It all seemed to happen in less than 5 seconds, and she could feel that her head was seriously spinning. When they both came to a halt, a feeling of despair and resignation mixed in with the feint queasy feeling, and she hoped that would pass, she was already laying curses in her head.
"Hey, what were you thinking?" Cole interrupted her thoughts.
"Huh?" It was obvious that she just awakened from her deep thoughts.
"What you were doing in there... What were you thinking exactly?"
"I...I..." She didn't even know what to say.
"Let's go back," Cole took her by her arm, almost wanting to forcefully take her.
"My family, yes, I still have family," She immediately resisted, pulling her arm back.
It wasn't as if Cole could not leave her, for all he could care, she was the least of his worries at that point. But, there was something that made him not want to leave her, he didn't want her going alone, getting caught, getting arrested or killed, and surely, it was not a feeling of love or like either, and it surely wasn't only Cole that felt that way.
"Hey!!" He immediately yelled at her, "You're not a kid, at least you look older than me, and you should be able to reason. We are all in this, don't you get it?! Whether a friend, family, or even your dog, at the sight of your finished ass, they'll sell you off. Everyone needs the 20 million on your head right now, and if you think anyone is willing to help you at the expense of that, have your fun. I'm not going to run back, so if you want to follow me, go ahead, and if not, have your way. I've done what I can,"
Cole's speech couldn't conceal his frustration, he didn't want to go that far, but she already pushed him, them too. The least she could do was to understand that no one would have been willing to support her, if that much price was put on her, as a wanted criminal for a crime she never committed. She didn't want to accept that fate, she didn't want to accept the accusations, she wanted Justice, but she could not find it at that point.
While walking away, Cole turned his face around to look at her before leaving finally. He saw how she collapsed in tears, going down to almost sit on the ground, her tattered hair making her look even more crazy, and he pitied her.
Truly she didn't deserve that, but they all didn't, and that was what they wanted her to understand, that none of them initially planned for any of that. But, not to change his mind because of the pity he felt, he walked away, leaving her down, though he still hoped she'd follow him back.
When Cole had almost gotten out of sight, she reasoned it well and decided that being alone wasn't in any way going to help her going forward, so she got up from the ground, traipsing towards the same direction as him. He was quite far away from her, so he couldn't particularly tell that she had followed him.
He wanted to increase his pace and run, but he chose not to in hopes that she might change her mind and come along, and the choice of him waiting for her or turning around to check up on her was against his idea, he didn't want it to seem like he was begging her to come, he wanted her to come on her own.
On the way back, Jessica had a very disturbing headache, but amidst that she forced a thought, to message her brother, at least there might still be someone who might have her back, and if there was going to be anyone, her family would have been her best bet, so she took out her cell phone, typed some a message that went thus, "Hey, Jason, how are you and everyone? I'm sorry I won't be able to drop by again, as you have seen on the news, I should not need to explain that again. Whatever you may have heard about me is a lie, I'm being framed. If you get this, please call me, let's talk,"
She was about to hit the send button when she had a conflicting thought. What if they also didn't believe her? What if, what if...? A lot of what-ifs ran through her mind. Then she thought about it once more and reasoned the fact that they had yet to call her to ask questions about what they saw. That was enough to make her conclude.
"Cole!" She yelled out his name, hoping he'd hear her because he had left her far behind. She jogged forward, increasing her pace with each step she took.
When Cole heard her call out to him, he smirked, then turned around, happy she came to make her mind on her own, and swiftly, he got to her, startling her a little bit, and he let out an even bigger smile than he did initially.
"Finally made up your mind to trust us?" He inferred.
She sniffled, cleaning the snot resting uncomfortably on the bridge of her lips, cleaning the tears before she replied to him, "Nah... not really," her voice still cracked.
"You still don't? Then why are you coming with me?"
"Well, I'm more of a cynical person, so I don't trust anyone, except maybe I did trust my family," She wiped her face once more as she walked alongside him, "You all are in the same predicament as me, at the very least, so it seems, so I'll have to believe you all. I hope I'm not making a mistake,"
"Need to trust? yes, mistake? no. If anyone may be able to help you prove your innocence, it would be us,"
"One question, actually two,"
"Go on"
"How old are you?"
"17"
She was startled to hear that. He did look younger than her, though the rough little mustache that grew on his face didn't make him look as young as he said.
"17?"
"Shocking? Well, what's your other question?"
"How did you get in there? Was there not meant to be some sort of agreement between you and the employees of Pulsetech?"
"3"
"Huh?"
He turned to look at her, then replied, "You said 2, that's the third question,"
"Can you just give me an answer?"
"Well, I can't say, the last thing I really remember before you broke us out of there was being captured in a van, and then something was injected into my system," That was enough to her both of her questions. There was no mutual agreement between both parties.
"So, you mean I was the one that saved all of you?"
"Well, you should know that's why we've not abandoned you. You're sort of a pain in the ass, no lies, no offense,"
She was offended by that, and she showed it. He was rude for his age as if he had some sort of backing of an influential Individual, but he didn't have one obviously, she could only really say that it was her choice if she wanted to follow him, but it would be her loss, so she chose to keep shut.
"How long were you in there?" She questioned him after letting out a sigh of annoyance.
"I can't say, you can't keep track of time when you're stuck in a slime, haha!! See what I did there," He laughed and looked at her, hoping she would too, but she looked very much unimpressed, and he immediately comported himself. He added, "Well, you're also boring. I can't tell how long, what's the date today?"
After taking a look at the screen of her cell phone, she said, "twenty seventh of July, 2024"
"Uh?! I've been in that slime for five months?"
"Five?"
"The date of the day I was captured was somewhere around March... Remembering that day now, I was off to see my girl--"
"So, what about the others?" Before he said some other mentally draining joke, she interrupted him.
"I don't know them, well, didn't, until yesterday when we broke out,"
She was now more confused. If they only just met, why did they act as if they all knew each other?
"So then how do you trust the rest of them?" Out of curiosity, she asked.
"Is that a question?"