Chapter 6
I kept tossing and turning in bed, sleep not coming. I kept thinking about my sister, memories of her before what had just happened. And I was also wondering what had happened to my mother, whom I had not seen since the beginning of all this drama. Too many questions and interrogations were jostling in my head, giving me a headache. I was about to leave to take some medicine when I heard a scream. I turned to Will and saw that he was writhing in pain. It felt like he was having a nightmare. I slowly walked over to his bed and noticed his eyes were closed.
"Will, wake up," I said once, patting him on the shoulder.
Seeing that he still didn't wake up, I repeated my gesture but a little harder. This time, I saw him open his eyelids, fear reflected in his pupils.
"Hey, are you okay?" I asked him.
"Yeah, I just had a nightmare."
"Yeah, I noticed. Does that happen to you a lot?"
"Pretty much, but this one was more violent than the others."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"I thought you hated me."
"What? No. You make me a little angry, but I don't hate you. You have to understand that I'm here with you because of my sister. She sacrificed herself for me, and I have to give it back to her by saving her. Otherwise, there's no point in me staying here."
"Yes, but it's dangerous outside. The army is everywhere. We know that because Max hacked some information."
"I don't care about the army, I just want to find my sister."
"To the point of getting yourself killed? You're my responsibility now and believe me, I don't want to see you dead."
A silence fell between us. We looked at each other for a moment, without saying a word.
"Listen, here's what I propose," said Will. "You can go and find your sister, who is probably at the base, at the government, but after your training. I'll be the one to judge if you're ready and trained enough to go. Do you agree?"
"Really?" I said.
"Yes, really," he said.
Overcome by my feelings, I threw myself at his neck. He was taken by surprise, but he pulled himself together a moment later and put his arms around me. After a long time, we parted.
"So does that mean we stop yelling at each other?"
"Oh, yeah, sure," I answered a little shyly, surprised by his question.
"Cool, because I was sick of it," he confided.
"I was too."
"So, tell me a little about your life before."
"Why?"
"I'm curious and I don't want to sleep anymore, believe me," answered the young man.
"Oh you know my life was ordinary, I went to school during the day and went home afterwards, spending time either with my friends or with my sister and my mother, and you?"
"I went to a military high school."
"Ah, that explains a lot," I laughed. "It couldn't have been easy?"
"Oh no, it was fine. Just when things got bad, my classmates and I fought well, but a lot of them either died or were taken over by the government."
"Yes, like many people in my village. We have to save them," I said.
"Yes, and we will. We're training for it. One day, our efforts will pay off."
"I really hope you're right and that the army doesn't find us."
"Don't worry, I've made sure they won't find us. Listen Chloe," he said with a serious look in his eyes, "I know this is going to sound weird, but I care about you, just like I care about the whole gang, and I don't want you to do something you'll regret because of this war or because of me."
"What, no," I replied. "And I don't think you can force us to do anything without our consent."
"Yes, that's true."
"Don't worry about it," I advised her. "It's normally a girl thing, that!"
"Yes," laughed the young man. "I think I'm sleep deprived."
"Then we should go to bed," I concluded.
He nodded and lay back down on his little mattress, while I went to mine. As I pulled back my sheets, I heard him whisper:
"Good night Chloe."
"Good night Will," I replied and closed my eyes.
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