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Author's Note: The beginning of the End is here. This chapter is a bit longer than the last.But there was a lot of things to be told.

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Chapter Seventeen:

I ran through the halls as fast as I could, the others at my heels.

She’s fine, she’s a fighter. I kept trying to reassure myself that Trish was ok and that Beatrice was long gone from there. But it was hard to be sure about anything. The place fell apart awfully quick. One minute everything was orderly and over controlled and now it was like a bomb had gone off. It was scary and satisfying at the same time. It was also the perfect time to make a break for it.

After leaving Barry’s room we ran toward the stairs as fast as we could. Trish’s office was on the first floor, through many twisting halls, on the opposite of the facility. There was a lot of ground between there and the Dorms. As soon as we got on the ground floor was when the wailing stopped. Someone somewhere (God thank them) shut the damn alarm off. But it was only the beginning of our problems. As soon as we got out of the dorms it was like walking into a war zone. The main hall leading to the dorms looked like a bomb had gone off in it. The floor was ripped to shreds, torn asunder by large rock boulders and pieces of earth. The walls were slick with ice and any glass we came across was smashed to bits.

Clearly Beatrice had found her Clones. Mattie was able to point out who was responsible for what which was not very comforting at all.

We made our ways as quick as possible through the halls. Everywhere we went there was signs of destruction and maybe. Lights were hanging from the ceiling, spurting and sparking; doors were torn from hinges, there were large holes in the walls. There was one room, someone’s office that now looked like a winter wonderland. There was someone in there too but they were too badly frozen to identify. The destruction was very similar up and down every hall.

“We’re here” I said, hefting a piece of fallen rebar I found a few hallways back.

Barry took the lead, grabbing my hand. “We need to be careful and on our guard. Clearly Beatrice and the Deviants have lost their minds. Who’s to say if they can recognize friend from foe”

“Not Holly” said Chloe softly. “I’m her best friend in the whole wide world, there’s no way she’d ever try to hurt me”

None of us had a response to that.

Barry squeezed my hand and Mattie got as close to me as possible. How did I become everyone’s security blanket? The only one not clinging near me was Donovan. But he did look a little nervous, especially after we passed a burnt out office, hopefully there was no one inside. It made no sense. Why would Beatrice and the others go berserk like this? I understand that they hated this place but to wreck it like this with them still inside, it was suicide.

We came upon our first real body a few doors down from Trish’s office. It was the body of a guard or least what was left of one. His legs were the only thing we saw because the other half of him was somewhere on the other side of the wall he was sticking out of. Behind me I heard Donovan throw up and I felt like joining him too. There was only one person who could have done that and it was breaking my heart. Not Max, please not Max. If push came to shove and I had to take out the Deviants I would but there was no way I could drop Max. He was my friend.

I looked over at Chloe, at how sick she looked and now knew what she was feeling about Holly. I was thinking the same thing too: there’s no way Max could hurt me.

When we got to Trish’s office, Barry wouldn’t let me go first. The door was caved in and the area around it was burnt. He got overprotective real quick. I think he was also trying to shield me in case the worse was inside. He stood in the doorway, looking about. I pushed underneath his arm and charged into the room. The exam room looked nothing like how I’d left it. I couldn’t believe it had been about an hour or so ago.

“Trish!” I shouted as loud as I would allow.

Barry came up beside me, trying to over slipping in the water on the floor or on the magazines scattered about. I stepped around the coffee table which was now smashed in two in the center of the room. The biggest damage I saw was the exam table. Someone had literally pushed it across the room, through the far wall and into the adjacent office next door. How the hell could someone have done that?

“Is that her office?” asked Barry, pointing at the door in front of us.

I nodded. I tried to move forward but I was too frozen in fear to do so. I started to cry, thinking of what I might find beyond that door. Barry took my hand and told me he’d look first. This time there was no argument. Donovan went too, both strong men as they opened the door only a slight bit and slipped into the room. For a few seconds there was nothing, then a small crash like something being broken? Seconds later we heard a loud “Son of a bitch”.

I ran into the room and the sight I saw filled my with the greatest delight in the world. No I’m not talking about my boyfriend laying on the ground in a daze, a shattered ceramic pot scattered about him. I’m talking about the woman standing behind her desk, still in the throwing pose. I ran over to her and threw my arms around her. She wrapped her arms around me and we cried. I’d never been happier to see anyone in my entire life.

Chloe and Mattie came into the room.

“Girls close the door quickly” Trish ordered and they did as she said.

Donovan helped Barry to his feet as he rubbed his head. Trish apologized and I gave him a kiss, hoping it would make the pain go away. Isn’t that what loved ones were supposed to do: kiss the boo boos.

I asked the first question: “What the hell happened here?”

Trish gave me the quickest version possible. Shortly after I left to meet up with the others, she used the Frager on Beatrice. Everything was going find at first. Beatrice was a little fuzzier than I was and quite a bit more disoriented. When she started to get herself in order, something happened. Trish wasn’t sure what. One minute Beatrice was fine and then she flew into a rage. They were in the exam room at the time. Beatrice stomped the coffee table in half, kicked over the water cooler and then pushed the exam table through the wall. Trish said the only way she could possibly describe it was like watching someone doped up on adrenaline. She fled to her office but not before Beatrice threatened to burn the place down. The only way she could get rid of her was to promise to give her the Frager.

“When she left I locked the door” Trish was panting heavily. “It was about twenty minutes later when I started to hear the screams. There were a lot at first. Then the lights flicked, went off and the emergency klaxon came on. Boy was I glad when that went off”

Barry shook his head. “That going off is not a good sign”

“What are you talking about?”

“I helped design the Emergency system. You know how I told you about it going off during a natural disaster, prison break or fire” WE all nodded. “Well the first stage is annoying sound, the second shuts the power but the third is the bad one. It throws the entire facility into lockdown. No one gets in and no one gets out”

“Lockdown during a fire or natural disaster?” asked Trish “isn’t that a little extreme”

Barry sighed. “They don’t want anyone coming in and no one going out. If the place is going to be destroyed then everything is to be destroyed with it”

What the fuck kind of place is this? First they make it so we have to stay here and then when something bad happens they leave us here to die. These people are fucked up. What were they trying to hide, besides the obvious?

“There’s an override right?” asked Donovan as he started to pace the room.

Barry nodded. “Yeah but it’s not easy to get too”

“Where is it?” asked Chloe.

Mattie answered for Barry. “Zero’s office, of course”

“You’ve got to be shitting me” said Trish.

I smiled; I didn’t think she had it in her.

“I can shut it down” said Barry after a few seconds.

He went rummaging in the knapsack he was carrying. Right before we left his room, he stuffed it with as much electronics as he could carry the first and foremost being a laptop. HE took the laptop out of the bag and started to furiously type away. When he got like this I learned to leave him alone and let him do his work.

I needed to do my work too.

“We need to try and help as many people as we can” I said, the only one who nodded was Trish.

“So what’s the plan then?” asked Mattie, smiling.

“First we got to get Clara” I said, feeling partly responsible for her in the first place.

“Then we help Holly and the others” added Chloe.

“Ok I’ve got it” said Barry at lat as he spun his laptop to face us.

We all gathered around Trish’s desk, staring at the little screen. It was a 3D computer model of the whole facility, including the underground base. There were little dots moving about, some moving faster than others. They clearly represented the people. There was a large group of them amassed in the cafeteria and another even larger group in the underground Hub area. There was also a small group of dots clustered in a room that I recognized as Trish’s office, so they were apparently us.

A plan already began to formulate. I think I’ll call it Operation Rescue, Live and Get the Hell out of Here. It was a simple and catchy name and summed things up pretty nicely. I laid it out for everyone as orderly as I could. WE would need to split. Barry and Chloe would go to Zero’s office and see if they could shut down the lockdown. Then me and Mattie would go down to the labs and rescue Clara. I was also looking out for Max and Holly too. I wasn’t leaving here without them. Trish and Donovan would be in charge of finding us some way out of this damn place. I suggested one of the vans that we took to the mall; they were large and could clearly fit all of us.

We all got touchy feely before we went our separate ways.

Barry and I kissed for the longest time; I don’t think we even went up for air in like ten minutes. Trish hugged me and the others. She told us to be careful. Donovan made it pretty adamant that I get Clara out of there alive, even if it meant sacrificing him to do it. I thought it was kind of sweet because he was blushing the whole time he said.

“You need this” said Trish as she handed me her plastic ID card. “You can’t operate the elevator without one”

I nodded and gave her a hug, tears in my eyes. I wished in her ear: “If we don’t make it out of here alive I just wanted to say that your sister was a lucky person to have someone like you in her life”

Trish cried as she held me. “You’re just like her kid. She would have loved you”

I pulled away from her and the three groups parted. Barry and Chloe took off down the hall, going right and Mattie and I went left. When we got to the end of the hall, instead of making another left I went right. There was something I needed to do first.

“Umm, the Labs are the other way” she said as she ran along beside me.

“I know but the armory is this way”

“Why do we need the armory?”

“Because I’m not leaving here without my Reta”

_______________________________________________________________

The Armory was located inside The Range. It was a long and narrow storage room, with several metal racks full of weapons. The door had one of those pass code lock things. To a normal person that would have been a problem. But not to me. The first time I was with Greg and he opened the room, I heard and memorized his code. These people should know better than to do those things in front of someone who can hear them.

I punched in Greg’s code and waited. There was a hiss and door opened. I rushed into the room, heading right to the back wall where the handguns were located. There were several different varieties, separated by racks and rows. The Berettas were second from the top on the small handgun rack. I put Reta three guns in and two over. I knew her from every other one was because of the “custom” job I did on her. Greg told me after the first day at the Range that a lot of the guys here had specific guns they liked to use and often did custom mods on them to differentiate their “special” guns from the others. Reta had a purple streak running along the top of “her” barrel.

But when I went to get her, she wasn’t there.

My anger flared and I wanted to hit something. There was a small punching bag hanging from the ceiling nearby, so I gave it a good wailing. Mattie stopped me with a hand on my shoulder and I took a deep calming breath.

“Just grab another one” she said, not trying to upset.

I groaned. But she was right.

There were some other things I wanted too. The first thing I did was go over to the metal locker on the far side of the room. I used Greg’s code again and opened it up. Inside were Kevlar vests, gun belts and walkie talkies. I pulled out two vests, tossing one at Mattie and slipping the other one on myself. Then I grabbed one of the gun belts. I attached a holster and grabbed several clips from the second cabinet next door. In the second cabinet was a black bag, I opened it up and threw more clips in there as well as some walkie talkies. I grabbed a couple of flashlights too not that I needed them and the only first aid kit in the room. I went back to the guns, browsing until I found the right one. It was another Beretta just like Reta. I stuck it into my holster. Then I went over to the 9mm’s and grabbed two Glocks. Barry liked dual weapons. I threw the two extra guns and several more clips into the bag.

“Are we ready now?” asked Mattie, glancing around nervously, I think all the weapons were making her nervous.

“One more thing”

I went to the last cabinet in the room, using Greg’s code and opening it up. In here were an array of knives and other throwing projectiles. I grabbed a K-Bar with a black hilt and a wrist sheath full of throwing stars. Besides the Beretta, they were my weapon of choice. Greg told me when e first started training with throwing weapons that guns run out of ammo and are unreliable, especially in close quarters where it might be hard to squeeze of a shot. “A good knife” he said “is sometimes better than any gun”

I strapped the sheath to my forearm and the two of us left. It was a shame we were nowhere near the Galley because they had a food storage pantry up there. Instead the two of us would have to make due for now.

We ran out of the Armory and nearly right into a guard. He saw us, looking at me for a few seconds and panicked. It was his last few seconds. Black told me time and again the art of subduing a nearby opponent. There were two ways he said were best: aiming for the neck or the face. I went for the neck, slamming my first into his throat before he could react. He stumbled backwards, hit the wall and slumped to the floor.

“Is he dead?”

I bent over him and checked his pulse. He was alive, just barely. Together Mattie and I dragged him into the Armory. Before leaving him I heard a burst of static. I looked him over and found a throat mike and earpiece. I removed them and donned it myself. Might be a good idea to know what’s coming. I stripped him of his belt too, handing it to Mattie. There was no gun but he did have one of those tazers that Blue loved so much.

“Let’s get out of here before his buddies come”

Mattie and I took off down the hall. I listened to the chatter through the earpiece. The voices were scrambled and frantic. A lot of them were shouted and swearing. I heard the distinctive pop of automatic weapon fire and something else. It was a roaring sound. I’d never heard it before but it sounded almost like the wind. Looks like the Deviants are really mopping this place up. Just as long as they stay away from us, we’ll be fine.

We ran down the hall to the elevator. I grabbed Mattie before she barreled around the corner to it.

“What’s the matter?” she gasped.

“There are two guards on either side of it” I said, without looking. “One of them has a cigarette, the other one is a nervous teeth grinder”

She poked her head around the corner slight and cursed. “How did I miss it?”

I tapped my nose. “As for the grinding, it’s really slight and hard to hear”

The cigarette smoke made me sick. It was swirling about, in a nasty stream of gray. I was doing everything I possibly could not to throw up. I was also figuring out what we were going to do. I could take them out but at this distance they’d have to be kill shots. Could I bring myself to do that? I know I was being trained for something like this, in fact Greg told me it was going to happen one day. He told me with my natural skill and talent it was only a matter of time before someone had me pulling the trigger. That’s why he wanted to train me in sniper rifles and that’s why I refused. I don’t how “natural” my talent is, I’m no killer.

Mattie took a deep breath. “Cover your ears”

She stepped out into the hall and opened her mouth. At first I heard nothing but I knew better. I covered my ears with my hands. The sound I heard was on a super high frequency, much like a dog whistle. It was a shrill horrible noise and luckily not directed at me. Not so lucky were the guards. I’m not sure if they ever knew what hit them. They were standing there one minute, mumbling about some stupid drill and then the next they dropped to the floor. Boom, just like that, without any warning. It was pretty scary. No wonder they put that thing on her neck.

“I thought the choker prevented you from doing that?”

She shook her head. “It prevents me from making the nasty, ear popping, and brain hemorrhaging ones. But I can still tap into the higher frequencies”

I nodded. I took a deep breath and made a decision. “We’re going to need those loud, brain hemorrhaging ones of yours”

For a long time she said nothing. A tear rolled down her cheek a few seconds later.

“I can’t remove it myself, if I try it sends a horrible shock down my neck” She said tearfully. “But there’s a clasp back there with a combination lock. I think with your gift you could…”

She didn’t finish. I hugged her and let her cry for a few seconds. Then I fumbled with the back of the choker. It didn’t take long to find the clasp in question. It also didn’t take long to feel out the combination. There were several grooves along the dials and as I listened to them I could hear the slight clicks. I was able to get the choker off in about two minutes. I’m so robbing a bank in the future. Not really but it was cool that I could.

I opened the bag on her back and put it inside.

‘Let’s go before I change my mind”

We took off down the hall, going as fast as we could toward the elevator. I kicked the two guards, tying to see if they were ok. But I could hear their hearts beating, so that was a good sign. Mattie started pushing the call button, repeatedly. I knew her apprehension because I felt it as well. I looked at the light above the door, it was red and we needed green. C’mon, c’mon.

I heard them before I saw them. There were two of them, running down the hall toward us. I reached for my belt, grabbing the handle of my gun. I hadn’t bothered to snap it in just in case something like this happened.

“Step away from the door now, freak!”

I knew the voice too. It was only a matter of time that the two of them caught up with me.

The question was could I take them. I might be able to get one shot off. But the remaining one would drop me before a second. Damn I hate this. I looked sideways at Mattie but she was frozen in fear. I couldn’t blame her; I was a bit scared myself.

“Turn around and drop your weapon”

Slowly Mattie and I turned around. I reached for my gun and slid it out of my holster. I dropped it on the ground and kicked it toward them. Willis and Cross moved down the hall in the classic cover pattern. Both of them had Glocks with laser sights, the two dots trained on our chests. I wondered how good they actually were. Me I could have made both shots from way at the other end of the hall, without breaking a sweat. The two of them were slowly walking down the hall toward us, so clearly they weren’t nearly as confident.

‘I’ve been waiting a long time for this” said Cross as he finally reached us, moving his laser from my chest to my forehead.

Willis kept his trained on Mattie.

I closed my eyes, waiting for the bang. It never came. I heard the whoosh before I knew what it was. I opened my eyes in time to see a throwing dagger imbed itself into the back of Cross’ head. HE let out a tiny gasp before he fell forward, nearly landing on me. Willis snapped around, ready to take a shot. He hesitated and ground another throwing knife in his throat. He gurgled a bit before he dropped dead too.

“You two all right” asked Greg as he slowly came down the hall, a silenced 9mm trained on the two dead guards at our feet.

We nodded. I knew I still in a bit of shock. I figured Mattie was the same.

“What are you doing here?” He asked as he put his gun back in its shoulder holster. “You need to get out of her while you can”

Finally I recovered and shook his head. “We’re not going anywhere without Clara”

He sighed. “She’s in Lab Four”

The elevator door opened and we ushered inside. Greg stood outside the door as it closed. Right before it shut all the way, he stuck his arm inside. The door opened again and he slipped inside. We both looked at him, a bit shocked.

“What kind of teacher would I be if I left the two of you to die down there?”

___________________________________________________________________

‘So what’s your deal?” I asked as the elevator made its slow descent.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not just a teacher, are you?”

Greg didn’t say anything at first. He didn’t have too, looking at him I could tell he wasn’t what he claimed to be. He wasn’t as young as I thought either. Earlier I was guessing mid twenties but now looking at him he could be in his thirties. He was wearing a shirt with the sleeves cut off and I could see his muscular arms. On his left bicep was a tattoo of a skull with a knife through it. It looked pretty cool and a little bit scary. The gun was a big giveaway though. It looked like it was from the Armory, except for the silencer. I knew we didn’t have any of those because I did inventory last week. Clearly Greg was more than he appeared to be.

“I also teach” he finally said, running his hands through his hair.

‘You could have let them kill us you know”

He nodded. “Not only could I have, I should have”

“Why didn’t you?” asked Mattie in a quiet voice, looking at the gun hanging at Greg’s side.

He scuffed. “There’s no need for anymore senseless killing. They pay me a lot of money to be here but nobody pays me to kill kids…at least not anymore”

Oh Crap. Who the hell did we just get into the elevator with? I looked at Mattie and she was thinking the same thing. She nodded her head at him, opened her mouth, mimicking a scream. I gave it a few seconds then shook my head. He might be the scariest dude I knew now but we still needed him. He already admitted that he was some kind of hired gun and we needed someone to do the killing for us.

“As long as you don’t shoot us in the back, you’re free to tag along”

He smiled. “Fair enough”

The elevator came to a stop a few moments later. I took a deep breath, raising my Beretta. If I ever found out who took my Reta, I’m so going to kick their ass.

The door opened Greg went out first, pointing his gun to the left. I slipped out right after him, going right. We had both ways covered. The area was secure for the moment. I looked across the Hub, all I saw were bodies. Oh God, one of them were already down here. My heart started being faster and I was starting to sweat. This is not good; Greg and I were the only ones who could see. I hope someone doesn’t take advantage of that and go after Mattie. I reached over and grabbed her hand, making sure that she knew I had her.

“Lab Four is this way”

There were no golf carts so we had to huff it. You ever tried running down two full football fields. Let me tell you, it’s no fun. It was a good thing we were all in good shape or else I’d be one long trip. Thanks to my training sessions with Black and Barry I was at what might be defined as peak physical condition. At least for my age. Mattie and the others were too; apparently they went through some kind of exercise regimen. Even Greg was in good shape; in fact he was in fantastic shape. He was outpacing the both of us but he didn’t go too far in case we were overwhelmed.

I listened through the earpiece. There was a detail of Black Suits running around down here, on full alert. There was a lot of military mumbo but something they said caught my ear. They mentioned capturing one of them. They called her the Red Head and said they put her in the room with the Chinese girl. Oh God they’re got Holly. I looked around and saw all the bodies. Did Holly really do all this?

“They have Holly” I said as I picked up my pace.

“Where” asked Greg and Mattie at almost the same time.

“With Clara”

We all picked up our pace.

When we got to the end of the room, Greg halted us. Up ahead were the big doors leading to the rest of the facility but there were also about six guards, armed with fricking M-16s? God Damn it. Greg seemed to do the counting in his head and then shook it. I was doing the same thing and no matter what, there was no way we could take them all. Maybe one or two if we both moved fast enough but not all six. Even with my super sight.

“We’ll find another way” he whispered.

I shook my head. “That’s the only way and you know it”

“How many are there?’ asked Mattie, massaging the sides of her throat.

“About six”

“Get behind me. Now!”

She stepped forward and took a deep breath. When she opened her mouth it was like a fog horn. The blast was so powerful that it nearly knocked Greg and I off our feet. I threw my hands to my ears, trying to block out the sound. Through teary eyes I could see the six men trying to do the same. But unlike us, they were getting the full brunt of her blast. The first guy dropped seconds after the blast hit him, the others fell shortly thereafter. One of them and God forgive his soul, actually had his head rupture. It was really disgusting and I almost threw up.

When Mattie stopped, she fell to her knees, crying. I rushed over to her, a little wobbly on my feet but I managed. I hugged her from behind; telling her everything was going to be all right.

“I hate to be the heartless bastard here but we really need to get moving. That sound is going to attract a lot of attention”

Greg was right. We had to go. I helped Mattie to her feet and together she and I walked toward the doors.

When he came upon the dead Black Suits I pushed her face into my chest so she couldn’t look. The sight was pretty bad. It turned out two of them lost their heads. The others didn’t fare much better. There was blood seeping from every facial orifice they had. One of them even bit off half his own tongue. Mattie seemed to sense the carnage and sobbed even louder. I did my best to comfort her, whispering in her ear.

Greg didn’t seem to be bothered. He went to the nearest man and started rifling through his clothing. A few seconds later he came out with a security card. He tossed it to me then snatched up the man’s fallen weapon. How could he be so cold? He seemed to sense my fear and squeezed my shoulder, telling me it was going to be all right.

We opened the door together.

When it hissed open, I helped Mattie inside.

“Here” said Greg as he came back a few seconds later, holding a bloodied pair of night vision goggles.

He held them out to Mattie and his gaped at him. I glared at him. It took him a few seconds to realize what was wrong. So he took off his own shades, handed them to her and put of the goggles himself. Men, geesh.

“What’s the chatter like?”

I listened to the earpiece. But there was nothing. So either there was no one else, which was unlikely or someone had caught on to my listening in. I’m guessing the latter, so I took off the earpiece and throat mike. I tossed them away.

“They caught on to me I think”

“Then we don’t have much time”

We slipped through the doors and found ourselves in the Labs. It looked a little different in here than before. For one thing like looked like a tornado had come through. The lights were hanging from the ceiling; the glass observation windows facing the hallway were all cracked. There were several Black Suits lying on the ground, some of them were groaning. Greg rushed over to the nearest one, grabbing him by the front of his jumpsuit and slamming him into the wall. The man moaned, barely conscious.

“Where is everyone?”

The Black Suit groaned. “They’ve gone. They took the emergency elevator and went topside to help contain the breakout”

He looked at me and quivered.

“What about the girls down here?”

“They’re in Lab Four” said the Black Suit, pointing down the hall. “But stay away from the redhead she’s crazy”

I smiled. At least Holly was taking out her fair share.

“Thanks”

Greg stepped back, pulled out his gun and put two in the man’s chest before I could blink. It was horrible. How could he kill in cold blood like that? I thought he was cute but there’s no chance of that happening now. He was some kind of cold blooded monster. God, we have to get away from him.

He saw us staring at him. “He was a liability. He would have warned them we were coming”

“He was half dead. I could hear hi heartbeat. He wasn’t going anywhere”

I pushed past him and went down the hall. I passed by Labs One, Two and Three. There was nothing in there I wanted. It was Lab Four. I found it at the end of the hall. It had a large glass window facing the hall just like the others. Peering through it, I jumped. Holly’s face was right there and she was pounding on the glass, screaming. But the room was sound proof, well to everyone but me. I concentrated and heard everything:

“YOU FUCKING MOTHERFUCKERS LET ME OUT OF HERE. THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY FRIEND!”

I looked past her into the room. There were a lot of exam tables covered in white sheets. On the one closest to the far wall, was Clara. She was plugged into a lot of machines and looked pretty bad. She wasn’t moving and was paler than usual. What the fuck did those bastards do to my friend? I knocked on the glass but realized that we could see her and not the other way around. Not only that but she couldn’t hear me either. I ran to the door and swiped Trish’s card. When it didn’t work, I tried the Black Suit’s card. Greg came over and tried his: ACCESS DENIED.

“You need a Level Five clearance code” said a voice from behind us.

Turning around, I saw Dr. S. standing in the doorway of Lab Two, cradling her arm to her chest. It looked broken. Unfortunately her other one was fine because she was leveling a gun at us. A remarkably small Beretta, with a purple streak along the barrel. The bitch took my gun.

“Gregory” she said, leaning against the doorframe. “You should be ashamed of yourself, helping those Things”

“They’re not Things” he said, raising his own gun, leveling it at her chest. “Now the Code if you will”

“You don’t understand what’s going on here. You can’t let those Things out of that room. They’re monsters they’re all monsters”

Clearly the Doc was cracked.

“You’re the monster here” I said bitterly, pointing my gun at her. “You lock us up, you give us fucked up numbers, you perform fucked up experiments on us”

She laughed, it was a hysterical one. “We’re not locking you up we’re protecting you. Don’t you see what will happen if the rest of the world finds out about you. It will be Bedlam out there. We’re trying to help you; we’re going to cure you”

She had those eyes. You know the ones that crazy people get. They were real big and seemed to be looking at us and somewhere else at the same time.

“What the hell are you talking about? What Cure?”

“The Cure” she said, coughing. “Mr. Carson is a great man; he only wants to help you and others like you. As soon as his daughter came down with your Disease, he’s put every bit of his resources into finding others like her. He wants to help you so that he can one day return you to who you rightfully should be”

“I’m the right person now!” shouted Mattie as she jumped forward. “You’re all insane. The whole lot of you. There’s no cure for what we have…it shouldn’t have to be cured”

‘You’re the insane one, Matthew”

“MY NAME IS MATILDA!!!”

Her shout was loud and booming. The force of it threw me and Greg against the wall. It threw Dr. S. into Lab Two, sending her flying like a ragdoll. I’d never seen anything like it. It had been so loud that for a moment it was like all sound in the room had been sucked away. Then it all came rushing back and it nearly popped my eardrums.

I got to my feet, groaning a bit. If I had felt that I’m sure it would have hurt like hell. I looked over to Greg but he seemed to be faring better than me. Behind us the rest of the glass windows were cracked, including the one into Lab Four. I looked into it but Holly wasn’t by it anymore. She was huddled away from it, her hands over her head. Glad to see she’s all right.

Now for Dr. S.

I ran into Lab Two. Dr. S was on the far side of the room, imbedded in the wall. Looking at her I could tell she was dead. I stepped slowly over to her, keeping my gun trained on her. When I got to her, I bent down and scooped Reta off the floor. I could have kissed her but that would have been creepy. So I passed my Beretta to Mattie and stuck Reta into my holster. It felt good to have her back in the right hands.

“Is she dead?” Mattie was sheepish and clearly upset.

“Without a doubt” Said Greg, shaking his head. “It looks like you shattered every bone in her body”

‘It was an accident”

I leaned over and gave her a quick hug. “Remind me not to get into an argument with you”

Greg reached into her pocket and took out her ID card.

“Let’s hope this opens that damn door” he said as he reached forward and closed her eyes.

As we walked out of there I couldn’t help but think what she was talking about. What the hell kind of Cure could these people come up with? Clearly she was out of her mind and completely manipulated. They didn’t want a cure to anything, they wanted a Goddamn army. They weren’t taking us to save us either, they were taking us for their own personal agendas. That whole thing about Carson’s daughter, that had to be a load of bull, right?
Greg had the card and swiped it through the lock. There was a beep and a click. He was about to open the door but I shook my head. HE stepped aside and I ever so slowly opened the door. As soon as I got about a foot inside, a chair flew across the room and nearly hit me. It was lucky I heard it coming or else I would have really felt that one later.

“Stop throwing, it’s Becca!” I shouted into the room.

“How do I know you’re not some kind of imposter” shouted Holly.

What really? She’s got to be kidding me. I sighed and thought about, then smiled.

“Because you’re the only girl I know that wears panties with Naruto’s face printed all over them”

I poked my head around the door but Holly wasn’t wearing any goggles. I saw her get up from the floor and stumble about. I met her in the middle and threw my arms around her. She started crying into my shoulder. Mattie ran over to us and threw her arms around Holly too.

All three of us cried a bit.

“I’m so, so sorry guys” she said, patting Mattie’s head. “They did something to me, I wasn’t myself”

‘Yeah, I know all about it” I said

“Did they shave your head too?’ she asked, tugging on her own.

Now up close I could see it was fake.

“We can be bald together”

The three of us laughed.

“The reunion is sweet girls but we need to get Clara and get out of here” Said Greg as he walked over to Clara’s bed.

“Is that Mr. Red?”

Holly’s face flushed to the same color of his fake name. Mattie grabbed her hand and all of us went over to Clara.

‘Is she going to be ok?”

He checked the monitors around her. “It looks like they have her in a chemically induced coma. She should be fine as soon as the meds wear off. At least physically I mean; I don’t know about mentally”

“Can we move her?” asked Mattie.

“I don’t see why not”

Greg and I started to detach her from all the monitors. The heart monitor beeped crazy for a few seconds when we unplugged her from it but everything was fine. When she was free, Greg scooped her up into his arms, leaving the M-16 on the bed. I reached up and touched Clara’s head; she was kind of clammy and looked real pale. But she was alive and breathing and that’s all that really mattered.

I asked Holly to fill me in.

She started to talk real fast, so we all knew she was fine. She told us how: “Beatrice came into the AC and had this little thing with her. She was kind of angry looking and there was something up with her eyes. She touched the thing to the back of Sara’s neck and as soon as Sara recovered from what looked like a really bad headache, she got all angry too. She did the same thing to Natasha and Rachel and they all got angry. When she did me and Max, we were just really confused. Mr. Black was in the other room and when he came in, Beatrice threw him into the wall. I’m not sure if he’s dead or alive but you all know how big he is right. He’s like the fricking terminator. Anyway after that we left the room and the others started to go on a rampage. They took off real quickly, leaving Max and I alone. We were both a bit fuzzy and confused. But we started to remember stuff. I remembered Clara and how they had her somewhere. The only thing he seemed to have on his mind was you”

I blushed. So Max was BMCed too. I guess it made sense; after all I did hear him buzzing around me once or twice.

Holly continued rambling: “We stayed together for a bit. But we got separated. I found myself back with the nutsos though. They had Dr. Orange cornered, stripped down to nothing, a pile of burnt clothes on the floor next to him. He was crying and pleading with them. But all they seemed to want to do was hurt him. Sara grabbed one of his arms and held it over one of Beatrice’s flame balls. He started wailing and screaming. They did this with all his appendages and I mean all. After that they made him turn around and face the wall”

She took a moment to take a breath and to collect herself. “Rachel froze him to the wall, by his you know what. He started screaming and wailing until Beatrice lit him on fire. They stayed around and watched as he wreathed and screamed. After about a minute his thingy broke free and he slumped to the floor. It was absolutely horrible. But they never saw me, thank God. I don’t think I could have fought off all four of them”

“How did you end up down here” asked Greg.

“After I managed to get away again, I ran into a couple of those stupid guards. They grabbed me before I could react. They said there was something wrong with me and for my own safety I needed to come with them. They took me down to the Labs. When we got to the big place, I saw a bunch of those black suited guys. I managed to break free and sent a whole bunch of those fuckers flying. I’m not sure what happened after that, I think one of them hit me from behind. I think I got as far as the Labs before they did it though. Sometimes I get into such a high when I’m throwing things, I lose myself. Anyway when I woke up I was in the room with Clara. I started pounding on the glass and you came shortly thereafter”

I cringed thinking about Dr. O’s horrible death. I hated the guy with every fiber of my being but no one should have gone that way. It made no sense. I thought Barry and Mattie said Beatrice was a nice and sweet person before? How could she have turned into a sadistic killing machine? What’s more where were they getting this incredible strength from?

“We have to go” said Greg, making sure Clara was secure in his arms. “You can talk more once we’re all topside”

We ran out of the lab as one. Mattie took the front, Holly took the rear. The two of them were the only ones who could do real damage. Luckily for them, no one came. We ran out of the lab area and into the Hub as fast as we could. It was like we could do no harm. All we needed to do was find Trish and Donovan, wait for Barry and Chloe to get back and then try to get the hell out of there. I’m not sure what we could do for the Deviants. We needed Max too, I promised to help and I never backed down from a promise.

We got halfway across the Hub when I heard a loud speaker spark to life. I didn’t even know they had those in here. The others stopped too. They looked around as much as me.

Then I heard it: “Becca, come out, come out where ever you are?”

The voice had a singsong rhythm to it but more than that it was familiar. It was very familiar. I’d heard that voice every single day for the last six months.

It was the voice of my friend, the voice of my bodyguard and protector, the voice of my betrayer.

It was the Voice of Frankie.

Photo Credit: MeetMeByTheLake2Nite

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