Chapter 34
We ran for about two miles before I caught up with her. I didn’t bother screaming after her. I knew it would be of no use. Instead, I tackled her.
“We've really got to stop doing this,” I grunted after landing on top of her.
“Get off me, Logan,” she hissed, struggling underneath me.
If this were a movie it’d be kinda hot. But this was real life. Right now I was pretty annoyed. Tackling a girl twice in one day was a bit tiring. Even for me. “You don’t have to do this on your own! So, just calm the hell down, Jo!”
Jo closed her eyes and nodded.
“Can I let you up without you freaking out and running off again?” I asked.
“Yes. Lucky for you I’m crap when it comes to running more than a hundred meters.”
“Next time I pray, I’ll thank God you didn’t join cross country,” I said, pulling myself to my feet and helping Jo up. “What the heck were you thinking?”
“They have my brother in there.”
“How do you know that?”
“Come on, Logan. Why else show me I had a twin and the next day bring me here?”
Um. To muddle up every thought I’ve ever had about you.
I shook my head. “Just promise me you won’t ever do that again. We've got to work together. We’re stronger together. That’s why they set this trap in the first place. They’re afraid of us.”
Jo narrowed her eyes, looking towards the hospital that could be seen in the distance. “They should be afraid of us, Logan. I’m never going to let them take anything from me again.”
“Yeah. I think they got the message when you shot Mr. Ambiguous in the shoulder just for kicks.”
Jo sighed. “Now is really not the time for a lecture on passive resistance.”
We both jumped at the sound of tires squealing behind us. Jo had her gun pulled before I could even produce words. “There’s an easier way of getting there,” Randall yelled from the window of a beat-up suburban.
“How many cars do you guys have stashed around here?” I asked, opening the door for Jo.
“What can I say? I’m pretty good at hot wiring cars,” Bentham replied, looking over his shoulder at Jo and me.
“I’ll make sure to remind you to put that on your Match.com profile when we get back,” I said dryly.
“No need,” he said, winking at Jo.
Really?
This guy was such a tool.
“We ready for this?” Randall asked, his voice determined but edged with the smallest bit of uncertainty.
“Do we have a choice?” Bentham asked.
“We always have a choice, Ben,” said Randall.
“Then I choose to fight back,” Bentham replied.
“I choose to fight too,” Jo piped up.
Bentham turned back around and gave Jo’s knee a squeeze.
“Let’s just get this over with,” I grumbled.
“Your wish, my command,” said Randall, throwing the car into drive.
“We’re going to need a plan,” said Jo.
“Any ideas?” I asked. “You know, besides Jo’s let’s just shoot everything plan?” I asked, suddenly feeling a lot grumpier than I felt before Bentham and Randall showed up. And that was after running two miles. I had no right to feel jealous. I’d already set in motion a plan that would make the girl sitting next to me hate me once we got back.
If we got back.
She probably hadn’t even ever thought about kissing me.
I didn’t have any right to claim her attention.
Didn’t mean I had to like Bentham.
“Well, I’m the fastest. Logan’s probably the next fastest. I think we head for the hospital. Try and get in and out of there as quickly as we can. Ben, you and Randall, stay on the outside. Watch for survivors,” Jo suggested.
“What do you say old man?” Bentham asked Randall.
Randall chuckled. “Any plan that involves the least amount of running for me sounds great.”
When we pulled up to the hospital all seemed quiet on the ready to meet you death front. Jo turned to me. “You ready for this, Logan?” she asked.
I wasn’t. I’d never be ready for this. I reached down into my pocket and quickly clutched onto the bottle of pills my uncle had given me, the pills that supposedly would stop all this for me. Take me out of the game. If I could shift without Jo, I must be the conductor. Which means if I took the pills Jo wouldn’t be able to shift either. I stared at the girl who kissed me so deeply in this world, in a time I wondered would remain a memory that I alone would keep, and made the decision.
I would fight today. I would help her save her brother. I could give her that. But if we made it out alive, I’d end this too.