Hey Gallagher Girls and Blackthorne Boys,
I know it's been a while but I'm in my last year of highschool now so my updates are going to be few and far between. Sorry loves.
If you reviewed in the last chapter I've responded down at the end of this one x
Anyway I'll let you all get on to the chapter you have hopefully been longing for…
Disclaimer: All rights to Ms Carter
I struggled against the binds, cursing the fact that Catherine hadn't tied me in mere rope. Or even chain, I could have easily picked the padlock. Though, then there was the locked-via-computer steel door to contend with.
I had woken in the chamber five hours after being kidnapped and had spent the past few minutes trying to get free. I knew that after all the trouble I had caused the Circle they weren't going to be kind and just put a bullet through my head, oh no, they wanted revenge and they wanted to see me suffer through a slow death.
I cursed the many metal clamps holding me in place, I cursed the impossible door, I cursed Zach and the whole Goode family, I cursed my executioners, but mostly; I cursed myself for being so helpless.
This was, quite possibly, the one situation I wasn't going to get out of. I mean we had planned for my eventual capture of course, but we hadn't even thought of the Circle having security and weapons this advanced. I turned to face the mirror-window that looked in on my torture chamber. I couldn't decide whether to try the 'innocent, scared young girl face, or just to be defiant to the end and glare in a dignified way. My pride wanted to go with the glare, but the animalistic survival side of me that had a strong will to live, knew that the former option could save me.
A hiss sounded behind me.
The gas had started to filter into the room.
I took a deep breath and tried not to inhale any more air.
I faced the mirror and gave it my best look of confused terror. Fake tears forming in my eyes as I calculated how long I could hold my breath. I had exactly two minutes and twenty-four seconds before my body forced me to take another breath. Two minutes and twenty-four seconds was not long enough to undo the metal binds, smash either the steel door or the bulletproof window and kill every person in site.
I would never see my mom again.
This was it; this was how my life was going to end.
In those two minutes I had left, Zach walked into the viewing room and looked on in terror. In the cell in front of him was the seventeen-year-old girl he had just spent weeks trying to save.
Apparently I was staring right at him with a look of such confusion and terror as I tried to hold my breath that he felt the desperate need to do something, anything. "Stop the gas," He commanded, "Open the doors."
The executioner looked at him in confusion, "My orders are from Catherine, you have no authority here."
"Her earrings you idiot, they could be a tracking device or coms. Now open the door!" He shouted and sprinted towards the door, pulling a portable oxygen tank off the wall as he did so. Placing one mask over his own face, he made sure the airlock around the door was secured and then he stepped through the now opening metal cell door.
When he got into the cell, he raced over to my chair and quickly slid the second mask over my face, relief flooding through him as he heard me start to greedily gasp in the oxygen from the tank. Now that I was once again breathing, Zach focussed on the metal clamps that encased me to the chair. Turning to the mirror, he signalled to the clamps and glared at the technicians even if he couldn't see them through the one-way glass.
A few seconds later the clamps slid open and I was free. Suddenly unsupported by the clamps and half unconscious, my body lost all of its ability to hold me upright and I slid into Zach's waiting arms. My head fell onto his shoulder and my eyes drifted shut as I tried to seem as harmless as possible.
I'm still not exactly sure why they let me out instead of demanding Zach take my earrings off me while I was still strapped to the chair. That would have made more sense but I guess it isn't their place to question the orders of their boss' son, and perhaps they thought they could just put me back into the cell later.
Zach picked me up and carried me, making sure to hold the oxygen tank as well as he made his way to the door. We both tried not to let our eyes linger on the small white room for too long. Apparently these execution cells made Zach uneasy as he had witnessed the cruelty that took place within many times in his childhood.
I waited until I heard the second door seal behind us and I counted his steps towards the room full of men who had been watching over my death sentence. The fools, I mentally cackled, knowing that he was going to go confront them over the issue of why my earrings had been left in.
Fifteen footsteps, the slam of a door, Zach halts, we had finally reached our destination.
"Which of you idiots didn't check for tracking devices?" His voice came out as a low growl and when no one responded I felt him turn towards the right. "You, take the earrings out."
Footsteps approached hesitantly and then I felt rough hands pulling the studs out of my earlobes. I tried not to wince.
The man with my earrings asked Zach where he was supposed to put them, though it came out as more of a grunt. Zach sighed his 'why do I work with these idiots' sigh before bothering to drawl "To Catherine, where else?"
The footsteps receded and the door clicked open and then shut as the man left. I took the silence that followed as my cue.
Before Zach could even draw in a breath I had my arms around his neck and had flipped myself around his body. With a chokehold on his neck, I planted my feet behind his and pulled backwards slightly so that he was leaning towards me. I quirked an eyebrow at the others in the room, threatening to kill Zach if they didn't lower their now raised weapons. They all shook their heads, just like I knew they would, but by then all the men had been too busy staring at Zach's face and mine. None of them noticed I was only using one hand to choke him.
He noticed though, I saw his eyes widened as I used my free hand to check his waistband for any weapons. Finding nothing, my hand moved up under his shirt and explored the perfectly carved planes of his back. Bingo, there were two knives strapped there.
I had the first and smallest of the two knives out and flying through the air before anyone had time to see it coming. It hit the man closest to me, the momentum causing him to drop next to my feet. I grabbed the handle of the second knife and let go of Zach's throat in order to clutch his shoulder in a tight grip. Pulling him down with me in a backwards arc, I pulled the first knife out of the dead man's back and held both the knives in my hand.
No one had tried to shoot me yet, though that was thanks to my new human shield. Swift and silent like an asp, I released Zach and spun around, a knife now in each hand.
Three circle members. One big-boss-bad-guy. One Zach. Four guns in counting. Two knives. One terrorist. The big-boss-bad-guy would be the last to die.
"Kill her!" The big-boss-bad-guy screamed, his chubby face going red. By now the circle members had realised that in such a small room their guns weren't going to do well.
The member on the right tried to shoot me and ended up almost hitting his friend as I leapt out of the way and landed between the final member and the big-boss-bad-guy.
"Gallagher Girl!" Zach shouted from the opposite side of the room. He looked expectantly at the knife in my right hand. I tossed him the knife before turning to face the circle member beside me.
The circle member and the big-boss-bad-guy charged at me and I spun, one dagger coming up to bar the circle member's attack while my second dagger imbedded itself in big-boss-bad-guy's shoulder. The man I had just blocked grabbed hold of my hair and pulled me towards him.
Using the pull as extra motion, I pointed my dagger backwards under my arm and rammed it into his stomach. He really ought to have known not to touch a girl's hair. I used my boot to kick him off my dagger and turned in time to block the punch big-boss-bad-guy had thrown my way.
Using a manoeuvre that's highly classified, I pinned the boss-guy to the floor and took a moment to look up and see that Zach had managed to kill the last two members using one of their guns.
I turned back towards the guy I had pinned to the floor and watched his hopeless attempts at struggling. "Hello Mr Maxwell," I smiled grimly down at him, "I'm very sorry but due to your membership in the Inner Circle I'm going to have to kill you." I sighed, weary as I pulled the dagger out of his shoulder and tried not to look at his face. I plunged the dagger down into his heart and waited until his body went still before I stood up and grabbed me dagger.
Zach came to stand beside me as I surveyed the damaged we had caused. "We should probably go," He muttered, eyeing the cameras that Liz had hacked about an hour ago, "before Catherine realises that my betrayal towards you was really just a ploy to help you get inside her beloved base."
"I don't know," I replied, "you were pretty convincing, I almost believed you for a moment there." I started towards the door, stepping gingerly over the bodies that lay on the floor. I felt awful that I had ended so many lives just to save my own; I wasn't worth it.
"If we don't end the COC they will go after every girl at Gallagher, every terrorist agent in the CIA." Zach said from behind me, as though he knew exactly what I had been thinking. He didn't hug me, didn't say any untrue words about how my life was important; he just stood surrounded by the lives I had ended and helped me realise that all of this went beyond me. That was how my love for Zachary Goode started, not in-between kisses or during a romantic walk along the beach, but in a cold underground room with death and danger surrounding us.
Zach spoke again as he opened the door to check if the hallway was clear, "Two questions: what is the escape plan? And why did you never tell me the escape plan?" His jaw clenched after he asked the second question and it was obvious he wasn't pleased.
I stepped into the hallway and kept a firm grip on the gun he handed me as I took in the bare grey walls and white tiled floor. "Because I didn't completely trust you." I told him calmly as I started walking up the hall, listening out for footsteps other than our own practically silent ones.
Zach ran a hand furiously through his hair, "You trusted me enough to put your life in my hands when I brought you here." He ground out the words as though it was an effort for him to even speak to me through his annoyance.
Any intelligent person would realise that infuriating Zach while trapped inside his psycho mother's evil lair wasn't the best idea, but of course I once again proved how unintelligent I actually was. "Exactly, and I needed a safety net in case you didn't pull through and I had to run from both you and Catherine." I told him coldly as we continued to walk up the hall. "I can list a lot of reasons why I didn't trust you, or I can tell you how we're getting out of this place. Your choice."
"Fair enough," Zach sighed, though I could tell this argument would be brought up again later, "Now how on earth do you plan to get the two of us past all the guards and Catherine?"
Before I had a chance to answer him an explosion sounded from the opposite side of the base, and then everything turned to chaos.
So my dears, we are reaching the end.
The end of this story and the end of an era (well okay it's only been three years but that's a long time!)
Tell me your thoughts. Oh and to everyone who tried to guess why Zach betrayed Cam… you were all wrong as you can see in this chapter xx Except for ButteryHighlights who guessed correctly.
Well I didn't mean for you to all get so upset, and now I feel as though the true reason behind his betrayal is rather dull compared to your guesses. Oh well, it was the only way they could get into the base.
To my wonderful and much loved reviewers:
gallaghergeek4ever: Of course you're not getting to into it! I went through a stage where I tried seeing if I could apply to MI6. Thank you, I'm glad you like the story x
OhNobody: Don't worry dear Zach isn't evil and Zammie still exists 3
Lanoon: Oh my god I love your review! I'm glad you rolled on the floor, I do that when upset over published books so this makes me feel so happy haha and I'm uber glad that you thought the kiss was mind blowing!
Sunniva Steiner: Hello my lovely new character! I'm glad you're happy that everyone loves the fictional version of you. This story probably won't have a sequel or prequel but spin offs could happen. If you want Sunniva to have a sweetheart I can make that happen for you. Oh and she's eighteen years old.
ButteryHighlights: You my dear deserve a prize! You are the only one who considered that Zach wasn't evil and you completely guessed the plan (except Cammie needed Zach to get her in, it was her plan all along). I love your theory about Catherine and Zach drinking hot chocolate hahaha. As always your reviews are amazing, love you xx
kccb16: Three years of your amazing reviews and they seem to be getting even more wonderful! I'm glad you like the sarcasm (I love it too) cause I was afraid people wouldn't like my version of Cam, seeing as OOC Cammie isn't sarcastic and doesn't make many jokes. Zach giving her the finger was the highlight of writing that chapter God bless you for saying I could turn this into my own story xxxxx
me is Inteligent: Hahahaha I'm sorry it was so sad, it's all better now… well they are still pissed at each other but it's Zammie, when are they ever nice?
716647: Welcome to the family you lovely new reader! Getting through all nineteen chapters in a few days, that's dedication!
The Skeleton In A Fez: Haha your review is great! Please punch Zach, he can be an asshole sometimes, and he's hard to write about.
PLLandGG: I updated! You are amazing for loving this story!
Zach-Goode' : Thanks peach, as always your support is amazing! We're finally getting to the end of this story though
SKyeGOode: Did you just say you're obsessed with this story?! I love you! And wow you even reread it!
aquagallaghergirl-falloutboy: Here's more!
To all my guest reviewers: Loving the theories but never fear, Zach is still in love with Cam. Thank you all for the spectacular reviews I'm glad you like the story!