Chapter Six: Lexa

Chapter Six
~ Lexa ~
“You’re being soft.” Grey growled at me.
“I’m being human.” I answered, trying to think of what our plan could be.
“Lexa, you won’t let them hurt her, right?” Gracie asked, moving from her hiding spot.
“Gracelyn, you aren’t supposed to get up until we say it’s safe.” Grey reprimanded, sounding so fierce the little girl practically dropped back into the hole.
“It is safe, Grey.” I told them tiredly. This day had turned out to be absolutely emotionally draining. “Get her some food and water. If she’s dead, we have no hope of finding Will. Or taking the operation down from the inside.”
“What are you talking about?” Jax now asked, he was looking from me to S curiously.
“Jax, Grey, this is the one and only Aspen Oakley, daughter of the Initiative’s Head of Operations. Our one chance at an insider.”
Both of the guys got big eyes, but not one of them said anything. It was Aspen who actually spoke next.
“I won’t help you if you won’t meet my demands, E.” She stated steadily.
I could feel her energy was fearful, the worst kind, but also determined. She was in no state to make demands, but she was still trying.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because I can’t help unless I know what’s going on.” She answered, she was gaining her strength back. She was a tough person. I couldn’t afford to be on the wrong side of her.
“Gracie, can you go to the village and tell them to be on high alert?” I asked, turning away from S. “And don’t come back here tonight, got it?”
The little girl nodded back at me.
“You’re going to turn me in?” S looked confused and hurt. “I can’t let you do that.”
“I’m sorry,” I stated as Gracie slipped out the door. “I never said I was turning you in, but I need to protect my people. You still didn’t tell me how you got past my sensors.”
She looked at me and made a puzzled face as our eyes met.
Something happened then. I felt compelled to tell her everything I knew about everything from the last 10 years.
“They killed my mom because she was a spy,” I blurted out, “She was what they called sick. But we’re not sick. We’re powerful. And that scares those without powers. So instead of giving us a chance they-”
“That’s enough!” Grey shouted as he stepped in front of me.
I doubled over, and Jax leaned over to help me.
“I’m fine,” I whispered, but I felt drained.
“What were you doing to her?!” Grey’s anger was overwhelming and terrifying.
She didn’t answer. She just sat all pouty on the couch, facing away from all of us.
“You have powers.” I finally stated when I caught my breath and was able to orient myself. “That’s how you got past my sensors.”
“I’m sick too, if that’s what you're saying.” She answered grumpily, she was mad she had been stopped. “And I’ve never been stopped before, how did you do it?” She narrowed her eyes at me.
“That’s for us to know,” Grey answered with a growl.
“Why didn’t you tell me you had powers?” I felt frustrated. “I could have helped you!”
“No one can help me.” She sounded defeated. “No one survives long with powers. No one makes it past 25. We’ll all be dead soon.”
“I’m sorry, what?” I questioned.
She looked at me with confusion.
“People usually go into the facility around 18 for treatment, and they never make it past 25. That’s what my history books say.”
“Wait, you have books?” It was Jax who let his guard down over books.
I smiled. I remembered the lavish life I got to visit when I was younger. But out here, none of us really knew how to read. Not well anyway. We had codes made up. But we couldn’t read books like Aspen had always had. We couldn’t read that version of written language. We had never been taught or had the resources to teach ourselves.
“You don’t have books?” S looked horrified. “Then how do you know what side you’re on is the right side?”
“Because,” I replied, “We have people well over the age of 25 living in our communities. Death has been a rarity for us. And we all have powers.”
I let the sentence hang between us for a few moments, giving it a chance to sink in.
“No.” S breathed in shock. “No, that’s not possible.”
“Believe it,” Jax said lightly. “It’s true.”
“It can’t be. They die by 25. We have funerals for them. Each time it’s between 22-25.” She sounded slightly panicked.
I took a deep breath. I knew that whatever our plan was going to be to rescue Will, there was very little time for error.
I sat down next to S, and I heard Grey breathe in sharply as if this all pained him. And maybe it did.
“S. I know this is a lot. And we, honestly, don’t have a lot of time. The people they are saying are sick, are not sick. We have different blood. Blood that gives us powers. That’s how they find people. They plan to take you when you’re 18, but they don’t tell you. They look out for kids who can do things, incredible things. They search from the time a child is young, but it would be terrible to take kids. There would be an uprising. So, they say they’re sick. They take them away as soon as they’re 18. Legally, they are adults. Then what they do from there, I’m not sure. But as you said, once they’re taken, then die soon after. My mom started this rescue and safety program. Most people fear the woods. Most people from any of the surrounding towns won’t come near. Many people know this is where many of the sick hide. There aren’t many people with powers left outside our compound in this country anymore. Sooner or later the government is going to come into our woods and kill all of us. We need to save Will first. Then we save our people.”
S was quiet for a minute before asking a question that made my blood run cold.
“So, you would all be kept in cages?”
I felt like my head started to spin, and if Grey hadn’t put his hand comfortingly on my shoulder, I might have completely lost it.
“You are telling me that my people are being kept in cages?” I said the sentence very slowly as I was trying to process the things she just told me.
“Yes.” She whispered.
“And that’s- that’s where Will is?” It was Grey who asked this time, in a calm, too calm of a voice.
S nodded.
“And you saw him?” Grey questioned.
“Yes.” Her voice was nearly inaudible.
“And you just left him there?” Now Grey was beginning to sound dangerous again.
“I didn’t have a choice! Okay? I didn’t know that that was how they treated people! I thought they would have nurses and doctors and bedrooms! Not concrete floors. And weird liquids.”
I got up. I was trying to ignore the panic that was setting in. Will. My poor sweet Will. The kid who refused to let me be the only line of defense alone. The guy who’s goofy smile always made me smile too. The guy who made sure I didn’t do anything too rash. The guy who had a bigger heart than anyone I knew.
“You have to go back.” I said, as Grey moved to grab his bag. He was ready to go fight his way into Will.
“No.” S argued. “I risked everything to come here. I’ll be in so much trouble if I go back!” She sounded like a child. She practically was still a child. We all were.
“Let me think.” I stated, leaning over the table, looking at the codes I had come up with and studied a thousand times. “We need to make a copy of the key that can get us to Will. We probably need a couple.” I was thinking out loud now. “You’ll go back and get us one. We can meet in the cover of darkness and no one will know you are missing or that you took one.”
S looked at me with a blank face.
“I may have that problem already covered.” She stated as she slowly revealed a key card from her pocket.
I closed my eyes. Finally, something was going my way.
“Okay,” I breathed. “Okay. Let me see.”
She handed me the key card. “This is my dad’s.” She explained. “I took it so I could prove to you that Will was okay.”
I nodded finally understanding. She had freaked when she saw he wasn’t. That’s why she had come to me.
“Jax.” I called, “I need you to run this to the lab. We need two by morning. See what Marrietta can do.”
He looked from me to Grey.
“Will you guys be okay here without me?”
Before Grey had even a chance to deny that we were fine, I responded, “Of course we will be. We know the way if not.”
Jax looked to Grey who only nodded, so Jax grabbed his bag, and headed out the door.
“Great.” S said once he left. “One problem down, but I can’t go back there. They’ll kill me.”
I sighed. I had a plan. But not one that would go well for my people.
“I have an idea.” I answered, and I looked to Grey. “And you’re going to hate it.”
Grey glared at me before asking “What stupid thing are you about to do?”
I turned toward S. “Aspen is going to tell them, I took her. Then they’ll come looking for me, and no one else. When the time comes, S will ‘find’ me, and turn me in. But only once we have a full plan of how to get out or we are absolutely desperate.”
“Lexa…” Grey didn’t know what to say. Despite what a good person he was, he didn’t want to run the risk of dying when his sister needed him. And it couldn’t be Jax, he was our brains. It had to be me. And that’s what was understood.