Survivors

Chapter 36: Jada

Chapter 36: Jada

          Melissa immediately runs over and dabs at a cut on Jason’s forehead. It’s more of an automatic reaction to her to do that rather than stand stiff with a shocked look on her face, I guess.

          “What happened?” Melissa begins to ask as she examines the other bruises on his body. One of the medics has handed her a tray of supplies and gloves and stepped out with Regina, leaving Melissa to do her work.

          “We were ambushed in our hovercraft as we were heading home from a lacross scouting,” Jason groans out, “Someone shot us down above the woods, and then they began to drag everyone out of the ship.”

          “They were armed and telling us that we were under arrest for treason,” Prosper says. He looks almost as battered as Jason, but with a cut just below his eye. “They were going to take us back to Devinia to be tried and executed, but then one of the guards from our crew snatched a gun from one of the officers and shot. Jason and I were able to snatch weapons and escape into the woods with a couple of others, but most of them died as we were escaping.”

          “A few died about a couple of hours ago when the officers appeared again, but with batons,” Jason begins to smile, “If you think that we’re beat up, you should have seen the officers before your guards showed up and finished them.”

          “So who all is with you?” Kandi asks. She clenching onto Sugar and biting her lip.

          Jason lowers his eyes and sighs. “Honey wasn’t with us. She stayed in the Capitol.”

          “That’s good right?” Sugar asks nervously smiling. “That means that she’s safe, right?”

          There’s no answer, but the silent gives enough words for all of us to know what the answer is. Kandi begins to shake her head and repeat “no” over and over as she begins to cry. Sugar holds her tightly as she does the same.

          “I’m so sorry, Kandi,” Jason says as he attempts to try and get off of the bed. Melissa holds him down and shakes her head, so he lies back down.

          “You imbecile!” Kandi runs over and begins to hit Jason. Jason throws up his arms to shield his face. “How could you just leave her!”

          “We tried to get her to come along with us, but she told us that she’d rather us fly across the country for sports,” Jason begins explaining, “Honey is very stubburn, you know that.”

          Xain finally manages to pull her off of him though she is still thrashing about for a second before hugging him and going on a full sob. I’m about to walk over when I notice that Sugar is holding back tears. I walk over and hold her instead. She returns it with a firm grasp.

          “She’s not dead,” Prosper strains as he sits up, “I overheard one of the guards talking about Maycia Conner, the other capitol rebel. They assume that she’s the only other major rebel. There were only reports of three rebels—two males, one female—who planned the rescue on C-5. You two were actually still reported as kidnapped over the air. We even have solid evidence that you were.”

          “But what if something does happen to Honey?” Sugar says with a cracking voice. “What if someone looks past the evidence and starts to suspect her as a traitor? They will not hesitate to kidnap her and blame it on the same ‘rebels’ that ‘kidnapped’ us.”

          “They will torture her for information and then kill her,” Kandi squeals our angrily, almost lunging towards Jason again, but Xain picks her off the ground and she begins crying again. “They will torture and kill her.”