Chapter 271: Maizie
Sawyer and I didn’t hesitate. Sawyer quickly shifted back, threw on his shorts and I stole a key card and found the exact entrance that Grace had marked. We hadn’t really expected we would be able to get in the exact entrance she had marked. We had only hoped to find another one somewhere in this vicinity. We were lucky.
I didn’t remember climbing a ladder like that when I had exited the Program or when I entered it, but it didn’t matter. We were here, and to my surprise there were no guards stationed in the atrium. I had a feeling if they had been, we would have never made it down the ladder. But I ignored the weird feeling in my stomach. If they were taking Grey out on missions, even if it was just to patrol the area, staffing couldn’t be all that great right now.
“Can you check in on the others?” I asked Sawyer.
“They’re okay.” He answered smoothly. I knew he was trying really hard to keep the worry from his voice. “They’ve just found Grace.”
I breathed a little sigh of relief. I wasn’t sure why, but it made me feel a little bit better that the three of them were together. More people would make it easier to get caught, but it also made it safer in a totally different way.
I scanned the atrium trying to figure out exactly where I was. There were 4 different hallways, all of them looking like a similar variation of the next. I wasn’t exactly sure where I was but when a door opened down one hallway, I yanked Sawyer with me down the one adjacent to it. We had just escaped one attempt to stop us, it was only a matter of time before they tried again. We just didn’t need it so soon after the first attempt.
It didn’t take long before all the memories started to rush back to me. I had walked these hallways a million times. I had never even known that the exit had been so close. I froze at a familiar door. I couldn’t believe I had just led Sawyer here. I had almost walked in like it was still mine... But it wasn’t. A little girl, no older than 8 was standing at the glass door staring at me curiously. I didn’t have the words to explain why we were there. I didn’t know this girl. She must have been new to the program. Her eyes still had hope in them. I wanted her to know I was going to save her, but I couldn’t tell her that. Not yet.
“Maiz?” Sawyer asked gently.
“Come on, this way.” I turned on my heels, refusing to let my emotions get the best of me.
“That was your old room... Wasn’t it?” He questioned, keeping just a single pace behind me.
I nodded. The words wouldn’t come. This place made me feel small. But it was here that I was in charge of so much. Never trusted. Built to follow orders. Made to do exactly what they wanted. And because of that I made the walk I had made hundreds of times.
This time, I didn’t hesitate. I threw open the door to the old training room. They all locked from the outside. I didn’t question why the halls were so empty or why no one was watching them, or even him for that matter.
My eyes fell on him as soon as I entered, and Sawyer stood watch in the doorway. He looked exactly the same as I remembered.
Bentley and I had never been friends. We were just two kids who were forced to train together. He would make a portal, and I would shut it down. We would drain each other just to fill the other back up again. We were more like rivals. Striving to be the best here. We didn’t know any different. But now, everything was different.
He put the weight he was lifting down and turned toward me. His dark eyes meeting mine in confusion.
“Maizie? What are you doing here?” He questioned, standing up, letting the weights clamor to the floor.
There was no time for a preamble. We were wasting time. “I need your help.” I told him seriously. I knew if I couldn’t get him to agree, our plan once again would be blown to pieces. This was our best chance. I just hoped he would understand...
“What is it?” He asked with a frown. The girl he had known before would have never asked for help.
“I need you to help me get every kid out of here.”
He sucked in a breath. I knew the thought of escaping here had haunted his dreams for as long as he’d been here, but dreams were different than reality.
“How?” It was a single word. He fought to keep his voice steady, but I could hear the slight tremble. The little bit of hope that was tucked away in a place we never talked about.
“I need you to open a portal to the Alpha King pack.”
He looked at me startled. “What? They’ll kill us!”
“No. They won’t. This is the Alpha King’s sanctioned project. I wish I could tell you more, and I promise I will, but right now, we need to move if this is going to work.”
He looked me over seriously, searching for something I wasn’t sure I could answer.
“This isn’t a test, is it? Because if it is, I’m failing it.”
I smiled slightly. “No.” I answered. “No, not a test. Just something good to be a part of for once.”
He gave me a small smile back. I could see the fear he was burying, but I didn’t blame him. I was scared too. There was no true guarantee that we could protect the kids once we got to the Alpha pack, but it was worth it to say we tried. And we weren’t going to be taken down so easily. If we were going down, we were going down swinging.
I showed him the picture of the Alpha Pack. It was the exact place he was supposed to portal the kids to. From there, they would be taken to a secure location depending on if the fighting had started yet.
I knew it was easier for Bentley to hold open the portal than open and close it, so Sawyer and I would bring the kids in one by one. We had a lot of ground to cover, while avoiding any patrols. Bentley also couldn’t get caught holding the portal open. So we had to move and we had to move now. The fate of our mission depended on it.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
