A Final Farewell
Chapter 13
A/N: Warm reception to the last chapter thanks for all the reviews, I hope to have the last few chapters up soon I'm glad that you like how I'm making the story resemble Designate This.
She had one favor to Joshua, and she wasn't sure if he was going to agree to it or not, it would put his very life in danger. She faced him not wanting to look him in the eyes.
"Joshua, I need to ask you a favor."
"Joshua, help little fella."
"Thank you, I need you to create a distraction."
"Distraction, good."
"I need you to find a way out of here, and run to the north gate while keeping out of the way of the X-7's. We're going to burn this place to the ground, and then you and the rest of the transgenics will be free. Do you understand?"
"Joshua be free?"
"Yes, all of us will."
"Joshua run to north gate, create distraction, got it little fella."
"Okay do you know a place out of here?"
"Joshua know the way out."
"Okay, I'll see you on the outside, you take care big fella."
Walking up the basement stairs, she was almost caught by a group of patrolling guards. Ducking behind the door just in time she waited until they passed and continued down the hall in the other direction. Alec and her had agreed to meet at the end of the hall with the control room. He would create a distraction and she would sneak down the hall and break into the room.
She wasn't fully sure what kind of distraction he was going to create but she could be sure that whatever he did would work, she could only hope. She caught his eye from the end of the hall and nodded, he nodded back and he went off down the hall. Within the next few minutes she saw a steady stream of guards running quickly past her. Knowing that Alec had done his job, she crept slowly along the wall keeping out of line of sight of the cameras.
The room had an electronic keypad on the outside of the door, but she knew that underneath the keypad was a manual override. All she had to do was pry the keypad off of the door to get to the handle underneath. Then she would be able to gain entrance to the room, hopefully without alerting anyone to her presence.
She had pocketed a small switchblade knife she kept in her room before she left, which was thin enough to slip under the cover of the keypad. Checking to make sure that no one was around, she flipped open the knife and slipped it in the seam. Prying slowly upward, the panel lifted away revealing the handle. The door opened easily from there pulling the handle, the door slipped into a hidden compartment in the wall.
Quickly shutting the door behind her she set to work, most of the buttons were label with the names of the separate barracks, but one in particular caught her eye. This one wasn't labeled and it was smaller than the others, she pushed it once and then waited. Looking over the other buttons she didn't see anything promising. Checking on the front of the consul she saw a button labeled "Break glass in case of emergency." Usually those kind of buttons were used to warn of fire not create it.
When she was fully sure it was safe to set the fires she punched the glass and heard shouts and screams coming from the other side of the door. From there she knew that she didn't have a lot of time. Once the fires were set she knew that the place would go up like a box of matchsticks. Pulling the door open again she headed quickly out into the hall, the whole place was in chaos transgenic were running everywhere.
Carefully replacing the keypad cover she punched it as hard as she could twisting the metal keypad making sure that no one else could gain access to the room after her. Making sure that no one could stop what they had already started. She started running toward the front entrance following the rush of people already streaming that was.
Running out of the building she turned back, remember one last thing that she had to take care of. She turned toward the medical wing hoping that he would still be there. Running against the current, she saw the stares of the people she passed, they wondered what the hell she was doing running back deeper inside the building.
The medical wing was the only part of the building not engulfed in flames, but she knew that it would be soon. The walls were still poster board white, but she could see the paint starting to bubble as the heat but not the flames traveled through the walls. She wasn't sure which way she had to go but she would recognize it when she saw it.
There it was, the window and through the halogen lights and her own self reflected in the glass she could see her brother, her CO and her friend, staring out from behind it. Throwing herself against the glass, it shattered, spraying both with sharp glinting shards. One hit her squarely in the face, slicing the skin just above her eyebrow, and continuing all the way down her cheek, the sharp point had missed her eye by just millimeters. She didn't feel the pain, all she cared about was getting her brother out.
He was no longer hooked up to any of the machines, but one side of his face was completely missing leaving metal in its wake. He barely glanced up at her when the glass broke and he barely glanced up when she dived through the window, landing on the floor right next to him. She took one look at him and cringed, his skin was a pale gray color and his one good remaining eye was dull and glassy looking.
"Zack, I need to get you out of here." When he didn't respond, she grasped his forearm and pulled him out of the chair he was sitting in. He pulled out of her grasp and turned towards her. A look of recognition coming over his face, he didn't speak, but he nodded and turned toward the broken window.
Placing one foot on the edge of the windowsill, he hoisted himself up and into the other room, doing the same Max jumped down. Walking purposefully to the swinging door she could still see people running outside of it. Glancing back to make sure that Zack was still behind her she continued with the rest of the people down the hall. This time she made out the front entrance and did so without turning to run back.
Every once in a while she would glance back just to be sure he was still behind her. He didn't look at her but she could feel his eyes boring into her back with every step. They had almost made it to the south gate, when a stream of soldiers came around the left side of the building, immediately open firing on the crowd of people making their way through a hole someone had cut in the fence.
Dropping quickly to the ground, most of the transgenics were able to avoid the flying bullets. But some were not so lucky, the screaming started again as bullets continued to rip through the air. "Everyone get down," she yelled over the resounding panic. Dropping to the ground she hoped that they would follow her example, they did. Guards continued to stream around the building, their guns glinting, from the spotlights overhead.
She distantly heard her name being called, turning quickly she saw Alec carrying two children under his arms with two more children running behind him. "Alec get them down." But he continued to run toward her, "Alec get down," She yelled once more, but it was too late. They had attracted the attention of the guards and before she could blink she saw Alec along with the children in his arms and behind him fall to the ground.
Max willed for them to get up, but they didn't moved none of them moved. Letting out a small cry, she felt rage building up inside her. But before she had the chance to act on her anger, the sound of gunshots rang out again. Max ducked her head not wanting to look up and see what kind of damage the guards were doing. When the shots stopped she chanced a look up again, there were no guards in sight.
Looking to the side she could see Zack who had dropped down beside her staring at something behind them. "What is it?" she asked quietly. Again it was as if he was ignoring her, but after a moment he stood up. Figuring he wouldn't be stupid enough to stand up if there was any danger, she followed suite. Looking back toward the fence she saw a line of particularly ugly looking transgenics holding guns. They had apparently raided the arsenal before they had escaped the building.
She knew that she should feel happy, that now they could get off the grounds without being stopped, but with Alec and those children just lying there after being shot down in cold blood, she just couldn't. Turning she saw Zack staring at her expectantly, but for some reason she just couldn't meet his eye.
Walking over to where Alec's body lay on the ground, she sighed, if only he would have listened to her. She knelt down beside him and felt for a pulse, it was strong and looking around him she couldn't see any blood. Finding it odd she flipped him over on his back, startled to see his eyes open. Knitting her brow and rocking back on her heels she looked around at the children scattered on the ground all of them were looking back at her, then slowly they started to get up.
Alec sat up quickly and grinned, "You can't get rid of me that easily."
"How did you-?"
Pulling back his shirt Alec revealed a Kevlar vest beneath his clothes, the children were also revealed to be wearing the vests. "The wonder of bulletproofing, now if you'll excuse me, I have a life that I need to get to." He got up and started to walk away, the children following closely behind. Somehow, Max thought he would now become a surrogate father to the four children and she wished him all the luck.
"Hey Alec," she yelled as he turned around, "Thanks for everything."
"No problem, Max." With a wave he disappeared into the woods, the children disappearing also. She had a distinct feeling that sooner or later he would again pop up in her life, and she could safely say that she was sure a few more of her family members would follow.
A/N: I hope all you M/L lovers aren't that upset that there wasn't any interaction in this chapter, I don't know how long that will take. Still not sure how many chapters are left, I just have to see where my mind takes me, at least what's left of it. The ending is already planned out that I know will not change but how I get there will so please be patient while I work it all out. And once again reviews are very much appreciated so please I beg you review even if you hated it, tell me why!!! Thanks again for reading I hope you enjoyed this chapter.