Chapter 20 – Mission
Jayden's POV
"She's gone!" says the new girl in shock.
"You didn't notice?" asks Gabriel.
"I was so busy getting rid of the guy chasing me and running for my life!" the girl says in distress. "I just… forgot about her."
"She must have been grabbed by one of those thugs," says Gabriel.
"Do you think they're still after us?" I ask worriedly, looking down the hallway intently. Carli… what's going to happen to her? Will they kill her? I bite my lip as I picture those thugs beating Carli up in a dark alley and leaving her broken and bleeding out alone.
"Probably," the girl says quietly. "I don't hear anyone, though."
"We probably lost them in this stupid labyrinth," Gabriel says, straightening up. "Let's not let them catch up."
"This is a dead end," I point out as I come to this realization myself. I thought it would turn again, but it just ends in a single room at the end of the hall.
"Let's go in there, then," the girl says, heading towards the room. Gabriel and I follow her. "I'm Emmy, by the way."
"I'm Gabriel," says Gabriel. "Nice to meet you."
"I'm Jayden," I say. Emmy pushes down on the door handle. It doesn't budge.
"Locked," she says.
"Well, we can't go back," Gabriel says. "Not if there's people out there looking for us." I peer through the window of the door.
"There's another door back there!" I say. "On the left side. Maybe we can get out that way!"
"Wait," Gabriel says. "Emmy. Give me that bobby pin in your hair." She complies, and Gabriel inserts it in the keyhole, jiggling it in every possible direction.
"Have you picked a lock before?" I ask.
"No, but I have an idea of the method," he replies. "Not many to pick where I lived." He jiggles it some more, then gradually slows down. "I think I'm close." Now he's just rotating it slightly but firmly.
Click.
"Yes!" he whispers triumphantly. Gabriel victoriously swings the door open and we all rush inside.
"Here you go," he says, handing back Emmy's black bobby pin.
"Thanks," she says, putting it back in her hair. "Nice job."
"Yeah, great job!" I say in agreement. This new room is structured like an office, with a long chocolate-coloured desk and black spinning chair, a small white filing cabinet with four drawers, a computer, a large brown cubby, with most of the compartments filled with a bunch of random things, two wooden stools, and a black telephone—the cool retro kind with the dial on it. There's a silver, modern-looking clock on the wall, too. It reads seven minutes past nine. Nine o'clock! Why was I thinking it was six or seven? I guess when you're stressed about being in a prison that wants to kill you and have beds that make you feel like you're sleeping on a door, you're always tired when you wake up. What time did I go to sleep last night? My internal clock is all messed up.
I look at the next door, the one on the left side. The glass in the door lets me see through to the landscape outside. This is an exit.
"Hey, look at this," Emmy says. She's looking at the cubby. Each compartment has a sign at the front. She takes out a few green furniture leaves, along with a bug net, from one of the compartments, and reads the sign in front of it. "Human Emmy Pereira's inventory. Captured April 18, 2017 in Greenbourne."
"What?" exclaims Gabriel. "Is this… is this where they put all the stuff they take from us?"
Curious, I examine the cubby as well. I know what I'm looking for. I find it in one of the lower cubbies. Not only is the cubby with the sign with my name on it in there, but Carli's is just to the left. I grin as I take out the shovel from my cubby and hold it out. Then I put everything else back in my pocket where it belongs. Everything is there except for the fifty or so thousand Bells I had at the time. Not only are they a killing organization, but they're thieves, too. I'm fuming inside, but I'm more focused on getting all my other stuff back. I put Carli's stuff in my pocket, too, including her ruined fishing rod and my slingshot she borrowed on the train; I bet she'd like to have her stuff back as well.
"It feels great to have my stuff back again," Emmy says, admiring her net like it's one of the paintings in the Serenity museum or something. Her glass handle has been set down on the desk.
"Yeah," Gabriel agrees as he pockets the long fishing rod from his cubby. He notices an axe on a higher shelf and takes it, too. I stare at him and frown.
"We might need this if we come up against one of them," he says defensively. "Better than a lamp and a mug." I can't disagree with that.
We've cleaned out all three of our cubbies, plus Carli's. I eye an axe in a different cubby, from someone named Marco Burke, but decide to settle for my shovel. Less bloodshed potential. Gabriel takes it, though, along with three extra shovels.
"Whoa," I say, as I notice another sign that catches my eye, in between Carli's cubby and Gabriel's. I read it out loud, stunned. "Calerite rock. Taken from Jacob Falon from Serenity. July 7, 2017."
"Is that the thing you guys traded yourselves for?" Gabriel asks.
"Yeah," I say breathlessly. I pick it up carefully, like I would a fragile glass sculpture, and cradle it in my hands. It's undeniably red; the same deep colour as the cherries that grow back home. I can't believe it. "Why would they steal it, though?"
"They must not have wanted the town saved," Gabriel says, shrugging.
"But they never even found this," I say. "Jacob just found revonite. Unless…"
"It must have gotten swapped out somehow," Emmy says, who I'm guessing knows my story as she spent the night with Carli. It gives me the shivers to think about how that could have possibly been done.
"I'm taking this, too," I say, gently adding the rock to my already nearly-full pockets. "I don't think that Snooty lady gave the town the cure at all." Placing it in my pocket just makes me more nervous, an extra responsibility I have to carry. But I'm not leaving it here, and I don't want to give it to Gabriel or Emmy.
It feels almost too good to be true. We're not doomed after all. We give ourselves a short, well-deserved break from the action to recover, with Gabriel taking a seat on the spinning chair and Emmy and I sitting down on the stools.
"This is just so crazy right now," Emmy says.
"I know," says Gabriel, shaking his head. "That whole escape business still has my heart racing. I can't believe no one's coming after us."
"Do you think they will?" I ask nervously.
"Considering no one's here right now, I think we'll be safe for at least a little bit," says Gabriel, rotating his chair slightly back and forth. "Besides, we have an exit there. We can just run if we need to."
"So what do we do next?" I ask. Emmy groans.
"I have no idea," she says. "We're going to just have to figure out everything as we go along."
I don't have a clue, either. I don't even know what town we're in. How are we supposed to get home?
"Ready to move on?" Gabriel asks after a bit, looking at both of us.
"Onwards," Emmy says, going over to the exit door and pushing it open. We eagerly run outside, winding up in a grassy field that's almost empty except for the sparse flowers, trees, and weeds. We stand outside for a bit, taking in the scenery, as drab as it is. I didn't know if I'd ever see daylight again.
"So how are we going to go back and save all the people left behind?" Emmy asks, uttering the question I was most afraid of. It was a struggle enough to get out of the building in the first place. I have no desire to go back in anytime soon. This is our only chance at escaping unscathed, but I don't want to be the jerk that suggests saving themselves and leaving the others to die.
"Are they even saveable?" I ask. "What if they're… already dead after our escape?" A knot forms in my throat once again at the thought of Carli, who I've known for years, dying, lying blanched and lifeless on the floor of her cell. No. She has to be alive. I know she is. She's a fighter. She'd be much better at saving people than I am.
"Don't say that," says Gabriel. "We have to try. We're armed now." He wields his axe threateningly like a sword and brandishes it around, as if he's expecting attackers to shoot up from behind the trees at any moment.
"Careful," I say, uneasily watching his axe-flourishing. "You might take our heads off with that thing." Without warning, Gabriel then swings the axe right in my direction. He stops well before the blade would hit my eyeball, but I still yelp in fright before jerking backwards, covering my eye to verify it's not scratched or bleeding and then clutching my heart. Both he and Emmy giggle as he lowers the axe down to his side. "Don't do that!" I say angrily, although I would have thought it funny if it happened to someone else. Besides, this is no time for levity.
"You scream like a girl," Gabriel says teasingly, nudging me gently in the ribs. I flush red with embarrassment.
"Shut up" is the only response I can come up with. It isn't generally something I say to someone I've known for less than 24 hours, but considering what he did, I'd say it's justified. I'm now considering again the possibility he killed his fellow neighbours with that axe of his.
"Okay, guys," says Emmy. "Let's be quiet now. The whole building probably knows we're here after Jayden's shrieking. Come on, let's go over here and search the perimeter of the building. Maybe we can find some clues as to where they are."
"You'd have screamed, too," I mutter, feeling my heart again just to make sure it hasn't stopped. Gabriel snickers, and I scowl. Maybe I'll look back on this in the future and find it funny, but right now the humiliation does not feel pleasant. I hope they don't end up remembering this.
We walk along the side of the building until we reach a corner and then turn. There aren't many windows in this place. A couple looking into currently empty offices, but no clue as to where we could find Carli and the other humans.
The S.E.H. building is actually pretty long. Maybe three or four times the length of the Serenity town hall. But still we find nothing, except for what I assume is the main entrance (which is really just another boring door on the wall, but it has a concrete path leading away from it) and a few windows.
Soon we finally notice something interesting. But not in the building. Behind it, just in front of where a forest begins, a line of people are being frog-marched to a row of trees. The humans that were in the other cells. I recognize everyone in there. The white-haired girl, the sullen-looking boy, and—I rub my eyes to make sure I'm not hallucinating—Kelsea and Viridian. One by one, all of them get tied to a tree.
"That's them!" I whisper, pointing to my Serenity neighbours. "Those two are the other humans from my town!" How did they get here? But that doesn't matter right now. I crane my neck as I look for Carli. She's there, too. The last one to be tied up and on the tree closest to us.
"Okay," Emmy says quietly. "Mission plan. What do we do?"
"We find a way to sneak into the forest without anyone noticing," Gabriel says. "The trees are pretty dense, but it's still going to be tough to do."
"They're probably going to see us if we do that no matter what," I say.
"That's what this is for," Gabriel says, taking out his axe again. I flinch, but he doesn't notice. "And you guys have your shovels. Hopefully we won't have to use them, but keep in mind they won't hesitate to kill us. Just look what they're doing over there." I get the feeling he knows I'm not going to be able to use the shovel as a weapon.
"So are we just going to go into the forest, around the back, and come out behind the trees where they're tied up?" I ask.
"Sounds like a plan," Emmy says.
"I guess so," says Gabriel.
"Do either of you have any other ideas?" I ask. I don't even like the plan I came up with. I just didn't want to seem like a deadbeat. Emmy shrugs.
"Not me," she says.
"I say we just do that," Gabriel says. "Sounds like the only thing we can do."
There's always another way, though. I wish Carli was here. She'd figure something out.
But nevertheless, I follow my new companions as we plunge into the dense greenery and make our way as quietly as possible through the trees and dodging low-hanging branches. Then I hear a new voice, one with a tone of importance that sounds like it's talking into a megaphone.
"Fellow citizens," it announces as we scramble through the forest, "we are gathered here today to witness the deaths of these vicious humans. This will be our revenge. For what they have done, and for what their ancestors and relatives have done. The deaths of this scum will symbolize the start of a new era. One where humans will be few and hunted."
I can feel my anger rising as I listen to the obnoxious speech. Gabriel mutters some not-very-nice but highly accurate words about S.E.H. I hate this voice, and I feel so useless against it. All I can do is hope this plan works, but I'm not optimistic.
As we reach the back of the forest, the speech is winding to a close. The three of us are right in the middle of the line of prisoners, a few metres behind one of the human girls, shrouded by the cover of the trees.
"The tree is too narrow," I hiss as I mentally measure the one the girl is tied to. "We can't untie her without being seen."
"They're focusing on whoever's on the left," Gabriel whispers back. "They won't be looking."
"And now," the voice starts again, far to my right this time, "with this boy, Remington Durovic, we will burn the first human at the stake!" He is met with a thundering of cheers and applause.
"What are we going to do?" Emmy asks fearfully. I'm frozen in place. In a few seconds, Remington, whoever he is, is going to be barbecued.
In response, Gabriel darts forward to the girl to untie her before either of us can hold him back. Emmy and I look at each other in horror just as someone shouts.
"It's one of the escapees!"
Gabriel frantically pulls at the knots binding the girl as a line of animals at the back—the ones that marched the prisoners out here and tied them up—pull out their own weapons. The glint of silver metal in the sunlight catches my eye. Some are equipped with axes, while others are wielding razor-sharp knives.
"We'd better go, too," Emmy whispers. Before I can say anything, she hurries away and I trepidatiously follow her as she goes to untie the boy next to Gabriel—the sulky navy-haired kid—and I head for the next one in line, a girl.
"It's the other two!" comes a different voice. I hear footsteps and know we're going to be under attack soon.
The rope is tough, scratchy, and hard to untangle, and it's even harder as the line of angry animals at the back are racing towards us all. I try to remember Gabriel's words of encouragement to me, right before I charged the guard with the lamp. I can do this. Right? I wonder if I should hurry away and save myself, but if Gabriel and Emmy are doing this, then I will, too.
The white tiger who was just about to light Remington on fire, who I think was also the person making the speech, lifts up a lit torch and glowers at the three of us.
"Kill them!" he shouts, pointing at us with the end of the torch.
I'm not done untying the girl yet, but I grip the shovel in my pocket tightly.
Gabriel and Emmy have both untied one person, but both are now wielding their weapons. Emmy holds her shovel up like a bug net, while Gabriel gets an idea and slices through the rope of another person with his axe. I want to see how many he can free, but then the tiger chooses this moment to set the flame of the torch to Remington's tree.
Remington screams, and so do I.
"Gabriel!" I shout. "Over here! The axe!"
I don't have time to see the fate of Remington or whether Gabriel makes it, as now an orange and red lion brandishing a lethal axe is two feet away from me. He's faster than I am. I can't run. I must fight.
I swing my shovel as hard as I can directly at the lion's head. It connects with his axe, and he forces the shovel away from him before whipping his axe straight at my thigh, and I yelp and jump back as I awkwardly deflect it with my shovel just in time. This must be what sword fights are like on TV, where the blades constantly make X's and the two fighters take forever to make a hit.
I move backwards a bit, and start to swing for the lion's side, but realize what will happen and at the last second adjust my shovel upwards, putting every ounce of strength I have into the shovel.
It connects with his neck.
"Oh my gosh," I whisper to myself as the lion yelps, collapses, and puts a hand to his wound and use this time to run away. I've injured too many people today. I don't want to keep doing this. To my left, Viridian and Carli are the only ones left tied up. Emmy, Kelsea, and two people I don't know are battling it out with other animals, all next to each other. The black-haired girl who was across from me in the jail is lying on the ground, a long tear in her shirt revealing a cut. Her chest is still rising and falling, though. Her assailant must have been attacked by someone before they could finish her off or figured she was as good as dead anyway.
I go to work untying Viridian next, as no one's coming for me yet. I spot Gabriel entering the scene, swinging his axe into the back of one of our enemies, and immediately I look over at the tree where Remington was tied up. It's in flames, but I don't know if he's consumed in the fire or not. Everyone else is untied over there, at least.
I finish untying Viridian and he immediately pulls out his axe as I move on to Carli. I guess no one bothered to confiscate his belongings.
Once Carli is done, she thanks me for untying her, and again once I give her the shovel I grabbed from her cubby, her eyes gleaming viciously. I'm not sure what to do, so I just hold onto my own shovel tightly and glance in every direction for possible attackers. The big fight from earlier is broken up and dispersed now. Closest to me, Kelsea is exchanging blows with a tall blue bear. I must be crazy, but I move out of view from the bear and come up behind him before whipping my shovel into the back of his head. He's out like a light.
"Thanks, Jayden!" says Kelsea gratefully.
Why did I do that? I feel kind of bad for the bear. I hurt him.
But he would have hurt Kelsea.
So why do I feel sick to my stomach about what I did?
Then a new figure bursts out of the building. It's Keaton! He must have come here with Kelsea and Viridian. I'm grateful to have another ally, but I'm wondering where the others could be. Keaton eyes me and grins before pulling out an axe. His arm goes back… and then launches the axe straight at me. My jaw drops.
"Keaton!" Kelsea shrieks in horror, at a volume I've never heard her use. "Jayden, get out of the way!" But I'm too shocked, too frozen in place to move. Everything has gone silent. I wouldn't be able to get out of the way fast enough. All I can focus on is the blade turning end over end to meet my heart.
Kelsea plows right into me, knocking me off my feet. I hit the ground hard, and I'm sure I'm bleeding.
I sit up and feel my cheek for blood, expecting to see Keaton hovering over me or something, but instead, right in front of me is Kelsea, lying on the ground.
And she has an axe lodged in her chest.