The Experiment P.32

Lydia's mind was spinning. Gavin was gone. They had left him. He couldn't walk, he couldn't talk.

Then he was shot.

The Capters had shot him. In the head.

The group stopped running for a quick water break.

Tashie threw out bottles of water to everyone.

"You okay?" Stefan panted, walking over to her.

"No." Lydia said blankly.

"He died. Get over it." Tashie said snidely.

Lydia was taken aback. "He's gone.." she whispered, starting to cry again.

"Yeah, so what?" Tashie yelled. "Who gives a damn? I don't." Tashie threw up her hand and started to walk away.

"Well, you should!" Lydia screeched. "He was my friend."

Tashie turned back around, her eyes flashing at Lydia.

"God, Lydia! You've only been here for about 2 months. I've been here 6 years. Do you know how many of my friends have died? Do you? Because I don't think you do. All you think about is yourself. You don't care about us! If we want to get out of here, we've gotta be a team!" Tashie yelled, running her fingers through her blonde hair.

"I don't know who you think you are," Tashie said, glaring at Lydia, "but you're not ruining this for us. For me. I've been planning this escape for 4 years, Lydia! And if we don't keep moving, we'll all die."

Tashie choked up, and her voice grew quiet.
"You don't think I've had a friend die? I've seen it all, Lydia. Everything you can possibly think of. And I'm sorry we had to leave Gavin back there, I really am, but we had to. It was the only way." Tashie collapsed onto the ground, crying.

Lydia grew quiet. She no longer hated Tashie, that had all dissolved when she realized that they had something in common. Tashie may have looked tough on the outside, but on the inside, she was as fragile as glass.

"I'm sorry.." Lydia said quietly. "I didn't know.."

"Whatever," Tashie said, composing herself. "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, don't get mad at me because we left Gavin. Be mad because the Capters killed him."

Lydia mulled it over. The Capters deserved to die. All of them. Every last one.