Chapter 5- Milo

5.2

At the beginning of the month, Zachary had informed Isaac about the leave he’d be taking at the end of the month, telling him that he needed to check back in with his aunt and get the house back to presentable standards.

The leave didn’t bother Isaac, probably because what he wanted was some space away from Zachary. The only problem with the leave was that November and December were usually busy months for Onyx because of the holidays that most employees got off unless they would rather work.

Isaac had planned a formal welcoming for Zachary on a Friday to be mindful of those in attendance, which would be all of the most important investors of Onyx. That alone was enough pressure for Zachary and it became clear as the day approached that despite it meaning he would finally get away from constant meetings, he wasn’t looking forward to it.

Chelsea and Isaac were the first to show up, which seemed to relieve Zachary a bit. Chelsea had been given a very specific set of rules since it was also her first semi-public appearance since transferring from Jade. Isaac also instructed Zachary on how he should act in the public eye during the current appearance and anything after.

Anthony Richardson showed up not too long afterwards with his wife. “The media’s attention is already all over this and it’s my job to make sure they only hear the best things about it. Not just anybody is going to be let in and we’ve got the best people on security to make sure nobody sneaks by. Tonight is only the investors and employees, tomorrow is the general public.”


Chelsea waited until Isaac had started talking to Anthony and Naomi before she pulled Zachary back a bit. “Naomi’s the daughter of Louis and Meredith Dumont. They’re not here yet, but you can’t risk screwing up any relations with them. They enjoy people who are confident and bold, two things you’re definitely not being right now.”

“I already had your dad lecturing me until Anthony distracted him, I really don’t need any more lectures.”

“Apparently you do because you’ve already messed up.” He looked a bit upset by the comment before trying to hide it. “You didn’t even introduce yourself to Anthony and Naomi, which is the entire reason we’re having this event.”

“What else do I need to know?”

She looked at a couple who just walked through the door. The woman was wearing a black dress that paired well with her black hair and the man was wearing a tuxedo that everyone knew cost about as much as an education. “That’s Meredith and Louis. They run Dumont Estates, which is where you don’t live so they’ve got no reason to like you yet. Naomi is their daughter, Anthony is their son-in-law, and I’ve heard rumors that their other daughter, Veronica, and one of their sons will be attending. If either of them asks you about your relationship status, do not tell them you’re single, they see that as a bad thing for someone in your position and at your age. If Meredith mentions her age, you’d better tell her she doesn’t look a day over twenty, nothing more and nothing less. Louis is probably going to try to talk business with you, please try to act like you know what you’re doing.”

“Alright, what about Naomi and Veronica?”

Chelsea looked over to Naomi, going quiet for a minute. “I don’t Naomi all that well, but let her take the lead in any conversation you have with her. She’s a socialite, she knows how to have conversations.” She quickly looked away from Naomi to avoid being spotted. “I’ve only met Veronica once and she’s a little… too much. Let her lead the conversation too, but if you feel like she’s trying to bait you into something, she probably is but you shouldn’t fall for it.” She paused, her eyes following a man who had just walked into the room. “That’s Eddie Russo.”

“The Nascar guy?”

She nodded. “I’m shocked you know that. Anyway, Eddie is probably the easiest person to talk to here. He likes cars, obviously, but he’s also interested in talking about the stock market.”

“Chelsea, I have no idea about cars or the stock market.”

“You know what Nascar is and that’s enough to get him going on a conversation of his own, you only need to listen and learn, then contribute what you learned as things you already knew.” After Eddie, Luke came into the room.

Zachary must have noticed the pained expression on Chelsea’s face. “You’ve been carpooling to work with your dad, right?”

“Yeah, it’s been easier since we live in the same house.”

He pulled a set of keys out of his pocket, handing them to her. “If you don’t want to be here then you can go wherever you want to. Just try to be back before this thing ends.” He looked at his watch, then to Chelsea. “We’ve got some time before this officially starts, follow me.”

Before she could say anything, he left the room through a side door, encouraging her to follow. They went to the main lobby and carefully made their way to the elevator to avoid being seen by Isaac or Anthony. “Where are we going?”

He hit the button to go to the top floor and seemed to lighten up once the elevator doors shut and took off for the top floor. “You’ll see.”

She put the keys he had given her into her bag before the elevator stopped moving and the doors opened, allowing them to exit. He walked down the hall before making a fist and dragging it along to wall. “What are you doing?”

He smirked, looking up at the ceiling. “Laugh all you want, it’s worth the humiliation.” He stopped in a spot where the wall looked to be a bit torn up before reaching up to the ceiling line and pulling on the wall to open up a small room.

“How did you find this?” Chelsea looked into the room, seeing a narrow wooden staircase.

“I heard about it through the grapevine.” He took out his phone to use as a flashlight before he went into the room, waiting until she stepped in before he reached over her to shut the wall. “Not everyone knows about this and it might be for the best if it stays that way.” He went up the stairs, Chelsea following him. “Do you still have my keys?” She took the keys out of her bag and gave them to him. He stopped in front of a door and looked over the keys, picking one out almost immediately, unlocking the door and stepping out of the staircase. He showed Chelsea the key he used once she stepped out of the stairway. “This key is for rooftop access.”

In all the time she’d been around Onyx, she’d never actually been to the roof. Her father would always tell her that there was no way up to the roof and it was intended to be that way because it was dangerous to be on the roof, which was the truth. “It’s amazing up here.”

Chelsea looked over to him to see that for once, he seemed to be enjoying himself. “Only your father and I have access to the roof because it can only end up a distraction or a disaster if everyone had the ability to come up here.”

Because after work hours had just started, it was only sunset. The sun had already hidden behind some buildings ahead of Onyx, but the color of the sky was enough for Chelsea. “I wanted to ask you something before we went back downstairs.” She seemed to have his attention. “Did you hire Gillian because you’re lonely? I mean, you’re never home to make a mess and you rarely even eat at home either way so why do you need a maid?”

His smile faded as he looked away from her. “I guess so.”

“And it’s the same reason you agreed to take part in Amanda’s latest project?”

“Partially.” His smile came back. “I feel it would be just a little weird for your dad to be nearing fifty years old and having a child with a robot.”

“I don’t think his age is the weirdest thing about that sentence.” Chelsea crossed her arms. “Do you honestly think it’s a good idea to try and manipulate every single thing about the child like that before it’s even conceived?”

“They did it with you, Anthony, and Elizabeth and they coded your gene with enough precision to have it set up like an ability. I trust Lyla and Bradly with this and I want to give Amanda the opportunity to show that she can handle bigger tasks.”

“What else is bothering you?” He may not have been able to tell, but he had a way of projecting negative emotions better than anyone Chelsea knew.

He took a deep breath and started fidgeting with his hands. “I feel that this is my only chance to have what I want. My parents expected me to have a family of my own early on just to be certain the portion of Onyx that we owned would be passed on to someone we knew understood how to do the job. Obviously, there’s nobody to pass it on to yet.” He tried to steady his hands. “I’ve been thinking about it non-stop since I came back and I’ve been trying dates, but I don’t feel an actual connection with any of the people I’ve seen and if I wait forever for a connection to show up, it might be too late by the time I find it.”

“Are you afraid that because my dad is a target that you’ll be considered a target after tomorrow?” He nodded. “Believe it or not, those two issues have a lot to do with each other. You’re not used to being in any higher-up position. When you were younger, you tried to convince your parents to have another kid so you didn’t have to take over any of Onyx and being with the Voyagers hasn’t helped with any of those nerves, has it?”

“No, but we’ll have to pick this up another time unless we want to be late.” He gave her the keys back before going back to the door and into the stairwell.

Chelsea followed after him, stopping to lock the door before they went through the wall again. “Zach, listen, you don’t-“

She was cut off by his phone ringing. He shrugged before answering the call. “Hello?” He seemed happy once he heard who was on the other end of the call. “Aunt Marcella, I’ll be coming next month. I’ve already got the details worked out and I’ll help you with packing when I get there.” She briefly heard the woman’s voice while they were on the elevator. Her voice sounded hoarse and Chelsea heard a few coughs before Zachary frowned a little. “Aunt Marcella, don’t get too worked up, it’s not good for you.” He looked up to see the elevator rapidly approaching the first floor. “I have to go, but I’ll call you back after dieci. Addio.” He ended the call, handing his phone to Chelsea. “Don’t let me have it back tonight under any circumstances.”

“Why not?” She put his keys and phone in her bag.

“She’s not going to remember I told her ten and she’s going to call again. I can’t get distracted tonight.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

The elevator hadn’t stopped yet, giving them just a few more seconds to talk. “You can’t tell anyone you know because if you do, they’ll send her to quarantine. She’s got a bad memory, which is why she’s going to try to call again sometime before ten, but I have to keep her from getting worked up because she’s got lung problems and if she gets too excited then she might faint. Her live-in nurse is retiring at the end of the month, so they’re working on packing right now and hopefully everything will be close to done by the time I get down there so we can focus more on getting her things here.” The elevator doors opened, the both of them stepping out.

They separated once they reached the ballroom, Zachary going to talk to the investors while Chelsea stayed around Isaac. She studied her father a few times through the night as he watched Zachary, waiting for him to make a mistake. Instead, he seemed a bit impressed by his performance with the investors.

Like he said it would, Zachary’s phone went off multiple times before Chelsea left the room to answer it, a slight worry that something may have happened and it was the only reason they were calling as often as they did.

Before she could say anything, the woman on the other end started yelling. “Zachary, why do you not answer when I call you the first time? Do you know how worried I was that something happened to you?!”

It was the same hoarse voice as earlier, which meant it was his aunt. “Marcella?”

She heard a gasp on the other end. “My apologies, I must have hit the wrong button, I thought I was calling my nephew.”

“Wait, you don’t have the wrong number, he’s just not available right now. My name is Chelsea and I’ve got his phone while he’s hosting something, but is there something going on?”

“Chelsea who? I’ve never heard of a Chelsea.”

She found it a bit strange how Gillian knew her but his aunt didn’t, but quickly reminded herself that she had a bad memory. “Chelsea Hampton. I’m a friend from work. Could you tell me who you are?”

“Marcella Accardo.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Marcella. Did you need Zachary for something?”

“I was hoping he would call the nurse to remind her about my medicines, but I see that won’t be happening.”

“Hold on, I can do it for you, what’s her name?” Chelsea started heading towards the security room, taking her own keys out of her bag.

“Alana.” She hung up once she gave the name.

Chelsea locked herself in the security room and used the computer to try to access the phone. It took a few tries, but she eventually got in, going straight for the contacts.

She found Alana almost immediately and called, getting an answer instantly. “Hello?”

“Is this Alana?”

“Yes, who are you?”

“Chelsea Hampton. I’m calling because Marcella just called and she needed someone to call you and remind you about her medicines.”

Alana sighed, her voice sounding very annoyed. “She already got her medicine, she just doesn’t remember. Please do not to worry about her. Contrary to what she says, she’s being taken care of. Have a good night, Ms. Hampton.” She didn’t wait for an answer before she ended the call.

Chelsea stayed looking at the phone, her curiosity eventually getting the better of her.

Most of his texts were from Alana, Marcella, and people from work, which wasn’t too surprising to Chelsea. It was apparent that Marcella wanted a dog when she moved out to South Dakota based on how many pictures of dogs she’d sent Zachary and how many times she had asked him about it. He agreed to it and he’d also been talking about it with Alana while doing some research on specific breeds.

He’d also apparently went through Onyx records on cybernetics and genetic manipulation before he agreed to work with Amanda, Lyla, and Bradly on their latest project.

Despite hiring Gillian for company, he rarely sent any messages or made any calls to her.

Before she could go any deeper into the phone, Marcella called again. “Hello? Chelsea?”

She was a bit surprised that Marcella remembered her after Zachary and Alana both commented about her having a bad memory. “I’m here Marcella, what do you need?”

“Thank you for calling the nurse for me, I wanted to let you know that I got my medicines.”

“You’re welcome, I’ll let Zachary know you’re doing okay the next time I see him.”

“I would appreciate that. Tell him not to call, I’ll be asleep soon.”

“Will do.” Chelsea hung up and put the phone back in her bag before she left the security room.

After she locked the door, she turned around to find the person who brought her back to Onyx in the first place. It was her first time seeing him in person since she’d been back because of his tendency to avoid her. He seemed so different from the last time she had seen him.

Wherever Luke was, Isaac typically wasn’t far behind, which meant Luke couldn’t get away with much trouble. He had a flask, one of the many items that wouldn’t be allowed on Onyx grounds.

Chelsea had to pass him in order to get back into the ballroom. She didn’t intend on saying anything to him until she smelled the alcohol from feet away. “How long have you been working for Onyx, Luke?”

She stopped and faced him, making sure some distance between the two of them remained. He didn’t even look at her. “Too long.”

“Then you know the policy on alcohol, right? The policy that stays into effect on these grounds at all times.” He didn’t seem to like her attitude, but she had to admit that she wasn’t a fan of the one he had been showing her for the past two months.

Instead of saying anything, he shook his head and walked away.

She went into the ballroom, finding herself in the middle of one of her father’s addresses to the investors. Despite being gone for years, Chelsea could still place the faces of all the investors and their connections to each other.

Zachary wasn’t too far from Isaac, but he seemed far more exhausted than Isaac did. That told Chelsea that in the short time she was gone, he had tried to get everything done and it didn’t work.

After Isaac finished talking about plans for Onyx now that Zachary was involved, he made his way to Chelsea. “I’m going to give him the chance to handle this on his own and if he can’t do that much then he’s not ready for this. You’ve got five minutes to decide if you’ll be coming with me or staying before I leave.”

He stayed at the doorway for a few seconds, Chelsea immediately making her choice when she locked eyes with Georgie Kenny. “Don’t worry about waiting, I’ll just stay here to make sure everything goes along smoothly.” She saw him smile as he turned away to leave.

She learned from working with him that Georgie rarely went to events unless there would be something in it for him, which was the main reason she stayed. If Zachary overstepped any boundaries with Georgie, he wouldn’t hesitate to not only call him out on it but make a forceful attempt at getting him fired.

Georgie made his way over to her and lowered his voice to be barely audible over the different conversations in the room. “You should lose the confusion on where your own loyalties lie. Your buddy may be sticking with the Voyagers for now, but there’s nothing in that group for you. Your family have been Onyx representatives for generations and I don’t intend to let you be the one to fuck it up.”

Someone put their hand on Georgie’s shoulder from behind him and slightly pushed him away. “Lay off, Georgie, she’s not your employee anymore.”

He looked back at the person, making brief eye contact before he slowly walked away.

Once Georgie moved, Chelsea saw Luke staring daggers at him before he crossed his arms. “You’re still a pretty bad liar. Georgie found out where you’ve been and he’s trying to work out a deal with Isaac and Zachary. All I know is that one of them hasn’t agreed to it yet.”

She was a little thrown off at Luke not only helping her but talking to her at all. “What kind of deal?”

“One to send you back to Jade.” He seemed upset about Georgie being around. She’d heard rumors that the two never got along in the few times they had met, but she didn’t really believe them until now. “He pitches it to Isaac as saying that you couldn’t be trusted to work in Cyber anymore because you’d been with the Voyagers.”

“That makes absolutely no sense.” Chelsea scoffed. “I was around them for a week and they have no access to any sort of technology in their new place, they’re not a threat to Cyber anymore.”

“But you’re defending them.” Luke scowled, uncrossing his arms. “Georgie wants you to either be chipped or be sent back to Jade. That’s all I know.”

Luke left, Chelsea immediately noticing Eddie standing nearby. He was just as honest as her, but he was a bit nosy. He was also another person to be rumored to not like Georgie based on the way he treated other people.

He made his way over to Chelsea. “Of all the things I’ve heard of the night, Georgie’s little request has been the most ridiculous.” Eddie was more of an investor turned family friend, which meant he wasn’t acting as sophisticated as the rest of the investors present. “He tried to say that you lied to him about leaving and forged the papers.” He shook his head. “Neither of them bought that part but your father did seem a little interested in his propositions.” He pointed to Zachary. “Your best chance at even staying here is winning him over. He stayed undecided on it and a few higher-ups are waiting for his decision and reasoning before they say anything.”

“I’m assuming the higher-ups that said anything agreed to it because my dad thought it was a good idea?”

“Most of them. Anthony and Amanda didn’t make any comment, but their parents were for it.”

She wanted to ask about Luke but saw one of the few moments the Zachary would be free was approaching. “We’ll talk later, Eddie, it’s good to see you again.”

While she approached Zachary, he gave a half hearted smile once he saw her. He waited until Naomi finished talking before he excused himself to talk to Chelsea. “I thought your dad already left.”

“He did, I’m staying to make sure everything goes okay.” It seemed clear to her that he could tell something was wrong. “Do you mind if we talk somewhere private?”

He looked around the room, leading her to the closest exit. It put them out in the parking lot, which seemed to be empty. “What’s up?”

“I need to know what exactly Georgie is proposing.”

His half hearted smile from before turned into a genuine one. “He just went through his third wife and now he’s starting to see things from a business perspective. He wants a woman but he also wants more power than what he has now. Unless something happens with the Voyagers, you’re in line to get three quarters of Onyx once your dad dies and if something happens to me, I’ve already set it up so that you get my piece of Onyx instead of your dad. Georgie knows this, he thinks it’s plenty of power for one woman, and he’s also attracted to you because he thinks you’re playing hard to get. The first proposition he had for Isaac was that you marry him and he gives Isaac half of Jade. The second was you come back and work for him, which Isaac benefits from for his own reason. A little suggestion he threw in there was that you get chipped for being involved with the Voyagers.”

“How can you smile while you deliver news like that?”

“They need my cooperation before they decide to send you anywhere because I’m an Onyx owner and rest assured, I’m not going to let you get switched around just because Georgie wants you.” He looked back to the exit. “I’ll take you home after this is over and we’ll talk more about it then, alright?”

She stopped him before he got too far. “Did Luke agree to any of it?”

He shook his head. “Isaac told him to leave the conversation when he started getting riled up about it.”

They went back into the building through the same doors they left. Zachary had gone back to talk to Naomi while Chelsea slumped into a free seat next to Luke. “I was told you disagreed with Georgie’s stupid little proposition.”

He looked over to her as if he was contemplating on if he should leave or not before he leaned back in his chair. “You haven’t been doing your job for most of the time you’ve been here, but that’s not your fault. If you were assigned to your job, you’d probably be doing your part and more around here.” He crossed his arms, a slight look of distaste coming across his face and his eyes slightly glowing red as he glared at Georgie. “Georgie wants to use you to his advantage and I’ll be damned if I let some pervert get his way around here.”

Milo Neil

It was during the second month that the homesick feeling the group had not only kicked into full effect, but hindered most of their abilities.

Samantha and Vincent finally found a topic they disagreed on and spent most of the time at each other’s throats about it. They occasionally brought others into it until a majority of the group had worn themselves out on it and Marshal put an end to any talks of the topic.

The rallies in New York were exhausting for the entire group because they had arrived just in time for the temperatures to start rapidly dropping.

Marshal had learned to keep talking outside of the rallies to a minimum so he could save his voice, but there had been a few times Alyssa had taken over for him during rallies at her own order.

Alyssa herself seemed to finally be getting comfortable in the group, seeing that there was an extremely low chance of someone like Rocco taking over again, let alone being part of the group.

Vincent and Milo had been tasked with getting genuine readings on the people at rallies while Samantha would keep an eye out for any sign of Onyx.

After rallies, Vincent, Milo, and Samantha would report their findings to Marshal and he would decide whether it was safe to stay just a little bit longer or if immediately leaving would be better for them.

There were some people who didn’t take kindly to them, but not many of them were willing to get physical because they didn’t know if the Voyagers were willing to defend themselves and each other.

On their last day in New York, Marshal decided early on that immediately leaving would be best for them and that the others should distance themselves from the rally because of how hostile the people seemed to be.

They left after he assured them that he’d be fine and encouraged them to take in some sights before they went on to Vermont.

“The only condition is that you don’t come back with more people than you left with.” That was the one rule they had when they went out on their own, which they understood was for the safety of the group.

The rallies typically took an hour, which gave them plenty of time to wander, just as long as one of them knew how to get back to either the rally or the van afterwards.

Dinner was Samantha’s first priority and it didn’t seem like a bad idea to the rest of them, so they stopped by a restaurant. After spending half an hour in the restaurant, five men strolled in, immediately heading to the bar portion of the restaurant.

The men seemed to be in high spirits as they ordered their drinks. One of them was wearing a fancy tuxedo, which made it seem like they were coming from a wedding.

Alyssa tuned out of her conversation with Vincent as the men laughed about something, a nervous look coming to her face as she realized she’d seen them near the rally before the group left. “It’s a shame that some spineless rats-“

It was all she heard and all she needed to hear before she jumped out of her seat. “We need to go back to the rally.”

The rest of the group didn’t question it. Cyrus paid for the meals and they followed Alyssa out. Samantha had been told to remember the way back, which meant she would be leading them to the rally.

They arrived to an empty lot, no sign that the rally even happened.

As they looked around, a woman wearing a wedding dress came out of an alley. She had been crying, which was evident through the makeup that ran down her face. She was barefoot, despite the freezing temperatures and the high quality dress she wore that was dragging along the ground.

She only said something once Alyssa had gotten close to the alley. “Are you loyal to the Voyagers?” Alyssa gave a hesitant nod before the bride took her hand and led her down the alley. “You need to help your friend, I’ll tell your group whatever I must.” She let go of Alyssa’s hand once they passed a dumpster where she had hidden Marshal. “He’s quite pushy, even when hiding would undoubtedly be the only possibility at saving his life.”

Alyssa kneeled next to Marshal, seeing he was barely conscious. She looked at the bride, who was waiting for an order. “There’s a man back at the lot with brown hair and green eyes, he’s average height and wearing blue jeans, a heavy red coat, and black boots. His name is Milo, tell him that Alyssa’s in the alley with Marshal and she’s going to need her supplies from the van.” The bride nodded before turning around and running off.

She took a moment to determine what all was wrong, seeing a few open cuts on his face that weren’t there the last time she’d seen him. She pieced together what she already knew and came to the conclusion that the men at the restaurant had started trouble at the rally.

He seemed to be alright for the moment, but she didn’t want to take the chance of relying on an assumption. Looking around, she found the bride’s veil and shoes lying nearby and no sign of anyone else in the alley, which confirmed that it was the bride who helped Marshal.

There was some blood on the wall behind him, which looked fresh to her. She ran a hand through his hair and quickly found where the blood was coming from.

Her attention was derailed by the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. She turned to look at the alley’s entry where the bride was leading Samantha, Vincent, and Milo.

“Cyrus went to get the van.” Vincent kneeled next to Alyssa. “Do we know what happened here?”

She looked at the bride, then back to Marshal. “She might, but all I know is that I need to get the bleeding under control as soon as I can.”

The bride approached Samantha and put out her arm, using her free hand to point to the sleeve of her dress. “Silk used to be used for medical bandages so cut my sleeve and use it to bandage the more critical injury.”

Samantha looked to Alyssa for approval, getting a quick nod. She took her pocket knife and carefully cut the bride’s sleeve loose, then got it off and passed the sleeve to Alyssa.

“What happened to get him here?” Milo started questioning the bride while Alyssa used the silk sleeve to bandage Marshal’s head.

She cupped her hands in front of her. “My fiancé is a heartless man, but he’s one with money. His family donates to Onyx and when he heard about the rally, he canceled our wedding just to gather his friends and derail the rally. He and his friends confronted your guy and they got upset when he wouldn’t fight back, so they hit him over and over again.” She moved to the dumpster and opened the lid, pointing out a bar. “One of his friends took that bar and hit the back of his head, which is when they knocked him out.” She shut the lid and turned back to Milo. “They wanted to do more but I was already fighting with them to get them to stop, so my fiancé called for the fight to stop and told me not to follow them.”

Alyssa briefly looked up to see how genuine the bride was being. “Your fiancé and his friends, do they drink?”

“Yes, occasionally.”

“Then they’re probably the same group from the restaurant.” She look back at Marshal. “Someone’s going to need to take over the rallies for a few weeks.”

The van pulled into the alley, stopping just before the group. Cyrus bright out Alyssa’s supplies and passed them to her.

Vincent stood up, looking between the other members of the group. “Considering you’ve already done it multiple times and have control if something happens to him, I’d say it should be you.” He paused, a slight look of distaste crossing his face. “But after what happened tonight, I don’t think we should put you in any danger.”

The bride uncupped her hands and put her arms to her side. “I went to the rally in Long Island, I can help.”

Samantha leaned against the wall while she waited for someone to give an order. “No offense, but we don’t even know your name. Why don’t you tell us those details before we trust you with our entire mission?”

She went silent. “I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll even give you guys my resume if that’s what you want, but I won’t trust you with my identity before I know that I benefit from trusting you.”

“So what is it that you want?” Cyrus seemed to grow impatient with her, but most of the group assumed it was only because of the idea of a stranger performing the rallies.

“I want to come with your group.” She turned her view to Cyrus. “If I stay here then I not only have to go home to a man I loathe, but I have to marry him too. After watching what he did to your friend, I don’t think I could stand the fear of knowing that my thoughts would be enough to trigger an attack like that.”

Alyssa made sure the silk sleeve was firmly in place before she stood up and faced the bride, finally getting a good look in. She was thin and short, her hair that went down her back was curly and blonde, her eyes were a darker green. “Has something already happened to make you want to leave him?”

The bride looked thrown off by the question, but immediately crossed her arms as if to defend herself. “I’m not sure I understand the question.”

Vincent and Milo moved back to Marshal, picking him up off the ground.

Alyssa slowly started approaching the bride. “You understood the question completely, you just don’t want to answer it. However, you need to trust us if we’re going to trust you.”

She looked over the Voyagers before forcing her arms back to her side, clenching her fists. “He’s cheated before, lied plenty of times, and has an awful temper. I can’t stay in a relationship where I feel unsafe.”

“Isn’t there someone you know here that could help you?” Samantha questioned.

“I’ve tried.” She looked to the ground. “But nobody believes me because of how wonderful a person that Jordan is.”

Samantha looked over to Alyssa and shook her head. “That’s the only thing we know about her, it’s not worth the risk.”

Alyssa saw Vincent’s face turn red for a moment before he sighed. “I would normally agree with that, but she’s completely powerless right now and in her relationship. She doesn’t want to give up her name because there’s the chance that we turn around and tell some Onyx person that she was trying to make deals with us, then she’ll be jailed for treason.”

“But that’s not our problem.” It was the first time Cyrus had raised his voice around most of the people present. “It’s a problem with her relationship, not any of ours. We need to focus on our goal before we take on a complete stranger’s problems.”

“Again, she’s powerless. Nobody believes her on it, the group has had the same problem countless times on major issues.” Alyssa stopped moving towards the bride and faced Cyrus, a fierce look of determination in her eyes. “Nobody believed that Rocco was a problem, despite multiple women describing what he’d done to them in detail and if you’re certain that justice was done by them, think of where they are now, what was going on when he got caught, and how long he got away with it.”

Cyrus immediately backed down, seeming to regret what he said. Samantha looked a bit upset for a minute before she spoke up again, her voice quieter than before. “Even if we wanted to, one of the two rules that Marshal has been serious about is bringing someone new. He even told us no before the rally.”

“He left a loophole in it.” Vincent didn’t hesitate to counter Samantha once again. “If it’s urgent enough, we put it to a group vote except he’s not allowed to have a say in it unless he feels certain that we made the wrong choice.”

Samantha scoffed. “How is he going to deny the decision if he’s unconscious?”

“He’s not, obviously.” Vincent sounded frustrated with her, as if he didn’t want to be dealing with her at the moment. “I don’t think he’ll deny it, but if he does then the least we can do is get her away from here and let her have a chance at starting her own life.”

She didn’t seem to be moved by his words, instead she looked bored. “If you want to put it to a vote then it’ll be put to a vote. Alyssa, you’ve got the authority to call a vote, let’s get this over with.”

The group turned to Alyssa, giving her no option. She looked at the bride one last time to see her pleading eyes. “In the decision of bringing this woman on the rest of our trip, I’m for it. Samantha?”

“Against. Cyrus?”

“Against it. Milo?”

Milo froze up, the last thing he would have expected from them was a vote. “Undecided, but if I may say something.” Alyssa nodded. “The Voyagers have been set on helping people for decades before now, we’d be stupid to not help somebody on a trip where we’re supposed to be proving ourselves. Vincent, your say?”

“For it.”

All eyes went back to Milo as they waited for an answer from him.

A choice here decided Milo would vote for the bride to join the group.

5.4

Once the group reached Maine, they had been told that Onyx was completely aware of what they were doing and intended to send someone to check into it sooner or later.

Unfortunately, it was sooner.

After a rally in Maine, Marshal was confronted by Luke Lowell. Luke didn’t seem to thrilled to be there and Marshal didn’t act particularly happy that he was there either.

“I would think that you’d be smart enough to stay in your place after the experience you had in South Dakota. Are you just trying to get in trouble?”

“I’m not doing anything illegal, how is that trouble?”

Luke smirked and shook his head. “You left when you were in middle school, the only law you were taught is that jaywalking is wrong.”

Cecilia recalled that Samantha had mentioned that most of the Voyagers had a limited education depending on when they left the city, which was early on for most of the group.

She had been told that Alyssa and Milo were pretty knowledgeable, mainly because of how long they stayed in the city. She’d been given a few other names, Marshal being one of them, of people who probably knew more than they let on.

“I hate that you had to come all this way to remind me of the laws that we’re not even breaking, but I guess I should say thank you.”

“I’m impressed that even you can find a loophole in the law, but there’s one major law that you’re forgetting about.” Luke looked over the group. “All of you are breaking it and have been since you joined the group. There’s to be no forceful revolts, all issues are to be handled in civil court.”

“A civil court run by Onyx in a case against Onyx.” Samantha spoke up before Marshal had the chance, her face red with anger. “Is it as rigged as it sounds?” Luke looked to her with a momentary look of surprise before resuming his normal angry look. “Do you have any idea as to how many cases against Onyx there’s been and how many have been won? Over hundreds have happened and a total of zero have been won.”

Cecilia noticed Luke preparing to get closer to Samantha, which made her out herself between the two. “They’re not doing anything wrong and your attempts at making them look to be in the wrong aren’t going to work.” She redirected Samantha and Marshal’s attention to a group of three people nearby that had been working on getting closer to the group to see what was going on.

They both instantly eased up as Luke backed off. “It wasn’t my intention but I wouldn’t mind it.” A twisted smirk came across his face as he met Cecilia’s eyes. “Just so you’re aware, none of you are in the clear. All eyes are on you people and the second any of you mess up, it’s done.” He looked past the group, straight at Alyssa. “There’s still a spot for you in Onyx if you give yourself up.”

He made a quick move with his arm, making Cecilia jump back and run into Samantha. He shook his head and chuckled as he walked away from the group.

Nobody moved until Marshal turned back to address the group, a sudden look of exhaustion on his face. “Next time something like that happens, I need you guys to stay out of it. I understand what he was trying to do and that you guys were just trying to help, but I can handle Luke on my own.”

While the group didn’t agree with the decision, they knew he had his reasons for telling them to stay out of it.

They stayed in town for the night, giving the group some time to roam around.

Marshal asked Milo to stay with Alyssa because of Luke, which was an idea that Milo and Alyssa agreed on.

The two of them went on a walk to clear up their thoughts on having Luke around. Milo could tell Alyssa was upset about it, but there was nothing he could do about it in the current moment.

She didn’t seem like she wanted to talk, which was completely new to him. “If you want to go back home then I can talk to Marshal about it and work something out with him.”

She shook her head, continuing on her walk. “That would leave you guys with no doctor.” She looked back with a smile that he could see right through. “Besides, I committed myself to this, I’m not just going to back out because of Luke.”

“Alyssa, could you wait up a minute?” She stopped, but made it clear that she just wanted to move on. “I understand that this is upsetting for you and you don’t feel safe, but I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I swear on it.”

She seemed to hesitate in saying anything, but allowed herself to smile. “When I was tasked with watching over you, I thought it was pretty stupid. I didn’t like you much either.” She crossed her arms, refusing to meet his eyes. “I would have stayed with Onyx if I was given the option, mainly because of the chip.”

Alyssa looked back to Milo to see his focus was somewhere else. “I’m going to get Luke away from you and I know just how to do it.” She followed his view to see a few familiar faces from New York standing across the street. “Cecilia’s ex has been following us and he’s just waiting for the right time to make a move. It might be easier for him now that Luke is around, but I won’t let anything happen.”

“What are you talking about?”

It was as if he completely forgot she was there, he looked back to her with a smile. “It’s nothing for you to worry about, you’ve already got more than enough on your plate.”

She sighed, moving past him to start heading back to the group. “Just don’t do anything you’re going to regret.”

What Alyssa didn’t know is that what Milo was planning was beneficial to the entire group with the exception of himself.

After their talk, he started acting strange. He was more alert, but more withdrawn from the group. He started staying around Marshal more, which concerned Alyssa until she hit a breaking point and asked Marshal about it when they had some free time.

“I know you don’t like idle conversations, but this is important to me and it involves you.” Catching Marshal was hard to do whenever they were wandering the town, mainly because he prefered to mind his own business and stay out of everyone else’s way. “ It’s really not my business, but I’m worried about Milo. He’s been weird since Maine and I’m just a bit worried that he might be planning something that wouldn’t help anyone but Onyx.”

“Milo’s the last person who would do that.” Just as Alyssa had feared, Marshal was quick to dismiss her concerns. “Even if he was planning to do something like that, there’s literally nothing I can do about it. He and Elizabeth are both extremely impulsive and destructive, but they also go through their own moods.”

“Are you saying that it’s just a mood?”

He nodded. “That’s exactly what I said. I’ve been around the both of them for over fifteen years now and those are the three things about them that mirror each other and probably won’t change. He’ll be over whatever’s keeping him down in a matter of days.” He gave a soft smile that reassured her a bit. “It’ll be fine, you’ve got my word.”

“And what about Cecilia’s ex? You know he’s been following us, right?”

“Of course I do. I don’t like it but there’s nothing I can do about it now that Luke’s around because the second one of us steps out of line, we’re all going to be arrested. If one resists, we all die.” He shrugged and looked away from her.

Marshal was never one for drawn out conversations, but the short conversation they had only left Alyssa feeling more suspicious of everything going on.

After a moment, he sighed and looked back to her. “You know that if anything happens to me then you’re in charge, right?” She nodded. “That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to continue the rallies. If you want to take the group home then fine, it’s your call, but I need you to know that our future is in your hands.”

“Is there something going on that I don’t know about?”

He shook his head and forced another smile before he stopped responding.

Luke and Cecilia’s ex, Jordan, stayed around until the final rally in Rhode Island.

The group seemed miserable leading up to the end of the rally, which was usually when the group was at their best.

Samantha and Cecilia stayed near the van and only came around once the rally was over and Marshal rejoined the group.

All eyes were on Milo once the group was together again and for a brief moment, there was silence.

“Today marks a big change for the Voyagers. We’ll see the dedication each of you have to the group in just a few minutes.” He paused, looking down before he looked at Alyssa. “Dedication to the group and the members of the group.” He scanned the group again. “I’m certain you’ve all heard whispers of some plan expected to happen tonight and if it is true, Marshal and I have worked out a plan of our own to secure the safety of the group for a few more months.”

Alyssa saw Cyrus frown before he spoke up. “What if you guys fail?”

“Then we die.” Milo quickly took on a bitter smile. “After tonight, Marshal will be in Onyx custody and I’ll be a fugitive. You guys will be somewhere close to North Stonington, hopefully.”

“What exactly are you two planning?” Alyssa questioned, finding her voice smaller than ever.

Milo focused on her once again, his bitter smile seeming more genuine. He moved past the group, Alyssa following after. They got a fair distance from the group before he stopped and turned to her. “I didn’t want to tell you, I really didn’t. Marshal kept pushing for me to tell you, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

“Is it really that bad that you couldn’t tell me at all?”

He nodded, a frown coming over him. “You’ve seen how handsy Jordan’s been lately and how nosy Luke has been. It’s not safe for the group if Luke knows our every move and it’s not safe for Cecilia if Jordan’s still around.”

“Marshal said there was nothing he could do about that, though.”

“Because the plan was already in works.” He sighed. “If Jordan grabs Cecilia tonight, which I’m almost certain he will, I’ll shoot him. Luke is going to run after me and Marshal’s going to stop him by getting in a fight with him, which is going to get him arrested. On the off chance that it doesn’t work and Luke catches up to me, I’ll be given no choice but to shoot myself and keep Onyx from using my knowledge against the group.”

Alyssa froze for a moment, a sudden rush of sadness, shock, and anger flowing through her. “And you didn’t tell me.” She scoffed and looked to the ground. “Why not?”

“I didn’t want you to worry about it.” He moved closer to her before embracing her, holding her close as he could. “There’s a bigger chance of Marshal and I living than either of us dying and it’s a risk I’m willing to take if it means the group will be safe again.”

As upset as she was, Alyssa didn’t pull away. She found his presence comforting, despite all he had to say. “And what about Marshal’s knowledge? How do neither of you expect them to not use him?”

“He’s built up a stronger immunity to what the chips have in them and Onyx knows that from the last time he was in custody.”

“Did the rest of the group know about the plan?”

She already knew the answer based on how slowly he responded to the question. “They did. Cyrus swore to Marshal and I that he would get the rest of you out of there as soon as the chance presented itself.” He paused, a small sigh escaping him. “You’re going to be in charge, what do you think you’ll do?”

“I’m not sure, I didn’t exactly expect to be thrown into the position this soon.”

He chuckled before finally letting her go, seeming a bit more at ease himself. “I’ve spent twenty-five years protecting Elizabeth when she didn’t need it. I completely underestimated her abilities and once I came back from the city, I finally realized it.” He looked at her once again. “I hated my time in the city, but I wouldn’t have met you if I wasn’t there and I think about that every single day. Elizabeth might not need me anymore, but I want to be able to protect you. I want to give you a life that none of our people have, even if it means I have to die trying.”

Alyssa shook her head, a small smile forming on her face. “That’s pretty contradictory to your whole plan for tonight.”

“I know that much, but I also know Marshal. I trust him with doing his part right and finding a way to get back home.” He lifted her head to look into her eyes. “I need you to make me a promise. You can take the group home after tonight or you can keep doing the rallies. Whatever you choose, I need you to promise me that you’ll stay safe.”

She nodded. “I promise, but only if you do the same.”

“I swear I will. I’ll try to be back in South Dakota before the rallies end.” His smile faded as he looked past Alyssa. “It’s almost time, but you’ve got my word.”

She looked over her shoulder to see Jordan and Luke talking to the group, Jordan being especially close to Cecilia.

She expected him to go as soon as he realized their time was coming to a close, but he was still directly in front of her when she turned back around.

His focus stayed on the group until he looked back to Alyssa, a smile fixed on his face. “I won’t let you down.”

They turned back to go to the group, staying close to each other.

He stopped before they got too close, but she kept walking. “Alyssa, there’s one more thing I want to get out before I do this.”

She turned back around and went back to him, immediately noticing that he seemed nervous. “What is it?”

He didn’t say or do anything until she got closer. They were just a few inches away from each other when he leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “It’s not all I want to do, but I can’t let myself get distracted right now, otherwise I’ll put you in the exact trouble I’m trying to avoid.” He moved past her to go back to the group.

Alyssa followed after, arriving back to the group just in time to see Marshal pass Milo the gun while all eyes were on Jordan.

Cecilia looked extremely uncomfortable as she tried getting closer to the Voyagers and away from Jordan. He clearly noticed but hadn’t said anything on it yet.

The group made some idle chats while they waited for Jordan to mess up, which they all knew wouldn’t be too far away.

Luke was nearby, keeping an eye on them. He knew Milo had the gun but he didn’t look too worried about it.

When the group got ready to give up, Jordan snapped. He grabbed Cecilia’s wrist and pulled her to make her look at him. “Are you over this phase yet? It’s time to go home and you’re refusal to go is just annoying me.”

“I’m not going back with you, I’ve already told you this.” She tried pulling away, making him pull back harder.

Milo raised the gun, aiming directly for Jordan. “She already said no every single day for the past two months, do you really think she’s going to change her mind because you decide to rough her up?”

Jordan didn’t seem threatened, he saw it as a challenge. He kept a tight hold on Cecilia’s wrist as he looked over to Milo. “You’re pretty stupid to draw in a civilian when an Onyx official is keeping an eye on you, don’t you agree?”

“I would agree if it came from anyone but you. The problem is that I don’t want to agree with a man who thinks it’s okay to lay his hands on a woman who said no sixty-two days in a row and make demands from her when she’s over him.”

A smirk came across Jordan’s face as he let go of Cecilia’s wrist. “This is about your beliefs? You pulled a gun in a civilian because of your beliefs?”

Milo looked past Jordan, seeing Luke running over to the group. “That’s exactly it.” He looked back at Jordan, firing a single shot before turning around and running.

Jordan’s body collapsed on the ground, creating an obstacle for Luke.

Alyssa turned to Marshal to see him take a deep breath before tackling Luke as he ran by.

Vincent grabbed Alyssa’s wrist and pulled her along when Cyrus led them away from the scene.

He took them back to the van, Alyssa taking Marshal’s seat in the front as she tried to process how quickly everything had happened.

“Where do we go?” Cyrus started driving as soon as the group had gotten into the van in an effort to distance them from the situation. “Alyssa, it’s your call.”

‘What Milo and Marshal did may have protected the group, but it surely isn’t going to help the public view on the group.’

A choice here decided that the group would continue the rallies.

Milo Neil

He ran as long as he could and made a fair distance before he started going through alleyways and crowded streets to avoid being spotted. There was no time to think about what he’d done.

Luke wasn’t following him, but there was no assurance that he was going to be safe after what he did.

The direction he’d gone so far was out of the way of the next rally and home, which wasn’t the best path for him to go on.

He took a break after nightfall and tried to map out where he was going to go, only finding three options.

He could go back home and try to help Marshal, he could go to the next rally and help the group there, or he could continue on a path away from both groups to avoid Onyx catching them.

A choice here decided that Milo would go on a different path.

5.6

Over the past two months since the run in with Luke, Milo had wandered back into New York.

He tried to avoid the areas they had done rallies to avoid being noticed and having Onyx back on his trail, but it was growing increasingly difficult when everything about him was being broadcasted as if he had murdered an innocent man in cold blood.

In fact, that’s how the story was being portrayed through the media.

The one time he ran into someone from the rallies was enough to make him fear for his life, but he knew acting on that fear would be what killed him.

The man noticed him from the rallies and offered to take him back to his place so he could hide out for a bit. Milo accepted the offer and went with the man. On the way, He told him about what the news stations were saying and how he refused to believe it because he had seen how the group behaved during the rallies.

He lived on a farm that was spaced out far away from his neighbors, which was a surprising relief to Milo.

When they got to the farm, he introduced Milo to his family. His wife seemed familiar to him, but he couldn’t plant from where. He knew she hadn’t been to a rally, otherwise he would be able to place the exact location he knew her from.

She had blonde hair that was already in the process of greying, their young son having the same blond hair as his mother.

The parents had sent their boy out to d some chores in the barn while they helped Milo get settled in. That’s when he finally figured out where he recognized the mother from.

“We wanted to thank your group for helping our daughter.” The woman’s voice was soft spoken and seemed to be on the brink of tears. “Cecilia didn’t want to marry Jordan, she would have rather marry one of the cows in the field before she married him and she made it known at every opportunity, but because Jordan’s parents are the neighbors, there wasn’t much we could do about it without risking everything we’ve built our lives on.”

The man kept a cold face, but he seemed genuine enough. “When she ran off with your group, we were proud. Your group won us over during the rallies before the wedding, then when Jordan left her at the altar to start trouble, she told me she was gonna join your group if she didn’t die first.”

Milo was at a loss for words. The two were obviously upset that their daughter was gone without a trace, but they did seem proud of her choices. “Cecilia saved our leader’s life that night and she might have just kept my sister from losing her mind because of that. She’s due to have her own kid sometime soon and I think hearing the news of her husband getting beaten to death in an alley would have been too much for her. Your daughter is a wonderful woman and I know the group is already warming up to her.”

They had worked on preparing the guest bedroom for him, along with a meal and whatever else he might need.

He stopped the pair on their way out of the guest bedroom. “You guys are taking a huge risk by keeping me here, so I’ll do whatever I can to help you while I’m here. Wherever I’m needed, just let me know what I can do and I’ll make it a point to get it done.”

The man simply nodded in response as they left the room.

Elizabeth Kennedy

March 29th, 2189 was the day she had sent out the emails that reached Ethan. He seemed to remember the day a year later and was a bit more chipper than usual, despite having spent most of the year back with Onyx.

Horatio had taken a few guesses on when the baby would be due, pinning April 14th as the due date. Kyle loved the idea of having his grandchild born on his son’s birthday. In fact, Kyle loved the idea of having a grandchild in general. He had sworn to Elizabeth that he was going to give it his all to support the baby if she ever needed him to, which is a promise that many other group members had made.

Francine and Lecia had been trying to keep her calm throughout the entire pregnancy and even told her they would be there for the birth, which was embarrassing, but a huge weight off her shoulders. She trusted them to be there the most since they both had their own child and had already experienced it.

She spent most of the 29th of March talking to Ethan and seeing how he was thinking of the group a year later, along with what he would expect from the group in the future.

She already had a feeling the baby was going to be born early, but she only expected it to be a week early.

Elizabeth didn’t know what to consider it when she went into labor a little over two weeks before her due date. It was concerning, even if it was just a small time, but Francine and Horatio assured her that everything would be fine.

She believed them until her contractions became stronger. She was thankful that Chelsea wasn’t around, otherwise she’d have to feel everything when the pain she was already in was far too much for her.

Horatio told her that because of how quickly she was progressing, she should have the baby by the end of that day.

That was the guess that he got right.

He delivered the baby with Francine and Lecia’s help before the sun had even gone down.

They got him cleaned up and back to Elizabeth shortly after, giving her a run down of what she would need to do to make sure she and the baby would both be at their best. They told her that they’d occasionally be checking up on them through the night and that once morning came, they would tell Kyle.

It was when they left the room, leaving her with the baby that Elizabeth realized that she already knew what he would be like when he was a bit older, but she’d never gotten the chance to see Whitlock as a baby. It only made the experience a bit more scary for her.

Though what made her fear the most was knowing that Marshal wasn’t going to be around for much of Whitlock’s first year of life.

Leona tried to help in the one way she knew how, but it didn’t work out.

Leona - One month back.

She didn’t do anything, instead she stayed in place as the firing squad lined up their shots perfectly.

The young woman who was once in front of her looked at her, waiting for a command. “What do we do?”

The rest of her people looked to her, their fear more prominent than any emotion.

Leona met Isaac’s eyes, finally coming to the conclusion that he had the upper hand. “We’re not going to do anything. We came here with the intention of being peaceful and that’s just what we’re going to do.”

Isaac looked back to the man Leona didn’t know, but had deduced his position as a general. He shared a few looks with the general, Luke, and Zachary before the general stepped forward and threw his left hand in the air. “Take aim!”

Leona could feel a shift in her people’s attitude as they began to panic. “Leona, you can’t let this happen. They’re going to kill us!”

“You joined the group with the knowledge that it could kill you. You came with me today knowing that we wouldn’t be armed and that we had a fair chance of being slaughtered like animals as soon as we arrived.” Leona didn’t break eye contact with Isaac as she continued on. “We picked a cause to die for, picked a group to live on after us, and now it’s time to face the end. It’s how our lives have to go.”

“It isn’t how it has to go, just give him the location of the Voyagers, please.” One of her people grabbed her wrist, pleading to her.

“We’re no better than the people we fight if we give up our allies. The Voyagers and those who stayed back at the base have a higher potential. They’ll put an end to this for good.”

Leona continued to listen to the pleas of her people as the general threw his hand down. “Fire!”

She stood in place as her people panicked to try to find some way to escape, each of them collapsing one by one as a shot hit them.

She waited to be hit as gunfire went off all around her.

She waited until the general called off his men.

Then she looked around, seeing the bodies of her people scattered all around her on the floor, blood surrounding them.

For once, she felt completely hopeless. She looked to Isaac with tears building in her eyes. “Why would you leave me alive?”

He didn’t answer, but ordered one of the guards to arrest Leona.

Leona - Present time.

She had been placed in a room with Marshal and woman that she learned was Elizabeth’s mother, Leah.

Leah was hostile towards the both of them, never letting either of them getting close enough to remove her chip.

She wouldn’t listen to either of them whenever they tried to remind her about who she was or her kids, but she swore up and down that if they kept pushing some fake story onto her then there would be problems.

Leona came up with a plan to remove the chip, which Marshal didn’t approve of and refused to be part of it.

His refusal probably bettered Leona’s chances, so she wasn’t concerned about it.

The plan was to wait until night time and remove the chip whenever she slept, by the biggest problem with the plan was finding a time she would sleep.

She was always on edge and barely trusted Leona and Marshal enough to sleep while they were awake, so she’d wait until they slept before she would go to sleep.

In the middle of the month, Leona had woken up in the middle of the night one night and noticed Leah was asleep.

There was glass on the floor from one of the many times she attempted to strike Leona or Marshal because they got to close to her.

Leona moved from her corner of the room, crawling to avoid waking Leah up. She grabbed a shard of glass and crawled to Leah’s bedside, slowly getting off the ground and positioning herself so Leah couldn’t take the glass from her.

As quick as she could, Leona jammed the shard of glass between Leah’s neck and the chip, pulling as hard as she could.

Before Leah could scream, Marshal rushes over and covered her mouth, helping Leona pry the chip off. “You’re going to get us all killed, you know that?”

“I would choose death over staying in this room with someone who’s chipped.” Leona gave a final tug, yanking the chip off of Leah’s neck and throwing it onto the ground with the shard of glass.

She stomped on the chip and she and Marshal went back to bed before any guard could enter the room.

When they woke up, they saw Leah looked confused and almost scared. She looked them both in the eyes before she said anything. “Who are you two? Where am I?”

Leona glanced over to Marshal expecting him to answer. “My name is Marshal Kennedy, that’s Leona. We’re leaders of our own groups, one of which you used to be part of. We’re all in Onyx custody and they had you chipped before last night.”

“How long before last night?”

Leona noticed his hesitation on answering the question. “Twenty-five years at most, we aren’t really sure when you ended up in custody.”

Leah started to panic, looking at the room around her. “My kids, what happened to my kids? Are they still alive?”

Marshal nodded, which seemed to ease Leah a bit. “Milo was part of a rally group, he’s on his own right now but I’m sure he’s doing fine. Elizabeth is back at the base, which is about two days worth of walking from here. I can tell you all about it later, but right now Leona and I need your help.”

Even though it was Leona’s first time hearing this, she gave Leah an affirmative nod to encourage her to help with whatever Marshal was planning. “Only if you swear to tell me what I’ve missed with my family, my group, and the state of Onyx.”

“Deal.” He moves to go through the nightstand next to Leah’s bed, pulling out a notepad and pencil. He picked a spot in the middle of the room before sitting on the ground and motioning them over.

Leah and Leona moved to look over his shoulder and watch what he was writing. ‘I can’t tell you the exact location or plan. The room has at least three cameras that I’ve seen. There’s one pointing at the door from above the lamp, another pointing at Leah’s bed from the corner I’ve taken, and another hidden inside the lamp shade to try and monitor whatever someone writes since it’s the only flat surface in the room to use a notepad on.’

Leona and Leah looked at the corner of the room, noticing the small camera that had been placed in a shaded spot that made it difficult to be noticed.

Marshal went back to writing when he knew they were looking again. ‘Leah, it’s going to upset you to find out through writing, but the men at Onyx have seriously done you wrong. They use you as an object, purely because you can’t say no to them as a captive. They’ve been doing it since you first arrived and they still do it and there’s only one way to make it stop.’

Leona looked over to Leah to see her face had gone pale as she continued watching what he wrote. ‘The next time someone comes in during the night to attempt such a thing, we need to take them over. Once we do that, we can take their keys and weapons and leave headquarters. Leona and I can do it, we just need to know you’ll cooperate with the plan.’

“Where would we go?” Leah whispered.

‘Back to the Voyagers. Leona can go back to her group and we can make a course of action from there.’

“And what if we don’t do it?” Leona tried to keep her voice down, knowing that Onyx cameras picked up sound and video.

‘Then we have to wait for Elizabeth or your group to do something. It’s not ideal to just wait it out because having Elizabeth come to the city after the baby is a huge gamble. If she brings the baby with her, she can’t die but she’s more likely to be caught. If she leaves it at home, she’s got a smaller chance of getting caught but she would stay dead if something happened.’

Leona paused, a frown on her face. “The gene really doesn’t go that far?” He shook his head. “What if she brings the baby close enough to still have the abilities?”

‘Because we don’t know how close that is. We don’t know where Chelsea will be whenever Elizabeth decides to act, so that could be another setback. If your group de-’

Marshal stopped writing and tore the paper off the notepad, putting the notepad and pencil back into the nightstand and the torn piece of paper into his pocket. He stood up and dusted himself off. “Act normal.”

As they all stood up, they heard someone messing with the lock on the door.

The second it unlocked, Luke Lowell stormed into the room with his eyes shining red as he confronted Marshal. He stopped just an inch or two away from him, which made it seem like he was there for a fight. “Why did you remove the chip?”

Marshal took a step back and Luke immediately took a step forward. “You know I’m not going to fight you.”

Luke didn’t wait for Marshal to get any further, he took a hold around his neck and kept a tight grip. “I asked you why you removed the chip. You haven’t cooperated with anything and I’m over Zachary postponing your execution just because he wants to stay in your good graces. It won’t matter much when you’re dead and your group comes back to the city.”

“I disconnected the chip!” Leona moved to grab hold of Luke’s arm to help in whatever way she could, only to be pushed back by Luke’s free hand.

“The camera can show exactly who did it and it’s no surprise that he had the bigger part in it when he’s the only one of you who knows how to disconnect a chip.”

Leona and Leah shared a look of concern before Leona ran out of the open door, workers immediately calling after her as she ran down the hall.

She ran into the conference room, finding Chelsea in the middle of a meeting. “You need to help, he’s going to kill him and I can’t stop it.”

Chelsea quickly left her seat and ran out of the room, following Leona back to Leah’s room where some guards were now blocking the way in.

She separated from Leona and pushed her way through the crowd, forcing herself into the room.

Luke had dropped Marshal by then, but was still as physical as before. Chelsea watched him kick Marshal before turning to say something to Leah, only to meet Chelsea’s eyes.

“Get away from him.” He stayed put, as if he was challenging her. “Luke, I said to get away. You already know you’re on thin ice for similar behavior and that you have no authority over people who’ve been arrested. Your job is to be out there searching for people, not beating up the ones who can’t do anything.”

Leona was pushed through the crowd and back into the room by Isaac, who made the crowd disperse before Zachary came in and then shutting the door behind them. “Do you understand how reckless and unprofessional your behavior has been?” Isaac looked furious with Luke. “Because you decided to provoke someone who has already chosen death over life, you almost allowed another two to escape. Is your personal hatred towards him strong enough that you’re willing to risk your whole career just to harm him?”

“We don’t have time for this, we need to get a doctor up here.” Zachary shook his head as he looked at Marshal. “He didn’t just want to harm him, he wanted to kill him.” He then looked back up at Luke, crossing his arms. “I want to know why. Is it because he and Elizabeth betrayed your trust? Or do you blame him for killing your last partner?” He paused, not getting an answer, just the same angry glare that he always got. “Whatever the reason, you’re not allowed back in this room. Chelsea, you need to adjust the locks and I’m only going to ask you to prioritize it once.”

“What about the chip?” Chelsea looked at Leah. “What about her?”

“They’ve moved numerous times since she was chipped, she’s useless to us now and a completely waste of a chip.” Isaac opened the door once more, waiting until Zachary, Chelsea, and Luke left the room before he left himself, shutting the door behind him.

He didn’t lock it, which told the three of them that they planned on sending somebody back in.

Leona and Leah went to Marshal’s side. He seemed more freaked out than he seemed hurt, which was both a good and bad thing. “I’m starting to understand why Joseph wanted to stay in the shadows.”

“Why’s that?” Leona thought the only thing they could do was keep him talking.

“I get beat up every single time I come into the city. I’ve nearly died to Luke twice now when I’ve gone into the city and I’ve already died on my own once.”

“I don’t think Elizabeth told me what happened with that, why don’t you?”

He sighed, sitting himself against the wall. “It’s a long, stupid story. We were trying to go into the main building at our base through the roof and Alyssa slipped while Vincent and I were already halfway down, so I told them to let go of me and I got impaled. That’s the run down of it.”

The door opened once more, a blonde woman coming straight to the three of them. They recognized her because of her outfit of a purple skirt and white blouse, which was an outfit assigned to Lyla Richardson.

She kneeled down as she looked over Marshal, seeming disappointed. “You don’t have to keep causing trouble while you’re in custody, don’t you know?”

“If you and Luke consider doing absolutely nothing wrong to be causing trouble then remind to stay out of your way.”

The two had some small talk while Lyla looked over him. “Everything seems normal, except for a few ribs. Looks like you’re finally getting used to getting beat up by Lowell.”

“Then everything is going according to plan, expect an uprise within hours.”

She chuckled, heading back to the door. “Good luck orchestrating that from in here.”

Once she left and locked the door behind her, Marshal took the piece of paper out of his pocket and looked to Leah. “To refresh, we need to get out of here as soon as possible. Our options are this plan and getting out possibly within days or waiting for Elizabeth or the Hunters, which we don’t know how long either of those will take.”

A choice here decided that they would go with Marshal's plan.

5.8

Elizabeth agreed to go back to the bunker once Horatio and Ethan also agreed. The night before they went, Filip also offered to go.

“It’s going to be fine, you’ll be in and out before you know it.” While Marshal constantly tried to reassure her about the decision, she knew better than to lure herself into a false hope that nothing would go wrong.

She, Ethan, Filip, and Horatio went to Leona’s base early in the morning to meet with Jade and Bees.

They didn’t get to talk to Leona before leaving, but the two women seemed decent enough.

“Do any of you have a plan?” Jade had waited until they were already on the way to the bunker before she asked anything.

“Yeah, Leona told us you would have a plan.”

After a shared moment of silence, Elizabeth sighed. “No, there’s no plan. I just need to get to the lab and depending on how Onyx has updated their security, it either won’t take long or it’ll take days.”

“How do you expect to get things done without a plan?”

“I’ve never really needed a plan, things just happen.”

“You were in Onyx custody once, right? How did you get out?”

“I died, there’s no special story behind it.”

Jade went silent for a minute, a look of shock on her face. “What do you mean no special story behind dying?”

“If you want a story on escape, you should talk to Marshal or Leona. He’s been in custody twice now and as far as I know, Leona has been in custody once but she orchestrated the quarantine breakout.” Horatio was the one driving and since Filip decided to join them, the car was a bit crowded. “Ethan was in custody as well. Elizabeth has avoided staying in one place by dying not once but twice.”

“Most people only die once.” Bees didn’t seem as shocked at the news as Jade was. “Are you one of the test subjects?” Elizabeth nodded, sparking another question from her. “And your son is as well?”

“I suppose that’s what you could refer to it as.”

They got to know each other a little better on the way to the bunker, before they agreed that silence would be better once they reached the bunker.

Elizabeth stopped Ethan before they went in. “You remember the journal you found on your first night here?” He nodded. “It’s somewhere in Marshal’s old room and I need you to find it.”

The lights flickered on as soon as they entered the kitchen, revealing the bunker to have gathered plenty of dust since they’d last seen it.

Ethan split up from the group once they entered the bunker, Filip and Horatio quickly splitting up soon after to go into Joseph’s old room and grab some medicine they thought might be useful.

Jade and Bees followed Elizabeth to the lab, giving her the device Leona wanted the footage on. “What exactly does she want?”

Jade took a folded piece of paper out of her pocket and gave it to Elizabeth. “She told us to not look at it and that we couldn’t be around while you got all of it.”

Elizabeth took it as an order to wait until they were out of the room before looking at it. Once they left, she unfolded it to see that Leona had been watching them for a lot longer than she previously thought.

Leona wanted footage from the day Luke and his partner had snuck into the bunker, she wanted footage of what happened in the bar with Chelsea, footage of what happened with Marshal and Milo, footage of the quarantine breakout, footage of the way Onyx slaughtered her people when they attempted to make a peaceful stand, and footage of the night she, Marshal, and Leah escaped.

Some of the instances were known to Elizabeth, others were things she hadn’t heard of yet. She already knew where to get a few of them, but she also knew she’d have to do some searching for the ones she hadn’t seen yet.

She used the computer to gather what she already knew, transferring it to the device before starting a search for the three she didn’t know of.

She figured at least one of them would be in a specific folder regarding Luke’s partner, which Onyx had made after her murder. She opened all the files she could, quickly finding one that looked odd to her.

It was from her body camera. The footage was blurry and Elizabeth couldn’t tell if it was because of the camera or the weather. In a matter of seconds, a light brown blur struck Luke’s partner, causing her to go down instantly. About a minute passed before anything else happened. The next thing Elizabeth saw was Ethan on the screen, sighing before he picked up the body.

“Ethan didn’t kill her…” Elizabeth started transferring the video to the device before thinking about who it could have been. “She didn’t even have the chance to react, none of us can move that quick.” She looked back at the monitor, rewinding the footage. “But Marie can. She was here, too.”

She moved on to finding the next video, which was vaguely referred to in the note.

She found that one by looking up the names Leona mentioned, finding a file that referred to the group that had left for the rallies, along with a few names that Elizabeth didn’t know.

As soon as she opened the file, she saw why Leona wanted it. The group looked upset, with the exception of Milo. Luke was nearby and a man had a tight hold on a woman that Elizabeth didn’t know. Milo drew a gun on the man and Luke started over towards the group. Milo took a few steps back while keeping an eye on Luke and talking to the man before he let go of the woman’s wrist and got shot by Milo.

Milo started running and Luke attempted to jump over the man’s body, then getting tackled by Marshal. The rest of the group took off after that.

After transferring that video, she figured she would find the third video in Onyx’s main records. She spent twenty minutes searching for it without luck. “Everything relating to it is there except the video itself.” She stopped, her attention going straight to one video. “This one was copied. Why would Onyx need a copy of a video they already have?”

“That’s asking why you would make a copy.” Elizabeth quickly identified the voice as Luke Lowell’s, causing her to get out of her seat and face him. “You’re cornered here, so why don’t you tell me why you’re making copies of classified footage.”

“I’m not. I’m taking the originals so you don’t have them or the ability to turn it around on us.”

Luke pointed at the monitor. “You took five originals. The last one has the word copy in it, so what have you done?”

“Exactly what you said. I took five originals, I didn’t make a copy.”

He crossed his arms, clearly not believing her. “Let’s talk about you, Elizabeth. Through all this rallying and the escapes, you’ve disappeared until quarantine. I know you were part of that and do you know how? That guard put a gun to your head and you did nothing about it. You relied on somebody else to save your life once again. The very first clip you got, you had to have Marshal save your life by giving himself up. You needed Leona to shoot the guard in quarantine because you knew that if the first shot was drawn back to you, there’d be no chance of your survival. You’re manipulating these people into believing they’re doing the right thing by protecting each other, but what you’re really doing is setting them up for death.”

“I haven’t been doing anything.” She could tell he was here to arrest her again and she knew the only thing she could do was stall him until the files finished transferring. “What happened to the other people out there?”

“I didn’t run into them.” He started scanning the room, his eyes glowing red for a brief moment as he stopped and focused on the metal plate that was holding the wires against the wall. “I’ve never been able to get a good look around this place. You’ve got a basic setup, but that’s clever.” He looked back to Elizabeth and uncrossed his arms. “You already know the deal, hands behind your back.”

She hesitated for a moment before seeing the files had finally transferred to Leona’s device. She pocketed the device before backing away from the system. “I can’t do that. I have a family to go home to.”

She already knew a fight with Luke wasn’t going to end up going well for her and that she could only pick a degree of how bad it was going to go for her.

He stayed silent for a minute before grunting. “You know, this is the first time I’ve talked to the real you. I want to know what was going through your head while you were pretending to be a completely different person. What motivated you to keep up the act?”

“The desire to live, I guess.” She shrugged. “I knew if I was honest with you about who I was then you would tell Isaac and he’d kill me. It was a point with the Voyagers that I had no say in what I did because I was bound to an act by a fucking contract. I wasn’t just hiding from you, I was hiding from everyone around me because I was contractually obligated to live and breath for my work. It’s one of the few things you and I have in common.”

The door opened for a brief second before Luke jumped in front of it and pushed against it to keep whoever it was out. He pulled his gun out with his free hand and aimed straight for her. “Give your group what you came here for and tell them to leave, then we won’t have a problem.”

Elizabeth sighed as Luke moved over so she could barely open the door. Filip was on the other side and looked confused as to why she was giving him the device, but he took it without protesting. He didn’t understand why she pointed at the gun he had, but he gave it to her either way. She mouthed a set of words before shutting the door. 'Get out of here.'

She shut the door after that, hiding the gun until she pulled it on Luke and fired a single shot. She knew it was going to damage his augmentations and that was the intention. “So much for never firing the first shot.”

Luke reacted just the way she expected him to, firing a single shot at her. Unlike her, Luke was trained to shoot where it would kill and he hadn’t failed a shot yet.

She didn’t know if her plan was going to work with Chelsea being in the city and Whitlock being at the motel, but it was her only chance at getting out of that situation.

After a few moments of darkness, she was able to take a breath of fresh air and open her eyes, slowly easing herself off the ground.

She already knew it was the garden based on how bright and lively it was. She followed the same path she’d seen multiple times now to see Chelsea holding Whitlock while talking to Karen, all of them aware of Elizabeth’s presence.

As she got closer, Chelsea looked over to her. The same mischievous look in her blue eyes. “What happened?”

“I was in the bunker, Luke surprised me and I got shot, the usual at this point.”

Karen didn’t seemed as happy to see Elizabeth as the other two were, which struck a little fear into her. “You were just barely in the middle of those two when you got shot. Had your son been in his room instead of the dining room or had Chelsea been in Amanda’s workplace instead of the breakroom, you would be permanently dead.” She paused, a frustrated sigh escaping her. “Having three of you isn’t going to make things easier on any of you because what you already knew has expanded.” She then looked at the baby, a look of sadness crossing her in an instant. “He’s going to have it the worst because both of you barely grasp the basic understanding of the gene and it evolves through every generation, so you still wouldn’t have been able to help him.”

“You seem like you’re rushing this, what’s going on?” Chelsea apparently got the same reading as Elizabeth.

“I’ve got no idea how long you two are going to be here when there’s a baby in the connection. He could decide that he wants to be home or he wants to be with a specific person and that would cut all three of you out.”

“So you’re basically telling us to hurry up, right?” Elizabeth questioned, getting a nod in response. “You said the gene evolves with every generation, if Chelsea and I decided to go back to the real world, would his decision overpower both of ours?”

Karen shook her head. “Not if the both of you agree.”

That was the last thing she heard from Karen or Chelsea before she woke up in her own bed, Marshal asleep on her left and Whitlock in his bassinet on her right.

Marshal Kennedy

Most of the month was spent trying to make the main building habitable once again.

Having the people from quarantine gave them two new people, but forced them into a housing problem.

Elizabeth cleaned out Milo’s room and allowed someone else to use it but refused to mess with any other rooms. Joseph took it on himself and explained that he would take them blame for it once they got back but they needed any rooms they could get at the moment.

Filip had been spending weeks out at a time now, along with a man and a woman that came from quarantine and claimed they were fit to work.

“How many people are we looking at right now?” It was the same question every time there was a meeting.

“There’s currently thirty-six people around here. If Leona decides to bring her people here, that’s at least ten more and then waiting for Alyssa’s group come back brings us to exactly fifty-two.” Marshal paused, a sigh escaping him as he looked over the numbers. “It’s a good thing, but we can’t handle all these people.We’re lucky Leona hasn’t made up her mind about bringing her people here because that’s ten less people we need to find a room for.”

“That’s not even mentioning the high possibility that Alyssa brings more than what you left her with.” Joseph crossed his arms, slouching in his seat.

Marshal looked across the table at Filip. “I need you to work with Horatio and find two more people who would be willing and able to go scouting, then I need you to talk to Lecia about her estimates before you go out again.”

Filip and Horatio left without a word to do what they were told.

To Filip’s left was Ethan, someone Marshal usually had difficulties working with. “If I give you something where you can threaten somebody, will you do it?” Ethan smirked and nodded. “Fine. Go to Leona’s base and find out what she plans on doing through whatever means necessary.”

Marshal watched Ethan get up and walk away, briefly catching a glimpse at Gregory at the other table, obviously listening in.

He turned his attention away from Gregory and back to the group in front of him. “Francine, I need your input on what we’re going to do about the kids. Elizabeth isn’t making a decision on it since Whitlock isn’t school-age yet and Lecia is undecided on it. The other two kids are orphans and sick, so this is basically up to you.”

“Actually, I wanted to bring that up to you. Morgan has said that she wants to stay helping in the kitchen and Greg wanted me to ask you if you could train him.” Francine seemed pretty nervous as she spoke, her voice wavering. “I mean, I understand if you don’t want that and I already told him that you’ve got a lot going on between the group and your family, he understands that.”

Marshal noticed Joseph sharing the same look of confusion that he had, prompting him to ask what was on his mind. “Train him in what?”

She cupped her hands to try and stop herself from fiddling with her fingers. “He said he wants to train the way you did as a scout but he doesn’t want to leave the motel yet.”

He waited until Gregory came around to the table, taking Filip’s spot across from Marshal. “You understand that the training we went through wasn’t easy and it took years, right? There were days that none of us could move afterwards. I’m not trying to dissuade you from doing what you want, I just want you to be aware of that much. Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?”

“Only if you think it’s a good idea.”

Francine put her hands in her lap, nodding. “If you don’t think it’s right or it’s not the time then I’m sure I could find someone to teach the kids normal school stuff.”

A choice here decided Marshal would train Gregory.

5.10

Amanda had spent the past two months trying to repair the damage to Luke’s arm that Elizabeth had caused and labeled him unfit to work, much to Isaac’s dismay.

She had made improvements as she repaired it, which was what took the most time.

Chelsea helped her with the programming, though she didn’t seem to be doing it willingly. Luke himself was constantly rushing the two and trying to convince them to leave things the same and let him get back out.

He believed he had an idea of where the Voyagers were staying and demanded a meeting with select higher-ups as soon as Amanda said he was ready to get back out.

He requested Isaac, Amanda, and Lyla be there but changed his request at the last minute to include Chelsea, Zachary, and Debbie.

“When I ran into their group in the bunker, there were people there that aren’t even in our system. Three of the people there were people that I’ve never seen in my life, Ethan Rikard from quarantine was there, and one of the scouts they stole from us was there as well.” He looked over to Chelsea before looking at the other end of the table and focusing on Lyla. “Elizabeth had given birth in the last month or so, it was evident through my readings. Debbie said she saw Chelsea collapse in the break room around 12:26 in the afternoon.”

Debbie pulled out her phone and scrolled through for a moment. “That’s right. Amanda’s records say that your arm started malfunctioning around 12:20. Is there a connection between the two times?”

Lyla leaned forward in her seat, cupping her hands in front of her. “Amanda, would that malfunction happen to be a gunshot?”

“My systems just said it was a malfunction but that could be a number of things, including a gunshot.” She seemed uneasy about something. “I wouldn’t be so quick to assume it was the gunshot when he ran into Elizabeth in the place she knows best. She formed a system that’s going to take months to crack and while it’s more complicated for her than it is for us, she knows how to use it. She turned that bunker into a weapon and we all saw it.”

“I would normally agree with you, but the lab is the one place where there’s no specific weapon design. In fact, there were some wires that could have definitely choked somebody but they were welded down.” Luke crossed his arms and turned to Debbie. “I need you to go fetch the gun and the codes that were recovered.”

She excused herself and returned ten minutes later with a gun in a bag and a piece of paper in a protective sheet, handing them to Luke and then returning to her seat. Zachary looked over the two for a moment before questioning Luke. “What do you need those for?”

Lyla looked at the gun and waited for a nod from Luke before saying anything. “Isaac had me run the fingerprints from the gun when Luke brought it back. It’s not Elizabeth’s gun. Her prints were obviously on it, but it belongs to one of the field agents we lost to the Voyagers.”

“Can you say that they stole it from him or if they’ve just taken him?” Isaac finally spoke up, though he seemed to be scanning over everyone in the room.

Lyla didn’t get the chance to answer before Debbie said something. “Didn’t Luke say he was alive? He said three people he didn’t know, Ethan Rikard, an agent they took from us, and Elizabeth were present.” She paused. “I do think we’re getting off track, though. What was the big deal with the times earlier?”

“Lyla, Amanda’s reports said 12:20 was when my arm started malfunctioning and I’ll be the first to admit that I shot Elizabeth as soon as she shot me. I blacked out and she was gone after that, the estimated time being 12:45. What’s the range she and Chelsea need to be in for the gene to work and just about how long does it take to work?”

She stayed silent, though she was obviously thinking on it. “Debbie, I need some paper and a pen.” Debbie got up and got a blank sheet of paper from the printer and a pen from her bag, giving them to Lyla and returning to her seat. Lyla started to draw a map before passing it to Luke. “You said Elizabeth recently gave birth and since it’s her first child, it’s afflicted as well. If we say Elizabeth died at 12:20, then her baby and Chelsea died at 12:26. The camera records show that Chelsea was back and active by 12:30.” She looked at the map she made. “I can’t give the exact distance between the break room and the bunker, but you need to find out the distance and go the same distance in the opposite way, that’s the easiest way to locate the group if they’ve stayed in place.”

Luke gave Chelsea the coded paper in the protective sheet. “You need to decode these.” She took the sheet and almost said something before he reminded himself of something Elizabeth had said in the bunker. “She mentioned that there’s somebody copying our security records and she swore up and down that it wasn’t her, is there any way you could look into that?”

She nodded and then looked to Isaac. “Luke, get a group of our best together and follow Lyla’s suggestion. Chelsea, look into the coding. We’re done here.”

The group split up. Lyla, Chelsea, and Amanda went back to their labs while Luke went to go gather a group and Isaac went to his office. Debbie followed Zachary back to his own office and requested to talk with him.

“What’s going to happen with the Voyagers after Luke finds them?” She seemed sad about the results of the meeting. “We may not agree with them but there still people and capable of reforming.”

“There’s certain people they aren’t going to be allowed the opportunity at reforming due to previous crimes that are unforgivable. The ones from quarantine that are alive will be sent back to quarantine.”

“And by those with previous crimes you mean Marshal and Elizabeth?”

He shook his head. “Marshal Kennedy, Milo Neil, Kyle Kennedy, Joseph Duke, Alyssa Kowalska, Ethan Rikard, the scout Luke mentioned, and whoever that Leona woman is. Elizabeth is just as guilty in their crimes, but the gene is going to prevent us from giving her the same punishment.”

“Lyla just said that the gene is going to bring them back when they die and if she’s unfit for the same punishment as all those others, does that mean you’re going to see them executed?” He nodded. “You already attempted to have Marshal executed, do you and Isaac really believe that they’re going to go without a fight?”

“They’ve gotten too uncontrollable, it’s the way things have to be. If they stayed the way they were while Joseph was in control then there wouldn’t be a problem because we’d only have to deal with one of them every six months but at this point, they’re aiming towards an aggressive approach and unless we want to be killed, we have to stay ahead of them.”

Debbie sighed and nodded. “I understand, my apologies if I upset you.”

She got out of her seat and left the office, immediately getting grabbed and pulled into the women’s restroom. The person who pulled in there had her mouth covered and shushed her before they moved their hand.

Debbie turned around to see who it was, seeing Chelsea standing behind her. “Don’t punch me, just hear me out for a moment.” She unclenched her fist and crossed her arms. “I heard what you were saying to Zachary, why do you seem to care so much for the Voyagers?”

She hesitated for a moment, trying to come up with an answer that Chelsea would like. “Because they’re human. They’re not animals and we shouldn’t be treating them like they are.”

Chelsea seemed to appreciate the answer and eased up a bit. “Look, there’s not many Voyagers here that still remember anything about the group, but there’s one that desperately needs help. Eris Duke is dying and if she doesn’t get the medicine that’s given to us to help prevent symptoms of the disease, she will die.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because you have access to medical records. It’ll be easier to alter the records from your station and it would technically be a cyber attack if I did it from my station and they’d launch an investigation for that. I’m going to start giving Eris my medicine to try and help her.” She paused. “I just need you to alter the records.”

“What if you get sick?” Debbie scoffed. “Never mind that, you’re asking me to commit a crime that’ll get me executed, what the hell is wrong with you?”

“Listen, it could save her life at the cost of our own, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take on my own if I have to.” Debbie noticed Chelsea didn’t like her defiance. “The Voyagers have no advantage over us and what they’re telling you about them being aggressive is ridiculous. In the time I was there, I witnessed the execution of a man who tried to assault a woman. That same man was someone Elizabeth and I had to overthrow if she wanted to get back into her own group. If he were still in charge, I would agree that they’re aggressive and a threat but he’s dead. Are you going to help me or not?”

A choice here decided Debbie would help Chelsea alter the records.

Alyssa Kowalska

Most of the month had been spent preparing for the last month ahead of them.

They were all ready to head home and it was clear that everyone had pulled their weight for the past nine months.

They’d bonded on a level that none of them expected after Marshal and Milo disappeared.

Cecilia was the only person who had at least one similar interest with everyone in the group.

She shared Alyssa’s love of biology, Samantha’s interest in gardening, Vincent’s interest in traveling, and the mechanic work that Cyrus has always enjoyed.

Because of those interests, she made a promise to all of them. She promised Alyssa, Samantha, and Cyrus that once they got back home, she’d be spending time helping them all with what they enjoyed the most. She also made a promise to Vincent that they’d travel the world once the Voyagers achieved their goal.

Alyssa didn’t notice it earlier, but Cecilia was the hope the group needed to keep going after Marshal and Milo left.

She didn’t seem phased by what happened with Jordan and said on multiple occasions that she was glad he wouldn’t be able to hurt her anymore. She was relieved about Milo going back to her family’s farm and finding a way to contact Alyssa after that because it meant her family was safe.

Marshal’s original plan included Cyrus taking the van back to South Dakota once the others got on the plane to Hawaii, which was the last state they had to go to.

He talked it over with Vincent and they offered to have her switch the plan if she wanted to.

She had doubts that Vincent would be able to defend the group with the determination that Cyrus would, but she also knew that Vincent could take a few more punches than Cyrus could.

Nobody knew what to expect from Hawaii since the Voyagers had no connections there. The entire group was nervous about going, but everyone else already knew that Alyssa would go with or without them.

Samantha believed that Cyrus should come with them in case things got bad. She’d have to leave her bow with whoever took the van back home and she wouldn’t be much help in a physical fight, but she also didn’t know how to drive which is why she wouldn’t offer to drive back herself.

Cecilia knew how to drive but Alyssa knew she’d be someone that she’d want around if a physical confrontation was what they were expecting. She had a talent for moving quicker and being more difficult to hit, but she also didn’t hit too hard. She thought Vincent should go with the group since Cyrus knew how to fix a car if it broke down and Vincent would end up stranded if the van broke down on him.

While the day was far off, Alyssa wanted to make the choice with plenty of time in advance so everyone knew what to expect when it was time to go.

A choice here decided the group would send Cyrus back with the van.

Joseph Duke

Joseph noticed that Milo had to spend most of the month trying to convince Kimber and Jude to stay on grounds. It didn’t help that Marshal, Greg, and Joseph himself went off grounds most days.

Joseph would leave the motel just to get a breath of fresh air and go for a walk. Most times he went for a walk, he wouldn’t run into any trouble.

He rarely went to the creek since he’d heard that it was basically a death trap.

After hearing so many things about it from most of the people in the group, he eventually decided to take a trip down by himself and get some thoughts of his own.

He stayed close to the creek for an hour and determined it was pretty plain.

It was once he was going to head back to the motel that he caught a glimpse of something watching him from a bush. He carefully approached it, trying to get a better look at it before he heard growling coming from inside the bush.

He took it as a sign to back off but was still curious about it, crouching down to get a look at what it was.

While he was crouched, the bush rustled and a dog stepped out. He couldn’t tell if the dog was going to approach him or if it was going to attack him, but he stayed in place.

The dog slowly came up to him and started sniffing him all around before stopping in front of him and wagging her tail.

He slowly reached out to pet her, which she allowed.

“I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t know anything about dogs so let me know if you came with an instruction guide.” She perked her head up and wagged her tail some more once he spoke.

He looked over her for a collar and didn’t find one, so he stood up and started walking back to the motel to see if she would follow him.

She trotted to keep up with him, only stopping once Joseph walked past the guard’s post. She looked at him as if she was asking permission to pass the post as well.

He crouched once again, the dog running right up to him and wagging her tail.

She stopped wagging her tail as soon as someone approached the two of them, watching Elizabeth’s every move.

Elizabeth had the baby, so she stopped a few feet away from the dog. Joseph looked over to see she seemed pretty nervous. “Where’d you find it?”

“By the creek, you ever seen her before?”

“Can’t say that I have, but I’m definitely seeing the glare she’s giving me now.” She chuckled, trying to hide her nervousness. “Are you going to keep her?”

Joseph pet the dog again, making her ease up and look away from Elizabeth. “If she’ll stay, then yeah.”

“Does she have a name?”

“I don’t think so.” He paused, looking over the dog. “You know, Eris always said that if she could have a daughter, she’d name her Riley. I think it’s a nice name, don’t you?”

Joseph heard Elizabeth getting closer until she crouched down next to him, holding her hand out for the dog. “I think it’s a pretty name.”

The dog sniffed her hand and eventually licked her, then turned her attention to the baby. She put her face directly into the baby’s face, sniffing him before she started wagging her tail again.

Elizabeth stood up once Riley backed away. “His first animal experience and she got slobber all over him.” She sighed. “I should clean him up and you should probably feed her, she’s pretty thin.”

Joseph waited until Elizabeth walked away before leading the dog to the dining hall and introducing her to the people in there before getting her a bowl of scraps they’d collected and were originally going to throw away.

Marshal Kennedy

At the end of the month, Filip had approached Marshal with a concern that he wanted to bring up with the council.

“There’s been a huge spike in Onyx activity and they’re getting closer to the motel every single time one of the scouts spot them. I feel like they have a lead on our position and they’re planning to act.” Filip seemed a bit unnerved by it and acted as if he was going to suggest something drastic.

“What makes you think they’re planning to act?” Horatio questioned him. “I can understand what would make you think they have a lead on our position, but why would they act without monitoring us first?”

“Because they know that if we catch onto them, we’re either going to fight or we’re going to disappear for another thirty years.” Joseph answered before Filip could. “They’d probably win a fight with us, too.”

“I don’t think that’s true, especially now that Greg’s training.” Ethan added on. “Plus, we’ve got numbers on ‘em. Leona’s people could take them on their own if they had to.”

Leona nodded, seeming to take Ethan’s side. Elizabeth didn’t seem too confident in Ethan’s saying, though. “Is it even worth the risk? There’s already two orphans here and I’d rather not make my own son an orphan because we got ahead of ourselves. We’re better off just leaving.”

“What about when the rally group comes back? That’s just going to get them caught.” Francine frowned. “Not only do we have numbers, but we also know the area better. If it comes down to it, we just split up into different groups.”

Filip sighed, turning to Marshal. “This wasn’t supposed to be the topic, but what do you think we do if they show up here?”

A choice here decided the Voyagers would abandon their base.