Chapter 8

Tally's POV

We flew a good part of the day only taking rest in accordance to what the pretties were doing. Garren was in the group making it slightly awkward. I knew he wanted to talk to me but I knew he wouldn't and I was glad he didn't. Shay and I barely talked although occasionally she would whisper something. Each time it was something pretty random but I knew Shay wanted to be my friend again… sort of.

"Do you ever regret this?" She asked me at one point. I was surprised she had asked me this question because she had seemed so happy being special. I knew the answer I was supposed to have but some how I had a feeling Shay knew my real answer so I just spoke the truth.

"Sometimes… and I miss the way it used to be." I answered.

"Referring to Zane?" She asked. I glanced over at Garren who was apparently paying no attention to us and I replied.

"That… and you… and just all of us together." I was thinking back to the old days and I was glad Shay didn't respond and pull me from my fantasy. In many ways I would give a lot to go back to the days Zane and I were together, but I knew that would never be.

"Tonight is the night." I heard Zane announce. "They will be reaching the rusty meeting spot." I suddenly felt my heard leap. I was excited… extremely excited. I felt like I was a crim again but I was actually getting a thrill out of what we were doing.

The night fell and we flew on in the darkness following the radar we used to track pretties. The new installments to all the pretties were trackers, ones they didn't know about obviously. We stopped just a mile or so behind the party we were following, unsure of the exact time the rusties would be meeting them. We knew they were almost there and that was when things would start getting hairy. We climbed off our hover boards and walked, carrying them under our arms. As we got closer to the pretties we stashed the boards in some under brush. If we needed them we were close enough to sprint, in a matter of seconds, and get them.

"Fausto, Rane, Shay, and Ky go around left of them. Tally and Garren come with me we'll go the other way." We obeyed and did as Zane told us. We were all checking ourselves to make sure we still looked pretty. I knew this was going to be slightly… no, extremely awkward but hoped if I didn't speak things would turn out alright (although that's unlikely.) Zane had obviously done this on purpose because he MUST have known about Garren and me. Why in the hell would he want us to be in the same group? Was he trying to make things as uncomfortable as possible? Was he trying to punish me for coming with them? Well I wasn't going to show him how extremely uncomfortable I was.

I looked at Zane's pretty face; he looked exactly like a pretty although I could see his specialness only because I knew what to look for. It was strange seeing his face pretty again and it brought flashes back to the old days. Those were the days when we had been young, stupid, and "in love."

"We basically get out there and take them down, there is more of them but we are stronger. I will ping Fausto and we'll head out." Zane made the plan sound so simple but we all knew it wouldn't be. We sat in silence and watched for a few minutes. Garren grabbed my hand which made my heart stop, not in a good way.

"I got you babe." He whispered. I wasn't exactly sure what he meant that, but I didn't like the sound of it. I looked at the back of Zane's head. I could just see the back of his perfect dark hair and I saw his jaw flexing. Why was he tense?

"Alright here we go." Zane finally spoke up. I slid through the under brush behind Zane, Garren took up the rear. I was so ready for this. My energy was totally kicking in and I could feel my tattoo flying under the pretty face makeup. I could see some of the pretties standing in a clearing up ahead. Army crawling through the brush we easily came close to the group. Our special skills made us absolutely silent even as we crawled through the bushes. I looked at Zane who was looking at Garren. They were staring at each other, eye to eye, neither gaze breaking. Really now? The moment we were going to catch the pretties and take down the smokies was the second Zane and Garren had decided to have a stare down… perfect.

"Are we ready?" Fausto was pinging every one. Zane's gaze didn't shift.

"Let's go." He pings back to all of us. Garren obviously knows he has to break gaze so they can set out on the mission, and he knows if he doesn't then Zane can report him for a serious of "disobedient" rule breakings. Both of their pride keeps them from looking away. Suddenly I feel the shouts of the fight beginning Garren looks away first and the three of us take off running. I look at Zane as we sprint to join the fight and I see a smirk on his lips. His damn pride always seemed to get to him.

The next few minutes was a flurry of fighting. We ran out taking down the nearest pretties and binding them as quickly as we could. The rusties, unknown to us, were quite prepared. They had these special updated tazors the city had just recently come out with, and about 15 more rusties had apparently been hiding from our view. How they got the latest city technology, I had no idea, but I did know that they had it and it made them more dangerous. I grab a rusty forcing them to the ground and wrapping a binding around their wrist. They struggled but apparently had no weapons so it made it easy. We were covered in masks to hide our faces even though we looked pretty. Just as I finished binding that one another rusty came towards me. I swung my elbow and it connected with the rusties face. I knew that HAD to hurt. Pushing them down I looked at who it was and found myself shocked to see David's eyes staring up at me. I staggered backward but tried to focus. This is my job this is my mission. I said to myself. I saw flashes of our past shoot before my eyes. Meeting him, working in the woods, talking with his parents I could see it all. Breath caught in my throat and I shook the visions from my sight. He had jumped up but I lunged for him again. Suddenly a pain shot through me like a current of electricity. I tried to shake it away but it wouldn't leave. My vision became hazy and the world around me spun. I'm a special I reminded myself I can take this. I tried to shake the pain again but it only increased. I attempted to bind my hands so I would appear as though I was a pretty that was captured. It was hard and I could feel the shocks still flowing through my body, I was shaking violently. I fell, slamming against the ground. Blood and bile rose in my throat. I could taste the iron taste in my mouth. How can I be so weak? I was angry with myself. Colors poured over one another and blended together. I attempted to get up but something was pulling me down. More electric currents were flying through me, they used these in our training or when they were trying to take a special out.

~...~

For the second time in a day and a half I had been knocked out and woken up feeling groggy and disoriented.

"Who… who were those people?" I heard someone say and immediately knew the voice. I'd never heard him sound so scared in my life. He sounded like a gross little new pretty, but I knew it was all an act. Zane had always been a good actor.

"Specials, from Special circumstances." Another voice said and my heart literally stopped. Was I really hearing who I thought I was hearing?

"What did you do to her?" Zane stuttered. I was pretty sure he was talking about me. He must've been putting on a hell of a show.

"Nothing at all just knocked her out." The other person replied. "You are friends with her, yes?" David… it was definitely David. How much more awkward could my life get. I had no idea where Garren was, and here I was lying "unconscious" with Zane pretending to be a pretty and talking with David.

"Y… yeah. We have been together forever. We planned to marry.' Zane's voice sounded mischievous. What the hell was he doing?

"I see, well then we know she was not involved in last night's raid?" David asked. He was obviously EXTREMELY unsure… he must have known it was me. How could he not? Although I did look very different.

"There is no possible way she could've been. Why would you think that?" Zane replied. "Back in pretty town we were always together." He sounded as if he was about to cry.

"So she wasn't working for anyone?" asked a different, older voice. David's dad possibly?

"No, I would've known! She is my best friend, why would you think she was working for someone?" Zane shook. Why was he protecting me like this? I wondered. I groaned and opened my eyes pretending that I was just waking up.

"You ok?" Zane knelt by my side and I groaned.

"She will be fine." A man stood to my left. I wish I hadn't recognized him but unfortunately I knew exactly who he was.

"Where am I?" I tried to seem confused although I knew exactly where I was.

"You are here in the rusty camp." David said.

"Mmm… we made it?" I looked at Zane with a smile assuring him I had heard what they had said.

"Yeah Kaylee we did." Zane said and I assumed that was my 'undercover' name. I felt really awkward I mean there I was looking at two of my former 'boyfriends.' I could only pray David didn't realize anything yet. He probably didn't know we had pretty mask technology.

"Alright Kaylee, Isaac why don't you follow me to where the rest of the group is. I guess some of them are yours and you can confirm them." I was shocked when David said this cause that meant that Zane hadn't checked to make sure anyone else was safe. He had gone undercover and stayed with me… maybe I was just thinking to much in to this, but that was very unZane. I struggled to my feet with the help of Zane and found that I couldn't step on my foot without a shooting pain piercing through me. What was happening to me? I must've seriously been hurt last night. I was a special and shouldn't be that easily hurt.

"You possibly broke your ankle I will have my mother look at it." The prospect of seeing Maddy was too much for me.

"No! I will be fine." I pulled myself up and leaned on Zane. It felt good being close to him. Despite the awkwardness I loved being with him, and I was glad he was at my side now. He wrapped his arm around my back and I put more weight on him. I could feel my tattoo speed up and I began taking deep breaths to calm myself down.

~…~

"This is Kaylee and Isaac." David said to the group of rusties. A few of the specials group and some real pretties were sitting around by a fire that was blazing. I recognized several of the rusties faces but many others were new. Several were pretty faces that had disappeared months before and we hadn't gotten before they made it to the rusties.

"Nice to meet you I'm Brick." Said one of the pretties from months before. I vaguely recognized him. He had dark red hair and like all pretties, a perfect complexion.

"So you had no idea about the specials following you guys?" David asked. As usual he seemed somewhat of the leader.

"No we didn't." Said Garren.

"Well that means the ones that got away will be coming sometime soon with reinforcement so we better start packing up."

"How often do you guys move?" I asked trying to pretend and be exhausted from the journey. In reality I was tired especially because I was hurt but I was far from exhausted.

"Not often, only when we really think we need to. Maybe once a month." That gave me some insight. We would be pinging HQ soon. I sat down on a log next to Rane and began warming my hands. I could feel several eyes on me and began shaking trying to put on a show. I had to appear weak and helpless. I feared David would figure it out.

~…~

The next day passed quickly I stayed fairly quiet because I hadn't had a chance to talk to Zane and wasn't sure what the cover story was, although I noticed (as did Garren) that he stayed awfully close to me through out the day. I had no idea this would be so intricate. I had been given crutches that had been fashioned out of some kind of wood and we had begun a journey towards who knows where. We were following David and I had seen Maddy off in the distance walking with her son. Flashes of my rusty days rose before my eyes as we walked. The old hand made sweaters, the smoky tasting food, and long endless journeys. Nothing had changed.

As the day came to an end and night fell I had the perfect opportunity to talk to Zane.

"So what's the story?" I asked as him and I moved farther out from the group settling down for the night. Like several other couples who had gone out for privacy Zane had said our goodnights and helped me a little ways down a hill to a nice camping spot where we hung up our cloth tent.

"Well as it has become obvious Tally we are together." He whispered yet spoke with a rude and contemptuous voice, very unlike how he spoke in front of other people.

"But why?" I asked.

"Because we need them to believe that we all are just simple pretties full of love and happiness but wanting to get away from new pretty town. We are still naïve in there minds." He made his voice sound like this was all so obvious, but I still had many questions.

"So Zane" I said his name with the same contempt he used for mine, "why did you choose me?"

He paused after this question.

"I ended up near you and when I saw they believed you were a special I had to jump in and change their minds."

I nearly laughed at this answer but held it back.

"That David of yours is rather smart."

Ah how I hate that he acted like I still had feelings for David. David was my enemy.

"He is not my David but yes he is smart and that is the thing that may hinder us."

We sat in silence for several minutes.

"Answer me one question?" I looked at him. I was so glad to be near him, but in many ways I wanted to get as far away from there as possible.

He paused and then spoke "Alright if you answer my one question, but let me hear yours first."

"Why are you acting like this? Did I do something so horrible to you that it makes you hate me? You remember we were once in love, and I presume you remember that I stood there and watched you 'die'?" I winced as I used the word 'love.'

He scoffed at this, but answered.

"That is more then one question… but I will answer them. First I do remember we were once 'in love' and the fact that you watched me die without a single tear shows how honestly 'in love' you were with me."

"Is that all?" I asked.

"No that's not all." His voice rose. "When I was sick I remember the way you looked at me. You were strong and perfect and I knew you secretly found me disgusting in my sick weakly state. So when you watched me die with out tears in your eyes in confirmed exactly what I thought. Your love for me had ended along with my life. When I was gone you began to forget me." I absolutely couldn't believe what he was saying. "What is that old saying? Out of sight out of mind? That's exactly what happened with me. You thought I was dead and you quickly forgot me and moved on with your life. You're perfectly happy with your Garren kid. So, I am sorry I am helping out one of my people. We are in this situation because I wasn't about to let one of my specials be killed. So we will get through this and move on with our lives and you can get back to your little boyfriend."

I sat staring at him in disbelief was he that naive.

"What is your question?" I said weakly attempting to keep my voice steady. I felt like an ugly all over again. I was feeling weak, exposed, and well, just… ugly.

"Did you ever really love me Tally? Even during our time together why did you stay with me? I knew what you thought of me during my sickness but why did you stay with me? Was it out of pity? I just need my thoughts confirmed. I want the truth." His voice still sounded strong, unlike mine, and I had no idea how to respond.

"The truth?" I asked trying to keep my voice down, although that was nearly impossible. I didn't want to risk us being heard so I paused for several moments and took a deep breath before speaking. "You want the truth?" I whispered, he nodded. "You Zane, you can't handle the truth! You won't believe it so what is the point in trying to explain it?"

He looked at me, a smirk turning his lip up and it made my blood boil.

"Zane I loved you every second I was with you. I loved you as you were sick, I loved you when you were dying, I even loved you as I watched you on your deathbed. Despite my anger towards you after your supposed death I still loved you with all my heart. I was angry after you died because I felt as though I was left there alone and even though I was the strongest person in the city I felt like an ugly again. Exactly how I feel now. I feel ugly again Zane. I felt as though I was allowed to have everything I wanted except one thing... and that is you. The only thing I really wanted was you, but I couldn't have it. I tried to move on and I denied Garren's many attempts to ask me out. Finally I realized if I continued to deny him someone would realize my weakness and see that I still loved you. I don't love him, I care about him but I have no love for him. In my mind he is like a silly pretty looking for fun, and I was that fun. You are so much more to me then that." I stopped shocked at the whole speech I had just given. I had basically poured out every one of my feelings to him and I was empty of words and thought. He didn't say anything nor did I until all of the sudden he kissed me. It was like that first day in the garden as we ate breakfast. I was feeling icy. As a special you are suppose to feel icy all the time but when Zane kissed me at that moment I felt better then ever. The world became clear and I kissed him back. I knew that the confusing feelings would come later, but for now I would enjoy this moment. I wanted to cry and laugh and sing all at the same time. Okay, wow to much emotion! I tried to calm myself down but it was impossible. The plain truth was, I loved him and always would.