Cammie POV
"Pick up, pick up." I muttered nervously to myself, listening the phone ring on the other end of the line, seconds ticked by very slowly as I watched Alexa talk to Anne through the window but could hear nothing. Finally the ringing stopped and a voice that made me smile said:
"Hello?..." I laughed with relief and so did Liz. "Oh my god Cammie?" I could hear rushing to the phone after that, she wasn't alone. "Hold on Cam, I'll put you on speaker." There was a click and a buzz and then everything seemed louder on the other end.
"Cammie!" Macey yelled down the line, happy to hear my voice by the sounds of things.
"Macey, Liz. It is so good to hear from you." I said, still smiling. Zach looked out his window and I gave him a thumbs up, he sighed in relief.
"You too." They both said together. "Say, where are you? Are you alright? Seth and Zach were meant to meet us and we were going to all come get you but they never showed. Are you with them?" Too many questions.
"Yeah I'm with them and we're all fine, Bex is still in the hospital though back in Castor but at least she's safe. Look, we really don't have much time on this end and I can't talk for long but we really need to know where to meet up with you guys and decide where to go next." I explained hurriedly, Seth imitated a clock on his wrist through the door window, time was precious if we wanted to evade the Circle. We were treading on thin ice and if we stopped, we died.
"Then you'll want to hear that we were able to radio into your mum and Bex's parents with this old radio we found in this cabin in the woods." Anna said, she sounded like she was shouting from somewhere else. "It turns out that most of the girls managed to get out and the majority of them are in a large MI6 safe house about 80 or so miles from Caster village, we were heading the right way." Macey filled in.
"But Cam.." Liz said, the phone crackled.
"What is it?" I asked, afraid of the answer myself.
"There's a body count at Gallagher Academy, from what we've watched on the news and from what the other girls that made it to the safe house say, well, the bodies are piling up. Tine, Courtney and Eva made it to the base and said that they lost three of the girls they were with along the way due to injuries or run ins with Circle members, they only survived because that Order of Fourtis or whatever decided to intervene, I'm with Grant now actually." Liz paused for a breather and Grant called regards from across a room so it seemed.
"But most of the girls are okay right?" I hated the idea that this was partially on me, that they were after me and Alexa to begin with, if only we had just turned ourselves in the body count might have been none existent.
"Cam you can't blame yourself you know." Macey said sympathetically. "This isn't on you." I wished I believed her but part of me didn't, I knew part of Alexa didn't either, we both felt responsible for what happened. I pinched the bridge of my nose and took a breath.
"Yeah I know." I told them, only half meaning it.
"We're serious, this isn't your fault." Liz added, I could hear her typing something on a computer. "Okay, I'm checking the route to the base now, if you follow the signs back to Castor village you can pick up Bex and then from there I will text you the route once I know you have her, just to make sure no one else has you." I understood, if we got caught the Circle would have access to the rest of the girls from the school.
"Yeah okay, I'm pretty sure Alexa knows the way back from here, we should be good." I said, "but we kind of don't have a car of such." I thought for a moment, if Anne still lived in Castor village then she could safely give us a ride back hopefully without the possibility of a tail...
"Cam you still with us?" Macey awoke me from my thoughts.
"Mmm?" I hummed. "Oh sorry, I was just thinking. We can make it to the hospital okay to collect Bex and then we can swipe a car from the parking lot out back." I said the words so naturally, I didn't feel too bad about taking a car anymore and that felt strange, but it needed to be done.
"Hopefully Bex's condition won't be too bad and she can just leave with you but she was shot and they won't let her leave without a bill to pay." Liz said, typing something rapidly. "It will cost a lot of money actually and given the fact that she was just left there and you and Alexa disappeared on everyone there might well be police too."
"Great." I muttered angrily, just what we needed. Could we ever take a break?
"Tell me about it, Liz is looking at the lay out of the hospital now, call us on a pay phone when you arrive and we can arrange how you're going to get her out." Macey informed me. "Hold on, Townsend's back." I heard the phone exchange hands and footsteps walk away.
"Are you all well? What happened?" I told him briefly what had happened at the hospital and with Collins, leaving out the part about the list Alexa had stored in her brain till we knew more and had a safer connection. "We would come get you but we're only about 5 miles away from Mr and Mrs Baxters and Ms Morgan."
"I understand, we can handle it." I told him confidently.
"You always do." I could hear him smile as he hung up the line, I found myself smiling too.