These Different Times (Nick Clark FF)

10.

here's to finally reaching double digits! *pulls party poppers* i kinda want to start a little Q&A.

if you have any questions, please feel free to leave them here! Right here!

**

It was just after we had finished our dinner for the night that somebody knocked on the door.

One minute I was cleaning the dishes with Ofelia, the next, the two of us were being herded into the living room with everyone else.

"What's going on?" I queried, shrugging the soldier's meaty hand from my shoulder.

"We're here for those that Doctor Exner would like transferred." the man who I recognised to be one of the soldier's from earlier said, looking down at the clipboard in his hands.

"That would be me and my wife," Daniel said as he pushed by both me and my mom, "Daniel and Griselda Salazar."

The soldier shook his head, "No. I have three names on here; Griselda Salazar, Nicholas Clark and Taylor Nelson."

"What?" my mom cried as the guy behind me's hand once again clamped down on my shoulder, "There has to be some mistake!"

"I-I'm not sick," I tried to explain when the soldier began ushering towards the door, "I'm not injured either. I don't unders-mom!"

"Taylor!"

Everyone was yelling as I looked for Nick, spotting him just in time to see him getting hit by the butt of another's gun, "No!"

I managed to get free from my chaperone, rushing to where he was sitting holding his hand to his cheek, letting out a yell when I got grabbed by two others.

He looked up at the sound of me, immediately pushing himself up from the floor, "Hey! Let her go! What're you doing? She's not sick!"

The two of us struggled as we were tugged out the door and I managed to elbow the guy holding me in the face, which had him shoving me forward onto the ground.

"Hey!" Nick snapped, "Don't shove her like that, man!"

"Taylor!"

I looked over my shoulder to when I was hauled back to my feet, seeing both our mom's and Daniel being restrained.

They put Nick in the back of the large truck they had brought first, pushing me in behind him which caused me to land practically on top of him.

"Wait," he pleaded, gently moving me off of him and he crawled towards the door, "Please, where are you taking us?"

"Sir, get back."

"We're not sick!" Nick said and I could sense that he was getting frustrated.

The young man who was about to close the door obviously sensed it too and his hand went to his gun, "I will use force if need be. Now get back from the door."

"Nick," I said softly, hand on his arm, "C'mon, it's not worth it."

"But we're not," he argued, looking at me again.

"I know." I agreed, feeling tears welling up in my eyes, "But you, we have to be strong. 'Cause if you're not, then I'm not going to be able to do it either."

He took one last glance towards the house, where all the people who cared about us could only watch as the army took us away.

Letting out a breath, he came back and sat beside me so he was leaning against the truck's wall.

"Nick," I whispered when the truck started up, "Are we gonna die?"

"No," he whispered, resting his head on mine when I lay against his shoulder, "We're gonna be fine."

I could only hope that he was right.

**

Along the way to our destination, we stopped a few times and soon, the truck was full of other people; those who actually looked as if they were ill and then there was others who were just like Nick and I.

The two of us had moved to the corner, staying huddled together until we came to a stop, panicked whispers immediately filling the small space.

"It's okay," Nick whispered as I flinched, taking my hand when the doors opened, "We're gonna be okay."

He stood in front of me when the soldier who pushed me earlier came into view, "Okay, everyone out!"

One by one, everyone shuffled out and looking up, I saw that we were outside of a large building - it must be the hospital. I took a quick glance around the area, spotting the fence that was surrounding the area like the one that was back home.

"Where are we?" I asked as the soldiers started leading us inside, grabbing one of their arms when he didn't reply.

"Take your hands off of me." he growled and I quickly let go, "You're in our treatment facility."

"But we are not injured or sick," I protested, stopping when he spun around to face me, "Please. You've taken us away from our families."

His face softened slightly and he sighed, "Look kid, I didn't make the list, okay? Exner did. Besides, you're probably more safe here than you were there."

I stared after him as he walked away, what could he possibly mean by that?

Another woman tapped me on the shoulder, "I heard that they were taking people who they felt could be threats."

"Really?" I turned my attention to her, "Where did you hear that?"

"We heard it from the people taking care of our safe zone." she said, shrugging, "I just didn't think that I'd be classed as a threat."

Nick came to stand beside me as the soldier came back and he looked down at me, "My name is Dave. We're going to be keeping all of you in our containment unit for now. You'll be monitored overnight for any changes."

I didn't really think about what we'd be walking into, but the place was worse that I thought it'd be.

There was square pen like rooms as far as I could see and there was a strong smell of urine and sickness in the air.

"You," Dave said, pointing at Nick, "You're in here. Girl, you're not."

In the cell, there was a sharply dressed man sitting on the bench that was provided, watching us closely.

We immediately felt for each other's hand, me gripping his tightly when he shook his head at the man in front of us, "No. You're not splitting us up."

Dave looked us up and down for a couple of seconds and sensing that we were going to kick up shit if we were indeed separated, he let out a defeated sigh, "Fine, both of you in."

Nick led me in, me wincing when the door was slammed shut behind us.

"Hey, girl?" Dave said quietly and I looked up at him.

"My name is Taylor."

"Taylor," he echoed, "We'll be asking you some questions in a bit."

"Why her?" Nick asked.

"That's classified."

The guy by us smirked and shook his head.

This was clearly going to be a rather interesting night.