Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
( 43 一 MAKE UP KISSES. )
It had been days and Clara was still yet to speak to Vida. Clara didn't even try, which she knew she probably should have but she just felt so betrayed by her. She didn't even know what she had done. She knew that Vida had been pissy with others in the group too but that seemed to have cleared up.
Vida wasn't one to keep her opinions to herself, Clara knew that. That's why she was so worried when Vida didn't even insult her, just gave her the silent treatment. To a certain extent, it scared Clara, maybe she had done something seriously wrong.
What made matters worse was that Clara was leaving in a few days. Thanks to some of Clancy's intel they'd found out that the government was planning on closing down Thurmond by the first of March. That meant all the records would be shredded and the evidence destroyed. Everything that proved the true cruelty they all experienced there would be demolished.
Not only had they been wronged so deeply, mistreated so violently, but they were trying to cover it all up as well.
But they weren't about to let that happen. Cole and Ruby had been holed up for days planning out every meticulous detail for the hit they'd be carrying out in five weeks. They'd perform two; one on a smaller camp modelled similarly to Thurmond and the other on Thurmond itself. But to do the hits successfully they needed at least a dozen more kids who would then also need to be trained. That meant Cole was sending out teams as soon as he could to bring kids in.
Clara had signed up for the first retrieval mission. They'd be searching for a tribe of kids that had left East River before Clara and the others had arrived. Supposedly they were holed up in an abandoned house in St Helena, only about a two hour drive from Lodi.
They got all that information from the files Clancy had kept.
Clara was supposed to leave the next day with Liam, a boy named Tex, a Yellow, and a girl named Zahara, a Blue. Other than Lee they were all League trained and so Cole was pretty confident in their abilities. Clara was surprised she'd even been allowed to go but after a humbling amount of begging Chubs cleared her for the field. He didn't fail to voice his protest though, claiming there was still more healing for her ribs to do.
Clara just wanted to get out of the Ranch. She felt completely suffocated down there.
Walking back from the kitchen after dinner she was left feeling tense. She'd been too nervous to eat most of her dinner and ended up picking through it for a few minutes before giving up. After emptying her tray and giving it back to the kitchen crew Clara started making her way back down the hall toward her room.
Clara could hear footsteps coming up behind her but she ignored them expecting it to be a random kid. Imagine her surprise when she turned around and found Vida standing there, looking the most uncomfortable Clara had ever seen her.
