JOHN

Eight slumped against the car. I crouched down next to him and patted him on the back.

'Well, that sucks!' I said. I heard a buzzing noise coming from my pocket. I looked down and saw that it was my phone. There was a text message on it.

Where are you, John? You should've been back hours ago! Did you find Five or not? Six.

I put the phone in my pocket and switched it on silent.

'I just blew our chances of actually winning this war,' Eight said.

'There's still time. We could go after her. Bring her stuff for her.' I suggested.

Eight nodded and went to the passenger seat to look for Lailah's stuff. They weren't there.

'Where did they go?' I asked.

Eight shrugged and headed for the woods. I followed behind him, looking at Sarah cautiosly. We walked into the woods and followed the sound of humming. The sound led us deep into the woods.

Then we found her. She was sitting against a tree and frantically typing on her tablet. After a few minutes she started searching in her backpack. She pulled out a small syringe and filled it with a clear liquid and injected herself in the arm.

'Oh my god! You're on drugs!' Eight screamed.

Lailah looked up quickly, just as Eight walked toward her.

'Gee, nice pick up line, curly! No, I'm not on drugs! This is my medication!'

Eight's ears turned red. 'Oh, uh, sorry.'

She raised her eyebrows and returned to her tablet.

I stepped forward. 'OK, look here, Lailah. We came here to apologise.'

She sighed and stood up, rubbing her neck. 'I am, uh, sorry too. I acted like a jerk back there. I shouldn't have hurt you like that, Eight.'

'Well, I shouldn't have asked you about that government stuff.'

'Whatever. Can we just forget that from the shop 'til now never happened? Let's just pretend that you picked me up and we got stuck in traffic.'

We both nodded. Lailah gathered her things and we headed back to the car. Sarah and Sam were waiting for us, pacing up and down the car.

'John, where'd you go?!' My girlfriend screamed.

'Long story, just pretend nothing happened.' I grabbed Sarah by the waist and brought her up close. She slid her arms around my neck and kissed me.

We got into the car, me driving, Eight and Sarah at the back and Lailah in the passenger seat. We were about half an hour away from Chicago. Sam was still tailing us. Lailah had her knees to her chest and her head to her knees. Sarah was playing a game on Lailah's tablet and Eight was silently sleeping next to her.

After about ten minutes Lailah got out a Swiss Army Knife. She held out her left arm and cut a small, deep gash into it. She cleaned the gash with a small piece of cloth.

'Lailah, what are you doing?!' I screamed.

'I'm making a spot for this chip.' She said, taking the chip and gently placing it in the gash.

'What happened to the other spot?'

'Ah, inappropriate.'

I nodded.