Hacker (Book 1)

Sebastian Chapter 37

He jumps from underneath the blankets, and grabs his leather jacket off the back of a chair resting in the corner of the room. He runs to the door with Veronica following directly behind him. They race down the stairs towards the front entrance, and Sebastian turns to Veronica.

"Stay here," he says.

"What no, I'm not letting you go alone," she demands.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you so you are going to stay here," he replies sharply.

"So what I'm just supposed to stay here and hope that you aren't getting killed," she demands.

"Look I could never forgive myself if something happened to you," he says taking her hand.

"And how do you think I'll feel if you die while I was just sitting here twiddling my thumbs," she replies.

"I can't risk anything happening to you," he says.

"Listen even if you did walk out that door without me, you couldn't stop me from following you, because guess what I'm always going to have your back," she says.

He lets out a sigh, conflicted about what to do, and answers, "If you come, you need to stay behind me."

She lets out a smile and responds, "Done."

"Let's go," he says shaking his head. Their fingers are still wrapped around each other, and it sends a flutter through his heart. He doesn't let go even though he knows he should, but something inside him stops him from pulling there hands away.

They hide themselves in the shadows as they climb towards figures looming closer with every second. It looked to be five figures in total, one was dangling in the arms of the tallest, and the other four were trailing behind. Sebastian grips a knife in one hand, and still clings to Veronica's with the other. Slowly, as they come upon the figures, he detaches his hand from her's leaving him feeling that a part of himself broke away too.

He then steps out into the light and produces his knife. A girl about the same height as Veronica lets out a scream. One of the boys in the back mutters something under his breath. Sebastian starts to step forward when Veronica says, "Wait!"

"What?" He asks.

"Em?" Veronica says stepping forward.

Em comes from behind the tall one, and asks, "Veronica? How? What? We were told you were dead."

"Well, obviously not," Veronica answers pulling Em into a hug. "What about you, why are you here?"

"That is a long story and I assume yours is too," says the tall one, "but first is there somewhere we could go? I need to help Wendy."

"Wendy?" Sebastian asks, lowering his knife. The tall one nods towards the small figure covered with jackets in his arm. "Our camp isn't far from here a mile maybe two, we can talk when we get there."

Sebastian leads the way, always looking back to make sure Veronica's okay and safe right behind him. It doesn't take long for them to get back to their make shift camp, and get inside. The tall one, who's name Sebastian learned was Bruce, gently laid Wendy's body on to the beat up couch.

"She's so pale," Veronica says stroking her hair.

"She took a piece of medal to the stomach," Bruce answers. "I managed to get it out without damaging any organs, but we didn't have enough time to stitch it up. It's a miracle that she didn't die on the way here."

"What do you need?" Sebastian asks filled with concern.

"I could really use a needle and thread or wire or something to stitch it up," he replies.

"We can work with that," Veronica answers and goes off to search the rooms. Not long after she started her search does she returns with some thread. "Will this work?"

"It'll do," he says. In no time he had Wendy patched up and ready to go.

"Okay so why don't we start on the stories?" Em asks when they all took a seat, allowing them to breathe for a moment.

"Yes I am dying to hear this story," Sebastian responds leaning back into a chair.

"Well after you guys left it was fairly calm for a couple of days, and then they announced that you both were dead, and that night we heard the alarms go off signaling to evacuate. Then there was an explosion and we managed to find each other in the commotion. We were able to get a rover, and we bolted. Somewhere along the way we ran out of gas and we've been on foot until we ran into you guys, who are definitely not dead. So if you wouldn't mind explaining that to us," Em explained.

Veronica jumped right into explaining. It didn't take her long to explain their whole journey. Sebastian sat back and listened to her talk, admiring the moments when the sun hit her hair at just the right angle making her look like an angel.

"Okay, so who thinks that the Guard is actually with the Black Dagger?" Bruce asks snapping Sebastian out of whatever haze Veronica had him trapped in.

"Not the Guard, it's the Director. He was the one who sent us on the mission, he was the one who told you that we were dead, and I am betting that he is also the one who was behind the explosion," Veronica says.

"I agree, the Director has to be behind all this. First of all, he has access to the whole Guard and it's operation being the perfect candidate to take it down. Second, he is very creepy," Em says.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Bruce asks leaning forward.

"That is the million dollar question isn't it," Veronica says.

"Well we need to first find out where they are operating from," Sebastian says.

"Wait, are we even sure we want to find it?" Bruce asks, "I mean we don't even know what they are planning, and even if we did how are we going to do anything to stop it?"

"We have to try," Veronica says, "Whatever they are planning it's not going to be good. It's up to us to stop them."

"Yeah, and what are we going to do, walk in and say, 'Hey sorry to interrupt you're evil scheme, but please don't try to destroy the world we know. Thanks so much.'" Bruce counters.

"He's got a point Veronica," Em adds.

"Guys we are talking about an organization that is not afraid to drop bodies like flies. I have experienced first hand the lengths that they are willing to go to to get what they want, and you just want to sit back and wait for them to kill you too? The reason the Guard was in place was to protect people, and now with just a few of us left to fight this fight it is more important than ever to do out job. There are going to be innocent people who will pay if we don't step up and do what is right. So are we going to do what we signed up to do or are we going to sit back and wait to be killed?" Veronica asks. Sebastian's heart fills with pride as she speaks.

"I know where I stand," Sebastian says, standing and taking Veronica's hand. "I think it's time for a good old vote. Now who will stand and fight?"