After establishing my final designs for our weapons and Dorian announcing that he was done with his protective body suit sketches as well, we, Rav and Camila included, took a little trip to Ridgeton Mini Haven.

   Landon was going to pick up the already made weapon parts he'd lobbied his way into acquiring from his 'guys'.

   Whatever that meant.

   As expected, my junkyard didn't let me down. As soon as I was able to gather everything I needed for the weapon,, I was able to get them back to the motel—the basement to be specific— with Rav's help and start working.

   Yes, I left Dorian and Camila behind, but I only felt bad about doing that to Camila, seeing as the person whose name I refuse to mention seemed hell bent on my downfall under Landon's hands just this morning.

   Spending hours hammering and welding away at machines for hours you forget to keep track of tended to be draining. So draining that your hand muscles feel the most insistent aches and burns, the sensation in your head can be compared to what one will usually experience when hit with a sledgehammer and eyes so droopy that you should be knocked out as soon as your body touches the bed.

   Or something less dramatic at least.

   Right?

   And yet here I was, (at 11, 12 or 1am?!) laying next to Rav in his pitch black room, going through the only first two out of the three ordeals above.

   When I had slipped beneath the covers at nine pm or so at first, I lost consciousness in no time. Almost like my body had turned into one of those fancy tech baby dolls that 'go to bed' when placed on a soft surface.

   As tired as every part of my body was though—my mind included—that same aspect of myself just didn't get it.

   Which was why at such an ungodly hour of the night, I was trying to get my trembling body to cope with the nightmare my brain had the courtesy of giving me. With each minute my eyes stayed open, the chances of sleep returning were on a depressing scale of low.

   Speaking of depressing, that was the exact direction my mood was going at a fast pace at the moment. The nightmare was basically the same one I'd had while in Dorian's room nights ago, the difference being that this time, it wasn't Talise or Minji I failed.

   It was Mum.

   She was in Zavlon High, all alone in that padded room where we found the students in real life instead of the classroom like the Minji and Tali, clad in an adult sized red jumpsuit. Her natural afro hair was sticking out in all directions, most especially shielding her tear streaked face.

   My name was the only thing she kept calling out. In cracked, pain stricken yells I could hear "Beth".

   Over and over.

   Her shouts were loud and clear, but whether I could respond was a different matter. My feet only stayed glued to the ground as I looked on with wide, helpless eyes. My body just wasn't willing to cooperate with my frantic, ever ready brain.

   Until I saw them. The Yunies, two in number, appeared out of nowhere and were a few feet behind my mother. Each had an all too familiar placement syringe-like gun in their black and white furry hands .

   And that's when I began running. With my arms outstretched, I maintained eye contact as my quick feet drew me closer and closer to Mu—

   In an instant, all the wind was knocked out of me as I hit an unforeseen barrier which set me sprawling to the cold, hard ground. A large glassy wall had appeared out of nowhere, preventing me from getting anywhere near my mother.

   But that didn't stop me.

   My several hits and kicks at the glass structure, however, we're futile. The Yunitides had her struggling frame in their hands. They didn't waste any time to bring not one, but TWO of the guns to both ends of her skull and pulling the trigger in less than a second.

   Upon recalling the dilated form that Mum's honey brown eyes possessed after the Yunies were done with her, the chill in Rav's room became stronger, yanking me back into reality. It pierced through the comforter, going right through my skin and headed straight for my bones.

   Instability spread across my hands, making me clench them into fists to prevent the shaking. But that was a little difficult since I was also trying to hinder the reservoir of tears that welled up in my eyes. My chest area felt so tight and I was losing the ability to control my breathing fast.

   I couldn't even call Mum to make sure she was ok—

   A sudden rapping noise that erupted jolted me from the bed.

   Or had I imagined that? Great, now my anxiety just graduated to crazy.

   Lowering myself into the covers, I let out a sigh. This time, sleep was going to take over whether it wanted to or not. I was not going to mad from insomn—

   The same sound returned, reaching my ears faster with how much louder and clearer it was. This time, I was able to trace it to the door. It was a knock.

   Who on earth would come knocking at this hour? Landon had gone home long ago and I'd seen Camila and Dorian return to their rooms.

   But why was I even assuming that it could be either of them?

   What if it was... a Yunie?

   It took me a minute to realise how firm my grip was on the bedsheets at that thought.

   Sure, the knock didn't sound like it was from the heavy furry fist of a mind controlling alien, but they could have easily sent one–or twelve–manipulated Zavolonian students to do their dirty job. That would be less noisy and noticeable after all.

   My heart rate picked up the pace as I stared toward my side at Rav's sleeping frame. I just hoped that when I woke him up, he didn't lose it before we were able to think of a good plan to get the hell up out of he—

"Rav!"

   That whispered yell wasn't mine.

"RAV!"

   But I did know whose it was.

   Feeling the effects of my fear and anxiety wear off, I kicked the covers off of me and proceeded to take tired steps in the dark room toward the door. I took in a deep breath as my hand met with the knob before turning it open.

"Why are you here, Dorian?" Despite the fact that I had already recognized his voice, it still didn't change the surprise within me.

"Is Rav awake?" He asked in a much softer tone as compared to his previous loud whispers.

"It's the middle of the night," I shot back, crossing my arms and barely suppressing an eye roll. "What do you think, genius?"

   One may argue that my attitude was uncalled for, but who could anyone blame me? Nightmare stricken, Yunie-freaked out me? Dorian had to be the unfortunate person to release my frustration on before every other wrong emotion to get the best of me.

   Also, I may still be mad at him about what happened at the gym this morning.

   Dorian didn't bat an eyelash at my sarcastic response, going on to ask, "Could you please wake him up and tell him to me in the basement?"

   My brows knitted at what I'd just heard. At least what I thought I heard.

"You're joking right?" My words of disbelief came out choked.

"I'm not."

"Dorian, I don't have time for this." I sighed. "I'm sure what you need from Rav can wait til tomo—"

   He cut me off by a swift grab of my wrists, and locked his eyes with mine. Right before my senses could react to the abnormal moisture his hands carried, some stray rays from the full moon outside provided a clear view of Dorian's figure.

   Even though my eyes had adjusted to the dim lighting that filled the hallway a while ago, I didn't notice how Dorian's expression was pinched with uneasiness until now. And where did those dark circles beneath his eyes come from? I'm pretty sure the dark wasn't to blame for the dull green shade his wide eyes had assumed.

   But what struck me most was the fact that it contained a level of fear I didn't think I'd ever see in...anyone.

   I knew all I had to do was lean into him a little further to view the blood vessels that were most likely vibrant in many areas I'd his eyes.

   What I was just trying to say was, Dorian looked sick. The kind of sick where you knew you had to avoid before something went horribly wrong.

"Beth," His broken call of my name was just above a whisper. "Please."

   I raked my glance over his distraught self, taking my time. "Okay. I'll wake Rav up."

   Dorian didn't wait long enough to finish his "thank you" mutter, releasing his hold on me and marching away with brisk feet.

A/N: Any guesses as to what that was all about?

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