Enjoy!:

Nine

When the gun shot sounded, it was heard all over the warehouse.

So when the guard who had been escorting Matthias, Alia, Trey, and Percy down to the prison cells heard the gunshot, he froze, unsure of what to do.

Then, a voice on the guard's walkie-talkie rang out. It said: "Attention all guards! We are now in situation beta-orange! I repeat, we are now in situation beta-orange! This is not a drill!"

In response to the message, the guard pulled out his gun. "Al prisoners get down on the floor NOW! If anybody moves or makes a sound, I will NOT hesitate to shoot you!"

Alia, Percy, Trey, and Matthias immediately dropped down to their stomachs. But it was a little hard to do since they were wearing handcuffs.

This is just great, thought Matthias. Now how are we supposed to rescue Luke and Nina when there's some emergency going on?

Alia lightly tapped Matthias on the shoulder and mouthed: "What do we do?"

Matthias thought about telling Trey to shoot the guard, with his gun Mr. Talbot had given them, but that would just lead to more chaos and confusion. Plus, there were more guards coming down into the basement where the prison cells were.

Matthias sighed. He and his friends were outnumbered, so there wasn't much he could do.

He looked at Alia and mouthed: "Right now, the only thing we can do is wait."

Alia didn't seem to like that answer, but she didn't protest.

All Matthias was hoping for was the by the time the coast was finally clear, that it wouldn't be too late.

Meanwhile, Nina peeked out of the door from the room she and Jason were in.

She could see several guards with their guns drawn, walking down the hallway.

Nina shut the door and sighed. This was just great. The last thing she needed was for this place to go under lockdown.

"Let me help you," said Jason, who was still tied up. "I know how we can get around during a beta-orange without getting killed."

Nina glared at him. "Only one problem: I don't trust you. But…" she walked over to Jason and pulled out the gun that was attached to his belt. "…this will certainly help."

"Hey, give me my gun back!" protested Jason.

Nina ignored him, walked over to the door, opened it slightly, and peeked out.

She saw several guards gathering around a door a few meters down the hall.

"Oscar and Aldous please answer our question!" said one of the guards. "Are you okay in there? Since the door will not open, we may have to use excessive force to break in if you don't answer our question so we can know you're alright."

There was no answer, so the guards began to punch and kick at the door until it broke down.

The guards looked inside the room and gasped collectively. "Oh my gosh! There's a hole in the back wall!" one of them exclaimed. "And Oscar and Aldous…they're gone!"

~Jameer14