Chapter 8: Escape
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Logan awoke in the morning with a groggy exhausted feeling. Reaching over to get his glasses, he remembered the day before. He thought he better go and check on Max. After getting dressed and grabbed his exoskeleton. After he put that on, and checked to make sure it was working, he walked over to his bedroom door. Grabbing the knob and opening the door, the scent of fresh made coffee had hit him. For a moment he thought that Bling had arrived early, then he noticed Max sitting by the window in her usual spot drinking coffee. Logan walked into the room and cleared his throat.
Max turned around quickly at the noise. Seeing who it was she turned back to the window. Took another sip of coffee and placed the cup down on the coffee table. Looking at Logan she said,
"Hey."
"Hey." He answered. Logan replied, "So I see you were up early."
"I didn't sleep. I don't like to sleep."
Logan took notice of the fact Max was wearing the same outfit as yesterday. Taking a mug of coffee himself he walked over to a couch beside her. Max immediately got up and moved away. Logan watched Max as she got down on the ground and started her pushups. The two of them were silent. Logan took a sip of coffee, setting down the mug he stated,
"Listen, I am going to go meet Cindy at her apartment. Do you want to come with me?"
Max stopped her pushups, now on 52, "Who's Cindy?"
Logan answered, "One of your friends."
"Oh. Sure whatever."
Max got up and walked past another window when she stopped, turning slowly, she enhanced her vision. A Manticore soldier was below. Max turned to Logan and said,
"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you. You are from Manticore aren't you?"
"What?" Logan asked completely oblivious to what Max had seen.
Max shot towards him, before Logan knew what was happening, he was on the floor with a bloody lip from Max's foot. Max took off. Escape and evade was all she could think of. Escape and evade. Running through the hallway, she found a flight of stairs. Running up them she reached another floor of the building. She stopped, to her right there was another window, glancing out she saw another three Manticore soldiers. They were on her trail. Running down the next hallway she found another flight of stairs. This went on for about two minutes, and each time she reached a floor she glanced out of a window seeing the Manticore soldiers.
She reached the roof, looking towards the sky she noticed a chopper coming to the building. Running to the edge of the building she noticed a wire running down to another building. Taking off her belt, she threw it over the wire and jumped. Sliding past Manticore soldiers. When she was just about to touch the roof a small building she heard a person say over an earpiece,
"She is in the perimeter, surround the market."
She turned to look at where the voice was coming from. A blond woman that she immediately noticed as Renfro, was talking to Manticore. She had to get out, and she had to get out at that moment. She didn't exactly know where she was going; her mind seemed to be guiding her. She ran full speed now, ducking under beams, cutting through alleyways, then stopping. She looked up at the building she had stopped at.
"A post office?"
Max asked quietly, but aloud to herself. Why did she stop here? Something told her that this is where she could be safe. She ran to an alley way behind the building. Walking in through a back door that she found, she came to a tiny hallway. Walking through the hall slowly and cautiously, the same feeling that she had been here before hit her. Then she came to a large room. Off to her right, a bathroom, and the hall brought her out to a place with lockers. Walking briskly, still sensing she wasn't safe, she came out of the locker room. She stopped.
Her body started to shake. Her body hit the ground. The room was going slightly blurry. Oh God not now, she thought to herself. She sensed the Manticore soldiers coming. Her body kept shaking, looking around, she noticed a closet. It wasn't the best place to hide, but it was better than being out in the open. Slowly, she started to drag herself over to the closet. The pain returned to her temple.
"Ahhhhhh!"
She yelled louder than she expected. Her body was still shaking. Sensing the soldiers coming closer she ignored the pain and desperately dragged her now out of control body to the closet. The she heard a voice,
"Hello? Whose back up in here? You best come out before I open a can of whoop ass on you.. Oh my God, Max?"
She had been discovered. The shaking was so bad now she could barely speak. Although for some reason, Max felt she could trust this person even more than that Logan. Whispering for fear of being heard she answered, "Help me, please, I don't want to go back. I won't go back."
The woman that had walked in ran over to Max. Picking up the shaking body. She couldn't hold her still. Immediately Max flipped over and landed on the ground still shaking. The woman noticed something, "Oh my God, Sketch! Herbal! Get back here!"
Two people came in, Max soon felt even calmer. She didn't trust this instinct of hers anymore. She was confused. Who were these people? Max lifted her head up just enough to look out of a window that was across the room. The Manticore soldiers were only a few yards away from the street. And the street was right in front of the building.
"What is it Cindy? Whoa! Who is this fine foxy lady?" Asked one of the people who had walked in.
"Shut up Sketch! This is Max!" Answered the one called Cindy.
"Oh."
Max couldn't deal with this; something had been noticed by this Cindy person, she wanted to know what it was. She asked in a shaky voice that matched her violently shaking body, "What is it?"
Cindy answered, "There's, there's something popping out of your neck. Oh my God, herbal get a wrench."
Herbal ran towards the closet and shuffled through the scattered items. Max looked up again, she saw two soldiers crossing the street.
"Hurry! Their coming, I don't want to go back, please don't let them make me go back."
Cindy asked her, "Who's coming?"
Max was about to answer when Sketch looked up and answered for her, "Manticore, I see them, they are trying to cross the street."
Herbal shouted, "Got it!" Tossing the wrench to Cindy he walked over near Sketch.
Cindy, without hesitating, clamped the protruding piece of metal. Grabbing it she pulled, Max screamed in pain. Sketch, yelling over her scream, "Hurry up girl, they are already heading over here."
Cindy said to Max, "Girl this is going to hurt"
Cindy gave one more big yank. Max screamed, blood went every where. Cindy fell backwards holding up the wrench to Herbal. A tiny piece of metal with protruding wires had been ripped from Max's neck. Max said in a stressed voice, while still shaking, "Break it, you have to break it, it's a tracking device I think. Hurry, crush it."
Herbal without thinking dropped the rude piece of metal on the floor and stepped on it. There was a pause and silence, with only Max's hard breaths of pain and now ceasing seizure being heard. Sketch broke the silence, "They stopped, no wait. They're still coming."
Herbal told Cindy, "Cindy, take Max somewhere, we will try to distract them."
Cindy nodded. She spoke to Max, while wrapping a piece of torn towel around Max's wound, "Come on girl, we have to go. Sketch, clean this floor up."
Max was very drowsy, but she knew that she was in enemy territory. And these people couldn't be enemy's. They were putting their necks on the line for her and she didn't even know why really. Max got up with Cindy's help. Cindy placed one of Max's arms over her shoulder and walked.
Max felt her strength returning to her. Her vision came back, the shaking stopped, and the pain was almost completely gone. She looked behind her; they weren't going to get away at this pace. Not this way either, in the open, where soldiers could be lurking in every corner. Max stopped walking. She turned to Cindy and asked her, "Tell me, where are you taking me?"
Cindy looked at her; a little surprised she was able to walk so suddenly. "My place, why?"
Max paused, her place. Max felt she knew what Cindy was talking about. "Listen, I don't know what it is, but I feel like I know who you are. For some reason I trust that, now, I will meet you alright?"
Cindy didn't answer but nodded. She understood. Max nodded back to her. Then took off through an alley. She didn't need to go far. Soon she arrived at a small apartment. Much smaller than Logans. She walked through the door. Box's of things were in one room. She walked into that room. All of the box's said, Max's Clothes, Max's junk,' it was Max's this and Max's that. On about eight boxes. A bed was in one corner of the room.
Then she felt something strange. Something she least expected A flash back.
