Cristan
I edge into the smoky haze that fills the hallway, ears ringing so loud I can hardly hear my cough as I try to make out who lurks at the doorway.
One minute I was sitting, waiting for Derek to come get me again, the next I hear what has to be an explosion, and the building is shaking under me.
The haze clears and I see Derek glowering at me, his face bloodied and his movements cautious like he’s injured.
He moves to speak, but from beside him a scrawny nurse with baggy clothes launches herself at me.
I stagger back into the doorframe raising my bound hands higher to avoid her as she wraps her arms around my waist.
I stand awkwardly for half a second, gobsmacked as to what the hell she’s doing, until everything snaps into place. I pull away just enough to see the blonde hair and red-rimmed green eyes through the smoke.
Relief makes fresh tears spring to my eyes. I relax my hands so I’m holding her against me and kiss her as hard and as long as the precarious situation allows for.
I have no time to think about how she got here when Derek shoves my shoulder roughly. “Come with me. Now.”
He grabs my arm and pulls me away from Mallory. She darts around fallen pieces of ceiling plaster, and walls that have disintegrated as she tries to keep up with the pace Derek is setting.
We nearly collide with a screaming nurse as she runs past us. I shove back and try to shake him off. “Slow down. Mallory can’t keep up.” I look sidelong at her so he gets my meaning.
She’s out of breath and coughing as she stands in front of me and gestures to my restraints. “Take them off!” she shouts over the siren.
Derek ignores her and tries to open the closest door with his time slide. When it doesn’t budge, he scowls and tries to kick it in.
Over the sound of the siren, I hear gun shots. Derek hears them too. He whirls around and reaches for me again. And I don’t need to think too hard on why he came got me and why he’s allowing Mallory to tag along.
He still thinks he can salvage this. Thinks if he keeps me bound and Mallory at my side, I won’t make a fuss and will go quietly.
That isn’t going to happen. But I can’t let him know that.
There’s no point kicking at the door. There are only a handful of regular doors on this floor and none of them are nearby.
Lockdown means all the external doors stay shut and won’t open unless overridden. That’s not going to happen when everyone is running for their lives.
“Take them off me,” I yell at him.
He shakes his head, then presses his palm to his skull like he’s in pain. He stumbles, hitting the damaged wall beside us.
With the sirens screaming all around us, fire likely going to trap us here, we’re running out of time.
“Take off the restraints,” I yell over the siren.
Mallory starts to cough as smoke coils around us. Derek looks bewildered as he stares blankly at me. Nothing like this has ever happened before. He’s not equipped to deal with it. Even highly trained officers like he is won’t have been forced to deal with the consequences of an outdated explosion.
He’ll have no idea of what damage smoke can do to a person in a matter of minutes. And we’re standing here while he gapes at me like he thinks I caused all this mayhem.
I grab his collar and slam him against the wall. “Listen to me. We need to get off this floor. The fire is spreading and we’re trapped.”
He flinches but looks down at my restraints. I catch a glimpse of Mallory, who’s had the presence of mind to cover her mouth and nose with her shirt and raise my hands so they hover in front of Derek’s nose. “I can’t help with these on,” I shout.
Derek snaps his eyes to mine and I see nothing but sheer panic swimming in them. He’s out of his depth and he knows it. He grabs my wrist and punches in the combination and presses his thumb to the indent.
The restraints fall away and I don’t waste any more time. I grab Mallory’s hand and start to run through the smoke and debris towards the stairs.
I’m running, dragging Mallory through the smoke, trying to hold my breath as much as I can when I catch sight of a bunch of G men with masks over their faces and weapons primed in our direction.
I have enough time to dodge to the wall before they start shooting at us. Derek’s protests are lost as they creep forwards in formation shooting through the smoke.
“Where’s your weapon?” I yell across at Derek.
He doesn’t answer me, just cowers against the wall, managing to look terrified and confused at the same time. I swear at him as I see his weapon hangs useless on his belt. “Shoot back, you stupid bugger!”
He doesn’t even acknowledge me. He’s rubbing at his head again, and through the smoke I catch more blood trickling down his head. He must have been close to the explosion, possibly concussed and definitely not fully functioning.
Mallory grabs my shoulder and points to the waste disposal vent beside me. A cough wracks my body but I nod at her and let go of her hand so I can crouch down lower to examine it.
The vent is covered by a slotted panel with a coded pad beside it. Mallory waves her wrist but the vent stays shut, so I pivot and kick flat-footed as hard as I can. The panel dents but doesn’t budge. The shots keep coming, Mallory screams as part of the wall flies off and showers us in dust.
I roar in frustration and try another tact. I grab hold of the top of the vent and pull as hard as I can. My fingers slip, losing their grip.
The weapons continue to discharge, getting closer by the second. Across from me Derek screams and slumps to the ground, blood spreading across his chest.
The rage starts to build. Panic mingling with fear Mallory will be next. I can’t let that happen. I can’t watch her die.
Without a thought, I scramble across the floor and wrench the high-tech gun off his belt. I start shooting, aiming as I dodge the broken floor to get back to Mallory.
Pain knocks into my shoulder, fire burning through me at the same time Mallory screams at me.
Blood starts to leach from me, but I feel no pain as I carry on shooting, keeping as low as I can.
The men start to fall, but not quickly enough. I’m outnumbered, cornered, and at the rate the smoke is filling the hallway, I’m probably not going to kill them all before they reach Mallory.
In the back of my mind I hear shouts coming from behind. But I’m too focused on stopping the men advancing on Mallory’s position.
A shot comes from behind me, and I spin awkwardly and press my back against the wall, breathing fast as more men come from the other direction.
I glance at Mallory, expecting her to be rocking, and covering her ears against the noise, but she’s staring at the advancing men and slowly rising to her feet.
Panic surges through me. I yell as loud as I can for her to stay down but she’s not listening.
She’s edging towards the incoming men and I’m too far away to stop her. “Mallory,” I scream at her.
Either she doesn’t hear or she’s seeing something I’m not. I take my eyes off her and keep shooting in the opposite direction.
When I glance back at her, she’s amongst the group advancing, I can barely make her out as shots come from her direction.
My already raging heartrate kicks up a notch at the familiar sound of low-tech guns. “Cristan!” Mallory yells.
In a rush of adrenaline, I push out from the wall and start to fire wildly as I start to walk awkwardly zigzagging across the broken floor.
Shots come from behind me, so close, I flinch as the bullet whizzes past. A man goes down, followed by more until I manage to hit the final masked G man.
I collide with someone and swing around gun extended to find a face so pale, it’s almost transparent, I jump back in shock, ready to use my weapon again, when I see Trey’s grinning face. His head has been shaved and he looks like crap, but I’m so relieved I’d pretty much kiss him.
More pale faces appear as Kit steps to Trey’s side, gun in her hand. “You know a way out of here? The stairs have been locked,” she yells at me.
I nod, though the smoke makes it pointless. I grab Mallory again and squeeze her tight, equal parts annoyed and relieved at her.
As a group, they follow us as I head back to the vent Mallory found. This time, with no one shooting at me, I manage to kick the crap out of it, ignoring the pain shooting through my bare feet, as the vent caves and the hinges buckle.
There’s no time to think before I gesture for Trey to go first, with another grin, he salutes me, winks at Mallory and dives head first into the vent.
Kit slaps me on the shoulder and smiles as the pale faces follow after Trey with far less gusto. “Good to see you.”
I have time to smile back before I hear high tech weaponry blasting in our direction. With a nod at Mallory, Kit crouch leaps into the vent and I push Mallory towards it, her eyes go wide, but she ducks and crawls inside.
I fire a couple shots and dive inside, hoping the momentum will carry me a little way. The vent is narrow, my shoulders are pressed against the sides, back flush with the roof. My breathing starts to increase as raw panic threatens to take over. I claw forwards, abandoning the weapon as it slows my progress.
I can’t see anything as the light disappears, but I can hear someone ahead as they crawl frantically, nails scratching against the metal, breaths as ragged as mine as we scramble like mice through a maze.
A shout echoes down the vent, making my hairs stand on end. I can’t twist, I can’t move, all I can do is wait for the pain that signals they’ve hit me.
I squeeze my eyes shut, sweat and blood dripping down me, making me slide and slip.
My feet burn as they rub against the metal causing friction that competes with the pain tearing through my torn shoulder.
I hear the weapon discharge, panic floods my oxygen-starved body and in a final desperate bid, I make it another foot inside.
I yell as the floor suddenly disappears from under me, air swirls around me as I start to slide.
The sounds of gunfire start to lessen as I skid downwards on my arse, gaining speed as the vent shifts to near vertical.
I tear down gaining speed until there is nothing but air beneath me, and I crash, landing in a breathless heap.
I hear a laugh and see Trey’s manic smile as he leans over me, hand extended as I try to catch my breath. “Miss me?” he says.
I near choke on a retort but accept his hand when I see a dishevelled Mallory picking her way through the discarded medical supplies.
I stagger towards her, ignoring the strangers peering at me, like I’m the one who looks out of place, and wrap my arms around her.
I hold her tight and look at Kit as she picks a piece of gauze from her hair. “Wasn’t sure you could pull this off.”
Kit shakes her head, but her eyes are on Trey when she answers. “Yeah, well. We aren’t out of here yet.”
I frown at her, wondering what she’s keeping from me as Mallory steps away, and looks at the blood saturating my shirt. “You were shot?”
I try to smile but I don’t have it in me, there isn’t time to waste so I wade through the rubbish we’re standing on, hoping I don’t stand on any used needles and direct my question to Kit. “You found transport?”
One of the pale faces answers, her voice rough and odd sounding as she meets my eye. “Grace is Haven.”
I still don’t know who they are, and that wasn’t really the question I asked, but no one contradicts her, so I find the smile I thought I’d lost. “She is,” I agree.
Mallory
I don’t let go of Cristan’s hand as we follow the ghosts, Trey and Kit as they run towards the door. I try not to think about how much pain he must be in as Kit finds the panel and swipes her wrist.
I press into Cristan and try to find my breath again as we wait for the door to open. Nothing happens and Kit curses and looks to Cristan. “Now what?”
Trey looks at Cristan expectantly. “You’re some kind of genius, aren’t you? I don’t know anything about this kind of tech. So be my guest. Open the door.”
Cristan pulls a face and shakes his head. “With what? I need tools, or at the least a tablet so I can hack into the system.”
Kit yanks her time slide from her wrist and shoves it at him. “How about the Prime Minister’s time slide?”
Cristan’s jaw slackens as he accepts the bloodied time slide. His voice is flat as he stares at it. “How was this not destroyed?”
Kit’s face darkens. “Can you open it with that or not?”
Cristan doesn’t speak, just turns the time slide over in his hands. Trey waves a hand at him. “Can you use it or not?”
Cristan lifts his head slowly, his jaw tightens as he looks at Kit. “You blew up The Prime Minister’s suite? That’s why Derek was injured. But how did you get this off his wrist.”
Kit steps forwards past the ghosts who are huddling together, not saying anything.
“We have people on the inside. People close to him, people who knew what they were getting into when they signed up for this.
Now, are you going to make their deaths pointless or are you going to fecking get us all out of here?”
I grip Cristan’s arm, and grimace as blood seeps into my fingertips. “Cristan?”
He turns slowly, and exhales wearily. “He never takes this off,” he mutters.
Kit growls at him. “Really? Not even for a pretty young thing who gets him to take his clothes off on a regular basis?”
Cristan’s eyes seem to bulge before he shakes his head in disgust. “I don’t want to know.”
Trey barks a laugh at him. “No, you don’t.”
I’m still not understanding, but Cristan glares at Trey then steps to the panel.
Like in the Zoo, when we were trapped in our locked room, he rips the panel off with his bare hands and starts to pull wires from inside the box.
When multiple wires are hanging out, he looks around and scans the faces all peering at him. “Anyone have something metal? A conductor?”
It’s Kit who answers as she shakes her head. “No metal allowed inside the ward.”
Cristan scowls hard. “How you get the bomb inside then?”
Kit raises her hands and shakes her head. “We don’t have time! If we make it out I’ll explain everything but hurry up. Grace can’t hang around the entrance for long.”
I don’t know who Grace is, or how Cristan seems to know her also, but it seems to spur Cristan on, he turns back to the panel and starts to tap away at the time slide.
An alarm starts to sound and everyone turns to look at the only other door in the medical waste collection room.
Cristan’s eyes find mine and his jaw clenches as he looks away while everyone is distracted and shoves his hand inside. A spark ignites in the panel but I can’t see what he’s doing when one of the Ghosts shifts in front of me.
Trey slides closer to Kit and shouts at her. “So, this great plan of Jackson’s…did it involve a way for us to get out of here.”
Kit has to shout over the sirens, but even with my hands clamped over my ears I can see her lips pucker into what I know is a vile curse word.
She’s yelling at him when the door opens and Cristan steps back, a black scorch mark on his fingers. I have no time to wonder on any of his behaviour, when he grabs my hand and I stumble into him.
My shoes nearly make me trip as I step into a hallway, clear of smoke, but with another siren and more lights flashing.
There’s no time to ask how he opened the door, when he starts to run, dragging me along with him.
Footsteps pound down the hallway as everyone dashes towards the door illuminated with an exit sign.
One of the ghosts, a man, makes it to the door first. He twists around as he looks to the left where the hallway splits into a cross-section.
He folds in two, gripping his chest, before I hear the weapons again. Cristan yanks me back just as I catch sight of more government officers creeping towards the doorway to outside.
Cristan shouts at Kit to get clear, and she slams against the wall, chest rising and falling rapidly as she pulls the gun from her holster.
Some of the ghosts have weapons, but I have no idea how they got them or if they can shoot the men pursuing us all.
Kit starts to withdraw something from her jacket and leaves the wall to run over to Cristan. Her voice is strained as she yells over the sirens. “This is the last explosive we have. I was going to blow the door when we got here.”
Cristan steps closer to her so he can yell in her ear. “That’s not going to work now. They’ve penned us in. There’s no way out,” he shouts.
Kit steps back, her face growing grimmer under the flashing light. She nods slowly and her eyes find mine. A sad smile that makes me think of Constance, grows over her face.
She jabs her finger into Cristan’s chest. “Make sure enough Ghosts survive so we have credible witnesses to this.”
Cristan looks ready to protest when she grabs the explosive from his hand, presses her weapon into his palm and takes off at a run.
Cristan moves to grab her but she’s already out of his reach and running at full speed to the doorway.
I think of the guard who I didn’t see again. I think of the way Trey ran into the night, putting himself at risk, just so I could have a chance, and I can’t bear it anymore.
All this death. All this sacrifice. All because I was made Irrelevant and was sent to Cristan’s Unit. And now the only friend I’ve ever had is going to die.
I spin on my heel and grab the gun from Cristan, and run after her, with no idea of what I’m doing or why I’m doing it.
I just know that if I don’t try to help, I’ll be just as worthless, just as Irrelevant as they say I am.