To Be A Rebel

Chapter 31: Stay Alive

Someone's talking.

My head pounds. I'm trying to understand what's happening, to pull my brain out of this murky fog that it's in, to get out of the black waters that I've been in, but I just can't seem to open my eyes yet. It's like the water and fog are clinging to me, unwilling to let me go.

But I know who's talking now.

It's Veronica.

Why is Veronica here? Why am I still even alive?

I try to shift a bit, Veronica's voice becoming clearer, and the beeping of a heart monitor going steadily at my left side. Why am I hooked up to a heart monitor?

I force my eyes to open, and they burn when light hits them. A pained moan leaves my lips as I try to move, but thankfully the pounding in my head has dimmed down to a dull throb.

I notice I'm in running clothes, and someone's taking off my bandages from the cut Ian gave me.

"Are you awake, Runner Five?" Veronica asks. "Make a note of that, Nadia. Runner Five has been unconscious for sixteen hours."

I look at the woman in the wheelchair, her pink glasses almost slipping off her nose as she looks down at her notebook. "Does it make a difference at this stage?"

She shrugs. "Anything could make a difference. And whatever happens, it'll still be useful data."

"What are you talking about?" I ask, still laying flat on my back, not yet sitting up because of lack of motivation. "Why am I here? More importantly, why am I still alive?"

Veronica starts to place her hand on my shoulder, but falls short. "I'm really sorry about this, Runner Five."

"Sorry about what?"

"In a way, we've saved you," Nadia says. "Ian wanted to kill you."

"The Minister probably would have been okay with that," Veronica says. "She wants to get into the labs under Abel, but what you've done means she can't get in by the front door. She's going to have to go find another way."

"It's put her back months. So yeah, Sigrid probably would have killed you. She didn't seem to care that Ian hurt Steve or put Cameo in solitary, or that he... or that he killed Owen."

"And Penelope," I say, tears filling my eyes. "I was hoping that was just a dream."

"No, it's real."

The new voice causes me to snap my head to the side, and Milo and Phineas sit on the other side of the room, handcuffed to pipes in the wall of the lab.

"Milo, what are you-" I try to sit up, to run to him, but I'm yanked back by cold metal wrapped around my wrist. They've handcuffed me to this hospital bed in the labs.

Damn it.

"Veronica said she needed me to do work on some research notes, so they brought me up and handcuffed me so I wouldn't try to escape. They brought Phin along because I refused to leave without him," He says, pain evident in his voice. "I broke a guard's hand because they tried to drag me out and make me leaving him... I'm not leave him alone. I left Penelope alone and Ian killed her."

I want to cry at hearing the guilt in his voice.

"Milo, that was not your fault. You have to understand that. If it was anyone's fault, it was m-ah!" I scream at the sudden piecing pain in my arm, and I look to my side to see Veronica injecting me with something. "What the hell?"

"Sorry," She says, pulling the needle. "I didn't think it would be wise to interrupt. I am sorry about your daughter. I know you loved her."

"You say you're sorry and yet you're still doing this!" Milo yells, and she narrows her eyes at him.