Chapter 11 - Revelations

"Where is everyone?"

"Already at dinner. We'd better get to the Mess Hall," he answered. She nodded and stood up, only to fall into Zero's arms, completely unconscious.

'Oh sh*t,' Zero thought as he caught Madeline before she hit the ground. She was so light...

Afraid to leave her, he sat on the wood floor stroking her hair back gently. Finally, after 10 minutes that seemed like 10 hours, her green eyes opened. She groaned and shut them again. Her eyes squeezed shut and her face was twisted with pain.

"Madeline... hey come on stay with me," Zero coaxed her. Her eyes opened up. They were glazed over.

"I could never leave you," she mumbled, her eyes drooping again. His eyebrows rose. Had she really just said that.

"I'm so tired...," she muttered. Her eyes were closed again. It took a second for him to find his voice again.

"Just go back to sleep, Madeline. I'll save some dinner for you."

"Don't bother... that stuff's... f*ckin' crap...," she said with a yawn and fell asleep. He smirked. She was right.

He gently picked her up off the floor and placed her on her cot. She's so light...

***

Madeline woke up later that evening to find everyone in their beds and talking. She rubbed her eyes and looked around. They didn't notice she had woken up. Her eyes shifted over to the cot adjacent to her's. Zero was lying on his side, his back facing her.

"Zero...," she whispered tiredly. He quickly turned over. The brunette gave him a weak smile and tried to sit up. "What happened?"

"I came to wake you up for dinner and you passed out again. You woke up for awhile but you went back to sleep. Oh and you called our dinner 'f*ckin' crap' too," he said with a smile. She laughed.

"Yeah that sounds like something I'd say."

There was a silence for awhile before a voice from over on the other side of the tent rose.

"Hey Firecracker! You're awake!" Magnet yelled in her direction.

"Gee, you're a real Einstein," she said sarcastically. Zero smirked. She was back to normal again.

***

The next morning Madeline felt as fine as she did any other morning. Her appetite, which obviously hadn't been very big the previous evening, was back and she ate the repulsive honey tortilla.

"You feeling better?" Zero asked her as they walked out towards the lake.

"Yeah... I'm still not fully used to this, I guess," she said. She darted a sideways glance in his direction. "You're helping though."

"You serious?" he asked her. She nodded.

"You're pretty much the only person who doesn't see me as being an underage slut," she said wryly, looking pointedly in ZigZag's direction.

***

Her elbow had scabbed nicely over the past few days and she was able to dig like everyone else again. She was still mad at ZigZag for it though.

A little before noon, she decided that he seriously had some problems with her.

"Am I the only one who thinks it's impossible that a girl can dig faster than all of us guys? Well not Zero, but he doesn't count," he baited her. She glared over at him.

"F*ck you, ZigZag. And just so you know, I'm sure a girl can beat you at anything," she said angrily, grabbing her canteen and taking a drink before returning to digging. The other boys snickered. He rolled his eyes.

***

Anna glared at the brick wall ahead of her. She had been arrested. Arrested. This wasn't fair. Lorelei was supposed to be in this smelly jail cell in San Antonio with her, but she managed to get away. Someone, probably someone in their own group, had tipped the police about the plans for the night before.

"I hate my life," she muttered, kicking the metal frame of the chair she was sitting on with her heel angrily.

"And it's all that bitch's fault."

***

Madeline stared at the tarp ceiling of D-tent once again. Her hands were laced on her bare stomach. She had become accustomed to just wearing her bikini top and having the ugly orange jumpsuit sleeves tied around her waist after getting her shower each afternoon until she went to bed each night.

"You wanna talk?" Zero asked, not diverting his own eyes from the ceiling. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"I just think ZigZag's an ass and is really wanting to royally tick me off."

"Yeah, he is an ass. But you shouldn't let him get to you."

"Yeah I know, but ugh! He's so annoying," she said angrily, looking over at him. He smiled.

"What are you laughing at?" she asked. He looked over at her.

"You."

Madeline rolled her eyes.

"Wow Zero, I couldn't figure that out myself," she said sarcastically, but with a smile. She sat up and rubbed her neck. "D*mn I can't wait until I get to sleep in a real bed again..."

"How long are you here for?" Zero asked her.

"20 months. You?"

"18, but I've been here for two already. So 16."

She nodded and looked at her feet.

"Do you have any family back home?" she asked softly. Zero almost didn't hear her. She saw his face harden.

"No," he said quietly, staringly at the ceiling again.

"I'm sorry," she said. The brunette walked over to his cot and sat down. "If it makes you feel any better... I don't either."

He sat up. "Yeah I know." She shrugged.

"I'm not even sure where I'm gonna go when I get out of here," she said, playing with one of the orange sleeves resting on her leg. She smiled weakly at him. "I guess I'm just... I don't know..."

He smiled back. "We can be 'I don't knows' together."

Madeline's face broke out in a grin.

"I'd like that," she said quietly, still smiling. His brown eyes broke contact with her's and glanced down at her lips. Before they knew it, their lips connected. Zero's hand moved to her cheek and one of her's to his chest.

Suddenly, a voice broke through the silence.

"Holy f*ckin' HELL!"

***

Somehow, the police office had managed to get a same-day trial for Anna. How they did this was beyond her, but within the next seven hours, 35 hours after she had been arrested, she was sitting in the courtroom waiting for a judge to give her sentence.

"Anneliese Harris, you have been charged and found guilty of grand theft. Your sentence is 15 months at Camp Green Lake, a correctional facility for troubled youth like yourself."

She rolled her eyes. Oh great. A camp with a green lake. Whoop dee doo.