“I won't ask if you're okay” Olivia said, “Come on, we've got to go”.
After a small struggle Olivia dragged Monique with her towards the red station wagon.
“How are we going to drive this?” Monique asked.
“I'll explain in a minute, let's just get out of here, and let me drive for a bit” Olivia replied jumping into the driver's seat after one last retch.
Chapter 11 - Rendezvous
THE RENDEZVOUS POINT
Gina pulled up to the rendezvous point with Evrim in the passenger seat and Lukas sat behind her. Sheryl's quick plan to get them to safety had worked. They had arrived at the east side of the city and the truck was there with the new car in the back. It had been a breeze, and she was thankful that something had gone right for a change. They all got out, checking their surroundings. There was nothing special about this meeting point, nothing at all to give it away as being a place for anyone to gather. It was just a flat scrub land with a couple of trees and bushes, the forest and mountains opening out beyond into a vast area of wilderness. Somewhere out there Sheryl had her base, and they would soon be there. For now, their instructions were clear, just sit tight and wait for the others. When they had all arrived, they would be picked up for the last leg of their journey and be swept off to relative safety.
“Man, I'm hungry” Evrim said to Lukas.
Gina had no idea how he could think of food at the moment. They had just been through life and death situations and that gave him hunger pangs? Soldiers must have been wired up differently to the rest of us, she thought. They weren't there long before they heard another vehicle approach. Evrim and Lukas took their defensive positions, they couldn't be sure if anyone else had been following them or not. As they got closer, they recognised their colleagues and lowered their weapons. It was Antony and Gabriel, with James sat behind them. They pulled up and all got out, all the guards smiling at each other and giving each other manly handshakes. James appeared behind them smiling towards Gina.
“Why are you wearing a dress?” She asked. It was such an unusual sight that it was the first thing that came out her mouth; this was quickly followed by the more socially acceptable hello.
“Nano-bots” He said shrugging his shoulders, “I'm so pleased you're here”.
They gave each other a quick hug and James stood back. He realised he had to tell her about Tom.
“The reason I'm in a dress is I was tracked. That jumper that Tom gave me, we think it had Nano-bots deliberately planted in it, so they could trace all my movements” He said waiting for her to slap him across the face, unable to believe that Tom would be involved in anything.
She hesitated, thinking hard, not wanting to shout at James, she couldn't quite accept that Tom could be the culprit.
“It couldn't have been Tom, he, no, he would have been manipulated into giving you that without his knowledge, you know Tom” She replied, “No...no, he just wouldn't do anything like that”.
James shrugged his shoulders again.
“It's the only explanation I have, but you're probably right, he wouldn't know he was doing it. I wrestled with that myself, I didn't think he could do a thing like that. But the Elite are clever you know, if there's a way to do something, I'm sure they'll find it” he said.
They were both silent for a minute, both of them deciding to leave things at that. They couldn't say for certain what had happened and whether Tom knew or not, or even whether Tom was actually involved. Gina had been compromised herself, so it pointed to something, but she wasn't going to jump to any conclusions yet.
“Well the dress suits you” She said grinning playfully.
“You think? It's a bit big” James replied chuckling back, “I don't think it's showing my figure off to its true potential”.
They gave each other another quick hug and sat down, as the waiting game continued. The guards all laughed together, not nervous laughter like Gina and James had, but proper boisterous laughter. They were so used to these situations that they were able to just wash the emotions off of themselves and have a good old laugh about it all. It was another ten minutes before a van pulled up. The guards instantly recognised it as one of their own, but still took the precaution of taking a defensive position. It was always a good idea to be careful and make absolute sure. The van slowly pulled up to them and the guards could clearly make out Christian and Joaquin in the front, which came as a huge relief. They jumped out the van with a series of exuberant victory chants, giving their colleagues a mightythumbs up. Danny and the others appeared from the back, all looking a little tired and drained. They looked like they had been awake for thirty-six hours.
“Are you guys okay?” James shouted to them as they approached.
They all saw James' dress, and asked the obvious question.
“Nano-bots” He replied, which caused more confusion, but none of them had the energy to follow that up.
They gave each other hugs and handshakes, happy to be reunited again. This was a strange reunion of friends, not really the best of circumstances, but seeing each other raised their spirits a little.
“Well we had zombie-people and some other disgusting stuff” Mariam said matter-of-factly.
“Ben didn't make it” Danny interjected, “We were followed and they got him”.
Danny was past sadness and mourning for his friend, it was now anger, pure hatred towards the Elite and everything they had done. He was determined to make them pay, however he could. Gina and James felt the sadness of Ben's passing, it was that shock at the suddenness of knowing, that huge twist in their stomachs,
