Divagate

Chapter 29

    Darwin
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"Home?" Lincoln asks, more to himself than me. His eyes widen with the realization and he jumps to his feet. "No, no, no, that wasn't home. A home doesn't stab you with needles until it hurts to move. Or make you do so many endurance tests that you pass out. And it certainly doesn't keep you under high-level security 24/7."

He stares at me, his gaze demanding a response. Perfect once again.

"I know I wasn't happy, but at least I was ok." I counter with a sniff. Lincoln gapes at me,

"Please tell me you're kidding." He urges. I don't even bother shaking my head. Instead, I look away, favoring a few leaves blowing across the forest floor over Lincoln's gaze. At this, camp falls deathly silent.

The fact that it's taking him this long to respond is scaring me. Did I take this too far?

Just as I'm about to confess, the silence is interrupted by Lincoln letting out an incredulous laugh,

"You're delusional!" He throws up his hands and rakes them through his curly hair with a long exhale. In one swift motion, he drops his hands and stomps towards Siggy's tent. "Don't move." Lincoln commands with a stern look and a point.

Mission accomplished.

With a quiet sigh, I let my body cool just a bit to give myself a short break. Despite all of the training Myer Labs made me do, heating up that hot in such a short amount of time will never be easy.

Finally, Lincoln emerges from the tent, carrying Charlotte's medical bag.

"There's gotta be something in here that can help you." He says, dropping it at my feet. Growing anticipation overtakes the exhaustion at the sight of the bag being opened.

"It's mostly first aid stuff, which is of no use to us." Lincoln sighs. "Wait..." he pulls out a small, black case with the Myer Laboratories logo emblazoned on the front.

He gently slides the zipper along the edge until it opens like a book. His eyebrows lace together as he holds up an empty syringe, "that's not scary at all."

"What else is in there?" I ask, knowing exactly what it's for. Lincoln carefully returns the syringe to its place before investigating the rest of the case's contents.

"Three more syringes, some replacement needles, and four little bottles. They're labeled, but I have no idea what they mean." He squints a bit while reading the labels. "Oh, this one's missing some."

As he takes out the bottle for a closer look, I notice that the lid is the same color as the needle end of the syringe Lincoln was holding. That must be the "knock out" Charlotte used on me.

Lincoln knows about that, right? Lia knew, and she tells Lincoln just about everything, so he must know. As if he was reading my mind, Lincoln looks up from the case,

"Did she really use 'knock out' on you?" He practically whispers, like he's going to get in trouble for saying it. I nod slowly, continuing to stare at the black case.

With a shudder, Lincoln snaps the case closed and zips it shut,

"I'm not touching that ever again."

My body relaxes slightly in relief. Ok, I'm glad he's not considering knocking me out. Even if he did, I don't think he would ever forgive himself.

He resumes his search through the bag, removing things like a box of gloves and various packages of bandages to make more room. He finds another case similar to the syringe one, only it's red. Upon further inspection, it's filled with normal first aid tools.