Backstab
Chapter 10: The Message
A/N: Heyy! I told you all I was planning something big, and here it is, the unofficial beginning of the bigness! (That sounded totally weird but I don't really care). Hope you like it.
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"I think we should go out looking for them." Tyler proclaimed the next morning, his confidence catching both SweetPea and I totally off guard.
"What?" we said simultaneously.
"I think we should confront these guys who are after you." he said, his expression serious. "We can't keep running and hiding forever, sooner or later we'll have to turn around and face these guys. Plus we still have the tranquilizer gun."
"Are you crazy?" SweetPea questioned, her logical nature prompting immediate denial. "There's only three of us against who knows how many of them, and two of us are wanted for murder. If we show our face on the streets again they'll capture us for sure, you saw how close they came last time." She argued, and I couldn't help but comparing this argument to her misgivings about my plan for escaping the Lennox House.
"Well we could at least find out what they want." Tyler demanded, careful to keep his tone under control.
"What they want?" They want us back in the institution, so Baby can lose her virginity to the high roller and then have both of us go back to dancing under-dressed for their pleasure." She snapped angrily, and I couldn't help but shudder slightly at the thought.
Surprised by SweetPea's strong disagreement, Tyler turned toward me, looking for support. However, I shook my head. "Our best chances right now lie with us getting out of this city. The more distance we put between ourselves and Blue, the better."
Disappointed by my unwillingness to help, Tyler stopped, closing his eyes in though. For a while he didn't speak, clearly pondering the best way to go on.
Then, he spoke in a soft voice. "Girls have escaped before, you know." He began, meeting both of our eyes. "It doesn't happen often, but it has happened. And of course they put up wanted posters and had the police patrol the city, but they've never gone through this much trouble to catch them. I mean a divisionarmed men? For 2 runaway girls?" he paused, shaking his head. "I don't know what they want, but I know they won't give up. They'll keep chasing you until they find you and bring you back."
"So if we can't outrun them, and we obviously can't go back, where does that leave us?" SweetPea asked, exasperated.
I glanced at Tyler, already knowing what he was going to say. I drew a breath.
"There's only one option left. You have to kill Blue."
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Rocket squirmed in her chair, the metal bindings slicing fresh cuts across her wrists and ankles. However, the pain was nothing to her, for no matter how many cuts, bruises and scars coated her skin, none of the pain would compare to that delivered by the knife. She could still remember it, how it had ripped through her flesh like it was paper, lodging itself amongst her inner organs. It had felt like someone had set her insides on fire, and for what felt like hours all she could remember was screaming for someone to make it stop.
And when the pain did stop, the information that greeted her only seemed to reopen her wounds. Amber and Blondie were dead, having been shot by Blue in a fit of desperate rage. "Their deaths came quickly", Madame Gorski had said, her eyes brimming with tears. Despite the ache that their deaths brought her, this at least gave her some relief. They did not suffer, and they would suffer no longer under Blue's hands.
Just as well, the flames of their death had fueled the fire, the fire of determination and anger that led SweetPea and Babydoll to escape. For all the suffering they had endured, all of the pain each and every group member stood through, at least something had come out of it all. And now, after it seemed they had their freedom at last, Blue remained determine to strip it away from them.
Angrily, Rocket shifted again.
"Struggling will only make this more difficult." said the soothing voice of the doctor, who had been preparing his instruments through the duration of her daydream. "Just hold still, it will be over soon."
"I told Blue already, I'll never help you catch them." she growled, pulling at her restraints. "I'll die first."
The doctor turned to meet her hard glare, his expression bewildered. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Yes you do," she snapped, angered by his confusion. "The armed patrols you're sending to catch SweetPea and Baby. Don't pretend you don't know."
The doctor's expression remained unchanged, until a nurse motioned for him to come over. Relieved from her stare, the doctor shuffled over.
The nurse's voice was a whisper, and she continuously threw nervous glances at Rocket as she spoke. "Blue mentioned that Madame Gorski noticed… Rocket has had an increasing amount of 'delusions' since her sister's escape. Most of them having something about Blue doing unauthorized huntings for her sister without consulting the police.
The doctor's eyebrows shot up in response to this information, though he nodded in understanding. He trusted Madame Gorski's judgment, even if the information he was being fed did not come from the instructors mouth, but from Blue's. Motioning the nurse away, he turned back to Rocket.
"It's ok," he reassured gently, "Blue's not doing anything like that. The police will find your sister soon and bring her back, and everything will be all right. Just sit back and relax."
"Relax?! I won't just stand by while Blue-"
Her words were cut short as a syringe was jabbed into her neck, and the serum inside was injected into her bloodstream. In the matter of a few seconds, she was out cold.
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"How can it possibly be so hard to find someone who's hunting you down?" SweetPea wondered aloud as we strolled through the busy square.
As it were, we three had accepted Tyler's plan, no matter how irrationally difficult it was, agreeing that the only way to stop this was to end it. Of course SweetPea had argued heavily, insisting that fleeing was still our best option. But Tyler had eventually won me over with promises that no other girls would have to endure Blue's wrath; and SweetPea had little choice but to oblige.
We'd agreed to search specifically for men we surmised to be working for Blue, those dressed in black and armed with tranquilizer guns. If we were found by the law instead of Blue, our whole plan would collapse. For now, we had set into the city to find our pursuers, only to come up empty-handed in all cases.
"So how are we going to find them?" SweetPea asked again, surveying the crowds of bystanders.
"We'll know them when we see them." said Tyler with a shrug, kicking a pile of new-fallen leaves on the ground.
I nodded, and proceeded walking, staring down at the brown cobblestone street. Suddenly, I heard something whizz past my ear, then stick in a nearby tree with a sharp thunk. Turning towards the direction it came from, I spotted a small group of well-dressed men, the one at the head with his gun pointed at us.
"I think I we found them," I said, motioning towards the band of men. Tyler and SweetPea followed my gaze, likewise noting the men
"Let's go," said Tyler, moving as a shield between me and them, "now!"
Without hesitation, I dashed off, making a sharp turn to the right, leaving SweetPea and Tyler behind. For a terrifying moment, the men continued to look towards Tyler and SweetPea. Then began pursuit of me.
It's working, I thought with a grin. Lengthening my strides, I headed for the preplanned route through a long alley. It was a dead end, but is served our purpose nicely. As the sun was blocked from vision by the shade of the adjacent buildings, I stole a glance behind me. Four men followed closely behind. It was one of the smaller patrols, but still enough.
My feet were pounding hard on the black ground, my muscles pumping furiously to keep the lead I had. Breathing hard, I looked ahead, my eye catching on a small bucket standing innocently in the shadow of a trash can.
Phase 1, I thought to myself, knocking over the bucket with a sharp kick. A sinister black liquid began to seep from the over-turned container spilling out over the ground and trapping the lead pursuers in its horrible stickiness. The rest jumped over, but now ran at a slightly more cautious distance.
I continued down the alley, until I saw the large shopping bag lying inconspicuously across the center of the road.
Phase 2, I thought, slamming my foot down hard to reach the small concealed trigger underneath. The button caused a huge, poky old fishing net to fall from seemingly nowhere, catching another man in its relentless grasp.
Almost done, I thought with satisfaction. I looked for the next checkpoint, but instead found myself face to face with the large brick wall at the alley's end.
"What?" I said aloud, skidding as I stopped my sprint.
"Well, it looks like the magician ran out of tricks up her sleeves." said one of the two remaining men, having caught up to me. "But the good guys always win."
I glared at him, angry and confused. What happened to the last trap? How were we going to get the information we needed with me in Blue's hands? I said nothing, but stood nervously with my back to the wall.
"You're coming with us, said the second man, reaching forward. However, before he could touch me, there was a click, and he fell to the floor.
"Simon?" said the first man, his expression bewildered.
"Don't move," came SweetPea's steady voice, holding the gun to his head.
"What-"
"Shut it," she said, finger on the trigger.
Looking around the man, I caught her eye. "I thought you guys abandoned me," I stated, relief heavy on my voice.
"We had to make them believe they had you," explained Tyler, walking from behind.
I nodded, and then turned my attention to the man. His expression was carefully neutral, though I could see confusion raging in his eyes.
"What does Blue want from us?" I demanded, my voice steady.
The man blinked, a smile playing on his lips. "I think you already know the answer to that." he said calmly, not taking his eyes off mine.
"What does he want?" I said again, hoping my quiet voice worked to make me sound angry rather than timid.
"You already know," he said again. "Blue wants you back at the Lennox House, and he was willing to hire us to get the job done. However, he knows that you won't go down without a fight." He continued, glancing to the man called Simon as if to provide proof of this statement.
"So?" Tyler snapped, curious as to the man's point.
"So we figured we could try to convince you two instead." He reached in his pocket.
"Don't move," SweetPea said again, though the curiosity that tinged her voice betrayed her anger.
The man didn't stop, but reached in his pocket and handed me a simple piece of paper, with a simple photo of a girl, lying unconscious and bound to a chair.
My mouth went dry, and I found myself at a loss for words. When I did speak, it was only one word, which was barely audible once it escape my mouth.
"Rocket."
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A/N: Thanks again to all the readers! Reviews and comments are greatly appreciated. Also, sorry Babydoll hasn't said much, but her role in the movie was mostly visual, so it's hard to capture all of her personality.