The Survivors

Chapter 10

Waking up was the purest nightmare. Everything hurt and my head felt like I had been celebrating for a week. It took a few seconds to realize where I was. It smelled like gasoline and I was lying on a car seat wrapped in a blanket. Outside it was dark and you could see the stars in the sky. 

I just wanted to sit up and go outside to get some fresh air, but I was pulled back by something. Or rather, someone.

I slowly truned around, tried not to wake up the person who had put her arm around me and looked straight into Cole Stewart's face. I found him sweaty and although it was spring, it was still very cold outside.

I tried to pull away but he stopped me and for some reason, he pulled me closer into his arms, almost suffocating me.

I tried a few more times, but I gave up when I realized there was no way to get out of his arms without waking him up. Now that I had a closer look on his face, I could see that his eyes were fluttering under his eyelids. He was dreaming and with what I could see it was not a nice one. It hurt to see him like that, and I wanted to do something to stop him from suffering like that. I slowly stretched out my hand against his cheek, but before I could touch him, he said something.

"Liam!" His eyes shot open when he shouted out. He breathed heavily and his face was weat. I couldn't tell whether it was sweat or tears. It took him a few seconds to grasp, and when he realized where he was and that I was here, he let go off me.

Who's Liam?, I wanted to ask, but something was holding me back. 

"What time is it?" He asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"I don't know." I replied. "The sun hasn't shown herself yet, so I'd say around 3 am."

"All right, we should go." He sat up in record time and started the engine while I still had this one question on my tounge.

But all of sudden I remembered why we were here at all. Everything was blurry, but individual pictures kept flashing up in my head. The Op...the League Agent...everything went black...

"The Intel?" I nervously looked around for Cole, whose gaze was focused on the road.

"Everything in here, sunshine." He patted his jacket pocket. I was breathing relieved. At least I hadn't completely screwed up the Op. 

"And the agent?" I asked in a low voice.

Cole paused for a second and snorted. He was tense and only by the twitch of his hand did I realize how angry he was.

"His cover has been blown." He said quietly. "I found him dead in the bathroom." 

"What happened?"

"You have many questions on your tongue, what sunshine?" He laughed softly. Man how I love that laugh. 

As soon as I realized I was staring at him, I felt myself blushed and looked out of the window very quickly. Suddenly, the trees we passed were very interesting. The sun was slowly rising over the horizon and the sky was colored in different shades of purple and yellow. 

"The sunrise is nature's declaration of love to people." I blurted out before I could stop myself. 

"Say again?" Cole prompted. 

"I said that the sunrise is a declaration of nature's love to people." I explained. "That's what my mom always said."

"Um, Lilli?" He started slowly and I had a permonition of what was coming. "You don't have to answer that if you don't want to, but I wonder what your parents would say if they knew where you are and what you're doing?"

For quite a while, I kept quiet and thought about the question. "I don't know." I finally answered. "I don't think I'll ever find out." 

"Really?" He asked. "Why?"

"Because..." I started but then stopped. It wasn't that I didn't trust Cole. I would trust him with my life, but I just didn't know how to find the right words. I never told anyone about it. It felt like a dark knot that tied around my heart and took the air to breathe. But I wanted to finally untie that knot. 

"My... My mom died when I was ten, and my dad..." I started quietly, but my voice broke. Slowly, I felt tears at the corners of my eyes and my throat tied up. 

I still tried to sound as unemotional as possible, but all I wanted was a hug and someone telling me that I couldn't be hurt anymore. But I knew one thing for sure: You don't get to choose whether you get hurt, only the person who is going to hurt you.

But as soon as Cole started talking, I knew I couldn't fool him. "Hey, you don't have to talk about it if you don't wanna." 

"But I want to." Because for the first time in a long time, he gave me back something that had been denied me all these years. He gave me a choice. 

So I started to tell him my life story. I told him about my mother, who was the lovableest person in the world, and about my father, who became a monster after my mother died. A monster who always drank whenever he was angry or in pain, and beat me because he blamed me for my mother's dead. 

"When my dad found out my ability..." My voice lowered. "He reported me right away, and when they took me away, all I saw was hate in his eyes. It's like I'm some kind of monster he could finally get rid of. I'll never forget that look on his face."

The whole time I was talking, I was watching Cole. His face remained cold all the time, and if I hadn't noticed how he was shaking or how his hands were clutching the steering wheel, I wouldn't have noticed how angry he was. It looked like he was going to punch something.

Suddenly he reached out his hand and put it on mine. I don't know how, but only the touch of his skin felt more than good. "Your father's an idiot." He said. "Because you're so much more than he ever deserved." 

I smiled. But a look in his eyes told me that he really understood what I was talking about. It's like he went through all this himself. 

For a long time, nobody said anything until Cole turned on the radio and I continued to watch the sunrise to country music.