Frozen

Chapter 7

"No luck Sonia. Danielle could not have gone far," Grayson says still keeping his eye contact with me. 

Frozen. I do not move a muscle. Shocked. He chooses not to tell Sonia that he is standing right in front of me. I  hold my breath in case she could magically hear me through that device. 

*I am just surprised about your abilities Grayson*

"I am surprised I haven't found her yet either ma'am, but I won't let you down," Grayson says breaking eye contact with me. 

*She was in your group that morning. We sent you guys to the range so it would be easy to kill them all. How did you not see her leave?*

"I didn't even realize. I always have my eye on her but, you know, she was always to clever one in the group."  

*And she was always the trouble maker.*

Silence fills the air. Sonia is probably waiting for Grayson to answer back but he isn't.

*Anyways, just find her. We do not want her reaching another Section and sharing this information!* 

"Of course ma'am," he says placing the walkytalky back into his pocket. 

I look at him with desperation. "What was that?" 

"Sonia sent us all out to find you. I am the only one who knows these woods because I have wondered out here a lot," he says turning and looking around. 

I can't leave now. If I continue I need to know where to go and where to find Dominic. I know that I hated this guy, and maybe I still do, but he has the answers to my questions. 

"I hate H.O.P.E as much as you do," he says turning back to face me. 

"Then why work for them if you hate them?" It does not make sense to me why he would do whatever Sonia told him to do if he hated the system.

"They have my twin brother Ethan at one of there other sections. Sonia threatened to hurt him if I did not do whatever they wanted me to do."

"Where is Ethan?" 

"He was taken to another Section because it was a rule to separate anyone who was related to who knew eachother before hand. You were lucky to be placed in the same section as Hunter and Dominic. If you noticed, you were the one person in that whole place who had family and friend connections." 

"...And I took that for granted." 

"You didn't know." 

"Do you know how I could find Dominic so we can split off to find our loved ones?" 

"Dominic was sent to Section 6, the section that Ethan is at." 

"How do you know this?"

"I get to talk to Ethan once every month. Those calls were important because we shared information about our sections and I told him about the escape team. He told me that he knew about the killing and heard information about how they were getting arrivals from another Section. We just did not know that it was happening soon." 

I step back and look around. Should I suggest that we go together, or should I ask for directions and go on my way. 

"So, how can I get there to get Dominic?" 

"I would tell you, but you will die if you are spotted alone. If you are seen with me, we can at least pretend that I found you on my search. The other Section would probably kill you on sight too unless you were with me." 

"Of course." 

I can't believe this is happening. One minute I was planning this kid's death and now I might be agreeing to work together on this Section search. 

"So, where do we begin," I ask securing my agreement to this plan. My anger for Hunter's death still lives inside me, but I must remember Dominic and his safety. 

For Dominic.