*Chapter 28*

Cammie felt weird still, Dr Steve had told her this was normal and he seemed right about a lot of things so she believed him.

"Cammie?" He said shaking her shoulder, "What were you thinking about?" She noticed she was sitting in a chair in their office room.

"Zach and Bex. I think they are together now." She answered simply, "I saw them hugging and they have been ignoring me." She looked up at last and Dr Steve was staring his eyes wide, she found herself lost in his eyes again.

"When you are confused, focus on that. It will make the fact less painful." Cammie nodded, he was a professor in mental physiology after all, "Also, ignore them back. If they are going to be off with you I would not waste your time with them. Have dinner with me in my suite instead. Anything else?" Cammie nodded, for some reason something felt wrong but Cammie ignored it.

"Yes, Why my dad has been leaving hints to find mine and Zach's middle names. Also, why are you helping me?" Cammie asked.

"I'm not Cammie I am gaining information about you to send to the Circle."

"Okay."

"And don't tell anybody that Cammie." Dr Steve looked her in the eye and Cammie nodded again. He held her hand to help her up but a funny feeling came over her, heaviness. She fell back again, her eyes closing as Dr Steve nodded slowly, he moved his hand away and Cammie saw a small patch on her palm. "You will always agree with me Cammie, and you will always do as I say." Cammie blacked out.

…Time Skip 3 days…

"Cammie?" Bex asked 4 days later, she ignored her and wandered past and as most the group turned one way she turned the other and walked off, Bex glanced at Zach who nodded. They followed her as she looked at her watch and sighed, she pushed open a door and Zach saw Dr Steve inside, he smiled at Zach who glared back.

"No something is not right." Zach turned to Bex and she frowned. Both of them had noticed how off Cammie had been recently, Zach remembered a key moment in lesson where both of them had got a shock from her. He tried to remember what day it had been, but without the daily rising and setting of the sun he was losing it, Yesterday, he told himself.

"Cam, you alright?" Zach asked, he caught Cammie's wrist in his hand. She finally stopped and turned to look at him.

"Yeh, I'm getting better." She said lightly, Cammie never spoke like that, ever. Zach could see Bex listening to his conversation and could almost feel her annoyance. Cammie had been blanking her too.

"You weren't ill." Zach tried to catch her other hand but she moved it away, "Cammie, where are you going?"

"Dr Steve, he is helping me get better. Says we are nearing the end now." Cammie pulled her hand out and moved off down the corridor weaving between students in her hurry. Zach turned back to Bex and saw her with her head in her hands,

"Her eyes are wrong." Zach muttered to her, Bex nodded. He crouched down next to her and she gave up, she began to cry. Zach put an arm around her and she put both of hers around his neck. Zach didn't know why she was crying but for some reason it made sense, Cammie had come and gone in a matter of hours.

"Zach?" Bex asked waving her hand in front of his face, he snapped back to reality. He slid down the wall and put his head in his hands. She pushed herself out of her chair and sat next to him, "Why do the others not care?"

"None of the boys suspect him and the girls, I don't know. Girls are confusing, no offence."

"No, we are confusing." She rubbed Zach's shoulder gently, "I don't know why they aren't, all I can say is they are acting a bit weird. Liz hasn't been remembering everything and Macey didn't brush her hair yesterday. What has been going on?" She banged her own head of her knee. Zach put his hand in the way just before and didn't even flinch when she head butted it.

"We need to find out soon Bex, there is no light in Cammie's eyes and that scares me." Zach heard footsteps at the end of the corridor and looked up as the team walked past, all looking down the corridor and ignoring them. "Dr Steve has done something and we need to know what, not just to Cammie but to all of them. All the students are the same, why not us two? Why not the adults?"

"Wait, did you watch the nurse go into the room?" Bex suddenly sat up straight, her eyes bright. Zach shook his head, "Neither did i. I was watching Grant, and they all looked in afterward. We obviously, he… hypnotised."

"Bex this isn't science fiction." Zach deflated, "Drugs and hypnosis."

"No, the reason everyone else has been vaguely normal is because they are only hypnotised and Cammie has been…"

"Given that drug." Zach finished, just as Dr Steve and Cammie walked out. They both ignored them and Zach felt, even though he knew it wasn't her fault, his stomach drop. Bex must have been feeling the same as she lifted herself into her chair and rolled silently after them. Instead of following them however she rolled towards the hospital wing, Zach followed her. She banged in and went to the small room marked, Dr Grace Willow.

"Hi, Grace. We need an urgent word. Have you ever met Dr Steve?" Grace shook her head then shot up from behind her desk and ushered them in, "Can somebody do hypnosis by looking somebody in the eye?"

"Yes if they are in an emotional state, why?"

"We think the students are all being controlled by Dr Steve. Something is really not right." Zach finished by finally looking up at her.

"That's ridiculous guys, he is the Head of the CIA. Does it matter?" Grace sat down, a smile playing across her lips.

"How can we break hypnosis?" Bex asked, changing topic very fast.

"You have to break the bond between them, to keep hypnosis the stronger it gets the more and more time you have to spend looking at their eyes. You have to keep them apart long enough, or you need to do something that will break it. Not like an emotional memory, but something extremely shocking or scary that forces them to act by themselves." Grace reeled off like Liz, Zach noticed how dull her voice was and he pulled Bex out the room but she didn't need telling.

"She is being controlled too." Bex turned to her, her face pale, "We need to find Cammie." She sped off and Zach followed. The students ignored them totally, which suited them fine. Turning around a corner she flew into the lift and Zach slid down the banister rail gaining a dirty look from Madam Daneby, he noticed how dull her eyes were too. He landed perfectly at the bottom and Bex dragged him into a corner. Zach stood with Bex in the corner of the entrance hall watching Dr Steve and Cammie walk towards the door. Cammie watched intently as he put in the code and they entered the lift. Zach tried to turn to Bex but she had vanished, she had rolled between the guards and was hiding behind the sofa in the lift. Zach tried to follow but a group of students walked at him buffeting him.

Bex held her breath for the whole journey, when they walked out she silently followed and hid as Dr Steve shut the door of the shack. She waited as they walked off, she heard talking and the lift came back up with Zach standing in it. He moved to her side and then she nodded. He pulled the door open and pulled his gun out, they moved out and saw a horrible sight.

A helicopter, 5 guards and Cammie were standing there. Cammie had a gun in her hand and Dr Steve was talking to her, she nodded and stepped a few steps back. She raised the gun and placed it against her own head, Dr Steve smiled and Bex squealed. Zach slid into the shadows and the guards only noticed Bex, the all pointed their guns at her.

"CAMMIE!" She yelled, Cammie ignored her and continued to watch as Dr Steve climbed into the helicopter. A shot was heard and Dr Steve crumpled to the floor, everyone saw Zach standing with the gun in front of him. Cammie turned to face him her eyes wide and shocked, she didn't look at her hands but they began to move. She turned to the five guards and they all turned to her, they began to move forward, encircling her, and Cammie fired five bullets, one at each of them. She then dropped the gun and began to shake uncontrollably. Bex grabbed her hand and looked at the palm, pulling the sticker off she moved away. Cammie fell to the floor in the circle of dead men and Bex froze when she saw each man, a bullet though the same point on each of their heads, the centre of the forehead. Zach stepped over them and moved towards Cammie,

"Cammie?"

"I killed somebody." She whispered, "Run, I'm a murderer. I killed somebody." She began to rock and Bex watched, tears in her eyes as Zach crouched down next to her and took the gun from her hand and looked at it. It was extremely complicated, yet she had loaded and fired it five times in 5 seconds. He could just about work out how to load but it made no sense how she did it.

"Cam, you okay?" Bex rolled forward, obviously out of her depth, Zach shook his head.

"Go and find your parents or Townsend, if they are under his spell come back and don't tell anybody about anything." Bex nodded, obviously glad to be away from small pools of blood, and the two scared teenagers.

"I killed somebody, why am I here? I was talking to Dr Steve one moment then I started to feel ill, then I blacked out and I wake up to find myself surrounded by 5 men and I have a loaded gun in my hand and I SHOT THEM!" She screamed the last word, Zach reached under her and turned her so she was facing him. He was glad he didn't wear his favourite jacket and jeans as he and Cammie both had large blood splatters on them. He sat down and pulled her close, he remembered when he first shot somebody; his entire world had stopped for days afterwards. It had taken a year and three more murders for him to stop having the nightmares. Cammie had just been manipulated, played with and drugged before waking up to find herself surrounded and she panicked in a way no Gallagher Girl had before. "Zach, are you scared of me?" She managed, her face was dry from tears but her eyes were dark with horror.

"No."

"I am." She whispered, "I'm dangerous, I don't even…" Zach cut her off by pressing his lips to hers, pulling away he noticed how she had stopped shaking. She crawled over and curled into his side, they were facing away from the helicopter and the dead Dr Steve.

"He is dead Cammie, I know he is gone." Zach muttered into the top of her head, "I did it myself, I know he is gone. Forever."

Grace Baxter has seen most things, but two blood soaked teenagers in a circle of dead bodies with two bloody guns both having been fired, but that was one of the most heart breaking. The girl was curled into the side of the boy and was shaking furiously, he seemed to be talking but he was almost totally still. Bex rolled to the edge of the bodies and rolled around the edge and to the front, Cammie went to hug her but Bex jumped out her chair and hugged them both. They hugged back and then she just hugged Cammie who also hugged her back. She moved toward the small group and kicked aside the body and crouched down,

"Cammie?" Grace asked the girl, she jumped but Zach put her arm around her and she half relaxed again, Grace noticed how his arm was unusually tense, each, very strong, muscle was visible and Grace picked up what he was trying to say loud and clear, I am not letting go for anyone, I am not leaving her for anyone. Grace felt so sorry for the three of them, something had happened which she didn't understand, but they obviously did. "What happened Zach?"

"Where do you want to start?" Bex looked up from where her hand was interlinked with Cammie's.

"The very start, I don't care what is illegal, what is immoral and I really don't care who else got hurt." Grace sat down, making sure the patch of grass she was on was blood free, and turned to the three of them.

"When Dad took us to see the Nurse at the hospital about Buckingham everyone but us two watched the nurse re-enter the room. Dr Steve sat at the front of the school I guess, well he has been playing with everyone's minds, hypnosis and in Cammie's case a temporary controlling drug. All the students, all our friends, most the adults…"

"How do you know I'm not being controlled?" Grace asked, her teacher mode kicking in.

"Your eyes, they aren't dull like everyone else's." Zach answered simply.

"Anyway, we followed Cammie, she kept ignoring us, Zach even caught her hand and she just pulled her hand out." Bex said this as if it made the final point, when Grace seemed unaffected Bex continued, "She was ignoring us, on purpose, which is so unlike Cammie its odd. Well we worked out she had been given that drug that Townsend got and Dr Steve was controlling her more than everyone else, he got loads of information out of her and told her to… shoot herself out here as soon as he was gone. I don't know what happened, it all happened so fast."

"I shot Steve." Zach said, "Cammie's link was disrupted with her fear and she shot all of these men without her knowing how or what to do. I got her safe." Cammie still didn't smile but she did move slightly closer to Zach who hugged her tighter. Grace's teacher mode fell at her feet when she saw this, these teens were so broken and had nobody but each other, she had read Zach's file and she couldn't quite cope with how strong they both were.

"Zach, how did I use that gun? Why are you all not scared? I had that drug! I could do…" She began to cry and before Grace could even react Zach had turned her round and put his arms around her, Grace couldn't see either face but she knew Cammie was crying.

"You are safe Cam, don't worry about that we will solve that, we can solve Cammie. We can solve." Zach's voice was soft and quiet, Grace wanted so much to hug them both. Bex rolled over and whispered to her,

"Set off Code Red, please, it will make all the students react and hopefully break the trances. Then find some sort of way to sort all of this, sorry for bossing about Mum. Just…"

"Its fine babe, just make sure these two are safe." Grace stood up and Zach pulled Cammie closer. He didn't know why but he could tell she needed it, the five dead bodies around them seemed to be invisible compared to the pain he could somehow tell Cammie was feeling.

"How did you cope Zach?" She managed, she pulled away enough to see his face and taking a few deep breaths she sat back on the floor opposite him, "I mean I can't even…"

"I didn't Gallagher Girl, I went mad and Dr Steve just insisted I get over it. I was after all training to kill from age 11 upwards. But I went mad Cammie, I went mad." He finally looked into her eyes, blue, green and brown all in one. "I won't let that happen to you, you are too amazing." He watched closely as her lip twitched slightly, she didn't smile but she move back to his side and faced Bex.

"Cammie, I am not gonna ask any questions but one. Is that okay?" She pushed herself out of her chair which rolled backwards but one of the bodies stopped it almost perfectly, "Oh thanks! Anyway, when did you first feel odd?"

"When is first saw Dr Steve." She answered, her hands were shaking less now but every time she saw one of the men she felt her stomach flip and she felt sick.

"This chapter is over Cammie, that is another man out." Bex reached forward and took Cammie's hand, she nodded slowly then faster.

"Am I evil now?" She asked, it sounded like such a childish question but Zach couldn't stand it, "I mean…"

"No Cammie, those men were about to shoot you and then Zach! Zach shot Dr Steve too." Bex pointed and Zach sighed.

"They wouldn't have just let me go Cammie, the circle hates us and they will want loyalty from me or death. You saved our lives." Voices came from behind them and Zach didn't bother turning and neither did Cammie. A woman screamed, Grace hushed her and 5 footsteps rushed forward.

"What has been going on!?" Macey squealed, "We have been ignored by you and Cammie vanished on us and now Grace is telling me to come up so you can explain!"

"Bex? Why did you just leave us?" Grant asked, a certain whip in his voice. Bex spun around and hauled herself into her chair.

"Guys, follow me. I will explain." She rolled off and Cammie was thankful. She rested her head on Zach's shoulder as they looked off down the road and between the trees they had come though. The sun was low in the sky but it wasn't setting yet. Zach rested his head back on top of hers,

"I still need to take you out from those months ago, when we were kids hiding under your jacket."

"We haven't got much older Zach."

"Yes but we have done enough, seen enough and we still have enough to do to make it feel like 1000 years ago that I hid under your coat and finally got round to asking you out."

"And even longer that I ran for my life in a code red from my future boyfriend." Cammie finished and turned to look at Zach as an agent grabbed one of the dead men and dragged him off. He smiled and at last she lightly smiled back.

I think i will just clear my log up xxx