Chapter Twenty-Seven

We escaped out the back door. I didn't have time to grab anything on my way out, but my only focus was Ellie, and not being seen.

My hand was tight around his arm as I refused to let go of him. He didn't seem to object as we ran up the backyard fence, and hauled ourselves over it by stepping on a plastic lawn chair.

We both dropped into the backyard of the house behind ours. In the yard was a trampoline, and swimming pool. Ellie stared at the trampoline, most likely remembering how he nearly attacked the kids who were jumping on it.

I tugged his arm to get his focus back on escaping. He seemed to gather himself enough to do so.

"Everybody is asleep right now." I whispered to him, as the lights on most of the houses were off. "We probably won't run into anyone until the morning." As we again, jumped over the fence of the yard and onto the street, I turned to him.

"Ellie," I said, and he looked at me, the fear and adrenaline was obvious in his eyes as he never had been out like this before. "You have to really try to control yourself, okay?"

He blinked, and nodded.

I didn't know where we were going or how we were going to get there. Once the police open the door to our house, they'd see the blood right there in front of them, and they'd know.

We ran down the road until we got to a section where there were enough trees to hide behind if it were necessary.

I slowed down to a walk, and Ellie did too as I held tight to his arm.

Of all the emotions I should feel, I felt none of them. Not panic, not fear, not even anger. I felt numb, like I subconsciously have been expecting this day to come. My mind has made peace with it months ago.

I glanced at Ellie, he hasn't said a word since we were back at the house. I was worried about him.

"Are you alright?" I asked him, as I focused on the road ahead of us.

"I don't know." He paused, "I don't know if this is alright, but I don't know what alright is."

"We had to leave." He said nothing, but I knew he didn't believe me. "Ellie," I said, "I was with Levi all night, I would have been deemed a suspect, they would have managed to acquire a warrant to check the house." I wanted to say, "they would have found you" but didn't want to make him feel even more guilt.

Still, he was silent.

Frustrated, I stopped, and pulled him to a stop with me. His eyes found mine, though it was dark, and a distant streetlight was the only thing producing enough light for us to make out each other's features, even if it was only barely.

"Alright." I huffed, "I don't know where we are going. I don't know how we are going to get there. I don't have money, and I don't know how to control you around others. Is that what you want to hear? I'm just as confused as you."

He just blinked at me, and for some reason, seeing him doubt me, made me want to prove to him I'm capable of getting us out of this mess.

Even if I might not be.

"The plan still stands, you know." I spoke up again, we both began walking, slower, side-by-side. "Finding the man who really created you. The lab you were born in."

I could feel Ellie's eyes on me, but I kept my gaze on the road, "We'll figure out whatever this black poison is in your body, and we will fix you. Somehow."

"Where will we go tonight?"

"I have a few options." I lied, really, there was only one place I knew of that could be a possibility, but it was hours away by car.

It'd take us the entire day to walk there on foot, and even then, I wasn't sure if we'd be welcomed.

"Where?"

"My Uncle Riley's house."

"You have an uncle." Ellie said it more like a statement than a question.

"Not exactly." I corrected, "I mean, we aren't related, I just always called him Uncle. He was my dad's friend before they had a falling out." My father and Riley weren't just best friends, they graduated the same university together, they lived together and worked on the same projects.

To call them friends would be an understatement.

They soon began to disagree with each other over time, and when my father started to play God, and came up with the idea of creating human life, Riley didn't want part in it. They argued for what seemed like months before Riley finally had enough and cut all ties with my father and the labs.

I haven't seen him since.

"A falling out."

"A fight." I said, "It means they began to disagree with each other, and stopped being friends."

Ellie said nothing to that, so I continued talking, "I think that if we explain our situation, Uncle Riley could help us." Or he could turn us away, or worse, call the police on us. I decided not to mention that to Ellie, though. "He might even be able to give us some information on the labs."

There was a sudden crack in the trees which made us both fall silent. Ellie was staring into the woods like it was something he didn't understand. I tightened my hand around his arm and urged him forward, "Come on." I said to him, noticing the tension in his body. "It was probably just an animal."

"There are a lot of them." He said not breaking his gaze away from the trees.

"A lot of animals?"

"A lot of life."

I began to wonder how I was ever going to control him once we cross paths with an actual person. The kind part of me has hope he'd find the strength to control himself.

The rational part of me is sure he won't.

I reached up and placed my hand on the side of his face, slowly moving his gaze to me, "Innocent life, Ellie. The creatures living are innocent."

"Innocent." He repeated, his eyes were so bright even in the dimness of the night, just looking into them made my heart pound. "I'm not innocent."

I opened my mouth to speak, but realizing I had nothing but excuses to comfort him, I closed it. An expression I couldn't read flashed across his face for only seconds before it left. He then took a breath, and returned his gaze to the trees.

We walked in silence after that.