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He shakes his head, his eyes and mouth open wide in shock. “Definitely not.”
Micah stands and creeps quietly over to Bennet's side of the bed. He reaches for a lamp, but decides against it, instead crouching next to Bennet, who is sitting up, but doesn't seem to be reacting to anything around him.
Micah clears his throat softly. “Bennet?”
Bennet blinks, and then turns his head to look at Micah.
“Holy fuck.”
“Holy fuck.” I repeat.
“Bennet, do you know where you are right now?”
Bennet doesn't respond, but blinks again and looks around himself. His eyes settle on the sleeping form of Six.
Turning to the side, he lays so his body is propped up by one elbow. Lowering his face down next to hers, he caresses her cheek with his free hand, gently turning her face to kiss her lips. At first his kisses are feather-light, but they are enough to pull a reaction from her. I watch on, dumbfounded, with a mixture of horror and fascination, as the kiss deepens.
Micah nudges the others awake, but holds his finger to his lips.
A few moments into the kiss, right as I notice Bennet's tongue slip past her lips, Six gasps. If she realizes who she's kissing before she opens her eyes, I don't know. She screws up her eyes tighter and leans into the kiss, like she's afraid if she opens them it'll be a dream. She probably thinks this is a dream right now.
I'm not entirely certain this isn't a dream right now.
Finally, but not until after everyone in the room has astonished boners, or at least I do, Bennet pulls away slowly. He doesn't acknowledge anyone else, gazing down at Six with an expression I've certainly never seen on his face.
Six screws her eyes up tighter, tears escaping. Bennet swipes them away, leaning down to whisper in her ear. I can't quite hear his words, but her eyes pop open the moment she hears his voice.
A gasp mixed with a sob escapes the moment her eyes open, her pupils dilating with shock. The sobs continue as Bennet pulls her into his arms.
My mouth is dry from how long I've been holding it open. Turning to look at the other guys, I see that they, too, are watching on with a mixture of surprise, fear, and elation.
“Is this real life right now? Is this actually happening?”
Micah reaches over and pinches me, and then himself. I definitely felt it, but just in case—
“Harder.”
Lukas smacks me across the head instead. Feels like a little bit of normality has returned, however insane the circumstances might actually be.
“How are you awake right now?” Six asks through her sobs. “How are you alive?”
Micah scoffs. “Alive I could almost accept, but you're not just alive. You're sitting up, moving around, talking? I don't understand.”
Bennet looks as confused as we are. “I don't have any answers for you. I don't even know how long I've been out. Are we back at the estate? How did we get here?”
Luis
An earthquake would be less shocking than what I'm staring at right now. I fell asleep thinking about how much I missed the sounds of the ventilator.
While I am certainly no stranger to being woken in the middle of the night by chaos, this is a completely different animal. I'm staring at a dead man, except he's not dead. He's perfectly well, moving and talking like nothing ever happened.
His first reaction to realizing where we are looks like relief, but then after thinking about it, he remembers that the estate isn't supposed to be safe. Before he can panic, I can see it start to set in by the tensing of his shoulders and jaw, I hold my hands up to assure him.
“We're safe, Bennet. You're safe. Six is safe.”
“How? How am I here, and why are we here? They'll find us.”
There's a moment where his expression makes me think he's wondering the same thing I am—is this actually real? Am I dreaming, or hallucinating?
