pulled Amanda into a hug, and she started to cry.
"They took him… him and Phil." She cried. "We didn't help them!"
"We couldn't. Amanda, we couldn't." I whispered. "We're gonna get them back. We're gonna fix everything."
All I got response was desperate sobs.
…
Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
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