Page 62 of Dissent

She glared momentarily. Our eyes locked on each other as a hint of doubt crept in at the edge of her expression. But she seemed to shake it off as she finally gave one definitive nod. Then she was moving, each step filled with purpose and determination. She rummaged through duffels and trunks, pulling out clothing, tossing out different equipment. Then she threw things my way, and I tried to catch them as stuff kept flying through the air at me.

“You don’t have time to go to the training center. Wear black and put your tab on vibrate. I’ll send you directions through there. We’re leaving in twenty, so hurry up and get dressed. The truck’s parked at the south entrance of the camp. Make sure you’re in the back in fifteen minutes. If you’re not, we leave without you. Stay low and stay quiet. When you feel the truck stop, wait five minutes before you get out and start following us.”

My brain was swimming with the instructions as I desperately tried to remember everything.Wear black. South entrance. Wait five minutes. Her words were cycling through my mind like a carousel when I nodded.

“Here,” she handed me a stunner. “Keep that with you in case you run into trouble.” I nodded again, taking the stun gun, and then watched as she stepped back toward the doorway. “Fifteen. You’ve got fifteen.” Then she was out the door and gone. I hesitated for a moment, my heart racing with the fiery fuel of adrenaline. With one deep breath, I kicked it into high gear.

“Fifteen…I have fifteen,” I mumbled under my breath, repeating her words.There was no doubt about it this time. Things weredefinitelyabout to get real.

30: Stowaway

Theridewasabumpy one, with me being tossed about like the beans in a baby’s rattle. It took everything within me to keep from grunting and squealing as we moved along. I kept focusing on hanging on, not falling out, and not getting caught.

It was easier to find the truck than I thought. I had few choices as far as clothing options. I picked out the darkest colored pants and long-sleeved shirt I had, pulled my hair back in a tight ponytail to keep it out of my face, strapped the stunner to my hip, and was off, sneaking through the night. The truck, a huge Humvee-style vehicle, was already running. The truck bed had a canvas dome over it with flaps that covered the entrance, concealing what was inside.

And that was where I was now, alone, hiding amongst the gear and equipment they were taking on the mission, being tossed around, getting god only knows how many bumps and bruises. I didn’t know how long we drove, but finally we came to a point where the truck slowed, inching forward, I assumed, to keep from making too much noise. We must have been close. And as if to confirm my suspicion, the truck hovered to a stop, and the engine turned off. I lied down as low as possible in the bed, sliding myself as much as I could into a corner. I knew they had gear back here—I could see it. But Chelsea never told me what to do when they came for it.

My questions were answered before my brain could fret about them for too long, however. I heard them talking outside in hushed whispers, and then the flap covering the entrance flipped open, revealing Chelsea with her piercing green eyes and those ruby red curls slicked back in her bun. I locked eyes with her, a thin line set in her jaw as she grabbed the two duffel bags in front of her. She mouthed to me to stay down before she left my sight.

She didn’t have to tellmetwice.

Flap in place, I was back to listening with every inch of my being, my heart pounding in my ears. I heard their hushed whispers once again before for the slight crunching of brush and gravel told me they were on the move. Then, a thought struck me—what the hell do I do now?

Chelsea told me to wait five minutes before getting out of the truck, but I realized now that she never told me what to do after that.Crap…

What if I couldn’t find them? What if I got lost? I didn’t even know where I was going or where the hell I was. God, this was a bad idea. Wait a second…did she plan this all along? Was she intentionally making me think she was helping me, only to leave me at the truck like an idiot?

Damn it!

I was so stupid for trusting her. I mean, she hated my guts! Why would I think she would actually help me out? I sat back on the tailgate of the truck and moaned, grumbling under my breath. This really was one of thestupidestthings I’deverdone, and I knew I’d done a lot of stupid things. But nothing compared to me sitting in the effing dark, in the back of a truck, in the middle of goddamn nowhere, with no clue where I was supposed to go, with nothing to defend myself except my bare hands and a stunner, next to a damn Telvian camp!

If Chelsea was going to leave me like a sitting duck, then I’d have to figure out the next part on my own. With that, I scrambled out of the truck and took a moment to look around. I was definitely still in the woods, but I hadzerovisibility. I mean, I hadnothing. I was squinting and then opening my eyes wide and then squinting again, trying to get them to adjust. As I waited there impatiently like an idiot in the woods, I was hyperaware of the fact that time was ticking.

Every second I stood here, the rest of them were getting further and further from me. A tinge of defeat tickled in the recesses of my brain.Maybe I should just stay here, I thought to myself in defeat.Wait it out in the truck and give this up.She won. She got me good. End of story.

Slumping my shoulders, accepting the fact that Chelsea bested me this match, I felt tired. I had spent the whole day battling some serious demons in my head with Matias when we got called to see Sasha. And then I spent hours after that fussing over everything I learned at headquarters, dealing with my emotions over Matias, and then getting hyped up like an adrenaline junky on a failed attempt to join a mission I was never supposed to be on to begin with. Standing here, staring into the dark, I noticed I was incredibly beat. Resolving to just climb back into the truck, that little voice deep inside me spoke up.

No.

I faltered, waiting half a second, before shaking my head to clear it. I took a step to climb back into the truck when that little voice inside me spoke again.

Don’t do it, Mara. You have to go. You need to know.

As much as I didn’t want to agree with it, a deep sense of knowing washed over me. I couldn’t give up. I had been at the Dissenter camp for well over a month now. I knew I was making friends, getting to know people, and slowly figuring all this crap out. I knew that when Matias looked at me, excitement and heady feelings simmered through me. I knew that Wes, despite his stupid machismo attitude and insufferable arrogance, had his moments that reminded me so much of the guy I was once destined to marry. And even though I totally didn’t want to marry Wes—because that would just be weird—I definitely found myself drawn to him, craving him like an addict. Apparently, I was a glutton for punishment.

Despite knowing all of that, I still couldn’t abandon everything I thought to be true and everything I’d known until I knew with one-hundred-percent confidence that Raúl was the monster they said he was. I needed to see it…I needed to see it and confirm what everyone was trying to tell me instead of just blindly believing. Because until now, I believed water was non-existent, that the rebels were just crazy, greedy freaking people who wanted everything for themselves.

I took it all in blind faith.

But I was done with just taking people’s word for it. If they wanted my help, if they wanted me to comply, if they wanted me to join them, then I had toknow. And tonight, I was going to figure this shit out. Even if I had to do it by myself.

I turned on my heels and got moving. I didn’t really know where they went. But when I was in the truck hearing them walk off, it kind of sounded like the noise was going west, so I just went for it. I lifted my wrist to check my tab and made a note of the time.

Midnight.

I figured, worst-case scenario, if I didn’t bump into something within the next ten minutes…well, I’d cross that bridge when I got there.

Bzzzz!

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