He Was Dying

Chapter Twenty-Six

"I don't get it," I said, glancing away from Smitty and back to the group that stood around me.

  "We thought we lost you," Delirious choked out, still caught by his crying. "We've been there before, we all have. The.. The Trapper. Ugly son of a bitch took you just as we were running out, and there was nothing that we could do."

  "We thought you were a goner," Luke said, a soft, bitter laugh in his voice. "Rilla refused to come with us when we told him we were even going camping in this area, so Bryce, Delirious and I dragged Evan along. But the idiot decided to crash us into a tree." Evan chuckled from the side, muttering Fuckin' jackasses.

  "Once we got out at first, we went to the town nearby. We'll be going there afterwards," Bryce continued.

  Craig walked up beside Evan. "When they told us that they're planning to go back, we all thought they were insane, let's be real. The thing about this place, is that it's in the middle of fuck-ass nowhere. All cars and phones that we had are crushed and left as scrap metal in the yard. So, since the beginning of the Trials--"

"--everyone who has escaped has settled in a town down the trail about a mile away," Smitty interrupted. "We don't know who built it, or how many years it's been there, but people come and go. Despite how many problems all of us have with that place, we know the importance of friendship and how hard it is to lose someone." He looked back at the group by the logs, who began to stand and walk towards us. "We had to help."

  I noticed Brock walking up shyly, a leather jacket wrapped around his torso. I suddenly remembered and reached into my hoodie pocket, pulling out the colour tank top and pair of broken sunglasses. I handed the two articles to him with a bashful smile and he thanked me, giving the jacket to Brian as he pulled on the tank. 

  "When we told them what happened to Brock," Brian began, "we figured the same may have happened to you. They said that there was something familiar about you, and, especially with that hoodie, they did good thinking that. Look at 'cha now!" He ended with a laugh, gesturing at me. I smiled to him, somewhat thankful he didn't hit me with a pipe again while I was unconscious.

  "So, you don't know how to leave?" I ask, turning to those who came from the town.

Nogla shrugged. "It ain't that we don't know, it's that we can't."

  "At home, everyone probably thinks we're dead," Smitty said dimly. "Our families have probably already mourned our disappearance and, maybe, even our deaths." 

  Craig waved a hand dismissively. "Don't think too much about it, man. At the town, everyone has experienced the same thing, so you'll be able to fit in easy, you know? Very kind, supportive people there."

  I looked down at my hands again, the backs dotted with the occasional freckle. This was unexpected, yet I didn't know what I expected. I didn't think that I'd ever escape, now knowing that I didn't succeed the first time. Perhaps it was comforting that they never stopped trying.

"Was I worth it?"

"..What?" Bryce said beside me. I glanced up from my hands to look at him.

"Was I worth it?" I repeated. 

  Bryce smiled at me before looking to Luke. Luke from my other side slung his arm around me, squeezing me in a hug.

  "Definitely," Luke said.