Chapter seven
"Casper! What is it?" I say, growing more worried. His breathing starts getting faster and faster.
"Cas, it's ok. Just point to what's wrong." I say, trying not to panic. Slowly he points to me, I look at him in confusion.
"What?" I say, growing more and more scared, the other boys start crowding round us. He points again and this time I turn around.
"Oh sh-." I say, realising what he saw.
"Get everyone out of here!" I order and Dezzie rolls away.
"Victor." I say, my insides cold.
"Hello again, 1301." He smiles a sick smile. How could Dezzie not hear him?
"What are you doing here?" I ask, although I have a sinking feeling I might know. He chuckles and steps forward. I step back instinctively.
I feel Alec handing me something behind my back. I feel it over until I realise it's a gun.
"Just making sure you got my message. You may think you're winning, but you're not. I have been watching you for several days now. Anyhow, I came here to warn you. The longer you take, the more my patience grows thin, and stuff like this will happen over and over again, until no one is left." He says, making cold tingles run down my spine.
"Stuff like what?" I say, afraid of the answer. He pulls his hands from behind his back and throws a small object.
"GET DOWN!" I roar and pull whoever I can down with me and cover them with my body.
BOOM
The bomb explodes and loud ringing consumes my hearing. Finally, after what seems like hours, I sit up wearily. I rub my head and check myself over, to find a huge piece of metal, from a nearby bench that exploded from the blast, wedged into my ankle. I grimace in pain. I see who I was covering, Casper and Flynn.
"Everyone ok?" I croak.
"All good." Says Alec and the rest nod.
"Where's Victor?" I ask, looking around.
"Disappeared." Says Casper, regaining some colour back.
"Why didn't he take us then? Or anytime?" Alec says.
"I… don't know." I say, equally perplexed.
After the boys go round the corner, they find the others huddled in a corner. I pull Alec aside.
"Guns?" I say, my arms folded.
"I got them from the lab, kept them just in case." He says, looking down.
"And you didn't think to mention that?"
"Well- no." he says truthfully. I sigh and he begins to walk away, then stops.
"Aren't you coming?" he says, I look down at my impaled ankle. He looks down and realises. His coal coloured eyes widen.
"What the- oh shit! Why didn't you say anything!" he yells, the adults begin to flood in from wherever they were hiding.
"Dez, can we take her somewhere else? She's hurt." I hear Alec mutter. Dezzie's eyes widen and he nods.
With help from Flynn and Casper, I hobble up.
"Ok everyone! I'm gonna let everyone calm down and we'll come up with a new plan in a moment!" I say over the chatter and hop over to the other boys.
"Sit." Orders Dezzie and I do, I'm wheeled to a small café area that has been converted into a sort of first aid area.
I sit on the plastic table thing and dangle my feet over the edge, I lie back and wait.
"On three?" says Casper, staring at the shard of metal sticking out of my foot.
"One." Flynn grabs my hand; I squeeze it in anticipation.
"Two." A sharp pain burns through my foot and I yell words I can't mention.
"Ow." I say after the sea of swear words had finished.
"Sorry," he says and bandages my foot. I dose up on pain medication and go out to the others.
"Ok! I think the best thing to do right now, is get some sleep. We'll have a meeting tomorrow." I say, the others lay on the floor and begin to fall asleep. I curl up in a corner between Alec and Flynn. I wait for hours until all I can hear is snoring. I sit up and look around, everyone's asleep. I get up, still in pain, and hobble over to the café bit. I quickly write a note saying;
Alec, Casper, Flynn and Dezzie.
I'm sorry I had to go; I can't let anyone else die. I love you guys. See you one day, maybe.
Mercury xxx
Knowing this isn't anywhere near the amount I want to say to these boys, I put down the pen and walk away. I walk up the tunnel and out into the open, I decide to climb onto the roof using a ladder, if this is my last night alive and free, I can do one thing at least. I leap off and spread my wings, I wobble a lot at first but gradually I gather speed and soar into the air. The wind ruffles my feathers and I now know the reason why everyone wants to fly. I circle the lab a few times before getting the courage to land.
I'm met by four guards, they immediately hand cuff me and force me inside. As my footsteps echo down the corridor, I think of Noah and how he'd hate me doing this. I shake the thought from my mind as I'm forced into my dog cage.
"Hi, I'm 1402." Says a voice behind me, I jump and turn to see a tall skinny boy with jet black hair and silvery eyes.
"Hi, I'm Mercury." I say.
"Oh, your 1301? I heard Victor shout about you." He says quietly,
"Yeah, I have a habit of annoying him." I smirk, he smirks too.
"How long have you been here?" I ask.
"A few weeks, I heard you come here but I wasn't allowed out." A few weeks. We were only here a few days, well when I was four, we were here for months but anyways.
"Oh, I'm sorry. What's your name? Your real one." I ask, warming up to him.
"Dean. How old are you?"
"Sixteen, you?"
"Eighteen." Suddenly, Victor bursts in and the two of is spring to the backs of our cages.
He laughs.
"So good of you to drop by, now let's get started." He grins. My insides turn cold, I know what's about to happen, I know I'm going to die. I know he's going to make it painful and slow. I shudder. The guards take me out the cage, and to both of our surprise, they take Dean out too. They lead us through the halls and down some stairs, I remember exactly where we're going. The jail. If you think the cages are bad, you have no idea. I remember being dragged here when I was four and spoke out of turn or tried to escape. We were left with no food, water or any sunlight for days. Not to mention the tests.
By the look on Dean's face, he knows the jail as well as I do. The cage door swings open and we're pushed into the small, smelly, dark room.
Victor slams the door and laughs.
"I'll be back." He says and saunters off.
"How come you're here?" I ask, he looks up and sits down.
"I was trying to find my sister, we were separated when I was six, I got put underground. I escaped the underground and was searching until Victor found me, well I was stopped at the library and my tattoo was showing a little." He says, and I feel another urge of sympathy for him.
"What about you?" he asks, I explain everything. From the moment my best friend and mother figure died, to how I flew here to save a house of children.
"Whoa." He says, before he could say anything else, Victor walks in.
"Now, the fun starts! I only need one of you, so fight." He says, giddy.
"What?" says Dean in disbelief.
"Fight to the death, whoever wins gets to live a bit l0nger." No one moves.
"Fight! Or I'll bomb that little house of yours." He snarls. We both stand opposite each other.
"I don't want to." Whispers Dean.
"Me either." But we both know we have no choice. '
We circle each other, neither wanting to make the first move. He throws a weak punch and I block it.
"UGH! This is boring. We'll have a race instead." He wines like a toddler.
A race?
We're led outside and a line is placed a few hundred meters away.
"Now, race. But with wings." he says and folds his arms. Wings?
The whistle blows and I kick off from the ground, I look over to see Dean flying as well. With tawny brown wings, about the same length as mine. I fly faster as he speeds up.
"Together?" yells Dean over the wind. I nod and stretch out my hand, he takes it, and we zoom over the line at the same time.
"Dammit!" yells Victor, I have to hold in my laughter. He turns the funny shade of purple again. We're both dragged inside.
As he throws us into our cages, I glance at Victor's face. We shouldn't have angered him.
"Now you two decide who is going for the first test, I'll be back in a few minutes." He says and leaves. I sigh and lean against the cage.
"I'll go." I say in the silence. He sits up.
"What? No, I will."
"No, I'm going. You've been here for weeks."