CHAPTER 4

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Carter had been prepared for a getaway, that was for sure. The black Jeep I found was parked between a few trees with leaves and branches thrown over it. There were weapons and ammo in the trunk, bags filled with extra clothes, boxes of canned and boxed food, and closed containers of medical supplies, extra gas cans tucked into the back seat.

Finding the vehicle was easy enough after Carter told me where it was. The hard part was getting Demi in the passenger seat. The dirt road Carter had talked about was just in front of the car, easy to navigate through the trees. It must have been some sort of hiking trail when the world still existed, now it was our road to freedom.

When I was satisfied that we were far enough away from the enemy and not being followed I parked the car, turning to Demi so I could look over him for any injuries I'd have to clean up or bandage. Luckily there was no wound that I needed to seriously focus on, all he had was some bruising on his arms and his forehead, basically wherever IV's or electrical wires had been connected to his skin.

There were no physical injuries to be seen, if anything was really wrong it was all mental from the therapy, which would explain why he wasn't waking up yet. The electricity already affected him negatively, it was no wonder it knocked him out of commission so easily. I had hope that he would wake up again soon, but for now, maybe sleeping was best.

"Don't worry, Demi," I squeezed his hand after checking him over and sat back, turning the key to start the engine, "Just sleep, relax. I'll get you to Kailas and everything will be fine."

We drove for a while, the sun came up before setting again and we only reached the first town when the moon was high in the sky. It was starting to get harder to concentrate though, my head was pounding, my hips were aching, and I was slowly losing my energy. The healthy thing for me to be doing would probably be lying down and relaxing, but I'd been sitting up for hours now, and I was probably bleeding or something equally as bad.

My eyes were burning, I was struggling to keep them open, wanting nothing more than to just lie in bed and hate myself like I'd done before. Rhett may have hurt me, but Blu wrecked me. I was in agony, and the pain killers from the kit Carter had stashed in the Jeep trunk were wearing off insanely fast.

I was going to pass out soon, which probably wasn't good since I had a massive concussion and I may not wake up if I blacked out again. The first few times I was lucky to have woken up, I could've slipped into a coma if my luck had been shit. I wasn't going to be able to drive for much longer in my condition. When we got to the next town I'd have to find somewhere to park so I could look over myself, try to fix all the injuries I'd received because of that monster.

The sign set up outside the next town we came to was tipping sideways, and the name printed in white was fading so much I could hardly read it. It worked for me, though. Pluto. It looked abandoned, but I wanted to get through as quickly as I could, or at least find somewhere I could park the car so I could find some stronger medicine in the trunk to keep me going until we reached the base.

I was probably seconds away from passing out, driving quickly down the street, I swear if I'd been just a little worse off I never would have noticed the three silhouettes standing in the street with guns raised. I would have mowed them down, but I saw them just in time and hit the brakes, the Jeep screeching to a stop and my head nearly slamming against the steering wheel, which would have been just wonderful for me.

A groan left my throat and I laid my head against the wheel, silently panicking. It would be just my luck if those people turned out to be Fer-de-Lance. I just couldn't get a break, could I? There was a knock on my window, one of the rogues must have walked up in the time I was trying to calm down, and I jumped, lifting my head up to see the man standing outside waving his handgun like it was a warning for me not to try to get away. All I could see through my headache was brown hair, and I was too scared to try concentrating harder.

"Open the door!" he called, and I quickly yanked at the door handle, shoving it open and tripping onto the road when I tried to step out.

I heard the man above me scoff and scrambled back to my feet, leaning against the side of the door, "I'm sorry we're in your territory, we won't be here long, we're just passing through, I promise."

"Save it," was the quick response, and the brunette pressed the barrel of his gun against my forehead, "It doesn't really matter to me if you're just passing through, kid, you're a threat to my group, so you're going in the ground," he shrugged, not looking all that guilty.

"Great," I panted, and he scoffed.

"Choice two would be leaving you to rot. You look half dead already."

"Did you ever think there was a reason for that you piece of crap?" I snarled, and he pressed the gun harder against my head.

"Save it."

"Wait!"

I jumped, and the brunette groaned, pulling the gun away from my head, "Now what?!" he snapped, turning, and I looked over to see a familiar man with blonde hair storming forward, stowing a handgun into a holster on his thigh.

"Of fucking course," he snarled, shoving the brunette aside when he got close enough, "Put it away, Beck."

"Carina," I sighed in relief, slumping back, "I never thought I'd be happy to see you."

"That makes one of us," he mumbled, pushing the man back a few more steps, "The hell are you doing here?"

"You know this kid?" Beck asked, pointing at me with his gun, and Carina rolled his eyes.

"Yea, he's part of the Vidroh."

Beck dropped his head back and lowered his gun, "Ah, fuck me."

"Again, what are you doing here?" Carina asked, and I shook my head, leaning heavily against the car, not really giving the other two men standing near Carina a second glance as I replied.

"Con Rồng," I said simply, pointing back at Demi, "Fer-de-Lance attacked the base, grabbed me and Demi, and left. We got away from them only to get recaptured by the Con Rồng. We barely got out alive."

"You are barely alive," Carina scoffed, "What did they do to you?"

"Can we stop with the third degree?" I begged, "Just let us pass, we won't bother you, seriously. I need to get Demi home."

"You can't even stand," Carina pointed out, sounding almost amused, and I shook my head furiously to disagree.

"I-I'm fine."

"Yea, right," Carina sighed again and rubbed a hand over his face, "Cass would hate me if I let you two die, so...," he turned, looking over his shoulder towards the tall blonde standing beside the man he called Beck, "They're friends."

"Well that's certainly a new one," the tall blonde stated, folding his arms over his chest, "I didn't even know you had friends."

"Yea bite me," Carina muttered, "He's a friend of an acquaintance, that informant from the rebellion."

"Ah, of course," he put a hand on Carina's shoulder and eased him a little to the side so he could step closer, offering me a smile, though I couldn't see clear enough to name his eye color. All I could tell was he had blonde hair like Carina.

"You look like hell," he noted, and I scoffed.

"Screw off, sasquatch."

Carina snorted loudly, covering his mouth with the back of his hand to hide the laughter, and the taller man turned to cast him a steady glare before looking back at me, "Wow, you actually made my brother laugh."

"Brother," I repeated, nodding, "Carina mentioned you, vaguely."

"Has he? Well I'm honored," he beamed at Carina, who rolled his eyes and scoffed, "It's nice to meet you. You already know my brother, and this is Beckett. You are?"

"Dakota," I muttered, "My half dead friend is Demi. Great to meet you. Can we pass through now?"

"Well that would be horribly irresponsible of me," the blonde hummed, "You're part of the rebellion, and my group is trying to keep a good or at least a neutral relationship with the rebellion, so I think helping you would be in everyone's best interest," he held his hand out for me, and I narrowed my eyes, tensing up anxiously, "We'll help you anyway we can. Right now, giving you both somewhere safe to rest seems to be what you need."

"Yea," I mumbled, pulling the sleeves of my borrowed shirt over my hands to keep the gashes around my wrists hidden, "I'm.... we'll be fine, we just need to get back to base."

"Whoa," he reached out and grabbed my shoulder, I hadn't even noticed I'd been tipping over, but he had to hold me to keep me standing, "You're not going anywhere in your condition."

"I've had worse," I lied with a snarl, and he rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I'm sure. Don't be childish, just let us help you."

"You don't know this yet, but being stubborn and childish is kind of who I am," I said, and he smiled, shaking his head.

"Charming. I might even enjoy that."

"Oh, for the love of Christ," Carina rubbed his eyes, and I almost fell again from the sweep of lightheadedness that would have brought me to my knees if Carina's brother hadn't been there to keep me standing.

"Easy. They must have really done a number. Just relax, okay? We can bring your friend and your car, too, just close your eyes."

"Not until we get home."

"Well how about we take you home?"

I narrowed my eyes up at him, "How do you know where our base is?"

He smiled at me in response and turned to Beck and Carina, "Check over his friend, make sure he's still alive and look for any visible injuries."

Beck nodded and walked around the front of the Jeep to get to the passenger side, and I glared over at Carina, "Your brother is a stubborn ass."

Carina shrugged defensively, and his brother chuckled, "I haven't introduced myself yet, have I?"

"Please don't," I sighed, and Carina made a noise of agreement.

"Yea, let's not. We can exchange names and numbers later, they look like they're dying."

"Don't be such a stiff," his brother scolded, smiling back at me, "My name is Orion."

I blinked a few times, staring blankly up at him and squinting, trying to assess what he'd said and if it was real. Had I really just heard that? Did he really just say that? There was no way.

"That's bull," I said, and he arched an eyebrow at me, looking fully amused by my reaction to hearing his name, "What, did your parents not bother researching when they named you?"

Orion just laughed, but Carina was snarling at me, "Funny. Here, get in the car," he pulled open the back door of the car and helped me limp closer so I could slip into the back seat, cringing and barely suppressing a noise of discomfort.

"We'll take you both to where we've set up our base, let you rest and patch you up. When you're better rested, we'll take you back to the rebellion, alright?"

"Fine," I mumbled, leaning back and shutting my eyes, "Freaking jackass."

"You're welcome."

"There aren't any injuries I can see," Beck said from the front, "He's just out cold."

"Bring him back here," Orion said, and Beck hummed in agreement, "Carina, you sit back with them, Beck and I will take the front."

Beck and Carina helped Demi into the backseat, sliding him over to me so I could wrap an arm around him and lean against the door beside me. The car jerked forward and I tightened my grip around Demi, eyes peeling open so I could see the buildings pass as the car picked up speed.

We were lucky to have run into Carina when we did, and I suppose it just put another mystery to rest, about who Carina's group was. Who would've guessed I'd run into the hunter? I reached up to touch the pendant around my neck, my fingers wrapping around it and my eyes closing again.

Hopefully when I woke up we'd be on our way home.

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