Back at school, so no guarantees about the frequency of updates, but I'll try. I'm also finding that it's more challenging to write an end to this than I expected. But here's the next chapter. Thanks for reading and enjoy! Read and Review as always!
"Thank you, Zach," she said, stepping out of the shadows. "I knew you'd listen to your mother eventually."
I felt his eyes straining to the sides, trying to somehow find mine. But for once, I didn't need to see him to know what he was trying to tell me. That he was sorry. That he'd known they were close and hadn't wanted to tell me. But most of all, Zachary Goode wanted me to know that his mother, the leader of the Circle, was lying. And I believed him.
"I know," I breathed, barely moving my lips. The wind ripped the sound away, but I knew he'd heard. I felt it.
I felt him relax against me for an instant, then draw himself up, ready to face her. I considered our options. We could have run, but they were surrounding us. No doubt we could have take down a few in the process, but that wouldn't have made much difference, not in the long run. We wouldn't have recovered the chip. And we wouldn't have had an answer about my father. Which meant there was only one thing left to do. So I gathered my courage, pulled my strength together, and prepared to face Caroline Goode.
She walked closer, slowly but confidently, studying us as she walked.
"You're surrounded, you know, Cammie, dear. Zach led you to us, just the way he was supposed to."
Zach slipped his fingers into mine, squeezed them, and dropped my hand. And then I felt him freeze.
"The gun," he whispered, a slight shudder running through him.
Caroline Goode nodded. "Mmhm. It has a tracer, you see."
I felt the fight go out of Zach at her words, the words that meant he had, indeed, led the Circle right to us. We should have known. Should have seen it coming. But it was no one's fault and everyone's fault at the same time. And there was nothing we could do about it. I willed Zach to understand, willed him not to give up. But he didn't seem to be listening.
She was close to us then, less than a foot away, her eyes fixed hungrily on me.
"You could run," she said lightly. "But there's nowhere to go. You could fight, but there are too many of us. This'll be best for you if you just cooperate. Tell her, Zach."
I felt Zach slowly turn to face me, searching for my eyes in the darkness. But when I met them I saw something different. Beneath his defeatist body language, smoldering in his eyes, was something I hadn't expected to see. Fire. Defiance. Hope.
He stared deep into my eyes, as if trying to light a fire in them as well, then did what he was told.
"Don't fight her, Cam," he whispered, but I knew the truth. What he was really saying was, Don't fight her yet.
I saw her hand rise, saw a posse of goons appear and join her, but I didn't see anything else, because a blindfold was promptly secured over my eyes. In actuality, it was a sack of some sort, tied loosely around my neck so I couldn't see down, but I could still breathe. My hands were secured behind my back and tied to the cord at my neck. Then a gun was pressed into my back and I was guided forward.
We didn't walk far. That was the first thing that surprised me. There was a trunk, and we were stuffed inside and the door locked. That did not surprise me. The thing that did, however, is that we were together.
I could feel Zach's body pressed close to mine. Very close. And even though having him there was a comfort, I couldn't help but hope that we weren't going far. Because I was fairly sure there wouldn't be enough air for both of us if we were.
"Bugs," Zach whispered, as soon as the trunk slammed shut above us.
"Yeah," I answered.
"Cam…"
"I know."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be," I whispered back, because the thought hadn't really slipped into my mind until that moment. "At least, one way or the other, this is the end."
"It'll be one way," Zach answered fiercely. "At least as long as I'm alive."
"Thank you," I whispered, and I meant it. "Do you know where we're going?"
"No," he answered, and I could almost hear the smirk in his voice as he calculated exactly where the car was. "But I will soon."