AN: ... and chapter 3 :)

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Chapter three: Escaped

I sat still on the edge of the little bed which was standing in the center of the room. My face was buried in my hands and I tried convulsively to sleep or dream to avoid reality. I wanted to forget it all; to pretend that nothing ever happened. I just wanted to turn back time; if I could, I would've saved my father and protected my mother. Then I would've never become the spy and I would not have been banished. I couldn't have imagined that everything would end up like this; being caught in the Sixer's Camp and making plans with Taylor's son. For three years I was a traitor to Terra Nova but I had never thought of being banished and hated like this. I felt so vulnerable and alone like I never had before. Of course, I blamed myself and I knew that everything that happened to me was my own mistake.

Nevertheless, I shouldn't worry about the past now, I should try to figure out how I can escape. I stood up to look out of the window, down to our meeting point. It was really high, maybe about five metres. It really was too high to jump. My knee still hurt a lot and with every step I took it got even worse. Jumping was impossible. I panned the room, hoping a solution would surface.

Suddenly I saw my backpack standing in one corner of the room. The brown little bag stood beneath a wooden desk and a chair. When I stepped forward a sharp pain went through my whole leg. The pain dazed my mind and everything blurred. Immediately my hand clung to the next object I could reach; a lamp. I stood there for a few seconds until I regained proper consciousness. Carefully I walked past the bed and the bedside table until I finally reached the desk.

I sat down on an uncomfortable chair and lifted my rucksack onto the desk. While I wanted to unzip it I spotted a bottle of water on the left side of the desk. I took it and drank a lot. I was very thirsty and faint, but the water helped me a lot. I felt everything around me become clearer and sharper. When I put the bottle down again I first noticed the unsorted sheets of paper which were spread across the table. I picked one of them up and instantly recognized what they were; these were Lucas equations for making the portal go both ways and his attempts to reopen the terminus.

The little numbers and drawings were accurately written down in Lucas's flawless handwriting which I had seen a couple of times at Snakehead Falls, where he had drawn everything on rocks to impress Taylor and to let him know that he was still alive. All of his work and efforts from the last few years were lying on this table and he just left them behind? I couldn't believe that he was going to leave them on purpose, so I picked every piece of paper up and put them into my bag.

My bag reminded me of what I wanted to do. I had to look for a good way of escaping. I took some things out of my rucksack; my gun, my knife, a t-shirt, a fruit… nothing seemed to help me.

I packed everything back in my rucksack and put it down on the floor again. Then I discovered that the desk also had four drawers. I drew new hope from them and eagerly took the handle of the first one and pulled. The drawer opened and I was a bit disappointed when I found more equations. I didn't want the Sixers to find them so I stuffed them into my overflowing backpack. Lucas might not be happy if the Sixers get his equations and use them. I opened the next drawer and saw a Plex. This definitely had to be Lucas's room.

I don't know why but I also put it next to the equations in my bag. When I stuffed it into my bag, I accidently pressed the power-button on purpose. The screen lit up and a picture of a women and a child appeared. The woman had to be Ayani Taylor and the child had to be cute little Lucas. I suddenly felt very sad for him. He had lost his mother when he was fourteen and his father didn't care for him. It was obviously that Taylor had very high demands of what people are supposed to be and to do. Nobody could live up to his expectations. I knew that now Taylor was very sorry for Lucas and wished that nothing ever happened. It was so terrible of Taylor to blame Lucas for Ayani's death; Taylor thinks that if Lucas hadn't been there, he could've saved Ayani. It had to have been horrible for Lucas to lose his mother, he had loved her more than anything and he had also adored Taylor; he had compared him to a god. Lucas first realized that Taylor wasn't some kind of super hero when he couldn't save Ayani.

Quickly I turned the plex off, the Taylor family wasn't my business and I shouldn't meddle with their problems, although I was sorry for them.

But why didn't he take his stuff with him? Why should I carry his equations and his plex with me? I kept calm and tried not to become desperate when I opened the third drawer. It was empty. Then I pulled out the last one and sighed out of relief. In the drawer was a long, thick rope.

I planned to take the rope and tie it around a little column near the door. I was going to climb down the rope out of the window and would get down safely.

And so it came. At dusk I fixed the rope and took my backpack. I had to tie the rope in a special way around the column so that I could remove it easily by pulling, but it would carry me down securely anyway. My knee wasn't much better but I managed to find a way of walking without the piercing pain and nearly falling unconsciousness.

Everything was ready when the sun set and the moon shone bright above the sky. I was more than afraid of the upcoming events and days. I looked down from the window a couple of times but never saw Lucas. Earlier that evening I had switched off the light so that nobody would notice, what was going on. All of a sudden I saw a dark figure running through the foliage which covered the jungle floor. It was time to leave. My hands were covered in sweat and I was mega excited and scared. I was shaking a little when I gripped the backpack and pulled it over my shoulder. Then I tried to convince myself that I was strong and I was able to get down. I took a last look back at Lucas's room and then slipped over the edge of the window, holding the thick rope. The pain in my knee was unbearable but I knew that I couldn't give up that fast. I slid down the rope trying to be as fast as possible without making any noise.

Everything went fine; nevertheless, I was happy to find my feet again. I looked around and saw Lucas crouching down under a bush, waving his hand at me. I pulled the rope and it fell down. With the rope in the one hand and my backpack in the other I snuck over to him. It was very difficult but I finally reached him.

"Compliments, dear sister!" he whispered stunned.

He took the rope and put it into my backpack. I felt very relieved when he also took the backpack. Lucas gestured in my direction to move on and told me to be quiet. He went through the bushes and over the rustling leaf-covered floor while I followed him blindly. I didn't know where he headed to and I have to admit that I was a bit afraid because he carried the rucksack with the gun and knife inside. I couldn't trust him; he had killed a lot of people. He killed innocent Terra Novans and he also killed Wash. How was I supposed to trust him?

We walked quite fast for half an hour in silence but after that time I couldn't walk as fast as he could anymore. I was sure that we were pretty far away from the Sixers now; far enough to ask Lucas to take a break.

"Can we just stop for a moment?" I asked him. He turned around looking very puzzled.

"Why? Are you exhausted already?" he wondered. With no doubt I knew that he had forgotten about my bad knee.

"It's because of my hurting knee," I explained. Lucas came one step closer and remembered.

"Oh, I know that it hurts, Bucket. My bullet holes aren't healing well either, but we have to get as far away from the camp as possible. We have to or they'll find us. At sunrise, when they see that we escaped they'll send rovers and soldiers out to look for us. We have no other choice…" he told me in a caring voice. We stood in silence for a while. When I agreed we walked further into the jungle, deeper and deeper into the darkness because of the thick canopy above us. I let another hour pass, forcing myself to get away, but then I couldn't stand the pain anymore and sat down. First Lucas didn't notice but then he turned around again.

"Hey, what's up, Bucket?" he asked me as he sat down next to me. My shirt was covered in sweat and I was breathing very heavily.

"I can't go any further, I just can't," I tried to explain.

"If we get to our hiding place, we are safe and I will be able to look for some painkillers for you, but we have to move on. We can manage to get there tonight, trust me," he encouraged me. It was very nice of him to comfort me but on the other hand I couldn't understand why I wasn't allowed to take a short beak. I didn't want to sleep or stay here for the whole night; I just wanted to sit down. The exhaustion and insomnia got me and I started to speak very loudly.

"Why can't we just take a break? I can't trust you and for your information there is no 'we'. I don't even know where you are going to! I won't go any further!" I literally exploded. I was too exhausted and tired to think clearly. The words just rolled out of my mouth but I regretted it when I saw the anger flush in Lucas's jade green eyes. He took a deep breath and stood up. Trust was a sensitive topic.

"Do you really think I could trust you? You are the person who betrayed and shot me a couple of times! I could've just left you in the Sixer's camp, not caring whether you were dead or alive, but NO! I'm taking you with me to my secret shelters and hiding places and you can't trust me? Do you think I'm going to shoot you? If I wanted to shoot you I would've done that a long time ago, believe me," he stated and took a few steps back. "I think it's better if I leave now, I'm convinced you are able to survive alone…" His piercing gaze locked on to mine until he turned around and started to walk away. I stood up and tried to run after him, I didn't want to let him leave me alone.

"Please, wait. No Lucas, I'm sorry. I was making a mistake…" I begged. In that moment I felt very helpless. It was a nice offer of his to help me and I would've been extremely thankful if it wasn't Lucas Taylor who offered me that. But now I was caught in the jungle and if he was the only person who was able and eager to help me, I had to accept this. I had no other choice than to go with him. I followed him but he didn't turn around.

Suddenly the sound of gun shots filled the air. I panicked. In the distance I could see the lights from rovers which were heading towards us. Lucas ducked down and pulled my arm closer to his. He told me to hide. Then, a few seconds later it was silent. The Sixers had already found out that we were escaping. They had already sent out rovers and soldiers to look for us. Lucas and I were very important to them. They wanted to catch Lucas because he was a genius and me because they could keep me hostage to blackmail Taylor and Terra Nova. They wanted to get us back, come what may.

"I would suggest we stop arguing and get away from here," I spoke to him. He looked me in the eyes.

"Are you able to run? Doubt you can," he asked.

"I could try, maybe…" I replied unsure.

"Stand up!" he interrupted me and ordered.

"Why? I," I asked perplexed.

"Please just stand up now! We have no time left, they're only a few klicks away." he repeated, still angry. He stood up and I did so too.

Lucas gave me the rucksack and suddenly grabbed and lifted me from the ground into his arms to carry me away. He held me close to his chest and started running. I was too confused and afraid to do anything but I tried to free myself from his tight hold anyway. My heart pounded very fast and I wasn't able to believe what was happening. I held the backpack close to my body and felt the handle of the gun through the brown fabric. I was relieved to know that it was still there.

We heard the soldiers and the rovers coming closer and closer again.

It was too dark to see anything but I felt the Sixers and their flood lights, which were looking for us, on my back until they nearly spotted us. We hid behind a tree trunk.

I freaked out a little; that couldn't be. I just wanted to see Taylor's face if he knew what was happening now. I giggled a bit.

"Please don't move! We're nearly at one of my shelters." He told me in a nervous voice.

After a few moments he let me down to the ground. He ducked down next to me and pointed into the darkness.

"Look, there's our hiding place, we have to get up on that tree. Maybe you climb first?" he announced. I wasn't sure which tree he meant but I nodded anyway.

Now I've been outside the gates for approximately three days and I've already been carried by Lucas Taylor through the jungle in a cloak-and-dagger-operation to escape the Sixers. Yay, you're doing everything right, Skye.