Chapter 38

There is no way out of the sticky situation I've wiggled myself into.

I don't have a choice, nor am I given one outside of the fact that Casper and I will be returning to New York to begin the evacuation process.

It's been six days since we decided. At least I think it has. It's hard to keep track when there are no windows to alert you to the time of day.

The past six days have been preparation. Casper and I have been loading up necessities in order to travel back across Exitium from California to New York. It'd be a long and dangerous journey, but it's one we have to make. I feel better doing it with Casper rather than anyone else, or even going back home by myself. I want Casper with me. He comforts me. I can't describe it, but he puts me at ease.

The past six days, we've been in hiding, going about our days as if we are real Jotunn. Calyx takes control after my father is found dead, and troops are dispatched to find Baylee Zachary, Casper Bunk, Willow Kindred, Avery Redgrove, and Demetria Lopez. All can be killed on sight except for me. I must be brought back alive and unharmed. Which leads me to further question why I am so important to the Jotunn. But those are questions for another time.

Calyx supplied us with an open bunking room to last us until we depart. Willow, Demetria and Avery will be remaining here until we give them the go ahead to meet us in New York once the evacuation has begun. The room isn't at all homely, which makes me somewhat glad I get to leave this place. I feel as if I'd go insane if I stay here any longer. I'm already a loony bin, I don't need any help with that.

For these past days, Casper hasn't left my side. The beds are all twin mattresses, but Casper makes room for me on his bunk every night as I suffer from my nightmares. I relive each detail of killing my father. How his bones cracked beneath the weight of myself. How the bones penetrated his flesh and caused blood to pool around him. I wake up screaming in the night, and after two nights of this, Casper insists I sleep beside him. I don't decline this offer. I'm sure the others are grateful because my screams keep everyone awake and on edge. At least with Casper beside me, the nightmares don't seem as severe, or I wake up already encased in the arms of someone who waits to comfort and console me.

Today is what we plan to be our last day in the facility before Casper and I depart. The only thing left to gather is earpieces so we can easily communicate with Willow. Ariel set up Willow with a spot in a control room that currently isn't occupied. Willow's cover is that she is repairing the room for usage, even though all the equipment in the room functions perfectly. Willow's in geek heaven and loves getting to stay behind to help from the tech side of the operation. I'm not sure I can say the same for Avery and Demetria, but they're glad to help.

Demetria and I haven't talked since the fiasco in the Jotunn formation six days ago. I have nothing to say to her, and it appears the feeling is mutual on her end.

Eli and Diego slipped us the new keycard just hours earlier, which grants us access to the technical closet over in the east wing of the facility. There Eli and Diego assured us that we'd find the earpieces we needed in order to communicate with the three girls. Willow is positive she will be able to set up the earpieces on her own, but tells Eli if she gets stumped she will find him.

Casper gathers the white backpack that is filled with crackers and canteens full of fresh water for our impending journey. When the pack sits on his back, it fuses with the suit to where the bag can't even be seen. He turns to me, picking his helmet up off of our bed.

"You ready, Zachary?" The corner of his mouth turns up in his signature lopsided smile.

"As ready as I'll ever be." I reply, picking up my helmet as I prepare to snap it into place.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road." He chuckles, latching his helmet into place as he turns to Willow. "Lead the way, Kindred."

+++

We fall into the march of the Warriors, matching their stride as we head towards the east wing of the facility. According to Diego, the room won't be too hard to find, especially since our fingerprints have been added to the database and we obtain the keycard, in case for some strange reason, our fingerprints won't go through to unseal any doors in our way.

There aren't any signs in the windowless facility. It makes it difficult since we aren't truly Warriors and our brains aren't programmed the same way as the Jotunn, but somehow I know exactly where to go. As Willow goes to turn right, I reach out and grab her hand.

"Left." I correct her, gesturing to the other side of the pathway we stand in. "It's left."

"How do you know?" She asks. I can sense the hesitancy in her voice.

"Call it a gut feeling." I sigh. "Look, I don't know how I know, but I do, so you need to trust me."

"Okay." Willow replies, wandering to the left as I had instructed.

Within seven minutes, we arrive at what we can only hope to be the tech closet. Willow doesn't even bother trying her fingerprint and goes straight to using the keycard in order to avoid raising any suspicion from passerby's in case her fingerprint were to be rejected.

The doors are fused with the walls in the Jotunn headquarters, the only thing marking entrances are keypads that stand outside each concealed entrance. The doors slide open, revealing their presence. I'm the first to step in between the crack of the still-opening door, Willow follows close behind.

Everything within the tech room is nice and organized. Much like the rest of the facility, everything within the room is white, including the electronics, the bookshelves holding white boxes of wires and cables and cords, and the desks that house the computers on them. It would almost feel like home if this weren't the facility that blocks its inhabitants off from the outside world. This all makes me feel rather homesick, but also sick in general that the Jotunn—such heartless human beings—would choose the purest color to represent themselves.

Avery goes right to snooping without a care in the world. Willow gets distracted by the computers, studying their make and model with small "ooh's" and "ahh's". Casper, Demetria and I walk to the shelves that house the boxes and begin rummaging through them. Avery eventually finishes her run down of the room before she wanders over to help us sort through boxes in search of earpieces.

It takes around twenty to twenty-five minutes until we strike gold. Casper finds the earpieces, announcing his discovery.

"Ah! Here we are, ladies!" Even though I can't see his face, I can feel his grin as he holds up his box victoriously.

I chuckle softly and place my hand on his forearm to bring the box down to where I can see its contents.

"Perfect." I smile up at him. "Good job, Cas."

"Thanks, beautiful."

I laugh softly.

"I'm winking at you, by the way, you just can't see it." Casper laughs.

"Shut up." I roll my eyes.

"Ew." Avery groans. "Quit flirting, you're going to make me lose my breakfast."

"We weren't flirting." I frown.

"Oh, sure." Avery mimics.

Casper chuckles to himself as he pulls out five earpieces. They're round, like a circle, and close to the size of a marble. As to be expected, they're white in color. I would expect nothing less. Casper gives each earpiece to Willow.

"Alright." Willow says, removing her helmet and sitting it on the ground. She messes with the marble-shaped communication device for one hundred twenty-one seconds before smiling. "They're all programmed to the same channel, so all you'll need to do is put it in your ear and hit this small button on the side," she points a barely visible power button, "to power it on. And then we're all set to go."

We remove our helmets and do as instructed. I position mine to where it fits snugly within my ear, sure that it won't fall out. My fingers search for the power button until I hear it chirp in my ear.

"Testing, testing." Willow says.

I hear her voice echoing inside my head and smile. "Works like a charm." I give her a thumbs up.

"Beautifully done." Casper agrees.

"So, do it have like... its own volume adjustments, microphone and everything?" I ask, curious.

"Like, yes." Avery mocks with a laugh.

"No, seriously!" I roll my eyes. "I'm just wanting to fully understand how this works before we set off."

"The microphone is microscopic, can't be seen with the human eye." Avery shrugs as she positions her own earwig into place. "Doesn't matter where the mic is pointing, could be positioned towards your eardrum, but it'll still pick up your voice crystal clear."

Casper looks at his step-sister with a dumbfounded look plastered across his attractive features. "You've been hanging out with Willow too damn much."

Her green eyes glower at him. "Shut up, Bunk."

"All you have to do to make sure it works is keep it on channel sixteen and we won't have any issues." Willow chuckles.

"Got it, channel sixteen." I say, confirming it mainly with myself.

"So now what?" Demetria asks. It's the first time I've heard her voice since we argued six days prior.

"We get back in formation and say goodbye to Casper and Bay." Willow says.

"Sounds like a plan." I reply as I snap my helmet back in place, waiting for the others to do the same before heading to the door and back into the center of the headquarters. "Let's get started."

+++

We flawlessly fall back into the hoard of Jotunn, becoming quite well at blending in with our surround-ings. Warriors still bustle about in search of the fugitives from New York, convincing themselves that we are still in the facility because there has yet to be any records of anyone unauthorized leaving the building. That's where our allies came in handy. I simply wish my father could've been one of the allies, but there's nothing to change his fate that I sealed.

Up ahead of us is a fork in the line. One leads back into the facility, the other leads out into Exitium. The line begins to divide and a rough voice shouts over the bustling of feet.

"Those headed out of headquarters, stay to the right. A shuttle is parked and ready to be loaded." The voice yells.

Casper presses his hand on the small of my back. My breath catches in my throat but I realize he's simply steering me in the direction of the departure line. I follow alongside him as my heart hammers wildly within my chest. This is it, this is what we've worked so hard for. This is what people died for. Eli, Ariel, Diego, Calyx, and so many others whose names I never did catch. They died so we could save what little is left of mankind, and I won't let their deaths be in vain.

To my left, I hear Avery's voice. I turn my head in their direction and hear her voice loud above the marching feet.

"Be safe! Love you! Not you, Casper. I'm talking to Bay for God's sake. Love yooouuu Bay! Come home safely to me!"

I can't help but laugh. "You got it, Sunshine!"

"Okay, sugar, have fun!" I hear her cackle and before I know it, Willow, Demetria and Avery are gone from sight.

Casper laughs beside me. "I was gonna say, if Avery was telling me she loved me, she must have got hit in the head or something during our time in the jail cell."

I chuckle. "Naw, she just really loves me. What can I say? I seem to have that effect on people."

"Yeah you do." He says in a low tone.

Chills break over my body and I'm glad he can't see me blushing.

Here's the thing. I am not the same girl I was when I left for this trip. I feel like a new person. This trip over the span of the past few months have been a whirlwind of emotions, and I can honestly say it's changed me for the better. Perhaps even for the best. If I were to have been asked before the trip to describe myself in a few short words, I would say I was quiet, somewhat obedient, and lived life by the rules. This is how any New Yorker would respond. Even though I never exactly felt like I fit the New Yorker mold, it's a part of who and what I am. I might not feel like I fit in, but New York is a part of me, and I of it. That can't be changed. And it's true that these traits are all still a part of me, but I'm different. I feel more free-spirited, I feel broken and bruised, but I feel good about myself.

This is just who I am as a person. Whether or not these words accurately describe me isn't for me to say. All I know is I'm not the same girl I once was. I'm wiser, stronger, and less afraid of the world than I have ever been. I feel free. I am something else, I am someone else as of now. So yes, I am not the same girl I was before. I'm not as timid, I won't be obedient, my state does not own me, I own myself.

Yes. I am a New Yorker, always have been, always will be, whether I want to be or not. There is no erasing that part of me.

My name is Bay Zachary. I am a New Yorker, but there is now a better word to describe me and the remaining others—not just the Casper, Willow, Demetria, and Avery, but the others of Exitium. Those who remain of mankind.

Courageous. We are courageous.