Backstab

Chapter 18: Guilt

A/N: Ok, I know I'm late, but I was up celebrating all New Year's, and the day after I just crashed. Also, I had a huge writer's block, which also explains the delay. So here's the story.

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SweetPea cradled Rocket's head between her hands, murmuring words too soft for me to hear as a relentless river of tears streamed down her cheeks. Tyler, who had been standing silently at the door, slid down beside SweetPea, intending to comfort her. She immediately buried her head in Tyler's shoulder; who, after a moment of pause, comfortingly encircled her in his arms.

I watched the scene unfold, before retuning my attention to Rocket's hand in mine. Reluctantly, I let it slip through my grasp, where it landed with a dull thud on the floor. I closed my eyes, struggling to regain control of my breathing as my mind processed what had just happened. She's gone, I thought somberly to myself, she's really gone.

The scene replayed like a broken record in my mind; how she fearlessly rushed into the room to stop me from making the deal with Blue, the anger and pain and determination she spoke with when she spoke to him, the crack as the bullets erupted from their guns, how both Rocket and Blue collapsed to the floor as the bullets struck home. Most of all, Rocket's last, hopeful smile before she passed, a smile I had come to know so well through our time together, a smile now lost forever.

And it was all my fault. If I had only held out a little longer in my cell, Rocket wouldn't have confronted Blue, and she wouldn't have been shot. They would have found me, and we would have escaped, we would have had the real freedom that we'd been fighting for, together. Instead, my stupidity and love for my friends had driven me to give in to Blue, and as a result Rocket was dead, and SweetPea had to suffer the pain of watching her sister die before her very eyes. I cursed my thoughtlessness, another wave of sadness and self-hatred rising in my chest.

"It's not your fault," Tyler voice cut through my thoughts.

I turned to see him staring towards me, sadness and pain dominating his expression.

I shook my head at him. "If I hadn't left my cell, if I hadn't agreed to help Blue...None of this would have happened."

"If you hadn't? If I hadn't been so stupid and eager to get revenge on my father, we would've never gotten caught in the first place!" he exclaimed in frustration. "Because of me we walked right in to Blue's hands. He forced you to agree to his offer, while I decided to lead you back out of my own free will. And because of it, Rocket's dead and I'm… I'm.."

"Stop," SweetPea interjected, her voice small and broken. Tyler and I turned towards her, both of us falling to silence.

"It's neither of your faults," she insisted, shakily standing up. "Tyler, you're not the reason your mother disappeared, you're not responsible for the hatred towards your father. And Baby, you only left your cell out of concern for us, and only agreed to help Blue because you knew it was the only way for us to survive. None of this is either of your faults, all of it is Blue's." she paused to get her point across. "Tyler, Blue probably the reason your mother went missing, why you hate him so much that it drove you to lead us back here. Baby, he's the reason you ever thought of escaping in the first place, and the reason Amber and Blondie and Rocket are dead. He's responsible."

Now, we all glanced towards Blue: the man who put us through so much grief, so much suffering these past weeks, who was now lying unconscious on the floor.

"SweetPea is right," I agreed, standing up as well. "Blue is the one who put us through all of this pain, it isn't out faults. We can't keep blaming ourselves for his actions."

"I agree," Tyler said, rising from his position on the floor.

We all turned to Blue, collapsed and unmoving on the floor.

"What do we do with him?" SweetPea questioned, looking back and forth between Tyler and I.

"We could kill him, to make sure he never puts anyone through this ever again," Tyler suggested, crossing his arms over his chest as if the idea made him slightly uncomfortable.

"We could lock him in one of these rooms and leave him to starve," SweetPea said quietly, though bitterly. "Baby?"

I remained quiet, still observing the man on the floor. "Would that make us any better than him?" I said, suddenly upset by their suggestions. "It's true that Blue has put us through some horrible things, but no one, not even Blue deserves anything like that. We need to turn Blue in to the police, and expose his crimes once and for all."

"But how? This place is still crawling with Blue's men, so I doubt we could escape while Blue is still alive, and even if we do escape and make it to the police, they will turn us in the moment they see us," Tyler argued.

I stopped, considering Tyler's arguments and trying to find a way through them.

"Unless, we're not the ones who go to the police," SweetPea spoke up slowly.

"How? We can't tell our story to anyone unless we expect to be turned in," Tyler said.

"Unless...we find someone who already knows our story," I said quickly, catching on to SweetPea's idea.

"Someone who was probably threatened into silence, but will help us if she knows that Blue doesn't have anything against her anymore," SweetPea added.

"Who are you talking about? I thought you said all the girls other than you involved in your escape plan were killed," Tyler said, puzzled.

"They were, but one other person found out our plan, and Blue kept her alive because her death would have aroused some uncomfortable questions for him," I explained.

"Well if she isn't one of the girls who tried to escape, then who is she?"

"Madam Gorski."

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A/N: Short chapter, I know, but it was needed to move the story along. Thanks so much to all the readers out there! All comments and reviews appreciated!