Enjoy!:

Twelve

"Nina!" Luke, Trey, Matthias, Percy and Alia ran to her followed by Martin.

"Wait, you guys know her?" Martin asked.

Luke nodded as he knelt down beside Nina. "Yeah, she was gonna help us rescue Smits and bust you guys out of here. Speaking of which…where is Smits?"

"Right here." Smits stood next to Percy.

Luke turned his attention to Nina by taking off his jacket and wrapping it around Nina's injured leg. "Does this hurt?" he asked her.

"Yep." Nina gritted her teeth in pain.

Martin wiped some sweat off his forehead. "Man, I'm so sorry about shooting you. I honestly thought you were one of the guards."

Alai patted Martin's arm with sympathy. "We all did."

Luke finished tying the jacket around Nina's injured leg. "How does that feel?"

"Still huts, but I think I can walk." Nina cautiously stood up.

"As soon as we get out of here, you'll need immediate medical attention," Percy said.

Luke wiped the blood on his hands onto his dirty jeans. "He's right. So let's get going."

He jogged up the steps, opened the trapdoor, and held it open for the other prisoners.

But many of them hesitated once they saw the most of the building was on fire.

"Don't worry about the fire, just run to the exit!" Luke pointed to the front doors. Luckily, there was a sort of path that would allow them to escape without getting burned.

Martin and Nina were the last ones out of the basement.

Once they were out, Luke shut the trapdoor. "How are you doing Nina?"

She had been limping with a hand extended out towards Martin in case she fell over. "So far so good."

The three of them were about ten feet from the door when there was a loud crack and a bullet came from the left and whizzed past their faces.

Nina, Luke, and Martin stopped and looked in the direction that the gunshot had come from and they saw Jason holding a pistol aimed at the three of them.

Nina's jaw dropped in surprise. "I thought I took your gun away from you!"

"Well, it's a good thing I learned to always carry a spare!" Jason gloated. "And you should have joined me when you had the chance! But now you and your pathetic friends are gonna die in here!" He fired three shots.

The first two missed but the third impaled Luke in the shoulder, causing him to stagger backwards.

"I'm gonna assume that he's the enemy!" Martin fired several shots. On the fourth one, a bullet impaled Jason in the stomach, causing him to fall backwards.

"Go get him!" Luke wheezed. "And bring him outside."

Martin looked at his friend. "Luke! Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine!" Luke had his hand clamped over the bullet hole. "Just go get Jason and bring him outside!"

"Why? He shot you!"

"Because it's the right thing to do!"

Martin hesitated, but he ran over to where Jason had fallen.

Luke looked at Nina and saw that she'd fallen to her knees. "Nina? What happened? Are you alright?"

"No, the pain hurts too much," Nina said. "Just go on without me!"

"That's not an option." Luke ripped off a piece of his shirt, stuffed it in the bullet hole to temporarily stop the bleeding, grabbed Nina's arm and wrapped it around his shoulder to help her stand.

After he watched Martin run out with Jason in his arms, Luke took a deep breath. I can do it, he thought. I only have to go ten feet.

But as Luke began to walk, be felt really light headed. So he broke into a full run and burst out of the warehouse.

He didn't make it more than three feet before collapsing on the ground with Nina.

But just before Luke lost consciousness, he saw the concerned face of Mr. Talbot looking down at him.

~Jameer14