Escaping Elysia

Chapter 25 - That Girl

Dale

Why is Nadya still alive?

I've been asking myself that question all morning. Everyone else in the yellow group is gone, except her. I should feel relief, but I can't help but worry. Why did they single her out?

I lean against the wall outside the clinic and close my eyes. This can't be happening.

The whole morning has felt not quite real. Like it doesn't matter what I do, or what anyone else does, because we're all going to wake up soon and everything will be back to normal.

Except this isn't a nightmare.

It's real, and I don't know how to protect Nadya. If anything ever happened to her, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I feel frozen. One wrong move could be the difference between her life and her death.

Evita is the opposite of frozen. She is living flame. When I heard screams a few hours ago I raced toward the clinic, fearing they'd realized their mistake and come back for Nadya.

But it hadn't been Nadya in the guard's arms, struggling and kicking like a raccoon caught in a trap. It had been Evita.

I have to admit, she has guts. Most people have been walking around like bunnies this morning, afraid that if they make one wrong move the guards will swallow them whole. She walked right into the lion's mouth.

Still, what she did was stupid. How could she know they wouldn't just kill her right there? I have enough to worry about with Nadya. I can't worry about her too.

Weston walks out of the clinic and strides down the hall. I run to catch up. "How is she?"

He furrows his brow. "Who?"

I shoot him a look. "Evita."

"Oh. She's fine."

"You saw her?"

"They have her in the recovery room," he says. My shoulders relax.

We reach his room and he pushes open the door. I flop down on his roommate's bed. He sits on his, his back straight, shoulders tensed.

"It's stupid."

I blink. "What is?"

"Everyone freaking out so much. There's no reason to."

I sit up and face him. "Of course there is."

He snorts. "Don't tell me you believe what everyone's saying."

"You mean you don't?"

"They wouldn't just kill sixty four people, Dale. They're not monsters."

I beg to differ. "What's your explanation then? Do you think they just let them go?" I laugh, the sound dry, like the crunch of leaves underfoot.

He wrinkles his brow. "Ellis told me they're back with their communities now. Elysia didn't need them anymore."

I groan and rub my temples. "You really think they're just going to let all those people out? People they experimented on? You can't seriously believe that."

He juts his chin out and presses his shoulders back. "You're paranoid. Don't let that girl cloud your judgment."

A fire roars in my gut. Evita has more bravery and sense in her pinky toe than he has in his whole, useless body. Weston and I have been friends for years, and I've put up with his strict belief in the experiments and his naive determination to follow the rules. Elysia has always been relatively safe, so it didn't matter if we disagreed. Not anymore.