*Edited Version*

Chapter 8: I only hear Silence

Cammie's P.O.V.

"I can't take it anymore!" I shouted.

Zach glanced at me through the rearview mirror wearing a look I had rarely seen on his face, or at least a look that was rarely directed at me. Annoyance.

"Why is it so quiet?" I asked Macey.

She shrugged. "Maybe it's a guy thing."

I slumped in my seat and decided to focus my attention on the passing figures outside of the car. "I've been trained to deal with the hardest conditions any one could possibly be exposed to, yet I can't handle silence."

"They have been quiet for awhile," Macey pointed out. "Do you they speak telepathically?"

Zach groaned and he hit the brake causing car to come to a loud stop and all of us to lunge forward.

"What the hell?" Macey shouted.

Zach ignored her and looked over at me. "If you want to talk so badly, feel free to get out the car. This isn't supposed to be fun, so don't expect us to sit around and chat pretending that everything's fine when our friends may just be on the verge of dying."

I had never seen Zach so upset before, but it didn't make me back down. I leaned back in my seat and said "don't you think we know that? Can't you just let us pretend for five minutes. Let us pretend that we have normal lives, cause god knows we don't. Let us have one moment where we don't have to worry if the guy sitting in front of us eating a hamburger is an assassin sent to capture us. How about you stop pretending that you're all tough?"

"If you can't handle silence, then how do you expect to handle this business?" He countered. "You can't pretend because that one moment where you forget who you are is the moment you could be struck down. If you don't get that then by all means get out of the car and have fun 'pretending.'"

Zach's words hit me hard and I turned away from him. I didn't want to admit that he was right, so I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "We should go, we have a long ride ahead of us."

He didn't say anything in response. Instead he turned the key in the ignition and started the car. I opened my eyes and looked at his face through the rearview mirror, but it didn't give any clue as to what he was thinking. He was expressionless. He was holding the weight of the world on his shoulders.

(***)

As soon as I felt the car jerk forward my eyes opened.

I sat up and immediately noticed that the car was on the wrong side of the road. My eyes shifted to Zach, who was supposed to be driving, and saw that he was asleep with his head on the steering wheel.

"Zach!" I yelled.

His head shot up and his eyes widened as realization hit him.

"Buckle up!" he shouted.

"Wait, Zach-," I began, but it didn't matter because that's when I saw what he saw. Two trucks barreling down towards us, blocking any route to safety.

Zach cursed in Russian under his breath. My mind was too clouded to make out exactly what he said, and yet I heard a name leave his lips. He had said Caleb.

"What's happening?" I asked.

Zach shook his head. "They found us."

And then, without any warning, Zach jerked the steering wheel to the left.

The car flipped over and tumbled down the cliff side.

The world spun and I couldn't help but think that that was what it was like to be trapped in a dryer. Of course, there was probably a lot less screaming when it came to drying clothes.

I turned my head and noticed that Macey was wide awake now. The car was no longer silent and I craved for what had been torturing me hours before to return.

Nothing made sense.

All of a sudden the car stopped with a loud bang and we were upside-down. I unbuckled my seatbelt and kicked opened the door. I climbed out followed by Macey who was freaking out.

I stood there and watched as Macey tried to get Grant and Zach out the car.

I stood there and watched as flames erupted in front of me.

I stood there and watched as she tried to save them.

I just stood there and watched.