The Change (The Alliance #2)

Chapter 17

Mia's POV

"Evelyn sent me a letter."

I stare at Dave wide eyed before running up and snatching the letter from him. With trembling hands, I open the letter and read.

Dave,

The boys still alive. If you want him, you better come soon before we dispose of him. No weapons.

She writes down the address, but my eyes are too watery I can't see. I drop the letter, a mixture of emotions running through me.

Hes alive.

Archer is alive.

Archer is alive?

"How," is all I can manage to say.

"I don't know. I also don't know if they are lying. So, Mia you have to stay here. I'll grab some people and we'll leave right away." Dave walks away, while I stand there, utterly confused.

"Oh my god. Archer." I whisper, my lips almost curving into a smile. "God dammit, Archer." He did it again. He's alive. He fought, he's still alive. I can't believe it. I laugh inside, imagining Archer with me. His insanely blue eyes looking right at me, like there's nothing in this world his eyes would rather look at. I want to hear his stubborn comments, his caring personality towards me.

I want Archer more than anything.

That kiss. That one little kiss that I want so badly again. I need that. I need everything Archer. Because I'm no Mia without him.

I'm so happy I decide to go check on Dana and tell her the news. I barge into the doctors room and see her sitting up, worried.

"Dana, Archer is..."

"Adam." She blurts out, her face paler than ever.

"What?"

"Adam. Adam volunteered to get Archer." She says, her voice shaky. I freeze. Adam...

Of course he would help her Archer, they were close. But Dave didn't know if this mission was safe...

"Adam isn't dumb. He knows what he's doing, he'll be fine." I say, trying to w Dana up. She shrugs, "Adam is dumb."

I smile a little. "You got me there."

***

It's been two hours. Two long-going horrid hours. I'm sitting outside at a table with Casper. We haven't spoke the whole time, besides in the very beginning when I told him Archer is coming. We've both just been sitting here, tapping our feet and looking outside the fence.

"You really think he's still alive?" Casper breaks the silence.

"Yes, I do. You've known him longer than me, do you think so?" I ask.

"Yes-but," Casper stumbles. "the government is pretty bad. He might be pretty damaged."

"We're all damaged." I say, right before I see the black van coming towards us. I stand up and head towards the fence, my whole body shaking. A lot of people surround the fence now, some knowing what's about to happen, and others just curious.

The van pulls in and I see Dave get out. He glances at me, and he gives me a sad smile.

A sad smile. What's that suppose to mean? Is he alive? Is he not?

"Hey everyone step back!" Dave yells, and we all do. I see Adam get out of the van, his mind elsewhere. What's going on?

Then I see him.

Actually I can barely see him.

He's in grey sweatpants and a black sweatshirt, his hood up and covering half his face. He's looking straight down, and stops next to Dave.

"Archer!" I yell. I can't help it, he's here! In rough shape, but he's here. He doesn't even look up, so I walk right up to him. "Archer. It's me."

No answer. Is he deaf?

"Hey!" I say cheerfully, quickly taking his hood off his head. He looks up nervously as I gasp.

His face is so pale, so white, besides the dirt. The bags under his eyes look black, fake. His eyes aren't even that blue, their grey and cloudy. His face is more narrow, skinnier than when I saw him last. He looks...sick. Looks like a corpse, almost.

"Hey," I reach for his arm, but he pushes me away and puts his hood back on.

"This is your fault." He mumbles, and starts to walk. I stand there frozen, taking in what he said. Casper walks up to him. "Hey, come on Ar."

Suddenly Archer strikes, swinging his arm at Casper. Casper doesn't fall, but Archer keeps swinging at him, until people have to pry him off.

"Where were you!" Archer screams. "Where were you?! Huh?! Shit, let me go!" People are all around Archer now, calming him down.

I can't move, nor can Casper. Everyone stands there, watching Archer enter the doctors room.

"It's not his fault." I hear Adam, and I turn around and face him. "What?"

"You should of seen him. Mia, he's so desperate, so hurt. He sobbed on my shoulder for a good ten minutes."

"He said it was my fault-"

"Give him time. Please." Adam says, and I slightly nod. But tears fall from my eyes.

It's my fault. He thinks it's my fault.

"Shit." Casper says, grabbing his cheek. "I think he got stronger."

"Did you hear his voice?" I ask.

"It doesn't belong to him, that's for sure." Casper says.

"He hates me. He hates us." I say, still in total shock.

"He's just angry. Archer gets angry real fast, he just has to take a minute, catch his breath." Casper says reassuringly.

I nod and walk away, unable to hide my tears. It's all my fault. He truly hates me, and overall I'm shocked. I knew he was mad, but I thought we would forgive me. I thought he would be happy to see me.

He didn't even care about me at all.

I wipe my tears and find Dave outside the doctors room.

"Sorry Mia. About all that." He begins.

"What's wrong with him?" Is all I can ask.

"I don't know. When we got there and saw him, I didn't know what to think. He's in bad shape, the doctors are checking up on him now. He's a little crazy in the head-"

"Is it permanent?"

"No. He's just really bad right now. Give it time. At least we got him back."

I nod, but all I want to do is go in the room and hug him, tell him it's alright. That I'm sorry.

Because I am sorry. It may not even be all my fault, but I am sorry. And Dave is right. At least we have him back.

And right now, that's all that matters.

HEYYYYY!!!

So FINALLY another chapter! Sorry it's so late, life has been busy. BUT STILL PLZ COMMENT AND VOTE!!! It realllyyyyyyy means a lot to me :)

Thank you!💙