Only mine | The Darkest Minds fanfiction

Chapter 3 - midnight sky -

I stirred. I had a massive headache. I smelled smoke and fire. I wasn't that cold anymore. But I still felt very dizzy. Too dizzy to open my eyes. Was I dead? Is this was death feels like?

My whole body ached. My body felt way too old for being just fifteen years old. The memories of what had happened before I fell came back to be an instant. Gunshots, shouting kids and blood everywhere. So much blood. And so many dead.

Panic rose inside my chest making it hard for me to continue breathing. My chest felt tight, my muscles tensed. I stirred.
„Hey, easy there" a soft, male voice said. „Can you open your eyes? You hit your head pretty hard." I recognised that voice. It belonged to Liam.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked into caring looking deep blue ones. „Thank god. We were sick worried you might not wake up ever again." he smiled and brushed one strand of hair out of my face.

„How long have I been out?" I asked Liam, my voice was pretty hoarse and I tried to clear my throat which made my headache only worse. I closed my eyes again, covering them with my cold hands to sooth them a little bit.

„2 days. Are you in pain? Chubs managed to steal some medicine before we left. There are some painkillers. Do you need one?" he asked caringly. I heard him get up and come back.

„Here." he handed me a pill and a bottle of water. „This will help.". I swallowed the pill and drank the whole water bottle in one big gulp.

„Thanks. Again." i opened my eyes and looked around me. I lied on the ground, a campfire directly in front of me. To my left snored the dark skinned boy I had escaped with. He must have saved me. Then, I saw a little girl between him and me. She was a tiny asian girl with a razor cut instead of actual hair. She must have been the girl from the infirmary!

Right next to me sat Liam. My head was rested on a backpack. Where did he get a backpack from?
We were still in the forest. But much deeper inside of it.
„We are trying to get out of here by tomorrow. We need to follow the streets. Hopefully we can manage to find a car or so. But we need to keep on moving. They will be searching for us everywhere" Liam explained softly.

„What will happen then? What's the plan? Do you have a plan?" I asked. I needed hope. I needed something.

„I don't know. We could go to Chubs grandparents. Or we could hit the road and live there for the rest of our lifes. Just kidding. Everyone has a place to go. A home. The girl sleeping next to Chubs is Zu. She doesn't talk. Not that I couldn't understand, but we don't know where she belongs or wants to go to." he said. Zu looked peaceful asleep. And so beautiful, precious. I just knew right then and there that I would protect her at any cost. She would have a better life.

„do you have a place to go?" Liam asked softly after a few minutes. I didn't respond directly. „I have family. But they are probably still afraid of us kids. I don't know if I would be too welcomed there. What about you?" I asked, trying to get away from the topic of my family. I didn't want to deal with that right now.

„It's complicated. I need to do some things before I can return home. But I'll be 18 in a few months. I should be fine by then." he answered. I looked up at him. Eighteen? I didn't realise there were kids that old in the camps. But then I remembered again that I never saw anyone beside the girls in my dorm at Thurmond.

I looked up at him. He had dark bags under his eyes and many stubbles on his face. He looked older than he was. War does that to you. And he looked tired.

„Why aren't you sleeping?" I asked him concerned. He was looking after me all that time. I didn't want him to be miserable with all of the lack of sleep just because of me. I wasn't worth that.

„I needed to make sure you were okay. And that they were okay" he pointed to chubs and zu „i can't let anything happen to them. It's too dangerous out here. I don't need to sleep that much." he answered what I thought was truthfully.

„I'm awake now. You can go to sleep. You look tired. Please." I begged him and looked up into his bright shining deep blue eyes. The fire reflected in them and they shined even brighter. I could have looked into that eyes forever.

Liam just smiled down at me. „It's okay. You sleep. You need that. You got pretty bruised up, darlin'" he grinned as he gently stroked through my hair.

„Nice jumper by the way" he gestured to his jumper I was still wearing. „I happen to have one that looks just the same, but I must have left it somewhere" he grinned as I blushed.

I was glad it was so dark that he couldn't see my red face. „I hope he keeps you warm." he said after a pause and I smiled up to him and nodded. His jumper did keep me warm and cozy. It smelled like pine and a hint of cinnamon and herb and now a little bit of dirt and old blood.

Blood. I felt sick to my stomach again. „You okay? You look pale" Liam was concerned again. It was a little bit cute how he looked after us. He barely knew me and still was this nice.

„Yeah. Its okay I guess. It's just.. I feel.. I guess I might get sick." I said as I got up. His eyes widened and he helped me up. I stumbled a few feet away from our camp and bend over to clear my stomach. I couldn't get the pictures of all the dying kids and the blood out of my head. It was too much.

Liam stood behind me to hold my hair back. He rubbed my back in circles in a soothing way. When I finished vomiting, I kneeled down, to dizzy to stand up straight and tried not to look at what just came out of me.
Liam handed me a water bottle I didn't know where he got it from.

„Do you feel better?" he asked after I thoroughly cleaned my mouth with the water and knelt down next to me to help me up. As I stood up, I got dizzy again and fell into Liam who immediately supported me and laid his arm around my waist.

He guided me back to the campfire and after sitting me down, he grabbed some more logs and threw them into the fire. Quickly he grabbed another bottle of water and sat down next to me. „Here. You have to drink a lot. Couldn't get anything really into you when you were out."

It was deep in the night. I looked up into the stars and smiled. The sky was clear that night. Liam looked up as well. „my dad and I, we used to watch the stars together. He showed me all the zodiac signs up there. Look" and I pointed in the sky showing him all the signs I could remember.

„Wow" he mouthed, amazed by that. I pulled my knees to my chest, hugging them. I shivered again, the cold february night gave me chills. „I'm sorry" he said. „what for?" i wondered.

„For all of this. I just wanted to help to bad and get us all out. I forgot about basic things like.. cold and weather and food and stuff. Because of me we are out here freezing to death." he smiled sadly. „Because of you, Liam, we are out here. We have a chance. A chance at living, at freedom. You gave us a life. There's nothing to be sorry about" I said and tried to hide a yawn.

„Come here" Liam laid my head in his lap and got another jumper of his to cover my legs, trying to warm them. „Sleep a little bit. I'll be here when you wake up." he whispered some more but I didn't hear any more because the first comfortable sleep in a long time washed over me and soon I was cuddled into a boy I barely knew but gave me a sense of peace and safety like I've never felt before.