Red Lighter ✧ John Murphy

LI - Energy

I'm really sorry guys. This one is really short, , really late, and not a lot of effort was put into it because I've had a lot of trouble concentrating, to be honest.

It started with a minor problem with my foot that ended with a full blown infection that resulted in surgery. I've been preparing for it for about two weeks now, and just had the surgery this morning. IT FUCKING HURTS.

K. Sorry guys, that's all I have for ya. My apologies for it being so short.

This is gonna be the beginning of the end, guys. This story will be ending very soon. :( I'm sorry.

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Chapter Fifty-One

When I awoke, I could feel it. My energy had slowly seeped back into me. I didn't know why or how, but it somehow happened. It was almost amazing. In fact, my energy was nearly overwhelming. I just about felt like I could run a marathon.

I felt Murphy's chest move, and only then did I realize that I had been lying on it.

"Well, that's a strategy that I can support. Unfortunately, he's not their leader though. He's being controlled like everyone else by that-"

I slowly sat up, and he cut himself off, but then I saw that it wasn't just because he saw that I was awake. It was because he still wasn't comfortable talking about the thing that had made me forget him.

"What?" a mildly familiar voice asked, and I looked up to see Pike. There he was, bleeding while chained against the bars.

"Nothing. Never mind. Just forget it."

"John, this isn't a time for-"

I was going to tell them that it was the chip, but the a guard approached the cell, and I saw that that was exactly what made Pike cut himself off.

"Who is ready to take the key?" the guard asked.

"None of us is ever going to take the key," Pike argued angrily.

"She did," the guard said, gesturing to me.

I glared at him, and he stared at me with a blank expression. Then he looked in front of him and saw Pike. The guards made their way around the cell, ensuring that everyone was still chained. They were all well aware that I had been so weak that it was pointless to chain me up before, but they had no idea of the sudden strength that I now felt. So when a guard came to me, my hand shot into my boot and yanked out the knife that was still placed there. I stabbed the guard int he calf, right as Indra stabbed another guard with the spike she had managed to remove from the wall. Then she detached it from the chain quickly, only to throat it at the second, killing both of them. I, on the other hand, jumped up kicked the guard in front of me in the head. I didn't want to kill him. If we managed to shut ALIE down, then he was still human. He probably still had a family to go back to.

"Come on! Grab the keys. Let's get out and find reinforcements," Murphy insisted.

"You said Jaha was being controlled," Indra said, closing the short distance between her and Murphy. She grabbed his shirt in a threatening stance. "Tell me what you know."

"Indra, stop!" I shouted, moving over to them. At least she wasn't hurting him yet, like I expected her to.

"The smart play here is going for the tunnels while we still can, before we're overrun by ALIE's groupies!" Murphy insisted.

While the keys got passed around, Pike was unlocked by one of the freed grounders. "If you have information that can help us-"

"We don't have time for this," Indra hissed, then put her spike at Murphy's neck. "Talk!"

I swallowed, then quickly went up to the two of them. "It's Jaha's backpack. ALIE is an AI, and the backpack runs her. If we can destroy the backpack, then there's a good chance that she will die with it."

"I know where it is," Indra said, a look of realization crossing her face while she removed the spike from Murphy's neck. "I saw them move it into the temple before I was captured."

"They'll expect us to run," Pike said, standing. "We can use that! The AI will follow those who do, while we go for the pack."

"We?" Indra questioned.

"I can't do this alone. Do you want to save your people, or not?" Pike asked.

It took only a moment of thinking for Indra to say something in Trigedasleng. The other prisoners all ran out the door, while Pike, Murphy, Indra and I all stayed in the giant cell.

"What are you waiting for?" Pike asked Murphy and I.

"The bad guys are following them, right?" Murphy said. "Might as well take my chances with you two."

"Your father would be proud," Pike said, seeming out of breath. Then he looked at me. "And you?"

"She made me forget the people that I loved most, Pike," I said, swallowing. "She even made me forget those that I hate. She took away the parts of me that made me... Well, me. And for that, she will understand what death really is. She's going to understand that after death, real death, there is no City of Light."

They all looked at me with surprised expressions, and then Pike nodded slowly.

"So how do we do it?" Indra asked.

Murphy seemed nervous, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. "Carefully."

I couldn't help but look at him with pride, deciding to forget all that had happened all those weeks ago when I had left him with Emori. I had known that the man I left behind wasn't really him. But this was.

This... This was the man I loved.