Chapter Nine: Aspen

Chapter Nine
~ Aspen ~

I moved through the trees quickly, coughing as smoke snaked its way into my lungs. I tried to cover my mouth as best I could, but it was my eyes that were getting the worst of it. I should’ve known something like this would happen. It’d been two weeks since I stumbled my way into these woods looking for an escape, and life had been anything but kind to us all in that time.
I’d known it was coming. I heard dad talking about it when I was listening in on one of his meetings. When I was seen emerging from these trees, their suspicion that the sick lived here was confirmed. From that day on, they were talking about ways to get them out. To check them into our facilities. To put them in cages.
I wanted to warn them but sneaking into the holding facility to talk to Will was risky enough. This was my only opportunity to give them the information I’d gotten out of him in the last two weeks. With all the commotion surrounding this attack, it was the perfect time. But I couldn’t stay long.
It took a while, but soon, I was able to find E’s fairly small figure in the smoke. Her back was to me, and I knew she hadn’t heard me approach. I gently touched her shoulder, and she immediately tensed at my light pressure.
“E, it’s just me,” I told her, right as both of us were nearly knocked off our feet.
It had been a blast of some kind. I felt it before I heard it. The shockwave pushed me down onto my knees, my hands sinking into the damp ground as they tried to catch my fall. Shit. What are they doing now?
“Come on.” She urged, gripping my left arm tightly and hoisting me back up. “We need to get underground.”
“Underground?” I asked, puzzled.
She didn’t answer, instead taking the lead and pulling me along with her. I couldn’t even see where we were going at this point. I was just blindly following her. Suddenly, I was shoved down into a hole in the ground, and everything went silent. I heard E let out a shaky breath.
“What’s going on?” She asked accusingly. I couldn’t blame her.
“I think you’ve probably figured that out by now.” I said with a cough. Damn smoke.
I swear I heard her eyes roll in the dark before she motioned for me to follow once again. We moved through some kind of tunnel system, hunching over the whole way. I was pretty impressed. It was obvious they’d dug these themselves, and they hadn’t done a bad job for having what I assumed were limited tools.
Eventually we made it to a well lit, bustling space. It was huge and held around a hundred people. There were tents everywhere, and everyone was settling in for the night.
“Lexa!” I recognized Grey’s voice from behind us, dripping with relief. “What did you find out…why is she here?” Ah, there’s the Grey I know.
“It had to be done. We would’ve both died spending another minute up there.” E sighed, not looking any happier to have me here. I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling very unwelcome. And cold. Jax approached us, giving me a quick once over before turning his attention to E.
“Everyone is accounted for.” He assured her, and she visibly relaxed.
“Good. Do we have enough sleeping space? Food?” And just like that, the edge was back to her voice.
“Barely. Someone will have to make a run soon.” His honey eyes flickered back to me in question but he didn’t speak up.
I reached for the backpack hanging from my shoulders, suddenly remembering that it was there. I’d thrown together whatever I could that I thought would help. My plan was to leave it with E, but now I was stuck, so I figured it was as good a time as any. I unzipped it and opened it for them to see.
“I brought some things I thought you might need.” I started, glancing out at all the people trying to set up camp. “It, uh, might not be enough.”
“We don’t want your handouts.” Grey glared at me harshly, leaving me wondering what his deal was. The guy really hates me, that’s for sure.
“Actually, we do.” Jax argued, snatching the backpack from my hands, and stalking away.
Okay, then. I wrapped my arms around my sides again and hugged myself tightly. No part of me liked it down here. It’s dirty, smelly, and practically freezing. I wanted to get back home, and that was saying something.
“Alright, let's just...let’s go somewhere so you can tell me what I need to know.” E said with a sigh, suddenly looking exhausted.
I nodded in agreement and followed her through the crowded space. My eyes flickered upward as another loud boom sounded at the ground level. From what I’d overheard during the past two weeks, they didn’t want to hurt the sick, they just wanted to capture them. So why there were currently explosions happening, I had no idea. But it couldn’t be good. E walked until we reached a semi-secluded corner. There were a few people here gathering blankets, but they quickly walked away as we approached. Grey took post next to E as she plopped down on a large rock, his arms crossed and a hard glare on his face.
“Well?” She urged. Right to business.
I chewed on my bottom lip nervously. There was no easy way to tell her any of what I’d witnessed the past two weeks. It really wasn’t good. She wasn’t going to like it, but I knew she wanted the truth. Maybe I could just sugar coat it a little bit.
“Will is…alive.” I started and cringed at my own poor choice of words. “To be honest, your window for a break-in is closing. He’s being moved to another building on campus any day now, and it’ll be nearly impossible for me to sneak into that one.”
“What have they done to him?” The question I was dreading.
My mind flashed through all the conversations we’d had since our first meeting. He’d told me everything. Gave me every excruciating detail of the treatment he’d been subjected to at the hands of my own father and his subordinates. I shuddered at the memories.
“I don’t want to say…” I admitted. I couldn’t lie, but that didn’t mean I wanted to say anything else either.
“S.” Her voice broke slightly, giving me a little glimpse into how worried she truly was. She deserved to know, even if it would hurt her.
“He’s being kept in a cell, in a disgusting building we call the holding facility. It isn’t meant to house people for long, so there’s not much there. I try to bring him food every night, and I’m pretty sure that’s the only food he’s getting. He’s in bad shape. They keep taking his blood and running tests on it. Sometimes they inject him with liquids, and he loses long stretches of time. Hearing about you is helping, but his mind is starting to shut down. It’s a lot for him to process.”
I took a deep breath and blinked. Everything had spilled out of me without my control. I hadn’t meant to tell her that much. I studied her expression, but it gave little away. She stared at me blankly for a few long moments.
“Find her a place to sleep.” Her voice was flat, showing none of the emotion she had to be feeling inside.
“E…” I tried to follow as she strode away quickly, but a hand gripping my arm stopped me.
“Leave her.” Grey ordered, watching her walk away with a stormy look in his eyes. “Come with me.”
He didn’t let go of me as he moved quickly through the campsite. Most of the tents I’d seen in the beginning stages when I arrived were fully formed now, housing the sick as they tried to settle in. I caught a few curious eyes on our way and felt my cheeks heat up in embarrassment. Usually, I didn't mind a little attention, but right now it was the last thing I wanted. Grey moved to the right suddenly and ducked into a dimly lit tent, letting a loose flap of fabric smack me in the face as he did. I winced and ripped my arm away from him, rubbing the spot he’d just been holding. The guy had a tight grip.
“You’ll be staying here.” He practically barked, turning his back to me to fiddle with something on the tiny table near the entrance.
Although small, the tent would fit me fairly comfortably for the night. There was a single sleeping bag in the center of the dirt ground with a thin blanket thrown over it, but not much else.
“Who’s this, Greybear?” I gasped in surprise at the sudden voice that was accompanied by the arrival of a little girl.
She’d popped up from beneath the sleeping bag in an instant, scaring the shit out of me in the process. She had shoulder length chestnut hair, wavy in a way that was similar to Grey’s, and big, curious baby blues. She looked back and forth between us while she waited for his answer.
“Gracelyn, don’t talk to her.” He ordered, and at this point I was pretty sure that was the only way he knew how to communicate. I sent a glare to his back before taking the few steps necessary to reach her.
“My name is Aspen.” I knelt down and extended a hand to her in greeting.
She tilted her head like a puppy, inspecting my outstretched hand as if she’d never seen one before. Now that we were this close, I noticed that her face was dotted with beautiful brown freckles. No doubt a result of spending so much time outside. She put her hand out in a way that was similar to mine but didn’t bring them together.
“My name is Gracelyn, but my friends call me Gracie.” Her voice was so light, so carefree, and I wondered just how much she knew about the state of our world. Hopefully not much.
“Here.” I said, pulling her hand toward mine until I could clasp it in a handshake. “That’s a handshake. You do it to say hello.”
Her eyes widened in awe. She let go of me, only to put her hand back into mine a second later. She repeated this process a few times, causing a chuckle to escape my lips. She acted as if it were the most amazing thing she’d ever learned. Without warning, she jumped up from her sleeping bag, exclaiming something about showing all her friends her new trick. I turned to watch her go, an amused smile on my face.
I stood on shaky legs, dusting off my pants as I went. Any positivity I was feeling quickly vanished, however, when I realized how close Grey was. He was standing directly in front of me, staring me down as if I’d kicked his favorite cat. I had to crane my head back to look at him fully, since he towered over me by several inches.
“Stay away from my sister.” He said, and suddenly the resemblance made sense.
God, what an ass. I hadn’t done a single thing to this guy, and he hated my guts. I didn’t get it.
“You’ve done plenty.” He huffed, narrowing his eyes at me.
I stiffened at his declaration. I hadn’t said those words out loud, which could only mean one thing.
“Did you just…?” I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Reading my mind was low, even for him.
“There’s a lot you still don’t know about us, City Girl.” With that, he turned his back to me again. And all I could do was agree.