The Chosen Ones (30 page)

I forced myself to smile back. She
was right. Things could be much, much worse, I realized as Tony returned to
camp. I could be Kelly and in love with a traitor.

****

“You’re saying,” Will whispered,
as if worried we’d be overheard. “If we inject this serum into our blood
stream, they won’t be able to ingest it? We’ll be safe?”

“We hope,” Thane replied.

“My god,” Kelly whispered. “We
could save everyone. The entire world.”

I pressed my hand to my
neckline, feeling Tom’s wooden rose beneath my shirt, needing the reassurance.
Will seemed shocked, Kelly overjoyed, but I couldn’t quite read Tony’s
reaction. He merely sat there on the outskirts of camp, watching us all, barely
saying a word. To me it was so obvious he was the traitor that I could hardly
stand to sit there and do nothing. Why hadn’t Thane told Will? And I knew Will
didn’t know, for he wore his feelings on his face and he still treated Tony
like a friend.

“The attacks have been getting
worse,” Will said softly, almost as if talking to himself. “More hunting
parties.”

Susan…she merely sat there sipping
her cup of water, asking sweetly for help every once in a while. And of course
the guys would jump to do her bidding. Tony, who normally looked out only for
himself, had even helped her to the creek earlier. The fear I’d seen on her
face during the attack was gone. She seemed oddly content instead of
traumatized. How could they not think her actions strange?

“It’s unbelievable,” Kelly said,
shaking her head. “It could all end within weeks…days. The fear, the running, the
death.”

Everyone was quiet, as if
letting the realization sink in fully. I wondered what would have happened if
only someone had had the courage to find my grandfather earlier. Would Jimmy
still be alive? My mother? My father?

Thane reached into the bag at
his feet and pulled out a syringe. The amber liquid glowed under the brilliant
light from the setting sun. It was hard to believe that little bottle would
save us all. At the same time, the liquid worried me. What was in there, and
could we trust my grandfather?

Will’s gaze shifted to me. “Have
you tried it?”

I shook my head. I wasn’t sure
why. We hadn’t exactly had time, what with running for our lives and all. Still,
if I’d wanted to I could have found a moment. Thane hadn’t brought it up, and
during the past two days, although I’d thought about it, I hadn’t been ready to
trust the serum, or my grandfather.

“I’ll be the first.” Will rolled
up his sleeve, surprising us all. “Give it to me.”

“Will,” I said, startled by how
quickly he was ready to jump in. “My grandfather was insane. What if it’s not
ready yet? Or what if it makes you ill? If we find Raven, the real Raven, he
might be able to help.”

“And by then it could be too
late. It’s a chance I’m willing to take.” He glanced at Kelly. “Will you?”

She nodded and moved across the
camp. Thane handed her the syringe as she swept by. I watched him, hoping he
might intervene, but as always, Thane said nothing, allowing the others to make
their own fate.

I shifted to my knees, growing
nervous as Kelly settled next to Will. “You don’t know what will happen.”

“Exactly,” he said. “I will be
the test rat here. I won’t allow it to be anyone else.”

Will, always the hero, forever a
leader. Kelly lifted the syringe, tapped it a couple times and lowered it
toward his arm. We all watched while she slowly slid the needle through his
skin. Just like that the liquid drained from the syringe and into his body.

“Any idea of side effects?” Will
asked.

Thane shook his head. “We know
as much as you.”

The vial empty, Kelly pulled the
needle from Will’s arm. We sat there in silence, knowing that my Grandfather
could have been insane. Knowing it might not work. Knowing it could make things
worse. Will tightened his hand into a fist. A tiny drop of blood rested on his
forearm where the needle had pierced the flesh. It was the only indication the
needle had been there.

Will looked at Thane. “Can you
sense anything different?”

He shook his head.

“Maybe you have to actually try
the blood,” Kelly suggested.

“No thanks,” Thane said dryly.

Will gave us all a hesitant
smile. “Well, I’m going to wash.”

He surged to his feet and
started downhill toward the creek, most likely wanting to get away from our
curious gazes. I didn’t miss the way Susan watched him go. It wasn’t enough
that she had Thane’s interest, she had to have Will too?

Unable to stand still any
longer, I jumped to my feet, ignored Thane’s piercing attention, and followed
Will. I needed to know his thoughts, needed to understand my own feelings. “Hey,
can we talk?”

Will was already at the creek by
the time I caught up to him. He didn’t seem surprised to see me. He didn’t
exactly seem welcome either. “Sure.” He knelt by the water and splashed some on
his face, then arms, cleaning the skin. I thought about those two times he had
held me, pressed his mouth to mine. It had been only weeks ago but it felt like
years. A memory of a dream I wasn’t quite sure was real or not.
 

“Will?” I could have sworn he
was avoiding eye contact. “You feel okay?”

“Pretty normal. I haven’t grown
an extra limb or anything, have I?”

I smiled. “No. You look fine.”

Of course we had no idea what
would eventually happen but it was too late to voice my concern. “Listen, it’s
about Susan.”

He stood, frowning, and raked
back his damp hair. “What about her?”

“I don’t trust her, and I don’t
think we should talk about the serum around her.”

Will sighed, settling on a
boulder that had somehow ended up alongside the creek. As out of place in this
landscape as I felt at times. “Jane, people didn’t trust you when you first
arrived.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t in
everyone’s business either. I was out of it. Insane. And you certainly never
shared anything this important with me.”

He glanced back at the hill where
everyone still sat. The setting sun was bright, highlighting their faces in an
ethereal glow. Soon the moon would be full again. Which meant more people would
die. Would it be my sister’s time to be chosen? As if sensing Will’s gaze, Susan
turned and smiled at him. She was pretty. Really pretty. Is that why Thane and
Will liked her so much? Were guys really that shallow? Tony stood and left the
group and I wondered briefly where he was headed.
 

I switched my attention to Will
and saw that he was smiling back. The flush upon his cheeks had nothing to do
with the heat of the day and everything to do with Susan. I looked away,
annoyed, unsure what I was feeling and why. Yeah, maybe I was jealous. But what
it really boiled down to was that I just didn’t trust her.

“She’s fine,” Will said,
scooping up a pebble and throwing it into the creek, watching it skip across
the water. “She’s been through an ordeal, yet is thriving.”

In other words, doing better
than I had. “Yeah, that’s why I don’t trust her. Who goes through that much?
Sees that much death, feels that sort of fear and comes out smiling?”

“Maybe she just feels safe here
with me.” He looked away, the flush on his face darkening. “With
us
. All of us, I mean.”

His slip angered me. “Kelly was
right, you need to save people.” I hadn’t meant to say the words, but once they
were out I didn’t regret them. “Don’t you?”
 

He straightened, his gaze
flashing with annoyance. I’d hit on the truth and he knew it. “Excuse me?”

I glared back at him. “First me,
and now her? Kelly said you have this need to save people, but I didn’t want to
believe her. You don’t even see what’s right in front of you, Will, because you’re
blinded by your need to be her hero. She can’t be trusted.”

“Enough,” he hissed, his anger
stinging more than I wanted to admit. “I take care of her like I do all of my
people.”

His
people? “And is that what I am to you? Just one of your people?
Another person you saved, another burden?”

His face softened. “I didn’t say
that.”

“Maybe you didn’t need to.”

He narrowed his gaze as he shook
his head, attempting to make sense of my comments. I knew he was confused, but
I wasn’t sure how to explain, or even if I wanted to. “Is this jealousy? Is
that what this is?”

“Honestly, maybe it was at
first. But now, no. Now its disappointment. I guess I just expected more from
you.” I started to turn away; sad, lost, but knowing I had to get away from
him, from Susan, from Tony, and even Thane. I needed to think, to try and
decipher my strange and new emotions.

“Jane.” Will followed me alongside
the creek. “We need to talk.”

“About what?” I clambered over a
pile of fallen logs that had ended up in a crevice between two hills, annoyed
he had followed. “You made your position perfectly clear.”
 

“I think maybe you’ve
misunderstood our relationship.”

 
Angry, I spun around to face him, the pile of fallen
trees separating us. “You kissed me.”

“I know.” He raked his hair
back, obviously flustered. “And I do like you, Jane. More than I should. Much
more than I should.”

I wasn’t sure if I should be
happy about his admittance or not. Bemused, I rubbed my temples, my head
suddenly pounding. I didn’t understand, but then I’d never had a boyfriend. Were
they always this frustrating? “Okay, and the problem?”

“The problem is that we don’t have
time in this world for relationships.”

“Kelly and Tony do.”

“Yeah, but they’re not me. They
don’t have the responsibility that I do.” He threw his arms wide. “Jane, I get
it. You haven’t experienced much of real life. You don’t understand that
sometimes it just doesn’t work out.”

What the hell was he talking
about? “Bull, Will. You kissed me. You took care of me. You made me think you
wanted some sort of relationship. Don’t you dare try to make me feel like I
misinterpreted your actions.”

He took a step back. “I’m sorry,
Jane, but I don’t want this. It’s too much right now. We have other things to
worry about.”

The harshness of his words
stabbed me. He certainly didn’t seem confused by Susan. But how could I argue?
He was right. This insignificant relationship meant nothing in the bigger
picture. “Fine.” I started to turn away. I need to bathe, wash away the heat of
the day, wash away his words…something. “Do whatever you want.”

“Will!” Kelly came racing down
the hill. “It’s gone!”

I jumped atop the pile of logs and
over onto the ground, landing next to Will, my heart hammering madly in my
chest. “What’s gone?”

But even as I asked, I knew.
Deep down I knew.

“Susan,” she gasped. “The pack,
the serum…gone!”

I jerked my gaze from her to
Will. Good God, I’d been right. Will’s face went pale. Any other time I would
have found his shock amusing. Gone. All of it gone, along with our hope. As
much as I wanted to rub it in, I couldn’t because she’d taken the serum and our
chance at a normal life.

“She’s not the only one who has
disappeared,” Thane said, moving down the hill. “Tony is gone as well.”

Chapter 17

“You were right,” Kelly said, her
eyes wide as she stared unblinkingly at me in confused bewilderment. “You knew
not to trust her.”

My heart ached for my friend. The
truth had hit her hard. I knew the feeling well and wanted to reach out, I
wanted to tell her it would be okay. But honestly, I wasn’t sure if it would.
Perhaps the world would never be normal. Perhaps we’d always be scared for our
lives, worried about the next day, constantly wondering who we could trust.

“It doesn’t matter,” Will
growled, obviously frustrated. “We need to find the serum now.” He started by
Thane, but he reached out, grabbing Will’s arm and stopping him.

“They don’t have the serum,” he said.
 

Will jerked away. I’d never seen
him so flustered, unsure. “What do you mean?”
 
 

Thane dropped his pack, knelt
and opened it. Inside was vial after vial of antidote. The same containers my
grandfather had given us the day we escaped the island. “It’s here.”

I knew the shock on Will’s face
mirrored my own. “But—”

“You believed me?” I interrupted,
staring hard at Thane. Why had he made me think I was insane? A silly, jealous
ninny? “You didn’t trust her either.”
 

He shrugged, closed the bag, and
stood. “Her arrival was too convenient.”

Exactly what I had thought
and
said. Anger fought with relief. Why
hadn’t he told me? But even as I thought the words the answer hit me…because he
didn’t trust me. Thane, apparently, trusted no one. It hurt much, much more
than I’d ever admit.

“Damn,” Will snapped, pacing to
the creek’s edge. “I should have known.”

Kelly still stood there, staring
blankly at me, lost in her own pain and confusion. She was waiting for answers
I couldn’t give. None of us could. What made a person betray another? Fear? Anger?
Greed? Emotions all too common in our world.
 

“You’re right about one thing,
Will,” Thane said. “We still need to go after Tony and Susan. We can’t allow them
to reach Bacchus. They know too much.”

Thane threw his pack over his
shoulders as we started up the hill.

“You think Bacchus is behind
this?” Will asked, falling into step beside Thane. “Damn it, why didn’t you
tell me?”

Thane paused, but he didn’t
respond and we all knew why. He didn’t trust Will. I had known it for some time
and now they did as well. Will’s jaw clenched, his face flushing. Even as I
felt bad for Will, I didn’t blame Thane. I wasn’t sure if I trusted Will
either.