fearless

Chapter 114: Saving Ty

While we wait for the train, I tap my foot. Ashton examines the gun that he holds, and my father and Zeke discuss the plans to get inside without being noticed.

Soon, I feel the ground vibrating and I hear the blaring of a horn. The train. I begin to run, leading the pack of us in our jackets filled with ammo and guns on our backs, knives in our pockets. I grab a hold of the metal bar that makes up the handle, and then slam my hand on the open button. The door pulls away from the train cart wall, and I leap inside. I catch my breath just as Ashton gets on, and he asks if I'm okay.

I nod, then close my eyes. When I reopen them, Zeke stands in the train and my father leaps for the train. He makes it inside, and we all form a circle.

"There's a back entrance into the headquarters near Michigan Street in an abandoned alley. We take that way in, then we follow a track of hallways to a service elevator, which we will use to get to the eighth floor, where the prisoners are held. Then, there should be a key somewhere that will unlock Ty's door. Got it?" Zeke asks, and I look around at everyone.

"Yeah," I say. "Do we really think this is gonna work?" I inquire.

Zeke shrugs. "It's gonna have to." He says simply, and I nod.

I move to stand at the opening of the train cart. The train begins its ascent to the highest tracks in the city, near the Hub and the Upper Levels building, on Erudite's west side of the sector.

The tracks swirl around the Hub, shaking my body back and forth, but then making me sway as the train begins to descend back to regular tracks as we approach Erudite.

"We have to jump off before we reach the Headquarters, okay?" I state, and they all nod. When the tracks reach their lowest point, near Michigan Street, I leap out of the train.

I then race to a building, hiding in the alley. I wave to Ashton and Zeke, who follow, and then we all wave to my father, who then follows us.

We run in a straight line to the Headquarters. It's ordered, Zeke, me, Ashton, and then my father. Zeke makes a turn, and I see the Erudite eye on a door meant for delivery trucks. This is it. There's a small door near the truck entrance, and Zeke nods at it.

He then checks the perimeter before leading us to the door. We approach it, and Zeke pulls on it. It doesn't budge, so he pulls a flashlight out of his jacket. We juggle around him so that the keypad is darker, and he turns it on. It's a black-light. I see the numbers illuminate from the fingerprints. "314...what?" Zeke inquires as he begins punching in numbers.

I think about it for a second. What would the Erudite make their entrance code? It has to be something that's related to math or science, of course. That's it! "Zeke," I say, taking the flashlight and beginning to punch in numbers. 3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, and 2. "It's the first digits of the approximate value of Pi."

I finish and the door clicks, unlocking. "Okay," Zeke says, then pauses. I laugh. "Whatever that means...let's just get out of here as soon as possible." We enter and he shuts the door behind us, and then switches places with my father.

My father clicks a bullet into the chamber of his gun, and then aims his gun in front of him as we walk further into the hallway, further into the compound, further from safety.

We turn, and there's a guard. "Oh," He says when he sees us. He struggles to reach for his gun because my father sends an uppercut to his jaw with the butt of his gun. "Shit! You all have to be stopped right now!" He exclaims, and my father aims his gun and turns his head. He pulls the trigger without a second thought.