Vindicated (Camren)

Chapter 21: Refugees

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"Stan? Stan, wake up...please... Stan!"

He felt a pair of hands shaking him awake and heard a familiar voice creeping into his ears. At first, it was inaudible; simply a sound that didn't make any sense to him as if he was stuck inside a deep well and everything was a meaningless vibrating echo. A few shakes more and gradually, the sound beame clearer. A minute or so passed by then finally, he realized that she was actually calling out his name.

"D-Dinah?" he mumbled while frailly pushing himself up from the grass. How the hell did he end up down there again? And whether it was his bones or muscles, he could feel something in his body was aching.

"Thanks to all saints in hell, you're alive!" exclaimed the blonde pulling him for one long hug. Never mind that he actually felt groggy especially with the very reckless manner of expressing her emotion of relief. She almost lost him, so it was only proper and rational to hold on to him and never ever let go.

"Those fucking Syndics, I thought they've killed you, Stan."

Syndics. The events from few hours ago had come flashing back into his head all at once - Camila was rushing out of the diner; Ariana announcing that Lauren was in danger; the two of them hurrying to the Jauregui manor to help out in the rescue fighting off as many Syndics as they could handle; he finally found Camila and Lauren in the backyard, but a shiny black car had gone to chase them off; he started to run after them as well in a desperate attempt to save his sister, but another car hit him hard from behind causing him to fly around in the air then tumble down to the grass unconscious.

"What happened?" he asked referring to the events after he had blacked out.

Suddenly, Dinah fell silent. She was biting her lower lip and wore a pair of puppy dog eyes, a sign that she knew something she wasn't supposed to say. It was either a confidential thing or a really bad news. And Stan needed to know.

"Y-You're badly hurt," she began taking a glance at the scratch on his gorgeous face. "Come on, we should let you take a rest."

"No," he refused. He forced to get back on his feet, a struggle against himself, enduring the pain oozing from his possibly fractured knee.

"It's not over yet. Nobody's resting until we win this fight, understand?"

"But they're already gone, Stan, all of them. We're the only ones left here."

"Guys?" Niall ran out of the manor building towards the pair. He anxiously held up his tracker device for them to see.

"The police are on their way. Somebody from the neighborhood must have called already. We have to get out of here... fast."

"Where are the others?" inquired Stan.

The two IT experts quickly exchanged looks. Niall quickly turned his heels to the side brisk walking away from his remaining friends much to Dinah's dismay. As he ran off, he left her an unfortunate message, "You explain to him while I go get the car."

After glaring back at his back, Dinah took a deep breath and again bit her lower lip as she turned to face the injured man who unluckily had lots of questions in mind.

"They freed the two secretaries but killed the other woman," she started with the least significant information. It was easier to break things out that way. "After the car chase, all the Syndics who survived the night left, probably went back to their headquarters. They managed to get Mike and Paul as their hostages."

Stan grunted at her update. Bad news it really was.

"Where's Camila?" was the real question here. It's the most important one to be answered to him.