Revolutionary Love (The Revolution Series Book 1) (23 page)

"Let's send the seekers into the communities. Seekers have a vibe about them. People naturally want to trust them. Confide in them. They are calm and the least violent out of us. Right now all the homes have snipers on top of them. The people are afraid. Families are separated. Let's send the seekers into the hot spots, take out the snipers, and bring families back together. Provide comfort and safety."

It made me mad that Seth came up with a good idea. Was he doing this for the benefit of the people or was he plotting against the rebellion?

David agreed with him. "That's a good first step. Second we need to take out the military bases. Shut down their power. They can't do much without electricity. We have people on our side in The Unit. Have them take away their bombs, weapons, and transportation. You can't fight a war without weapons."

More nods. "Final step. We need to find Stephan."

To win the war, all we needed was the civilians on our side. That would make up most of the population. With a tyrant leader, why would they even want to follow Stephan? Were they that afraid of him?

"Seekers come forward."

Men stepped forward.

I understand what Seth meant. They all looked like nice, normal people. None of them looked battered. They were well dressed in civilian clothes. It was their eyes that got me to me though. Empty eyes. Emotionless. Eyes that have seen too much.

There was about twenty of them. Twenty people about to risk their life's for people who may not want their help. Is that what a hero looked like? Someone willing to sacrifice themselves for the better of the people?

"Follow Ares. He is going to divide you guys between towns and cities. When you get there, report to the seeker already in place. You will each have two enforcers with you. Be safe." David turned back to the crowd as Ares and the seekers left.

"Right now we still have our people out there fighting. I need reinforcements. Pick the most injured, bring them back here, and then take their place out there. I need volunteers to lead other cities. Tell them the same thing I told everyone over here. The city will be yours. You will arrive by helicopter. I will be leaving it up to you to lead the people to peace and victory."

Nobody was volunteering. Everyone looked around at each other.

David sighed. "I will decide then." David listed off names and places. Each time he picked a person, they looked full of pride. Proud to be chosen by their leader to help the people.

I watched the crowd dwindle into almost nothing. People left to help out the rebellion in the war. People left to head to other cities. Soon it was just Seth, David, a few other people, and me.

"Seth I need you to be the leader here." David turned to him. "You are my most trusted man and right now the war here is the worst. We need someone strong with a firm hand to bring us to justice."

Seth nodded. He wasn't surprised. I choked on my spit. He couldn't be our leader. He would lead us to failure. Betray us. Get us all murdered. I snapped my mouth shut, fighting back my words.

Nobody would believe me.

"Where will you be going?" Seth asked.

David looked away. "I will be everywhere. Watching everything. Right now I am most needed in safe heaven. I was told it got taken over by The Unit. I need to take it back. There are woman and kids getting locked up there."

I gave Seth a nasty look. That was his fault. All of this was his fault. That's where Mare was. That poor little girl. I wondered if she was cold and scared. Was she separated from her mother?

Seth lifted his eye brows. "You plan on doing it alone?"

David gave him a small smile. "One person can't have too much information. I'm leaving this up to you. When I get back, the war should be over here. Good luck." David pulled Seth into a hug.

David turned and looked at me. "Walk me out, Brianna."

As we headed down the tunnels, I couldn't find the words to say to him. Seth seemed almost like a son to him. He obviously loved him.

"You will be staying here with Seth."

I stopped in my tracks. "You are leaving me?"

"Where I am going will be unsafe for you."

I looked at David like he was slow. "Everywhere I go is unsafe. I know you know who I am. I just got you back. You are leaving me?" My voice broke and I hated myself for that. I was being weak. Needy. I needed to stay strong.

"I trust Seth to keep you safe." David told me.

I laughed. A bitter laugh. "You shouldn't trust him." I needed to let him know what Seth had done.

David placed both hands on my shoulders and peered into my eyes. He looked tired. Sad. "Brianna you are a smart girl. You're surviving. Keep doing that. Just know everything isn't as they seem. Not all things are black and white. There are so many grey areas. There are so many things you don't know. That you don't understand. I already know about Seth. He did what he did with good reason. I would have done the same. Don't question it. Don't say anything. The less you know the better."

David knew Seth was betraying everyone? This man, my father, knew that Seth was part of the reason for murder, starvation, and diseases being spread? I stepped out of reach from David. How could Seth work with the rebellion and for Stephan? Unless the rebellion wasn't real. It didn't make sense. None of this made sense. David knew and did nothing. David still trusted him.

David reached his hand out when I backed away more. I couldn't trust anyone. Every time I found answers, it led me to more questions. I truly had nobody.

"You're just as bad as Stephan." I spat and turned away.

There really was no side was there? It was just a war. A war that I started with my stupid speech about freedom. Did any of these people even truly want freedom? Or were they fighting just to fight? Were they by passing time? Going through motions?

I got lost with in the tunnels. I kept walking and walking. I was trying to silence the screaming in my mind. How could David trust Seth after Seth almost got a large amount of people executed? Seth gave away David's last location. Seth could not be trusted. Neither could David. He was not the man my seven-year-old mind remembered.

I was not going to make the mistake of trusting anyone again.

I stopped when I saw a hole in the tunnel. Adam was in there. I crawled through, not caring if Dr. Lynn was working on him.

I needed to make sure he was okay. Adam was still laying on the table. His shoulder was bandaged and his face was contorted in pain. He was a soldier in the war room.

Adam opened his green eyes when he saw me. He smiled. The first real smile I had seen in a while.

I couldn't help myself. I was being selfish. I threw myself into his arms and started sobbing. I was so tired and so confused. I was so alone.

Adam didn't say anything. He just slowly brushed his hands through my hair and murmured to me.

He made room for me on the uncomfortable table even though he was in pain. I snuggled into his side and clenched my eyes shut.

He was radiating heat. Adam was warming my insides up. He was preventing me from going cold. Eventually my eyes drifted shut. My sleep was by no means peaceful, but sleep did come and I knew I was safe in his embrace.

A hand was running up and down my arm. I stiffened, then relaxed when I smelt Adam's faint smell. It was only Adam.

I propped my head up onto my arm.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Adam's eyes drifted all over my face.

It was probably red and puffy from all that crying. I sat up and turned my back to him. Maps were scattered all over the floor. I shivered, missing the warmth from his body, but not wanting to rely on him or depend on him for anything. Even if it was for warmth.

"I understand now." Adam's voice was husky with sleep.

"Understand what?" My tone sounded blank. Empty. If I kept this up, I could be a seeker.

"Who you are." He grunted in pain when he sat up with me. We were side by side, sitting on a wobbly wooden table, inside of some kind of cave.

I gave a slight shrug of my shoulders. "I don't understand."

Adam didn't speak for a while. He silently kept me company. "David explained it to me when they took you from the semi-truck. You’re not Evelyn. That's why you asked me to call you Brianna. You’re just in Evelyn's body." Adam said it like it was simple, but it really wasn't that simple.

"You believe him?"

Adam smiled at me again. When he smiled it went all the way up to his eyes. "Of course. I've heard stories of that happening before. People dying and waking up in bodies that look just like theirs but aren't theirs. Dr. Lynn is the same as you. I've heard things about David and a few other people. It's a little common here. Hard to comprehend, but common."

There were others out there like me. Like David and Dr. Lynn. Maybe I wasn't as alone as I thought I was. Were they all coming from where my dad and I came from?

Adam put an arm around my shoulders. "I guess I should have known. You're nothing like Evelyn."

His words comforted me.

I laid my head on his shoulder and sighed. "How could you have loved a girl like her?"

Adam shrugged. "Good people do bad things. She wasn't always like that. I don't know what Stephan did to her, but when he took her away he changed her."

Good people do bad things. Is that what Seth did? Was he a good person doing a bad thing? What was the cause for his actions?

"How is your shoulder?"

Adam chuckled. "Doesn't hurt at all."

I knew he was lying. I could feel it. I sat up and peered at the bandage on his chest. It wasn't bleeding. That had to be good.

I never noticed how sculpted his chest was. He had scars covering his body. For such a sweet young man, he really was banged up.

"What happens now?" I asked, forcing myself to make eye contact with him.

Adam slid off of the table and held a hand out to me. "Now we fight the war that you started."

Was he blaming me? At my facial expression, he laughed. "Don't worry. It was inevitable. It would have happened sooner or later. We all needed a push in the right direction."

I slid off of the table and watched him put his ripped up shirt back on. Adam glanced at me then the roof. "Can I ask you something?"

Crossing my arms over my chest, I nodded.

"What was it like before?"

I knew what he meant. I thought for a few seconds before answering. "Different," was all I offered. I didn't want to give him false hope on a life he may never see. To have him dream about a difference he had never experienced.

Adam accepted my answer and walked with me out into the tunnels. His movements were a little stiff, but other than that, you woudn’t be able to tell that he had just got shot. Bloody people were everywhere. Some were vomiting blood, others were passed out on the floor. Dr. Lynn was running between each person anxiously.

"Is he the only doctor?" I nodded towards Dr. Lynn.

"For now yes. We won't be getting more until morning."

Not wanting to just twiddle my thumbs, I walked to a man holding his stomach. Blood covered his hands.

"Were you shot?" I asked, moving his hand out of the way.

I tore a piece of my dress off at the bottom and applied it to his wound. He would bleed out if it kept up.

"No." He groaned in pain. "Just stabbed. By a kid for god’s sake."

Had a kid done this? I didn't know how else to help. I looked around for Dr. Lynn and saw that he was taking a passed out person into the war room. The warm room... That was a fitting name for the predicament we were in.

Although Adam had been shot, he was walking around and helping everyone. Bringing them water, bandaging them, and making sure they were okay. He must have been in immense pain, yet there he stood helping people.

I copied everything Adam was doing. If people were bleeding out, I applied pressure to the wound. I gave the rebels water to keep them hydrated when I could. I was surprised when I saw Adam stitching people back up. I had no idea he knew how to do that. Hours passed. More and more injured people flooded in. The ones who weren't injured too badly, headed right back out when they got an okay from Adam.

Where was Seth? He should have been here helping. He was supposed to be our leader, but the only person giving moral support was Adam.

Handing an injured man water, I quietly left. Adam could hold his own for a little bit. I walked through the tunnels aimlessly. Half of me was searching for Seth while the other half of me was thinking. I got lost in thought. Everything felt unreal. One day ago, I found out that David was my dad. He left me like it was the easiest thing in the world. Two days ago, I would have trusted Seth with my life. I found out he was a liar.

I always told myself that things couldn't get worse and they just kept getting worse. I bit my cheek and put myself in check. I was not going to cry again. I got it all out last night. I would not be one of those girls that were always crying. I needed to stay strong. This world was not nice enough for me to afford to be weak.

I stopped in my tracks when I saw Seth sitting on the ground, head dropped in his hands. Before I had time to think, I ran over to him. He looked up when I knelt in front of him. I searched his body for injuries. He had none.

I titled my head. "What are you doing just sitting here? You are supposed to be leading us." Anger simmered in my voice. Was he doing this while everyone else was risking their lives?

Seth's eyes traveled my face and landed on my lips. "Has anyone ever told you that you are beautiful?"

His question surprised me, then annoyed me. This was what he wanted to talk about? "Are you implying that I am ugly and nobody has ever called me beautiful?" I snapped. "You need to get up and help. There are too many injured people."

Seth shook his head back and forth and laughed without humor. "We will never win. Stephan is too smart. It's going to be over soon. After he wins, there will never be hope."

I pushed myself to my feet and looked down at him. What happened to the cool and confident man from before? He was cracking. "We won't win if you sit around on your ass all day."

Seth was up on his feet in a flash and in my face. "I just got here. I was taking one moment of a break from this chaos, Brianna. Why are you so quick to jump to conclusions before you ask questions?"

He took another step closer and I took another step back. "I did ask you. You didn't answer my question." The anger in his eyes scared me. He went from saving my life to this. I would never be able to understand him. It was like he had a split personality disorder.

Seth's copper hair fell into his eyes. He looked disgruntled. Black clothes all wrinkly, knuckles bashed, and an eight o clock shadow growing. Sweat glistened on his tan skin. Seth stepped closer again. When I went to move back, he reached a handout and tugged on my arm. In a flash, we were chest to chest.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What in the world are you doing?" He was losing his mind.

Before my mind had time to process what was happening, Seth tilted his head down and kissed me. Instantly my entire body burst into hot flames. My toes curled in my shoes and I pressed my body closer. He lightly nipped my bottom lip and slide his tongue into my mouth. He tasted like chocolate.

The smart thing I should have done was push him away and maybe break his nose again. Instead, I deepened the kiss. I couldn't help it. My hormones shot through the roof. He wasn't the one for me and I knew it. He made me feel off balance, unsure, and afraid. He betrayed me and his family.

Seth shoved his hands through my hair and tilted my head the way he wanted it. In this moment, he had complete control. Over my body and my emotions.

By the time he pulled away, I was breathless. I stumbled back a few steps and stared at him. It made me feel a little better seeing he was just as breathless as I was. His eyes were the darkest I had ever seen them. Seth ran his hands through his hair and turned his back on me.

I felt unsure and off balance now. "Did I do something wrong?" He was the one who kissed me. Regret curled inside my body. How could I have kissed him back? I had no romantic interest in him, yet I was the one who had deepened the kiss.

"No." That was all he said.

Was he angry now? Who kisses someone like that then gets angry right after? My lips were still tingling from the kiss. I had never been kissed like that in my life.

I shook my head to myself and turned to leave.

"Wait." Seth demanded.

I stopped. My back was still facing him.

"I shouldn't have done that. Keep it between you and me."

Pressing my lips together, I slowly walked down the tunnel. He shouldn't have done that. He kissed me then regretted it right after. I raked my hands through my hair and let out a frustrated growl. What was wrong with me? What was I doing? Why would I let him kiss me like that?

He wasn't the only one regretting it. What I didn't understand was why he did it. Just to reject me right after, or had it been a while sense he got laid? His hurtful words sent a sharp pain through my heart. I don't know why I was letting it get to me. I regretted it as well. I wasn't the one who kissed him, though. He kissed me. I just responded. I was only human. A very hormonal human right now.

When my eyes found Adam caring for another person, guilt ran through me. I was not blind. I knew he felt an emotional attachment to me. I knew he liked me. He cared for me. He was there for me. He was the only one willing to defend me when The Unit captured us. He was willing to die for me, yet there I was making out with his brother.

I was a horrible person. Adam would be the right choice. The safe choice. He made me feel safe, sure, and like everything was going to be okay. He held me while I cried. He forgave me for everything even when he thought I was Evelyn.

When Adam's eyes landed on me, concern filled them. He instantly stopped what he was doing and jogged over to me. Jogging must have made his pain even worse, but when he saw the look in my eyes he was willing to put himself through pain to get to me. It made my guilt worse.

"What is wrong?" Adam's voice was laced with worry.

I looked away. "Nothing." I made out with your brother and it was amazing. I felt like shit and wanted to fall to the floor and give up on life.

Adam walked me over to a crate on the floor and pushed me down so I was sitting on it. I had to crane my neck all the way back to look at him. He crossed his arms, making the muscles in his biceps bunch up. "Talk to me."

"No." I placed my hands on my knees and looked at them. Bruises covered my wrists from the ropes and the hand cuffs. My once white dress was ripped and bloody. I was sure I smelt horrible too.