The story continues. If you missed any of it, start here.

I snap back into reality. Somehow I’m just back and standing in the parking lot once again. Di stares at me.

“What happened?” I ask.

“You both froze for about five seconds. Then, John just fell over.”

I look down and see John lying supine, blank eyes staring up into the sky. His chest slowly rises and falls, so I know he’s not dead. The reality hits me like a fist to the gut.

“I did that,” I mutter, the bottom falling out of my stomach.

“Did what?” Di asks. “You didn’t even touch him.”

My eyes jerk to hers, and I see her brows furrowed. Of course. She wasn’t there. How would she know?

“I did this,” I say, surprised by the sorrowful tone that came out of my mouth. “I… sealed him away… I think.”

I explain everything to Di. The fight—I assume—that happened in our minds. The cage. The cinder blocks. The screams. The feeling of John’s presence fading from my perception.

“It sounds like you sealed away his consciousness,” she says. “He’s nothing more than a shell now.”

I know there’s some conflicting sorrow going on in her because I’m thinking about Ruby now and how much I cared about her.

Di stumbles and grabs at her side, and that’s when I remember that I shot her. I run over to her and catch her from falling.

“I’m so sorry,” I say.

“It’s okay. If it hadn’t been for you, I would have died.”

She must have seen the confusion evident on my face because she explains through clenched teeth, “John was controlling your movements. If you hadn’t fought back like you did, I would have surely been dead. This isn’t fatal. It just hurts like a mother.”

I chuckle but then hear a stirring behind me. When I turn, I see a few of the Hive moving. I throw up my guard, expecting to be attacked immediately, but nothing comes. Instead, I notice the first few looking around. They don’t have the lifeless stares that I’ve grown used to seeing. There’s an awareness there.

They start talking to each other, asking what happened and why they’re in a parking lot. The crowd gets restless as nobody seems to have any answers.

I look to Di, and she give me a subtle nod, bearing down on me with her penetrating eyes and a hint of a smirk. She thrusts her chin in the direction of the crowd.

I take a few steps toward the crowd. I don’t know what to tell them. I find uncertain words coming out of my mouth.

“You were all being manipulated,” I mutter.

Only a few close to me hear, but I’ve got their attention. Word spreads through the crowd, and, one-by-one, each person’s attention focuses on me.

“You were all being manipulated,” I say again, this time with more power and confidence. “You were being controlled by John Malcolm.”

Without going into extreme detail, I explain how John used a new drug to take over their minds.

“You were all listening to John’s suggestions and complying with his orders without thought or question. You just went along with it.”

I look down, and I see John’s body, lying unmoved on the sidewalk.

“John will not be bothering you anymore, but we should all be wary and vigilant to make sure we don’t succumb to another who may try to do the same.”

A low murmur spreads over the crowd as they disperse. I question in my mind whether they will heed my words in the future, but I shrug it off. I have no control over what others decide to do. Besides, I have another important matter to attend to.

“Come on,” I say, turning to Di. “Let’s get you to a hospital.”