DARKNESS

DARKNESS | Chapter 20

"Follow your instincts."

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CHAPTER TWENTY

Dreading the inevitable exertion associated with the task of climbing a tree, I jump to grasp the first branch.

Over the past couple days, the Immortals have been telling me I'm still too weak to be of help and should remain bedridden. Marcus insists it is important I remain in my small 3x3 tent to keep out of sight, stating that the forests are now highly dangerous and I'm a valuable human being.

I feel more like an asset.

Using my anger as a driving force, I manage to haul myself up onto the branch, entire body aching as I rest my bruised stomach against it. Gradually, I manage to manoeuvre myself into a standing position, seeking the next available branch.

The Immortals are self-confident. They rank themselves above everything else, just as humans do. But what makes me any different from them, aside from my so-called shorter lifespan? Just because I'm not going to live for all of eternity does not mean I'm not capable. Just because I don't have the same strength, skill, or speed, it doesn't mean I can't lend a hand.

I never asked to be the Destroyer/ Saviour. I never asked for Ashleigh to murder my parents. I never asked to be dragged into this new way of life.

Yet here I am, in the middle of it all and I'm determined to prove these Immortals wrong. Putting them in their place sounds like a damn good idea right now. There are more than a few things I'd like to change, I can say that much.

Grabbing the tree trunk as though for a hug, I move my left foot around it and onto the opposite branch. Slowly, I use my arms to shift my body over before finally swinging my right foot around. From there, I haul myself once again onto the branch above me and finally sit, looking out over the entity of the Rebellion encampment.

Sometimes it crosses my mind whether or not my allegiances lie in the right place. Are the Rebels manipulating me? Who are the Illuminants really?

No matter what I do or how I view my situation, I don't feel like I fit in. I'm like an English-speaker stuck in France; everybody around me knows what they're doing. They all have a purpose. Yet I'm just here, now struggling to comprehend even my own language.

"Mind if I join you?"

I jump at the suddenness of the voice, almost managing to fall from my branch. Once I've steadied myself again, I glance down to see Kale looking up at me with a small smile on his face. I've barely seen him these past few days, and I can feel the lack of interaction having a strain on me, courtesy of our Attachment.

"Go for it," I murmur.

With a definite level of experience, Kale expertly swings himself up onto the first branch and is quick to scale around the tree, pull himself up one more branch, and sit beside me. I take comfort in the fact that, for once, I didn't do something the hard way; I climbed the tree exactly how Kale had.

"I wasn't wrong when I dubbed you 'Tree Boy'," I murmur, earning a genuine laugh from Kale.

"It comes with practice," he tells me. "You'll get there."

Rather gloomily, I respond, "It doesn't feel like that."

"You don't need to listen to them," he tells me after a few seconds, before adding, "although you're obviously not listening to them already by being out here. I heard you were confined to your tent."

I look sideways at him, smirking slightly. "Do I really listen to anyone?"

"Shit no," he murmurs, chuckling slightly.