Chapter 1

The gun was in my hands. Blood pulsed through my veins. I stared at the tall, shadowed, cloaked man as I raised the gun, aiming it at his chest. My hands shook. A bead of sweat ran down my forehead while I circled the man; keeping the gun raised. Then, a sudden noise came from behind me, startling me, causing me to jump and turn towards the familiar sound of a door slamming shut. There was nothing there; so I turned around only to find that the man was gone and all that was left was a simple message that read:

Too Late.

I studied the letter even though it was short and sweet (well, maybe not sweet) but I still couldn't fathom out what he meant. To you maybe I seem stupid; but no. Did he mean that I was too late because he was gone or because I was too late to stop something that was about to happen? Or both? But there was only one thing that mattered right then: I had to find Zach. I had no clue how to find him; but something in my gut told me that I already knew.

So I ran, through the large halls and twisted corridors passing doors and pictures, counting them as I went. I then ran past a different door, thinking nothing of it when I stopped. I thought for a second, and realised that it was the only odd door I had seen. I slowly turned back in the direction I had come and inched tentatively towards the door. All the other doors were a perfect, deep mahogany with polished brass door knobs; but not this one, no, this one was different. It was oddly shaped; wonky almost, with a slightly smaller brass handle, that had not recently been polished, and seemed to have been used more than the others. There were locks on the door; unlike the others, and this door was camouflaged. It was made to look like the other doors but the feel of it was cold and hard to the touch, like steel.

I stared at the door and one thought popped up in my head:

Zach.

Luckily, my hair had remained in a sort-of bun, meaning that I still had some bobby pins in that tangled mess. I took out the pins, letting my hair fall around my shoulders and immediately got to work shaping the pins and swiftly picking the locks, which took just 47 seconds. Whoever designed this door was good; but I was better. I gently twisted the handle, so I didn't make much noise and pushed the door open, creating a gentle breeze. I glanced around for any signs of a tail before walking inside.

The atmosphere on the other side of that door made me feel cold, unlike the warm, homely feeling that was created on the 'normal' side of the door. I was stood in yet another corridor but this one was empty with white panelled walls and the occasional window. Through the window was a chair, and an uncomfortable one at that. Next to it there was a tray of instruments that did not look like surgical instruments. It reminded me of a few places I had been taken to, so if you know my story, you can probably guess.

It was eerie in that corridor and I felt like I was being watched; maybe I was. I looked through more windows until I saw a man in a dark navy suit with bare feet chained to a bed in a cell. However, I had been with him just days before. I knew him. He was a good man. Do they really need to find me that badly? Still? Why? To be honest I really don't get this. And if they still want me, I have to protect everyone. Maybe running away again would be a good idea.

I passed more and more windows and doors as I went down the chilly corridor, but then it hit me; there were no guards. Prisoners in here, and no guards? How strange. But that was when I heard another noise, voices this time. It was quite muffled, but again, it sounded familiar.

Shouting. Arguing. It was Zach! I sprinted towards the door at the end of the corridor without thinking, when it hit me. Again. But this time, it literally hit me. I presume it was a guard, he had broad shoulders and was rather tall, but he just stepped out from the shadows and smacked me on the head with a rather large, wooden plank; everything swirled into black.