Chapter 4
"This is the room you'll be sleeping in," Will told me. "Unfortunately, we don't have enough rooms to accommodate everyone, so I'll be sleeping with you. But don't worry, I'll sleep on the floor."
"What?" I said, surprised.
"I'll let you settle in, I'll come back to get you for dinner."
And he left me alone with my thoughts. Which wasn't necessarily a good idea, considering the number of questions I had. As I didn't really have any stuff, I took the opportunity to rest a little on the bed, which was incredibly comfortable. Then, little by little, I closed my eyes, letting myself go into a world of dreams, or rather nightmares.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, which woke me up with a start. My heart raced until I noticed whose palm it was.
"Will, you scared me," I said.
"Sorry, I was just waking you up to come eat with us," he apologized. "Or would you rather sleep instead?"
"No, it's okay, I'll come. If I sleep now, I won't be able to sleep tonight."
"Okay, then follow me."
I followed him to the living room, which I had seen when I arrived. Laura, Liam and Max were waiting patiently at the table, while Rachel came out of the kitchen with a huge plate in her hands.
"Come on, everybody to the table," Rachel exclaimed happily.
"Great, I'm starving," Liam added.
"You're always hungry," Laura replied.
"That's true," Liam said.
"Come on, Chloe," said Rachel, "I've left a place for you. And then, as you must be hungry, I let you help yourself first."
"Rhoo, the privilege," grumbled Liam while Laura, sitting next to him, elbowed him. "Ouch!"
"Don't mind him, he's in a bad mood when he hasn't had his fill of food," said the tall girl.
"Okay, thanks for the information," I smiled.
After this little bickering that reminded me strongly of my sister and me, I settled down and started to eat. And wow, Rachel hadn't lied. Her cooking was divine. I let the others talk while I enjoyed my food. I was so focused on my plate that I wasn't listening to the conversation.
"Chloe? Are you listening to us?" asked Max.
"Oh sorry, can you repeat that, please. I was too focused on my food. Your cooking is amazing, Rachel."
"Thank you," she said. "We asked you what happened to you."
"Oh... With my family, we went to the village festival but we were attacked by men, then by our friends because of these strange devices. My sister and I ran away, but in the meantime I got a flash in my eyes. We managed to escape from our attacker but he caught up with us little by little, and we had to split up. Then Will found me and you know the rest."
"Oh my God, that's horrible," Rachel exclaimed.
"Didn't you go through the same thing?"
"No, Laura and I figured out pretty quickly what was going on. There was noise and screaming everywhere. As we hid, we soon realized that people were not acting normally and we ran away from the riot."
"Oh, I see. But who are these people and what do they want from us?"
"It's the government that's behind all this," Will answers. "The army to be more precise. They want to control us to shape the world to their liking and have more power. That's why they developed this machine, so that we become robots at their service and fight their battles for them."
"How do you know all this?" I asked him.
"I just know it."
"And we don't have the right to know the reason?" I said, slowly letting my anger deflect. "We can't remain blind to the situation, you have to tell us more."
"No, I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because," he said, also becoming increasingly angry.
"Uh, maybe we should calm down, right?" said Liam.
"Great job, Will! And you, aren't you going to say anything?" I said to the rest of the group.
"Oh, you'll understand why," said Laura.
"Fine, but I want to go to the government then, they have my sister," I said firmly.
"That's out of the question," replied Will.
"What do you mean, no way? I'm not asking you," I shouted, my anger getting out of control.
"It's too dangerous, you're not going," Will shouted back.
"What? It's too dangerous for you or for me?"
"For everyone."
Sensing that Will would never give me that point, I stormed out of the room and locked myself in my room. I needed to calm down and come to my senses. It wasn't going to help my sister to argue with him. No, I had to come up with a plan to go to the government to save her. With or without his approval.
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