Chương 24: Jessica
I duck around the corner. Hiding behind the house, I peek my head out to inspect the situation. There's a guard standing by the hole in the wall. What a dick.
Justin knew that hole posed a threat to the community. He knew that I would try sneaking out of it again soon. They're probably going to be working extra hard to try and fix it quickly too.
This won't be easy. I look down and squint my eyes in the darkness, trying to find anything that I can use against the guard. I blindly pull up a very dull rock. That won't work.
I concoct a new plan. Walking backwards, I scurry to the other side of the wall. This will be my easiest way out. As I cross the streets, I nervously look for anybody's presence. Elizabeth's eventually going to tell him what I did to her.
I can't let myself be seen, so I stick to the shadows as much as possible. As I cross the street near my house, footsteps begin to approach the corner. I scurry out of the middle of the road to hide by the neighbor's house.
Two figures come around the corner. Once they begin to speak, I decipher who the mysterious silhouettes belong to. Justin's voice registers instantly, and I pray that they won't see me.
The other voice sounds like John, her father. They reach the front door and knock a few times. Justin peers through the front windows.
"She's not here, it looks like," he tells John. "What do we do now?"
They're coming to confront me. She's already told them too much. Who knows what kind of punishment I'll receive for my actions. I quietly walk away from my neighbor's house and continue heading towards the other side of the wall.
I reach the van in faster time than I imagined. The hole surrounding it is narrow. There's no way I'll fit through there. I jump up into the air, launching for the door handle. Here's hoping it's unlocked.
My fingers barely grasp it, but it's enough to pull it open. The door swings open, and I jump up to the floor of the driver's side. My hands grip onto the leather interior, and I'm eventually able to pull myself into the seat.
I climb between the seats and reach for the passenger side door. I grab the handle and push the door open, reaching out as far as I can to keep it open. I jump down from the van and brace myself as my feet hit the grass.
This is it. This is my escape. I turn around and take my final look at the damaged wall. Goodbye, I think to myself. I spin back around and begin to head in the only direction that I know.
I've been walking for a long while now. I should have already made it there. Maybe I forgot the directions? I stop in the middle of the road and peer through the dense trees. I spot the damaged cars and hope that I can find some place to hide in the overgrowth near it. I walk that way and as I get closer, I see the walls of the community begin to show. There are probably guards around the walls, so I stick to my gut and stay as low to the ground as possible.
Sure enough, I clear a corner and spot a guard standing near the wall. He doesn't notice me since the tree is disguising me well, however I should play it safe. I duck behind the tree again and sit down, contemplating my next move.
I decide my best option is to wait it out, and try to sneak in later if possible. I don't want anybody to notice me, considering they've always been the type to shoot on sight.
As the sun goes down, I stand up and make my move. I stick to the shadows and make minimal noise in order to be less detectable. The guards don't notice my presence, which is great. I make it to a clearing in the overgrowth and notice a part of the wall that I could scale with the right amount of speed.
I make my way backwards to prepare myself for the launch. I scoot back and lower myself to the ground. I begin to imagine myself as a marathon runner at the Olympics, waiting for the gunshot to propel my feet forward.
The gunshot goes off, and I launch off the ground, hurtling towards the wall with immense speed. I make it out of the covering of the trees, but stop dead in my tracks when I almost run into the barrel of a guard's gun. He's pointing it right at me, his finger next to the trigger.
The man smirks and laughs while saying, "You really thought we didn't know you were here? We were just waiting on you to be stupid, girly. And now, you've fucked with the wrong people."
A familiar voice rings from my right. "Jessica?" the man says. I look over and see Chris, confused but happy at the same time. His grin turns into a smile and he runs towards me. I open my arms and invite his warming hug.
He pulls away from me and smiles again. Chris looks around at the men surrounding us and says, "Well? Put your guns down, for god's sake." The men take a breath of relief and lower their guns.
"How have you been?" he asks me. "I knew that you would be back soon, I was just waiting."
I shrug my shoulders and lie. "I guess I just was lost in more ways than one."
Chris smiles and says, "Well, either way, I'm glad that you're back. Let's go inside." We begin walking towards the front gate.
Chris brings me through the community and it makes me glad to see this place again. I know now that I was never doing the wrong thing. We arrive at Chris's place and he invites me to sit down in the living room.
He sits down next to me and we awkwardly sit in silence for a while. To break it, I just come out with it.
"Chris," I begin, "I came here to make an offer for you. And also to come back to the community, but I wanted to bring you this offer."
Chris smiles. "Well of course, I'm fine with hearing it. What's up?"
I stare at the ground, trying to not think about the people that I will be betraying. "When I ran off, I went to a community actually kind of close to here. Rich's community." Chris is shocked but lets me continue.
"I was there when you guys attacked, and I did something to really piss them off. And so now, I can't stay there anymore. To be honest, I didn't like it there much to begin with. So I want to give you information about the place that no one else knows."
Chris smirks. "So let me get this right; you ditched us, to join another community, and now you want to help us by backstabbing them?"
"Basically," I respond, weak with humiliation.
"You've always been a cold hearted bitch, Jessica," Chris laughs. "Of course you can stay here. Some people here missed you. And tomorrow, you can give me all the information you can think of."
I take a breath of relief and smile at Chris. "Thank you," I tell him. "And I'm sorry about leaving."
He smiles back. "It's okay, all is forgiven." He places a hand on my thigh and the memories that fly back from the sensation make me almost leap off the couch, however this is my only option anymore.
Maybe it's always been my only option.
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