It didn't take long for them to be surrounded again, this time with no way to escape.
"Thank god we've found you." Isaac's mother, who very rarely left the labs at all, said softly, reaching out to Isaac, who was immediately pulled away from her by Carter, noticing how he had been frozen in shock and surprise.
"it's alright, just come back with us." Carter's mother added, a sickly sweet smile plastered on her lips. "You must be so scared; you've been through so much." The rest of the scientists appeared behind the two women, as though forming a wall of bodies to stop them from escaping.
"On my mark." Carter whispered to both of them, he had grabbed both hers and Isaac's hands tightly. Natalia nodded, barely moving her head at all, readying herself to run at a moment's notice. "Go!" They ran for the small space in between the two women, barely managing to push themselves past without getting caught. Carter ripped his friends out of the grasps of the adults, and dragged them behind him as he barrelled through the trees and away from the group of adults who were desperately trying to get hold of them again.
It made Natalia wonder if they were more successful than she realised, if they still had hope for them.
It comforted her to have Carter's hand wrapped tightly around her own, despite the fact that he had an iron grip on it, it made her feel like she wasn't alone, even dared she think at least somewhat safe. She would give anything for the three of them to be safe. they ran as fast as they could, but it was as if nothing could stop the scientists from gaining on them.
out of her peripheral vision, Natalia saw Isaac being ripped away from them. she stopped dead, feat freezing her heart. she could barely breathe. "Zac!"
Isaac was trying his best to fight his father, who had an iron grip on him. "Go!" he yelled to her, she shook her head stubbornly as her father reached for her. But Carter got there first, dragging her away, she fought him at first, but soon gave up. she couldn't see Isaac anymore and they had rarely spent anytime apart.
their parents had stopped chasing them, as though they had gotten what they wanted from them. Was this another one of their experiments? Natalia felt numb, the most time she had spent without Isaac is one of the times they had experimented on him alone, or her alone. but more recently they had been experimenting on both of them together, not that anything had come from that.
"Nat?" she felt Carter's hands on her shoulders, gently guiding her to a spot under a big beech tree, where he forced her to sit down. She could hardly see him, barely even breathe. They had failed. How were they supposed to carry on when their best friend was captured. She didn't even want to think about what they were going to do to him.
She felt Carter wipe a tear from her cheek before wrapping his arms around her, she rested her head on his arm. She wasn't sure if he was crying, but he'd gone extremely quiet.
"we have to go back." She finally said, staring at the fire Carter was desperately trying to build.The happy atmosphere of the night before had disappeared with their friend. They had sat together for almost an hour, before the first hints of dusk had appeared through the leaves above their heads and Carter had thought it best to start a fire before it got darker.
"We need to find help." Carter got the fire going and turned to look at her. "We're no good to Zac if we get trapped their ourselves."
"We can't just leave him!" Natalia shook her head at once. The thought of leaving Isaac alone in those labs made her sick.
"We can't save him on our own Natty, we have to get help." Carter replied practically. She could tell he was trying to keep his cool, even though he too was missing their friend. She sighed and looked away. She didn't want to argue with him, but the feeling that everything was a little too planned was stabbing her in the gut.
^^^
Hours later, when the fire had reduced to embers and Carter lay softly asleep beside her, Natalia thought she saw some movement in the trees ahead. she shook Carter awake, squinting at the trees, trying to see who was there.
"Wha- What's wrong Nat?" Carter sat up at once.
"I..." Natalia could barely breathe, they were being watched. she was sure of it. "Carter I saw someone!"
"Where?" Carter stared into the darkness.
"There!" She waved her hand desperately at the trees.
"There's nothing there Natty, you're just shaken up about Isaac, that's all." He told her, dismissing her fears. she knew that she had seen someone, but she was too tired to argue her case, so she just nodded and lay down beside him. "Get some sleep, we'll get some help and get Zac back in the morning."
"promise?" she asked with a small, tired voice. He offered her his pinkie finger.
"promise." he agreed as she took his finger. But Natalia still had an unsettled feeling in her stomach, as though he didn't quite mean it.
she shook those thoughts from her mind, cursing herself for doubting her friend like that. Of course Carter wasn't working for the scientists. Why would he be?