Counterfeit

-seventyfour-

--seventyfour-

I think I might give up everything, just ask me to. + For Your Eyes Only +

-

THE RINGING IN my ears was the first pain to wake me from my momentary unconsciousness. My vision was lagged as I tried to make sense of everything. Charleston was on my back, shielding me as parts of the ceiling began. He hugged onto my head, holding me down until it was safe to let go.

I coughed against the smoke as he pulled to my feet, brushing all the glass and dust off of me. Meanwhile I was looking around at all the damage; the ceiling had collapsed, separating the middle of the room into two, all the computers were in pieces, lights flickering, fires burning in the corner, everyone pulling themselves to their feet.

"Is anyone hurt?" Charleston yelled, chucking me over to make sure I was fine.

"Mal?" Blaze questioned, hurrying - along with Zeke, to pull the girl free from the rubble.

"I'm fine. I-" She winced in pain.

"You don't look fine." Zeke answered.

"I'm fine!" She persisted. "My legs bleeding a little, but I'm okay. We don't have time for this." She reminded us all.

"How are Alden and Kristel doing?" Blaze looked to Charleston.

He wiped he dirt off his face, struggling to map out how we were doing in terms of our duties. "I haven't had a chance to speak to them yet." He answered, pulling his radio from his pocket. "If they're in progress," he looked to me, "then it's our part."

"Alden, come in. Charleston, over." He called.

"Charleston? What's happening? Kristel said there's a fire. Has something gone wrong?"

"We lost Delano. One of the custodians managed to get free and got him, but the others are all taken care of. The fire was a last minute adjustment to the Plan on my behalf."

"Could have given a heads up." Kristel interrupted.

"Thought you said you were fine?" Charleston fired back, earning a couple laughs from the guys.

"Everything's under control here. How are you guys doing?" He radioed back.

"We've got a copy of all the data for Thelonius. Other than that, we're almost done. Just destroying the last of the records. You should be fine to go now. Over."

Adrenaline coursed through my veins, lighting up every atom inside me with fear and courage all at once.

Charleston pulled something from his pocket, placing it in my grip. "You ready, Pip?" He looked to me, waiting for my command.

I glanced down at what he had given me: it was a silver tag with the name Combattant inscribed on it.

"Everyone gets given a new surname here for categorisations." He reminded me. "I chose yours. It's means fighter."

There it was: my reason to survive this day. My eyes scanned all around the room before they finished, locking gaze with his. Amid all the fear, and burning, and tragedy, there was him. "I'm ready."

With my words, we all departed the guard's station, stepping back into chaos.

No one paid much attention to the army of guards walking towards the front of the crowd and up onto the platform. Everyone was too consumed in their mess to take notice. Some of the guards whistled over the screaming, but it wasn't enough. Everyone was trying to figure out what was happening, some making the situation worse with their suggestions.

Finally, Charleston managed to roar his voice above the noise, everyone coming to a sudden halt to listen to the authority.

"Everyone just needs to calm down before things get out of hand."

"We just heard to gun fires, and now the guard's station is on fire! Do you really think you have things under control." Someone yelled back.

"I wanna leave." Said another.

"This place isn't safe anymore."

"You're right." Charleston hurried to keep their attention. "This place isn't safe. That why we're here to get you all out, back to your families. But we need you to listen to us. This one works if we have order."

"Why should we listen to you?"

"Order? Order?"

"The fire is spreading already. Someone needs to put that out!"

As if on cue, the ground began to shake again, booms and smashing sounds ripping above the crowd. The building had completely fallen to the ground, the fire not taking long before it reached one of the boys' cabin.

With everyone distracted, Charleston tried to continue on with his speech, but everyone's focus was on the fire instead of him. I could see him running out of options. If they didn't listen to them, then everyone was likely to die in this camp. Not even Blaze or Raya could draw their attention.

I didn't know how I could help, but I found myself walking up onto the platform, standing next to a very terrified Charleston.

"Pip, I'm sorry. I don't know what to do. We gotta get them out of here."

I nodded, trying to take his burden. "Hey." I called out. My voice was shaky and too soft to be heard. I tried again, louder, more demanding, more desperate. "Hey!"

People began to look at me, all curious at what the resident was doing on the platform, all wondering what she had to say.

"You realise we're all going to die, right?"

"Pip-" Blaze stepped over, worried about what I was attempting to say.

"If we don't listen to these guards, this place will burn and fall apart and we'll be stuck inside when that happens." I had everyone's attention by now. When I took a second to settle my racing heart, the only sound was from the fire.

"They want to help. They know how to help, I promise you. They're trying to get us out of here, and they have been for months. We're not in here because we're Insusceptibles, we're in here because they want to try and make us sick."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that this place is built up on lies. Ever wondered why you've never heard from your families? They won't allow it. We're just tests and samples to them."

"She's telling the truth." There was another voice, and it took me a few moments of disbelief to figure out that it was MiKinley. He stepped down from the back, closer to the crowd so they could all hear him.

"They're using us for the disease, seeing how it affect us. The Harvest is just them bringing in 'fresher' subjects. Did you know that they had a list of people ready for evacuation? Well, I say Evacuation, but who knows what they were planning on doing with those people..."

He pulled out a folded piece of paper from his pocket. "Chloe Masson, Albert Blanc, Allison Andre, Kane Bell... These are just some of the people who are on that list, and there's many more, but that would take all day. I found these on one of the records in the guard's station before I burned it to the ground. There was a note attached to it, saying: to be replaced. If you wanna live, you need to listen to her."

There was a warmth in my heart that made all of the doubts go away.

Everyone turned to face me, but my eyes were set on MiKinley, wondering if I would ever be able to thank him enough for what he had just done. For saving us.

-seventyfour—
So close.

Charleston protecting Pip. Pip taking Charleston's fear. MiKinley saving it all for Pip. What more could you ask for?

Notice that the chapters are longer. Can't wait to see what you think about what's coming. Favourite part of this chapter??