"NO!" I scream as i see the lifeless body lay there motionless, beaten, bloodied and so very familiar. "No! Can't be… can't be dead!"
It all happened in a matter of seconds, we were making our way through the facility one moment after saving our friend, and the next moment there's a knife ran through the chest of one of my other friends' chest.
Before the Eraser could pull the knife back and aim another attack at any of us, he was punched squarely in the face and sent flying down the hallway by Atlanta, there was hopefully no chance of the Eraser alerting others after it had launched it's surprise attack.
The Eraser laid crumpled against the wall of the room, i wasn't sure if it was still breathing or not, and to tell you the truth i didn't care. I had my friend in my arms, as another friend felt for a pulse. Even though the body was still warm, we knew from where the knife entered our friend's chest and the way that the blood was now pooling around the limp form and all over my lap, that they were already gone.
I feel one of my friends, one of my remaining family members, pull me back, away from the body, away from someone i couldn't believe was really dead, another family member, another friend.
"Rayne, we need to go, we can't stay here." I hear them say as they pull me away, through the haze brought on by this traumatic experience, another one in a series of so many terrible traumatic experiences in my short life, i hear one of my other friends cry.
"Rayne, now!" Another of my friends yells from some distance away.
After what feels like hours but could only be moments, i feel one of my friends' arms tighten around my middle, pulling me away from my fallen friend, hastily pulling me towards what was probably an exit and our only chance of escape.
My feet make contact with the cold tiles and i feel myself running along with 6 other pairs of feet, the person who had grabbed me and pulled me up and away, now released me, confident that i was capable of running to safety on my own.
"Where do we go?" Someone yelled from my left, panic was clear in their voice.
"I don't know, you just keep him up, and keep moving." Someone else called.
I pinched my eyes shut, hoping that this nightmare would just come to an end, my heart felt like it was stuck in my throat and i had a stitch in my side from running so much.
"We… We can't leave the body… in their clutches." One of the others said in a very small voice, i could hear they were out of breath as well. We came to a stop in a hallway that was still clear of Erasers.
"We can't go back, we need to get out of here… I can't … I can't lose more of you… we can't get caught." Atlanta answered, she was trying to be brave.
Alarms started going off around us and the sterile hallway we were in was bathed in red light with every ear splitting blare of the alarm system.
"Shit, they probably know we've escaped by now." Atlanta bit her lip as she scanned the area for an exit.
"Over here, if we can break through this, we should be able to crawl through and find a way out. At least get out of sight." One of my friends suggested, standing next to an air vent close to the ground in the side of the hallway. It was bolted in by the looks of it, probably in an attempt to make videogame-like escapes harder.
"Okay, stand back." Atlanta said as she stepped forward, cracking her knuckles as she got down on one knee and placed her hands on either side of the vent covering. She took a deep breath and pulled back.
With a loud crack that was almost drowned out by the noise of the blaring alarm, the covering came off and Atlanta tossed it aside. "Everyone get in." She ordered.
One after the other we crawled into the vent, I stole a quick look back at the hallway we came running from after we left our friend behind. I pulled my shirt's sleeves over my hands and started crawling into the cold vent, i was lucky i wore a long sleeve shirt this close to the summer.
There was a sound of a lighter being lit up ahead and the small dark space of the vent lit up with a faint light. We crawled as fast as we could, the sound of the alarms reverberating through the vent system. My teeth were chattering from the cold wind blowing from somewhere deep down in the depths of the vent system we were crawling through, but no one was complaining. We haven't been found yet, so why would we?
There was some kind of silent agreement that we should all keep our mouths shut as we silently crawled, even though there were so many topics up for discussion after everything that's happened to us in the past 24 hours.
We haven't slept, we haven't eaten, we haven't felt safe for so long now that it felt like capture and almost certain death would be a better option over this kind of life. I found myself almost feeling jealous of my dead friend.
To think, just in the space of 24 hours, our lives made a total 180 back into Shitsville after what felt like so many weeks of being free, of finally being free.
Are we even allowed to have normal lives? Are we allowed the simple courtesy of freedom?
We're only kids…
The lighter finally runs out of gas, and we are plunged into darkness, only broken by the flashes of red light coming from the still bolted down vent openings we pass on what could only be a useless delay before our capture.
We all stay silent.