Ten (Part 5)

"Smoth, it's me, Hemmings," Peter tries to laugh.

"Geeze, Hem. What did you get yourself into?"

"I met this girl," He laughs as he looks at me, something different shining in his eyes, but it's gone as he groans and he takes the last step down to the floor.

A man walks into the light with a gun at his side and grabs Peter at the waist, helping me carry his weight. Smoth is tall and very muscular, with dark blonde hair and a strong jawline. He reaches up with his other hand and switches on a light.

Dozens of people in black clothing and padding stare up at us from the ground. They all sit on the floor near one another and watch me as I let go of Peter.

Smoth takes Peter into another room, and doesn't look back at me.

"Aren't you that Eenie chick?" A guy says in the front row of people, who are now standing. He seems almost afraid of me for a moment.

"Yeah," I nod carefully.

The boy stands and circles me, sizing me up...

"There's a reward for you, you know."

"Does it have something to do with my mother?" I spit. "She want me dead?"

The boy chuckles and finishes circling me. Standing face to face now, he takes a step toward me and lifts my chin with his finger. I pull away.

"I think-"

"Julias," Smoth walks back out, empty-handed. "Stop antagonizing our guest."

"She should be-"

"I don't care, Julias," Smoth interrupts Julias's protesting and flashes me a smile, followed by an extended hand. "I'm Smoth McDoug."

The memory of Doug flashes through my mind.

"What is it, Eenralla?" He asks.

My throat feels dry. "Your brother..."

His smile falls and he looks at me.

"What about him?"

He doesn't know. He doesn't know Doug was burned. That he saved my life. That he died saving me.

He has no idea.

"I knew him," My voice scrapes out of my throat, rubbing it raw with guilt and shame.

"Well, yeah, of course you do," He laughs. "How else would you get here? Where is he?"

He has no idea, and I don't want to be the one to tell him his brother is...

"Well?" He presses.

I clear my throat. "Back at camp."

"He didn't come with you?"

A gut wrenching guilt courses through my body as I shake my head no.

"That's so unlike him." Smoth shrugs, and waves me into the room he had left. "Peter is in an operating room. His wounds will be mended in no time, and healed faster than normal because of the meds we have here."

I nod, not able to talk.

"You're in another division of the Rebellion. It's run by me and Doug, underneath your mother's command. We're the ones that save the Domespeople from themselves and include them in the rebellion. People that refuse to fight or join are held in one of our camps here underground, and taken care of as best as we can take care of them. The people that want to fight are immediately sent to training."

"Does my mother know about this?"

Smoth smiles. "She does."

"Why haven't you turned me in yet if you work under my mom?"

"Because the security is run by me down here. She'll look for you in her area, and request for us to look in ours."

"So why don't you turn me in?" I ask him, crossing my arms.

"Do you want me to turn me in?" He laughs. "Besides, I think you could be useful."

I watch his face as he strides ahead, walking briskly through the white hallways. What would he need me for?

"So, you can just do what you want?"

He snorts. "Not really."

A man in clothes the color of leaves rushes up to Smoth. He nods his head a little, and swallows.

"Smoth, sir," He says, breathless.

"Yes, what is it, Fam?" Smoth says, sounding annoyed.

"There's a message from your brother."

My body goes cold.

Smoth straightens up, and heads for the door. He pauses just before it, and, without turning around, tells me to follow him. I jog to catch up with him, and we walk quickly through the doors and around corners. We stop just before I feel like I'm going to collapse.

Smoth opens a black door and steps inside a room filled with TV screens. In the center is a table full of keyboards and wires.

On the big screen in the middle is Doug's face, frozen in time.

"Play the message," Smoth barks.

The screen comes to life, and I hear the bombs in the background. The video shakes as one hits the ground.

"My brother," Doug sighs, guilt and sadness in his eyes. "I have betrayed this whole rebellion. I hired a rogue unknowingly. She doesn't work for the rebellion, and she doesn't work for the Domes... She works for herself. She wants power, and that's what she'll get if you do not get this message. You must stop her." His eyes flit to and from the camera. He leans on a long table with a map on it. The table he was leaning on when I barged in.

Another explosion.

"Doug!" I hear myself calling. "Doug, you have to leave!" My head appears at the bottom corner of the screen, my hair a mess.

I see the whole scene play, but from a different angle. From a different point of view. I see how desperate I am for him to leave, for him to survive. I didn't know why I went straight to him. I didn't know why I cried when I died. But I did it. It happened.

"I can't. I hired a rogue."

The conversation goes on, and a knot rises in my throat.

"I'm not going to let you stay here and die," I hear myself shout over another explosion.

He looks for the map and hands it to me, talking to me. He pushes me out and reappears back in front of the camera, and looks straight into it, tears falling down his face.

"I love you, Smoth, my brother," He pauses, and pushes his hands against the table, stretching out his arms and looking down. "Send message."

An explosion.

No more video.

"End message."

And suddenly, I don't know if I want to go home anymore.