Carter Ackermann

I nodded softly "All too well. They were pretty bad when I first...ended up here. I'd been through a lot."

"Like what?"

"Being trapped in dark places. Kent finding me again."

God I hated him. He was my dad yeah, but I hated him. "He came after you again?"

I shook my head "Not here but after he handed me off to...whoever it was. I was locked away for a few days until he decided what to do with me I guess. I was supposed to have been killed but he let me go and I couldn't find my way back. He came to see me one last time though. I got to hear a sob story about how he really didn't want to hurt me and he was sorry blah, blah, blah."

I shook my head. "I'm... fuck I'm so sorry. I hate that he ever did that to you. I could kill him for that. Not to mention what he did to Cameron. I just... I still can't believe it was him all along."

"It wasn't your fault, you couldn't have known. I just wish I could have warned Cameron before it was too late. It really did a number on him but seems to be doing good now."

"Yeah. He's doing a lot better. He um... he... tried to kill himself... not that long ago."

"That must have terrible for all of you...especially you." I sighed "Wish I would have been here but I used to stay gone a lot. Dean too but I guess all of that's changing now. He's pretty glued to Lea." I said and smiled a little.

I nodded. "I still don't know what happened between her and Bastian. Haven't been out much, so I haven't talked to him."

"Who knows. It's Lea and Bastian, they don't seem like they've changed too much." I smirked.

I smiled a little. "Yeah, they usually don't. We've all changed though."

"Yeah...that's for sure. So...what did I miss? Caleb has a pretty girlfriend but she doesn't look familiar."

"That's because she wasn't from our district. She lived in 5," I said and smiled a little at the look on her face.

"Whoa. Didn't see that one coming. I bet his Dad loved that."

I shook my head. "Oh yeah. Enough to whip him publicly in the square and her too. And make them watch it happen to each other. Not to mention what they did to her before she got whipped."

I shuddered just thinking about it "Yeah...sounds like Amis. Stupid bastard. How did the rest of you meet up with the ones from the lower districts?"

"After what happened to Caleb and Ezra, we all started going down there to help out. Secretly, we had to sneak around of course."

"That was really great of you guys."

I shrugged a little. "What else could we do. They were starving. They needed medical supplies or some of them would've died. And they became our friends." And more, I thought to myself, trying not to think about how I'd met Ronna.

"I guess I was always oblivious to everything else going on back home."

"Most everyone was. Or if they weren't, they just ignored it. They try to brainwash everyone, either be ignorant or to just not care."

"Pretty much." I replied "Breakfast will be done soon. I'll set the table."

"I can do that. You made breakfast, you don't have to do everything."

"I know that, I'm just trying to be nice." I teased.