Alive Again: Awakening (Book 1)

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Brandon was all business. I wasn't. "If we get going now, we might be able to make it to the state line by nightfall, which would give us a good head start for—"

"No." Everyone looked at me.

Impatience flashed across Brandon's face. Delilah began to placate, but Brandon interrupted her. "Your name is Savannah, right?" He took a step toward me. "Look, I know this is a lot to take in. Things got crazy back there. I accidentally . . ." he motioned with his hands toward the ground where I'd awoken a few minutes ago. "I get it. This is rough stuff. But you need to understand that the five of us are professionals. We know what we're doing. We know what's best and we're going to keep you safe. You need to trust us and let us handle this."

"No," I repeated, hoping he might hear me through his condescension. "I'm not going anywhere with you unless you take me home!" I couldn't imagine what my parents were going through, thinking I'd been killed in some sort of crazy act of domestic terrorism. "My parents need to know I'm alive," I insisted. "Even if it's just on paper."

"No way," Brandon stood his ground. "It's too dangerous. The Suits are tracking us as we speak. If they get even the idea that we're headed somewhere obvious, they'll swarm. Guaranteed they'll show your parents the same courtesy they showed us. Is that what you want?"

It wasn't, but what other choice did I have? "I won't leave without making sure they know I'm okay."

"We have orders," he replied.

"Forget your orders," I snapped back. "By the sound of things, you're already good at that."

Brandon's eyes lit. He got in my face. Before he could utter another word, Sting cut in. "She has a point."

"What?" Brandon roared over his shoulder.

"You're bad at following orders and it would be a good idea to take her home." Sting smiled at Brandon, stoking the anger in his eyes.

Delilah chimed in. "Agreed. Maybe we don't know why Everest has been after Savannah for so long, but the Suits do. Given that we knew enough to rescue her from their capture, they'll expect us to get her back to Headquarters as soon as possible. They'll expect us to hit the state line by nightfall, not to take our time making stops."

Brandon glared at her. "You're willing to bring her parents into this?"

"Maybe if you hadn't gone AWOL, you'd have a bit more info on the mission, Brandon," her words were coated in the anger I'd witnessed earlier from the snake. "By now, G's already made contact and helped her parents into protective custody. Leaving them a note will give them piece of mind, and more importantly, stopping by Savannah's house will give us a chance to stock up. We're low on supplies since we were in a rush this morning to save your ass."

Brandon held the bridge of his nose between his fingers and exhaled with difficulty. "Let's move out," he finally said.

Glancing around, I realized for the first time that we were in a thick part of the woods somewhere. I turned back to ask him, "How are we going to get there?" But Brandon was gone. Everyone was gone except Sting, who grabbed my hand and murmured, "Hold on," before the two of us plunged into darkness.