Here's another one! Please review! I will probably put up one or two more chapters today.
Chapter 6
Echo was waiting in the defector room. Not a hair on her head was moving. She was sitting completely still. Shaw had told her that if she moved while he was trying to disable her collar remotely it would shock her and the guards would know something was up. So she sat completely still and she would until he came to get her. The other defectors in the room stayed away from her for the most part. They knew that she was dangerous, and she hadn't attempted to make friends with any of them.
There were eleven defectors in all not counting the ones that had been killed. One of them was a young boy, probably not older than eighteen. He was staring intently at Echo. His eyes were a bright jade green and his hair was dark brown. She looked away from him. He had defected with his mother, but she had been killed when they were escaping. He was alone here.
Finally, the door opened, but it wasn't Shaw who came in. It was Kane. Echo cursed her luck. She couldn't so much as talk to him. She had to act like she was too angry to talk with him. To her surprise he brushed by her. He went to the young boy.
"Hello Aster." Kane sat down next to the boy. "Diyoza would like to talk to you if you would." Aster looked at Kane with hate in his eyes. Kane seemed surprised by that.
"I defected because my mother was defecting. I won't do anything to help that woman or to help a traitor like you." Aster spit at Kane's feet and turned away from him. "You can keep me in this cell for as long as you want. I won't talk to her. I am Wonkru, and you are the enemy." Kane looked shocked. He hadn't been expecting that kind of resistance. Echo watched the boy with renewed interest. Kane stood and turned back to Aster slowly.
"I hope you'll reconsider." Aster looked at Kane and stood quickly.
"I hope you'll die for your crimes. We all knew Abby took those drugs and you were protecting her and her addiction. That medicine could have helped sick people. Sick people like my sister. I hope you both die." Kane left without another word. He knew he couldn't talk his way out of that one. Echo silently applauded the boy. He looked at her from across the room and she gave him a small smile. He turned away.
About an hour later Shaw finally came. No one seemed to notice or care that he was talking to Echo. Everyone except Aster. He watched with guarded eyes. Echo finally moved and she cracked her neck.
"How are you getting in here?" She asked Shaw under her breath.
"I told Diyoza and the guards that I have maintenance work in here."
"Don't they have cameras?"
"The maintenance work is on the cameras; I disabled them yesterday." She nodded. He was smart.
"Okay what's the plan?"
"I'm going to occupy Diyoza and you're going to go to the control room and implement the back door system." Echo held up a hand.
"But couldn't you just disable the eye? Why implement the back door system at all?" Shaw shook his head.
"I could just disable the eye but they would know it was me. This way there will be no trace. After that you'll get Raven and meet me outside the ship. I have a route mapped out for you to get you out of the ship without any trouble. The doors will all be open and the cameras will be on a loop." He slipped her a gun. She slipped it into her waistband. "In case you run into anybody." She nodded. "The ship is parked right outside the village. When you get out hide in the trees on the west side. I'll be there waiting for you."
"I want in." Shaw startled and turned to look at Aster. The boy had sat down next to them. "I don't want to be here anymore than you do." Shaw looked at Echo. She nodded silently. He shrugged.
"Alright, he can talk to Diyoza to keep her occupied. Then I can come with you to implement the door and get Raven. We'll pick up Aster when the guards take him back to the cell." Echo nodded.
"Okay. How long with that take?"
"We'll need at least forty-five minutes."
"I can give that to you." Aster said.
"Okay. When I go back to the control room I'll enable the cameras. Give me about half an hour. Just shout into them that you reconsidered and want to talk to Diyoza and I'll tell her what I heard. As soon as they take him I'll come for you Echo." She nodded.
"Okay let's do this." Shaw left and she and Aster waited. He sat with his arms on his legs. They waited in silence a long time before Echo spoke.
"Was all that true? All that stuff you told Kane?" She kept her voice low.
"Yes. He and Abby are the reason my sister is dead. My mother wanted to leave Wonkru and so I followed her. I may not be as devoted to Wonkru as some people, but I'm no traitor."
"Why is everyone so devoted to Wonkru?" Echo asked. He shook his head.
"They have to be to justify their actions."
"What actions?" Aster looked at her and she could see the pain there. He was scarred by the things he had seen in that bunker. His voice was light, but she could tell the words were hard for him to say.
"Which would you hear about first? The gladiator fights? Cannibalism? Killing the young and the weak?" Echo was horrified, but not surprised. She had expected something like this. The fact that he could talk about it like this indicated to her that he had seen a great deal of these things in the bunker. These weren't isolated incidents, they had been commonplace in Wonkru. "We survived," He continued. "Only because of Blodreyna. But I'm not sure we're human anymore." He turned away from her. Echo said nothing. There was nothing she could say. She couldn't imagine being in that bunker for six years.
"I think it's been half an hour." Aster said as he stood. He walked up to the camera in the corner of the room. "Kane! Tell Diyoza I'm ready to talk." Then they waited. Echo waited and prayed. She didn't often pray, but now seemed as good a time as any. They needed this plan to work. It was no exaggeration to say that the fate of the human race rested on this plan alone.
Not minutes later the door opened and a guard escorted Aster out. Echo waited. It had to work now.
Murphy woke to violent shaking.
"What? What?" He asked, sitting up. Emori was looking at McCreary in horror.
"John he's dead!" Murphy scrambled over to McCreary's body and confirmed what he already knew. McCreary had no pulse. He cursed. That had been there only chance at freeing Raven. He stood and stalked out of the cave. He kicked a bush and raged at it. They needed to get Raven back. Who knew what they were doing to her. It was his fault she was still in there. They had to come up with a new plan. Emori was sitting in the cave when he returned.
"We need to get Raven out."
"John I know."
"I think I might know a way."
"How?" Emori looked at him surprised.
"From afar I kind of look like McCreary."
"That's a horrible plan."
"Do you have a better idea?"
"No, but John that's an awful plan! What are you going to do if someone sees you up close?"
"I'll figure it out."
"No, you'll get killed. We need to think of something else."
"I could turn myself in."
"Do you have any ideas that won't get you killed? Or will actually help Raven?" Emori asked angrily.
"We could sneak into their camp."
"And do what? We don't know where Raven is or how to get her out."
"Are you actually going to come up with ideas or are you just going to shoot mine down?" Murphy asked.
"Just let me think!" She turned away from him. "You're impossible." She muttered. "I might be able to rig another bomb with some of McCreary's gear. We could set off a bomb as a diversion then try and get Raven out."
"We still have the same problem. We don't know where she is." Murphy noted.
"I can try to rig a couple bombs. They will think they're under attack. Then I can commandeer their ship. It won't matter that we don't know where Raven is." Murphy nodded.
"Are you sure you can do that?"
"Yes. I saw the control system when I was on it before. I can fly it. We can fly it to polis. Then they won't have their missiles or their eye in the sky." Murphy nodded.
"That's a good plan."
"Yes it is. I'll start making the bombs."
"What should I do?"
"Bury the body." Emori said looking at McCreary. Murphy sighed.
"Aye aye." He stripped McCreary of all his gear and then dragged McCreary's body out into the forest and started finding rocks to bury it under. He had nothing to dig with so he couldn't dig a grave. A cairn would have to do. He placed stones on top of the body and tried to imagine what life would be like if their plan succeeded. The prisoners and Wonkru would fight. Wonkru would inevitably win even though the prisoners had more firepower. They would have the Valley. Would there be peace? He doubted it. You couldn't just go from being a warring people to being a peaceful people. It was like trying to make a survivor into a peace-keeper. It was impossible. He would just find someplace on the edge of the Valley and live alone. He just wanted to be alone. That was all he wanted.
When he had finished he walked back into the cave. Emori had three bombs.
"We should wait until it's dark. There will be more confusion that way. As soon as it's dark we go."
"Okay." Murphy said. And so they waited.
Echo was still waiting for Shaw. She was starting to worry. It had been at least five minutes since they had taken Aster. That was five minutes less that they would have to enact this plan. Finally he arrived in the room.
"Come." He said quickly. The other defectors looked on with apathy. Echo left and she looked down at the two guards' bodies on the ground.
"Did you kill them?"
"They're just stunned."
"How long?"
"They'll be out for at least four hours." Echo dragged their bodies back into the room and Shaw closed the door. She ignored the defectors and they ignored her. Shaw began running through the hall and Echo followed him.
"Are the cameras disabled?"
"Yes the one's along our route. Sorry it took me so long I had to get Raven's leg brace."
"Her what?"
"They took her leg brace so she couldn't run away."
"Bastards." Echo muttered. They arrived at the control center and immediately ran into trouble. There were two guards there. They hid in the doorway.
"I can take care of them." Echo said quietly. Shaw looked pained, but he nodded. Echo stepped into the room and silenced both guards with two shots. They went to the control panel and she pulled out the USB. He pointed to the port. She plugged it in and they waited for the light to flash green like Monty had told her it would. It flashed red a couple of times and then it flashed yellow.
"What's wrong?" Echo asked Shaw.
"I don't know. I don't know anything about the system."
"Would Raven know?" Shaw nodded slowly.
"Maybe. I'll get her. Wait here, stay out of sight." Echo nodded. Echo glanced at a clock on the wall. By her estimate that had already eaten up twenty-five minutes of their time. They had twenty left give or take. Echo stayed hidded behind a screen. She waited impatiently. She knew that Raven's cell wasn't far from here. Perhaps she should have gone with Shaw. Did he even have a weapon? Would he kill if he had to? She tried to calm her mind. All this worrying would do her no good.
Five minutes later Shaw rushed in, Raven leaning heavily on his shoulder. Raven's face was twisted up in pain, but she smiled when she saw Echo.
"Hey again."
"Hey." Echo said, enveloping Raven in a hug. "This USB isn't working. Monty told me it should flash green when the system was fully implemented. Raven bent down to the computer screen and pulled up a window. She tapped a few keys and then stood. The USB flashed green. Echo grabbed it and slipped it into her pocket.
"No problem. System implemented. What is this system?"
"No time." Echo said. She grabbed one of Raven's arms and Shaw grabbed the other. "We have to get Aster and get out of here." Raven didn't ask anymore questions, just willingly hurried with them.
They rushed through the halls not running into anyone.
"Why is there no one in the halls?" Echo asked.
"I don't know." Shaw said stonily. All of a sudden an alarm began blaring above them.
"What is that?" Echo shouted over the alarm.
"That's the emergency alarm. I don't know why they've set it off."
"Where's the room where they had Aster?"
"This way." Shaw said and turned down another hallway. They arrived at the room to find that the door was locked. Shaw kneeled down by the door panel and quickly opened it. Aster was sitting inside. He jumped to his feet.
"Everyone left. They said there's been an explosion outside in the woods. They said they're under attack! Is it Wonkru?" Echo shook her head.
"They weren't going to attack until the eye was down. No way they got here that fast. It isn't Wonkru."
"There's no time for this!" Shaw shouted. "We need to get out and get as far away as possible." Echo agreed.
"Okay let's go. Aster help Shaw with Raven. I'm going to take up the rear. Everyone move!"
Emori had set off the first bomb. They had run to the next location and were preparing to set off the second bomb. Emori had rigged this one to be a grenade and they were going to throw it into the village. Murphy was panting from the run and he was sitting on the ground as Emori got the second bomb ready.
"Is it almost ready?" Emori didn't answer. She just concentrated on the bomb.
"Okay, pull this and then throw it. You'll have ten seconds. I'll meet you at the third bomb location." Murphy nodded. Emori ran off and he looked at the quickly rigged grenade. He hadn't even had time to ask what the chances were that it would blow him up. He sighed and walked to the edge of the wood. He looked around cautiously but didn't see anyone near him. He pulled where she had told him and threw it into the open space of the village. He ran as fast as he could in the other direction. It exploded being him, sending him flying.
He landed with an 'oof' and the wind was knocked out of him. He rolled onto his back breathing hard. He heard shouts and he knew that Diyoza's people would be there soon. He got up and stated running towards the third location. He was starting to wonder if this had been a good idea after all.
They had made it out of the ship without any problem. They had run into a few prisoners, but things had been so hectic with the alarm and the attack that they hadn't even noticed. They were running through the village now, crouched low to get to the woods. Raven was breathing heavily and Shaw was muttering encouragements to her.
"I'm fine." She said through gritted teeth. Aster's face was set, but his jaw was tight. He'd probably never done anything like this before. Behind them they could hear shouts and Diyoza yelling.
"They're coming this way!" Aster hissed. Echo started to move faster.
"Come on!" Raven continued to slow them down. Her leg was weak. Another bomb went off right to their right. They kept running and ran right into Emori and Murphy. They looked shocked.
"Echo? Raven?" Emori asked.
"Come on!" Echo shouted. Emori and Murphy started running with them.
"What's happening?" Emori asked. "How did you get out? We were going to take the ship!"
"You can't." Shaw said with labored breathing. "There's a lock on it that only Diyoza has the key to, so to speak." Emori looked nonplussed.
"How did you get out?"
"We broke out." Echo said.
"Where are we going?" Emori asked.
"Polis."
"How long will that take?"
"Hopefully only a day or so." Echo said.
"Who's the kid?" Murphy asked.
"I'm Aster."
After about an hour of running they stopped by a river. They filled skins with water for their trip. They didn't have time to get anything else. They had to get back to polis before Octavia attacked. Raven was sitting on the ground, her face white as a sheet. When everyone got up to go she stayed sitting.
"You have to leave me." She said finally. "I'll only slow you down." Murphy shook his head.
"Like hell. We didn't just go to all that work to get you out only to leave you here."
"She has a point." Shaw said quietly. Echo's face was stone. "We can leave her here and come back and get her when we come with the army." Echo looked like she was contemplating it.
"You can't seriously be considering this!" Murphy shouted at Echo. He looked to Emori for help, but she was looking at the ground. Aster faded into the shadows. Murphy shook his head.
"Fine. Then I'm staying with her." Raven looked at him in surprise.
"My knight in shining armor."
"Shut up Reyes." He sat down beside her. Echo looked pained.
"Go as far east in the valley as you can. As far away from the village as you can." Echo said. We'll be back for you. Find water."
"We know how to survive in the woods Echo." Raven said smirking. "We'll be fine. We'll see you guys in a few days." Echo hugged her quickly, then Murphy. Emori hugged them both as well. Shaw and Aster muttered a few goodbyes and then the four were off. As soon as Raven was feeling well enough Murphy helped her up and they limped along the river towards the east side. After a while they stopped and sat down in a cave.
"Thanks for staying with me." Raven said finally.
"Friends stick together."
"I didn't think you had friends Murphy." Raven was smiling even though he could tell she was in pain.
"Just a few." He said smirking. Raven put her head back on the rock and was asleep in minutes. Her breathing was shallow and her face pained, but they were safe for the moment.