**So, I hope that last chapter wasn't too bad of a cliffhanger because I'm not planning to go back to John's view for at least one chapter, maybe two. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
The Time for Ten - Chapter 4
"New York? We can't go to New York, we need to be in West Virginia!" Marina says, panicked.
"Calm down, calm down. I just wanted to get out of there. We can go wherever is needed now." Kal says in response.
"Wait, does anyone know where John could be?" I ask.
"I bet by now he has gotten out of Chicago. The Mogs are probably all over that shit hole." Nine answers.
"I thought you liked that city?" Marina questions.
"I did until the Mogs moved in next door." He says in response.
Suddenly my ankle starts to become cold. "Marina, this is nothing to get angry about, calm down your legacy." I say to her. The coldness is becoming more intense.
"It's not me, I fell it too." She says.
"Me three." Nine adds.
That's when the pain becomes unbearable. Nine and I drop to the floor and cup our ankles, while Marina stays standing, not as affected by the feeling because of her legacy. Luckily, it subsides in about a minute. I roll up my pant leg to see that my scar for Number One is gone, Nine's and Marina's are gone too.
"What does that mean?" Marina asks in confusion.
"I don't know, but hopefully something good for once." I answer.
"Then this'll make me sound like a downer, but I can't teleport all five of us again for another hour. We will have to go into the city for now." Kal says.
"We're already in the city! Just an alleyway behind some buildings." James says in response.
With that we all walk out of the alley and onto the main road. We ask for directions to Times Square, and when we arrive we just look around in awe. The centre is amazing, so many people and bright lights and food! I've always wanted to fit in for a day, and now is my chance.
"Lets meet back here in fifty minutes, okay?" I say to everyone, who all nod in agreement. I grab Marina's hand and we run to the M&M's store.
I haven't had chocolate for years. Luckily I hadn't given Nine his credit card back, so Mar and I go all out. We fill our bags with M&M's, Hershey Kisses, and everything we could think of. When we are done, we walk outside and sit on some steps. We start gulping down the candy, sharing stories and laughing as if we were normal teenage girls. It felt great. Then a man sits down next to us, about three feet away. He is wearing a tan trench-coat and a fedora. After a while he looks past us at the Broadway Play screen advertisements, and I see his eyes, black and endless. I quickly look away and tell Mar in a whisper.
"What time is it?" She asks quietly.
I look up at the big screen in the center of the square. "One thirty-five. Its been an hour. Lets go find the others before the Mogs notice it's us." I answer in a whisper.
Mar and I wait another minute to make our leaving more casual, and then we stand up and walk toward the meeting spot. I already see Nine, Kal, and James waiting around a lamppost. But the other thing I see is disturbing. Inside the McDonalds are around fifty Mogs, all with blasters in their back pockets, all staring at either the three of them or the two of us. I start in full sprint toward the three. Mar notices what I saw and takes off, reaching them in a couple seconds thanks to her super speed.
"Get ready!" I yell to them as Mar points out the situation. They all grab hands and stare at me, worry in their eyes. I take a quick glance behind me in time to see the Mog with the fedora starting to shoot his cannon. I create a forcefield around myself and keep running. The blast is absorbed but destroys the field, and now it's just me versus Mr. Fedora. I turn invisible, hoping to confuse the Mog, but I see he has now but on glasses and is looking straight at my swerving body. They can see invisibility, I think to myself. Mar's hand is just twenty feet away now, reaching out toward me. I dodge and swerve until I'm about five feet away, and then the Mog shoots. I can't do anything, the run has tired me out. The blast hits me square in the back and sends me sprawling to the ground, but my hand catches Marina's and my vision depletes to a small dot, and then expands into a field of tall grass with a single oak tree.
"So this is what West Virginia looks like..." James says casually while Marina rushes over to heal me.
"I'm so sorry, Six. I should've stayed back to help you." Mar apologizes to me.
"It's fine." I manage to grunt while the healing starts.
Suddenly I hear gun clicks all around me, possibly hundreds. The five of us look around to see heads poking out from the tall grass.
"Hello, Number Six," A women about my height with red hair says. "Remember me?"
xxxxx
I wake up hours later in a cell. I look through the bars to see Marina across the hall. Nine is to the left cell of her, and Kal is to the right cell. I'm guessing that James is next door to my cell. There is a Mog standing on either end of the five allotted cells.
"How long have we been here?" I ask to Mar.
"Shut up, Six." One of the Mogs says to me.
"About three hours." Mar answers.
"I said, quiet." The Mog says more sharply.
"No, you said; 'Shut up, Six.'" Nine says in a sassy tone.
The Mog takes a daring step toward Nine, and Mar responds by freezing his left pointer and middle finger together. Nine then drops the Mog's blaster to the ground by breaking its sheath with telekinesis.
"I'm not afraid to call back-up." The Mog says strictly to the both of them.
"Ooh, so scary." I say sarcastically.
That breaks his final straw, and he storms off down the hall. I think the five of us simultaneously think, one down, one to go.
I see Kal in a meditating pose, her eyes forced shut in concentration. Suddenly, the other Mog starts talking to nobody in particular.
"No, I'm not leaving. Yes, I know I don't have a chance against you. No, I will not unlock your cage. No, I won't get the keys. I said NO! I WON'T GET THE KEYS!" The Mog begins screaming his thoughts, and it is slightly terrifying. His hand starts to slowly move toward the keys on his belt. "What's going on?" He knits his eyebrows in concentration and his hand starts to move away from his belt. Kal forces her eyes closed even more, and is starting to shiver. The Mog's hand is moving toward the keys again, faster this time. "Stop it. Whoever is doing that, stop! I SAID STOP!" Now the Mog is screaming in panic, but in agony. Whatever Kal is doing, it can hurt his mind. His hands close around the keys, and then his legs start to move. His footsteps are slow, but are moving toward the cell next to me. James must be in there, I think to myself. The Mog finally reaches the cell, and a hand pokes out and snags the keys. Then Kal stops focusing and falls over, out of energy. I use my telekinesis to take the Mog's dagger from his belt; with Nine holding down his arms and Mar his legs, he's hopeless. I press the dagger to his throat.
"What's the fastest way out of here?" I ask forcefully.
"I can't tell you that." He says in a panic.
"I said, where is the nearest exit." I say and press the dagger farther against his throat, with a little blood starting to seep out.
"Down the hall ahead, take the spiral stairs to the seventeenth floor, then go down the left hallway. It takes you outside near the old house!" The Mog spits out with worry in his voice.
"Thank you for your participation." I respond as I shove the dagger into his neck. He disintegrates into ash.
James walks around the corner with the keys in his hand. He opens all of our cells and we huddle up.
"Somebody is going to be sent here soon because of that other Mog." I say with Kal slung over my shoulders, still passed out. That's when the siren goes off.
"Run!" Nine screams as we run down the hall the Mog described. Cells fly by, and sometimes we pass one with a human in it. Then a voice starts talking in my head.
"Six? Six are you there?" It's Ella.
"Ella! Yes, yes I'm here! Are you awake now?" I respond in my head.
"Of course! But I woke up in a bed here in the dungeon. Then the alarm went off, and my door swung open! I ran the opposite way of all the Mogs, and then I came across a room that was freezing, but inside was Eight's body and two others, they are all Loric!" She says excitedly.
"That's amazing, Ella! Where are you? We are in the West Virginia base too!" We are nearing the intersection with the spiral stairs.
"You're nearby, my mind is telling me that." She says in response. "Um..." It sounds like she's concentrating. "Take a right there! I am at the end of the hall!" She finishes with excitement.
I stop the group. "Ella is telling me she's down the hall to the right up there, and that she has Eight and the other dead Garde. Mar and I will go get her, you two need to get out!"
We turn back the way we came to see Mogs storming down the hall, blasters at a ready stance.
I turn to Nine and hand over Kal. "Go. We'll be fine." I say.
Our eyes hold a little longer than expected, and he runs his hand through my hair.
"Not the time!" I say and push him away, although I can't help but grin.
The Mogs are rapidly closing the gap on us. Nine and James race up the stairs while Mar and I dodge around the corner. I throw a forcefield up in front of the hallway we just came from and watch the Mogs slam into it and fall to the ground, some of them even turning to ash. Marina and I turn around and charge down the hall, this time sticking together. Then I can see Ella at the end of the hall.
"Ella!" Mar screams in joy, but the moment is quickly killed off by Mar slamming into a metal fist that has popped out of a doorway. She falls to the ground, unconscious.
Five steps out from the doorway, twirling a new metal ball in his left hand. He has an eyepatch over his eye that was taken by Mar, and he is limping on his left foot because of the icicle stabbed through his right, also caused by Mar.
"Well, it looks like she's not taking my 'other fucking eye.'" He says with a smirk. He punches at me but I block it with my forcefield legacy. "Forcefields... Interesting."
I lunge at him and catch him by surprise, so we both go tumbling into the room he was before standing in. His metal ball goes rolling into the corner. We tussle on the ground until he manages to kick me off. I immediately stand up and turn invisible. I walk over to the ball and put it in my pocket, now having two of that type.
"Shit..." He says and looks around the room, passing over me multiple times.
I walk up to his side and punch him in the gut. He doubles over, clutching his stomach. I punch the side of his head and he crumbles to the ground, clearly weakened already. I turn visible again and see Ella dragging Marina by the doorway, toward the end of the hall. I face Five again. He is sitting up against the wall. I grab his knife from a table and put it inches away from his eye.
"I'm not afraid to take it out, so you better answer my questions or else you'll be blind." I tell him.
He gulps and nods in agreement.
"Who is in the freezer down the hall?" I ask.
"Eight, Two, and Three. They took One with them to Chicago along with her chest." He answers.
"Why would they need her chest?"
"The contents don't get destroyed. Once both the Cepan and the Garde die, any Garde can open the chest."
"Where's your chest? Is it with Two and Three's?" I question.
He nods. "They are in the room to the left of the bodies."
"Last question," I start and move the knife closer to his eye, "why does Setråkus want Ella?"
"She is his heir, and the only one who can weaken him, but only Pittacus's descendant can deliver the final blow to defeat him."
"Do you know who the descendant is?" I say forcefully.
He nods. As he opens his mouth to speak, a Mog cannon blast fires just over my head. As the second one fires, I send it back with telekinesis and the cannon explodes, along with its owner.
"We'll speak later." I say and slam Five's head into the wall to knock him unconscious. I sling him over my shoulder.
I look out the door and see ice balls flying toward where the intersection is. I create a forcefield barrier and the ice stops coming, allowing me to run out and to the now conscious Marina.
"Here, take Five. You can take Eight also, if you want. I'll take Two and Three, plus a chest with my telekinesis. I suggest you grab one too. Ella can snag the third." I tell Mar. I turn to Ella. "Can you carry a chest?"
"I'm not weak." Ella says with a smirk. "Of course."
I walk into the freezer and see Mar smiling down at Eight's body. I personally think it's slightly creepy. This is the first time any of the Garde have seen Two and Three. It looks as though they've kept aging while they were dead. Two looks about fourteen, and has red-brown hair, freckles, and broken black glasses. Three seems to be about thirteen, and has strong facial features. He also looks like he used to be very tan. I take a look at Eight. He looks just like he did when he died, a hole in his chest and everything else. Marina puts her hands on his chest and heals him, but he is still dead. I look at her and nod. She slings Eight onto her other shoulder, and I pick up Two and Three. Ella comes around the corner, holding one chest in her arms and three in the air with telekinesis.
"Six... They had your chest too!" Ella says with a grunt because of the weight.
I pick up two chest from her and levitate them in the air. Marina takes the third, and we leave Ella only holding one chest, Number Two's.
"Okay, are you guys ready to escape? I've been holding up that wall for a while now, so there are probably many Mogs. I'll go first, Ella second, and Mar third. I'll hold the forcefield around us for as long as possibly, but it takes a lot of my energy. Can you use telekinesis to disarm and kill as many as possible?" I finish with the question for both of them.
They nod. "So we need to go up those stairs, and then down the hall. Are the others going to meet us in the house?" Marina asks.
"Probably. Lets do this." I answer.
The three of us slide out into the hallway. We have seven Garde, one unconscious and three dead. We also have four chests. That limits our use for telekinesis. We walk confidently toward my barrier and stand in our line.
"Lets kill these assholes." I say and pull down my forcefield, letting the Mogs swarm in on top of us.
**Hey, guys! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Like I said, the next chapter is also going to be with this group, not with John. Anyway, please review and I'll see you guys soon!