After a long walk, I spot a body from afar, it has to be Emma’s. I begin running towards her when Brianna pulls me back. “Watch out, there are cops.”
Everyone else crouches while I try to break free from Brianna. “I need to save Emma.”
She tightens her grip. “I’m not letting you go through trial. You won’t leave like Conner did, alright?”
I decide to crouch, stay still and see what’s happening. A cop throws Emma in the backseat of his car and she barely even fights back. “No,” I whisper, while I feel tears filling my eyes and sweat penetrating my hands.
Brianna doesn’t let her grip loosen from my wrist. “I’m sorry.”
I want to scream at her. I want to smash her head in. I swore to her I’d never leave her alone and miserable again. I swore.
I’m an inch close to hitting her for her coldness when I notice her cheeks getting red and eyes getting wet. “We’ll find a way to get her back,” she says, choked up.
“We need to chase the car,” Athena chimes in. I like how she’s trying to help, but she knows it isn’t a good idea. Three out of five people in our group have the lung endurance of a three-year-old. One out of five being a literal three-year-old.
“You three can’t chase.” I gesture to her, Zac, and Apollo.
“Well, we can try! Besides, you’re just letting them get away with her!” she argues.
“You two.” Zac gestures lazily to the both of us, using his same rusty, unbearable voice. “Need to think about it for a minute. What do the cops want the most? Athena. If they kill her no one’s gonna rebel.”
“I’m not that popular, my mom is.”
“Athena, honey, don’t you know you started the movement? The general idea being sent through the news is that you’re this all-time villain who’s trying to kill us all. And the rest of you are just her henchmen.”
“You spill a lot for someone who barfs every time he talks,” I respond bitterly. Not because of Athena, but because she called me Athena’s henchman.
“Well, if that’s the way it is, there’s only one way. If I turn myself in, they’ll probably take me to the same police station as Emma.”
“That’s way too risky,” Brianna complains. “Are we really going to take advice from him?” She pauses for a moment. “Sorry, Zac.”
“You should. I’m the only one who’s had contact with the outside since you six escaped.”
“Six?” asks Athena.
“You, Jedrek, Hugo, Brianna, Donna, Emma. It’s what the news say.”
He does know a lot. But we obviously can’t let Athena be taken to trial. “What if we hijack a car? And get a cop outfit?” I suggest.
“Where are we going to get a cop outfit in the middle of the desert, Hugo?” Brianna strikes me into reality.
“There is one way to get a cop outfit in the middle of the desert,” Zac says, still scattered on the floor like a bag of potatoes, but with a smirk grin on his face; likely the first time I’ve seen him smile.
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