BLUE IRIS

Iris

"IRIS, STAY focus." Gael cupped my head, forcing me to look at him.

I stared at the pools of sadness and frightened eyes as I gulped and nodded repeatedly as if I understood everything. Chills ran down my spine in horror. I was trembling, but Gael kept squeezing my hands, saying we could do this.

No matter how hard he tried to hide his emotions, I knew he was frightened. We were all beyond terrified for Colt.

Tears rolled down my eyes, but I tried harder not to break down for their sake. This was not the right time I told myself many times, and I have no plan on losing him today.

"Our plan will work, Iris. Colt can handle himself. Just trust me and remember what I told you." Gael's encouragements were just a buzz to my ears. They weren't sinking in.

I couldn't think. My brain was freezing, and I had more adrenaline flooding in my system to think of anything right now.

My bones were chilling with fear. I was willing to sacrifice and go with them peacefully, but Gael believed they would still kill Colt no matter what, so he wanted to fight instead of watching Colt would die in cold blood.

"There are seven men out there with guns, Gael," I urged. Three men from the Jeep with powerful weapons while Colt had no chance against them. His gun was left in the car, and he was zip-tied.

We're hopeless.

"You only have five minutes left, my dear Blue." Otis' vile voice sang outside the cabin. "Or this man will die!"

I peeped through the gap of the door. Colt was already kneeling while Otis was pointing a gun on his head. He had also a syringe stuck on his neck that made him look uncomfortable. He remained steady, and I couldn't exactly read what was on his mind right now, but one thing I was sure was he was in a fury. His mouth was tight shut since the last time I yelled not to hurt him.

"Should I show you a little demonstration of what I'm about to do to your boy Colt Snow here, dear?" He stepped back from Colt, gun still pointed at him.

I couldn't believe Otis was eviler than I thought he was. For sure, he had nothing humane left in him.

"Now let me tell you about Colt."

"I swear-" Colt was cut off.

"His twin brother, Colton Rebel. Do you know how he died?"

I gasped in shock. Twin brother?

Colt launched himself to Otis, but he halted when Otis pointed the gun right to his forehead.

"I will fucking kill you!" Colt gritted with rage, vibrated with the urge to revenge his brother-his twin brother.

I swung the door open and finally revealed myself. My knees were weak, but I held all my strength to save Colt and everyone's life.

"There you go. Just a little motivation will do the trick. I know you very well, my little sister."

"Little sister?" Colt met my gaze in shock.

I had to bite my lip and blink to push back my emotions.

"Sister?" Shocked, Gael asked behind me who was now pointing a gun to my head.

"Long story."

"I am not your sister and never will be! You're a monster!" I screamed at him.

Otis wasn't affected though. Of course, he never cared. He treated me like shit when his parents adopted me. He said I was weak, and he bullied me with his friends in grades school, but I never thought he would hurt me like this.

"It doesn't matter now, little sis," he snickered devilishly that always gave me shiver, but right now, all I could see was the fake monster who tried to scare me in my sleep. This was a reality. He could not hurt me anymore. "We can still be a family. It's not too late to start over, right? Since our parents are all dead. Come here." He gestured his hand.

"Not until you let him go," I asserted.

"Trust me, little sister. This man has no value to me "

"Then why suddenly I get your interest?"

"Family always comes first, Blue. You shouldn't have escaped. I got a house for us inside the Colony after I've proven my loyalty to them."

"And by means proving your loyalty to them by killing my only brother?" My chest heaved in anger.

He shrugged. "That's the only way."

"Then you have to kill me too." I stole a glance at Colt, hoping he got my signal.

"You know I would not do that, but I would not hesitate to kill this man." He pointed his gun back to Colt, and every time he did that, it held my breath, feared that he would just pull the trigger.

"If you do that I also have to kill her," Gael spoke, holding me hostage.

"Tsk tsk. I know you would not shoot her."

"Oh, I will. I won't hesitate. She's just a roll in the hay to Colt. Trust me, I will blow her brain in a heartbeat. So, either you let him go or Iris dies!" Gael roared with rage.

"It's not your place to demand! I have his head, and you will all die if you will not give me what I want in ten seconds. One. Two. Three. Four. Walk forward now, Blue Iris, because I'm losing my fucking patience, or I swear to God." "It's okay," I said to Gael. I walked slowly and raised my hands.

I glanced at Colt and gave him a short nod.

My breathing caught in my thought. I closed my eyes as I shivered and scared for what about to happen.

God helped me.

I grasped my palm close.

Single gunfire echoed. An excruciating pain seared through my back with a strong impact that hit me to the ground with a thud. My head bounced against the ground. Dust sifted on my face. My name roared against my ears before I saw the last light reflected upon me.

***

"WHY THE fuck did you shoot her?" Colt's angry voice irritated my ears.

"Twig. Twig, please? Look at me. Don't die. Don't fucking die! Please." I was held tighter into his arms. His body was shaking. He was sobbing, kissing my head, my face, then he pressed his head against mine.

He was rocking me back and forth in his arms. "I didn't even get a chance to tell you how I feel. Goddamn it!" he roared.

"Colt we have to go before the other men arrive." It was Frost's voice. He was alive. Colt was alive. I am alive. "Come on, man."

"We have to take her to the hospital now!" he yelled.

"She's not dead, Colt. Did Otis knock your head so hard? Check her pulse," Gael said.

Colt just froze, and I could tell he was damn shocked and realized that I was still alive, or was he shocked by something else?

I wanted to open my eyes and wake up, but my back hurt like hell. I winced in pain and smelled the stinky blood everywhere.

"I can't. I can't. Can't you see? I am infected. Just go, just leave me alone," Colt's voice was gravelly low and cracked as if in pain and had accepted his fate.

"Infected?" My voice came out as a whisper and hoarse.

Colt's body stilled. His breathing caught. He pushed me away from him as if I had an infectious disease and looked at me in horror. "Iris?"

I grimaced. "I-I might have crack bones. Oh, my God! Are you okay?" My eyes widened in shock because his face was busted. His right eye was swollen. He might have a broken nose as well. A bruise at the corner of his mouth, a split eyebrow, blood all over his face, and he had busted knuckles. In a split second, he backed away, leaving me confused.

I crawled back into him, but he raised his hand to stop me.

"He injected me with blood and it was infected with the virus, Iris. Stay away from me." He looked broken as he stared down, not meeting my gaze anymore.

I huffed. "Too late for that, dude. You already kissed and hugged me."

"God, I'm sorry." Tears rolled down his eyes, mixing with his own blood. "I was... I was just shocked and horrified that Gael shot you in front of me. I'm sorry, Iris. It happened so fast, and the last time I remembered was an explosion, and he managed to push the plunger and ended up injecting me with blood. Then I was stubbing that asshole, we fought, and I killed him."

I looked around and squinted to what left of Otis' men and the aftermath of the explosion. I didn't feel any guilt or sympathy toward the dead body of Otis lying on the ground. Then I turned back-Lois, Gael, Darick, and Frost were looking at me with empathy. I smiled tightly at them-I was glad they were all safe after what Otis did to them, and I would accept it if they hated me for putting their lives in danger and for keeping a secret that I and Otis were somehow had known each other back then.

"I told you the plan would work, Iris," Gael told me.

I nodded, unable to meet his gaze I was beyond guilty for being a terrible person.

"What plan?" Colt's gaze sharpened and narrowed at Gael.

"We had to kill the dog to drain the blood into the plastic bag and place it under Iris' shirt outside her vest to make it look real. She might have burnt her back though. Then Gael had to shoot her to distract Otis. I was already aware before Otis' men got closer to us, so I found a spot to shoot them from a distance. There." Frost pointed to the old log. "His men had grenades on their gear, so I shot one at the same time Gael shot Iris.

"Thank you," I said to them. "I'm sorry for not telling you that Otis was the only son of my adopted parents. He didn't treat me as his sister though, and I thought I had no reason why I should mention him to all of you."

"It doesn't matter. He's dead, and you're safe now," Darick said.

"She's not. I just infected her." Colt's voice was laced with so much regret, but we couldn't undo it anymore.

"I am sorry, Colton. You won't be infected if not because of me. It was all my fault. I should have told you who he was, but when I arrived at the camp, all I wanted was to live. You all are still alive in the camp if it was not because of me. I brought danger to your group, and now look at what happened."

Frost snickered, "I thought we're done with this already."

"I know, but look at what I have done, Frost."

"None of these are your fault, Iris. It was all his. Have you forgotten he killed your brother to prove his loyalty to the Colony? I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry he's dead."

"Guys, you can all go. Take the SUV and find a safe place for all of you," Colt finally told them. "Take care of Gael for me, Frost."

"We're not leaving you two, Colt," Lois finally talked, still crying.

"Colt is right. Gael, take them somewhere safe. This is my last wish, please?" I begged as tears rolled down my face. I couldn't believe in a few hours I was going to die with Colt. This was not how I expected to end after winning a fight with Otis. We didn't win, in fact, we just lost. This was freaking disappointing.

"We'll stay with you." Darick sat down on the ground.

"No. You don't have to watch us bleed." I watched Colt's throat bobbed up and down.

"Please?" he croaked out. "At least grant my wish since I don't have my last will, Gael."

I felt what Gael was feeling right now. I knew it was hard for him that he was counting every hour for Colt's death. I tried hard to smile and shove down my fear, but it was hard when all I could see was the heartache on their faces.

A virus is airborne and mutated fast like we've never seen before. Once you are infected, you only have twelve hours left.

"Please, guys, don't make it hard for us," I cried. "We don't want to infect you." I wanted to hug them one more time, but I knew it was impossible. I couldn't infect them as well.

"Colt!" Gael called out when Colt stood up and walked away. "I'm not saying goodbye, boy! Not to the both of you. I failed you..." His voice cracked. No matter how hard he tried to be strong, I know he was breaking inside. "I failed your brother."

"You did not fail us, Gael! You just gave him justice. We killed Otis and his men."

"Colton, wait!" I ran towards him.

"I guess, it's till death do us part then, huh?" Frost snorted bitterly and sadly. "Well, I love you, brother. You and your twig."

"We can still do something, right?" Lois cried and begged to Frost.

"We can't do anything, Heloisa," Frost said, hugging her tightly.

"No! That's not true! We can still do something. We have to find Dr. Hull. Maybe he's still alive. He can help them. We can't just let them die, Templeton, please? We have to do something!"

"We can't do anything. It's a freaking virus, Heloisa."

"Take care of yourself!" I was numbed with pain as I watched them from afar, and Lois dropped on her knees crying, and none of us could do anything to stop this virus from killing me and Colt in a matter of hours.

I wasn't expecting this to happen, and I had never imagined parting this way. Not even in a million years.

"Go and find someplace to spend time together. Take the SUV, and you know where to find us." Darick shrugged. "Just in case, you know."

"That's the plan," Colt agreed, but there was no energy in his voice.

I looked at Gael who was standing beside Darick and Frost with so much melancholy in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry."