Chapter eight

As I'm being led away, I wonder where the boys are, if they're ok. I wonder if they've started gathering allies to win the war. I hope they're ok. I hope they understand.

Meanwhile…

"Look, I'm not saying we shouldn't go after her, we should but we have to be smart about it. We can't get her and then let Victor bomb one of the houses!" shouts Alec.

"She's my best friend! We have to get her!" yells Dezzie.

"And we will. I promise. But we have to get more people, we have to get the kids safe." He says quietly.

After a few minutes, Dezzie nods.

"Ok, go with your plan then."

Meanwhile…

"1301. Your first test is in here." Says one of the goonies. I've almost never heard one of them speak, Victor had gone to the viewing room. I take a deep breath and enter through the black door. Inside bright lights blind me, I look around to see a bare room. And a trap door on one of the walls. I look around, nothing.

I wait some more. Suddenly the trap door slides open and in pounces a tiger. Yup, an actual tiger. Oh boy.

It growls at me and I back up.

"It's ok, I'm not trying to hurt you." I say, which was stupid. I'm talking to a tiger.

It growls and approaches me. I have no chance. It pounces and scratches my shoulder.

"Argh!" I yell.

I slide to the floor in pain, its gaping mouth snarls and approaches, its fangs drip with saliva.

"Please, I'm not trying to hurt you." I say tearfully. Maybe I was already dead or imagining things, but I could swear the tiger tilted its head at me.

"Please, I'm on your side." I say, trying anything. Now I know I can't be imagining, it stops. Not knowing what to do, I try talking again.

"Can you-um- understand me?" I say, feeling stupid. But it nods, it actually nods.

"Oh! Hi? I'm Mercury. Does Victor hurt you?" I ask. The tiger nods again, I still feel like I'm going crazy. Poor thing. Then I have an idea.

"Can you��� pretend to attack me? I'll play dead, then when Victor comes in, attack him, I'll help." I whisper, the tiger looks nervous but nods. It pretends to knock me down and bite me, it smothers the blood from my arm across my face, making my shoulder burn. I wait until I hear the door click.

"Mercury? No, please be alive." I hear a voice, I snap up. To see the same goonie as earlier, all in uniform with the helmet. But I feel like I recognise him.

"Who are you?" I say as blood continues to pour out my arm.

"It's me, Casper." He says.

"The kids!" I yell, furious, not even thanking him.

"It's ok, we came up with a plan. They're safe. Now come on let's go." I stand up dizzily and take his arm, I stop him as his foot leaves to room.

"We're taking the tiger. I can talk to it." I say and beckon the sad looking tiger. It happily trots along beside us. Casper looks at me as if I've utterly lost the plot. He steers clear of it.

We speed walk through the halls, Casper telling the goonies he���s on orders. If they don't believe him, the tiger takes care of them. We reach the door outside when I stop him again.

"We need to get someone." I say, suddenly remembering.

"We don't have time!" he yells.

"Make time, he was in the same cell area as me." I say, his eyes widen.

"Oh! Dean, yeah he's coming." He says and starts to drag me away.

"I'm not leaving until I see him." I say stubbornly. Casper sighs, exasperated.

"I'm here!" says a familiar voice, I spin and spot Dean sprinting towards us.

"We have to go, now!" he says, and we run out the building. A few meters away I hear the building rumble.

I turn in confusion.

BOOOM!

The building explodes, fire and debris spray across. We duck and wait until the noise had stopped. So that's why he wanted me to leave…

I look behind me to make sure the tiger's ok, thankfully it's still trailing behind us, guarding us.

"What now?" I croak.

"We sent the kids and adults somewhere else, we managed to find the moles and weed them out. We also took down the cameras." Said Casper. I try finding a fault in their plan, to be angry at them but I can't.

"Ok, where are they?" I ask,

"They're spread out, the kids are in hide outs with adults, the others are getting ready and recruiting." Casper continues,

"Getting ready?" I repeat.

"For war."

We bundle into the van; Alec takes off without speaking. The tiger purrs gently in the corner.

"Um- this is Dean, Dean this is Casper, Dezzie, Alec and Flynn." I say, trying to diffuse the tension.

"What's your name?" I ask the tiger, feeling stupid. Right tigers can't talk.

"erm, nod if you're a girl." I say, trying to redeem myself. To my relief she nods.

"Can I give you a name?" I say and she nods.

"What about… Comet?" the tiger purrs and I take it for a yes. Suddenly the van screeches to a stop.

"uh oh," I say under my breath, ready for a lecture.

"Everyone- out." Says Alec through his teeth. I look at Dean, nervous, but get out with the rest.

He starts pacing back and forth, before finally turning to face me, tears streaming down his face.

"What the hell were you thinking?! After everything, you decide to give your life away! Without even telling us!" he yells. I hate seeing him cry, I look over and so is Dezzie.

"I did tell you! And it's my life! It's better me than you!" I find myself saying, then flush with embarrassment. At this all the boys turn to stare at me, hands on hips.

"What?!" yells Alec.

"Well… I couldn't let the kids just die! Could I? Besides, I'm alive!" I say, trying to rescue myself.

"Mercury, don't you get it? We want you here. This has always been your problem; you always push people away and make excuses!" yells Dezzie. I instantly feel guilty and lean against the van.

"Look, I'm sorry, ok?" I say quietly.

Alec sighs and walks over to me. I stand up straight, waiting to be shouted out or hit. Instead he hugs me. I know right? Alec actually hugged me. Surprised and a little confused, it takes me a minute before I hug him back. Then Dezzie rolls over and we pull him into the hug. Soon everyone is hugging and crying.

We pile into the van again, everyone in much better spirits and drive away.

"So, what's the plan?" I ask again.

"We're going to a nearby city, our allies are meeting us there. To prepare for war." Says Alec. A heavy wave of exhaustion hits me. I yawn and tuck my legs under me and start to fall asleep…

I wake up some time later, my head aching and the night dark and bleak. Casper pulls open the van door and we walk out. Ahead of us, a huge set of black gates and people with guns, I recognise as from our side with their barcodes.

"Password?" says the girl, I look to Alec,

"City of stars." He says and enters. I'm stunned to a standstill as I enter the gates, thousands and thousands of allies and LGBTQ members fill the space, a few huge office buildings stand in a square, everyone fills the middle. I feel my shoulder and ankle start to ache badly.

"Whoa." I say, eyes wide.

"Welcome to our city." Grins Alec and leads the way through the crowd. I notice people seem to be waiting, and they part as we walk through them, going silent. Maybe it was the prowling tiger?

Alec leads us to the front, stopping near the massive stage they must've built, to get guns for each of us. My ankle nearly gives way, thankfully Dezzie passes me a pair of crutches he must've got from an ally or something.

We stop at the side of the stage,

"Go on then." Says Alec, I look at him in confusion.

"What?" I say,

"They're waiting for you." He says and pushes me onto the stage. I stumble awkwardly and catch myself. I stand in the centre, the blinding lights making me loose direction.

"Um… hi?" is all I can think to say. I look over to the boys, Alec rolls his eyes and walks on stage with the others followed by Comet.

"Just give them hope," whispers Dezzie. I nod and start,

"Hi, I'm Mercury. Most of you thought I was dead, well I'm not. But that doesn't mean Victor is going to stop, if anything he'll want to kill us more," the others look around in concern. Shit.

"I mean, now more than ever, we need to be together. Fight together. We have been forced into hiding, into shadows and misery for too long!" I start raising my voice and gaining confidence.

"We need a voice! We need a chance to live! To do what our ancestors couldn't, to do what many of us died for. We need a chance to be free! If that means war, then so be it. It's up to us, and us alone to change everything, for our children and our children's children. We can't let the likes of Victor control us anymore. Tomorrow we will storm the government, tomorrow we will win the right to be free and the right to live!" I shout, the crowd roars and chants. I feel a swell of strange pride fill me.

"Yeah!" yells Casper, throwing his fist into the air, the others copy.

Later, the crowd splits off into groups and starts eating. I sit by a small fire with Dean, Casper, Alec, Dezzie and Flynn.