Chain Reaction

Chapter 28 – the walls come crumbling down.

What if, in the escape of '09, Max hadn't escaped with the others? What if Jondy tried to save her when she fell in the ice, but in the end, they both got caught?

…

'14
Denver

Max resisted the urge to scream. Her body was trapped, buried beneath a pile of rubble. A multitude of scars, still not completely healed from the terror of a year ago, burned as pressure was applied and sharp corners dug into her skin. One leg was broken, and she couldn't feel the other. Only one hand, and part of her head, were free of the debris that had fallen on top of her.

The building had seemed sound enough. The mission should have been simple. Get in, get the documents, and get out. It hadn't even been risky enough to warrant sending another X-5 with her. They'd all been out on outside missions now, most at least four or five times. Only in the last month, almost a year to the day of the seizure incident, had Lydecker decided to send them out solo.

And now Max was paying for his confidence in their team. Only Lydecker knew exactly where she was, and he wouldn't be expecting contact from her for another 12 hours. The building was on the outskirts of town, in an area almost completely devoid of human life, and there was little hope that anyone still around would investigate the collapse. She couldn't afford to be found by anyone not from Manticore anyway – if she got caught, if she failed to return, Jondy would be hurt. Possibly killed. It was Lydecker's one safeguard. Whenever someone went out into the real world, their partner was kept back, to ensure no one tried to escape.

It had worked well so far. No one had dared to do so much as delay contact with Manticore for more than 10 minutes after the scheduled time. Even 598, the traitor, was dutiful enough not to risk endangering anyone. The rest of the X-5s shared a hatred of him, and he knew that. Knew that one wrong step, and he would be on the receiving end of a nasty accident.

And lying here thinking about the situation wasn't going to help her in any way. She had to find some way to get out, and get a message to Lydecker. She tried moving her free hand. She could stretch out the fingers, but moving beyond that was agony. Another broken bone to add to the list.

Carefully, she wriggled the fingers of her trapped hand. They moved with no pain. Next was the wrist. Still no pain. She could move her hand only a small amount underneath the rubble, but it might be enough. Carefully, trying not to move too fast or too much at once, she managed to get a grip on something above her hand.

The object felt like steel, and when she tugged at it, she felt a slight weight rise off her forearm before falling back down. The steel was trapping her arm in place. If she could just move it a little, roll it a little to one side, maybe she would get somewhere.

Many minutes later, Max managed to roll the steel rod off her arm, only to have something else fall down into it's place. Something hard and sharp, with a jagged edge that ripped at her skin as it settled into place. And try as she might, Max couldn't stretch out her fingers enough to touch the object, let alone get a grip on it.

Max closed her eyes. She could do nothing, for the moment. Her working hand was weak after moving the steel rod, and she wasn't going to get anywhere by wearing herself out completely. Time enough to rest for a short while, before trying again.

"I'm telling you, there's someone in here. I saw someone running towards the back door, just before the explosion. There's no way they got out of there before the whole thing came down."

"Maybe you're right. But who's to say they're still alive? Most people don't survive having a building collapse on top of them."

The voices startled Max into opening her eyes. Her field of vision was severely limited by all the debris surrounding her head, but she thought she could make out a body standing near the front entrance. If she weren't so desperate, if she could move just one more of her limbs, she could ignore them. But she was desperate, desperate enough to try her luck with whoever it was standing there.

"Help?" Her voice was barely a croak, her mouth coated in dust. Licking her lips, she tried again. "Help me. Please?"

The figure by the door turned sharply, and began making their way over to where Max lay. Another figure joined her after only a moment's pause. As they got closer, Max stifled a gasp.

"Micah? Star?"

Star grabbed Micah's elbow, stopping him from getting any closer to Max.

"Max?"

"Yeah. I'm in a bit of a jam here, right now, so if you'd mind giving me a hand?"

"Where are the others? I've heard nothing of anyone else escaping from Manticore, so you must be on a mission. Where's your partner? Any guards around as well?"

"Just me. Please, Star, I need you to help me. There's just me. No one else. I helped you once, when you were escaping Manticore. I didn't ask questions. Can't you please do the same for me?"

"You promise there's no one else?"

"I promise."

Star let go of Micah's elbow, and the two set to work moving the debris covering Max.

"Anything we need to be careful of, Max?"

"Broken right leg and right arm. Can't feel my left leg. Might be something squashing it pretty bad. And something's digging into my neck. I don't want that moved until the last, if you can."

Star nodded, and got back to work. They freed Max's left arm first, before moving down to free her legs. With her working arm freed, Max was able to carefully begin moving some of the wood and steel covering her stomach.

Almost an hour later, and Max was free. Her left thigh had been crushed beneath a heavy steel pipe, but it didn't feel broken. Her right leg was broken in two or three places, by the feel of it, and her right forearm had snapped in half. Her right shoulder was dislocated, and she suspected a number of her ribs were also broken. Biting through the pain, she managed to hobble out of the building, with the support of both Star and Micah.

"I need a public phone. One that has somewhere to sit. You can ditch me there."

Micah sputtered. "We aren't going to ditch you anywhere. You need help. Medical attention."

"And I'll get it. Back at Manticore. I can't not go back, Micah. He'd kill Jondy."

Star shot her a sharp look, eyes full of anger. "What do you mean, he'd kill Jondy?"

"She's my partner. Whenever I got out, he keeps her back. If I don't do exactly what he wants, if I don't check in on time, he'll hurt her. If I tried to escape, he'd kill her. I can't let that happen. She means too much to me."

"I wondered if he'd think up some crazy idea like that. He had to have some way to ensure you didn't decide to join the rest of your family out here." Star sighed. "I hate that he's holding Jondy hostage on you, Max."

"So do I."

They proceeded towards a small park area in silence. It was barely large enough to contain three small trees, but it had a seat, and there was a phone box on the corner of the road. Before they could cross the road to the phone, Max stopped.

"You shouldn't come with me. I don't know if they've got guards stationed here to take me back yet. If they do, they could be here in minutes. I can't risk you guys getting caught."

Star nodded. "We've risked enough just helping you this far. If it were anyone else, if we weren't just passing through, we wouldn't have done this much. You're my sister, Maxie, but you're still Manticore."

"I understand. Just... the others? Are they okay?"

"They're all fine. Haven't had to rescue anyone in almost a month."

Max smiled. "Tell them we still think of them? Still miss our brothers and sisters?"

"I will. Or Micah will. I promise. We need to go, Max. You'll be okay, won't you? You'll look after yourself as best you can?"

"I will."

Star drew Max in for a quick hug, before letting Micah throw his arms around Max and hold her tightly.

"I miss you, Max," Micah whispered into her ear, before stepping away. Star took hold of his arm, and gently starting leading him away. She threw a last look over her shoulder at Max, and gave her a smile, before they disappeared around the corner.

On her own now, Max struggled to make it across the road to the phone box. The tiny amount of pressure she had to place on her broken leg caused agony every step. When she finally reached the phone, she had to pause for a moment and take a number of deep breathes to steady herself. Then she picked up the phone, and dialled the check-in number. It was picked up after only two rings.

"X-5 452 reporting early due to mishap. Yes, sir. Objective achieved. Building collapsed before exit was reached. Yes, sir. Broken leg and arm. Yes, sir. Corner of Jewel and Belleview roads. Understood, sir."

It took Max almost ten minutes to reach the seat in the park. She lay down along the length of it, feet just dangling over the edge. She wanted to close her eyes and slip into a trance, but the guards coming to take her back to Manticore weren't that far away. She had to stay awake and aware of what was going on around her until then.

An hour later, a black SUV pulled up beside the park. Two Manticore guards stepped out, and walked over to her. Max sat up.

"X-5 452, sir." Max intoned, giving the guards a salute.

"You can walk?"

"Slowly, sir. And not well."

One of the guards helped her stand upright and slowly hobble to the back door of the SUV. The step into the vehicle almost caused her to black out in pain, and as soon as she was seated, she closed her eyes and began slipping into a trance. Without a word, the guards got into the front seats, and started the drive back to Manticore.

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