Take Back the Light

Chapter 45

"What are you doing out here?" Sam hissed.

"Take out the screen!" Max whispered up. "I need to come up there?"

"You're going to get caught!" Sam replied frantically.

"I know!" Max whisper-yelled, glancing over her shoulder to make sure there weren't guards nearby. "So take out the screen and get out of the way so I can come up!"

Sam sighed exasperatedly and fiddled with the window screen for a moment, popping it out before stepping back away from the window. Max glanced down at the Arachnet.

"I'm not a great shot, hang in there with me," she whispered, before taking aim and firing.

The Arachnet landed just above the window, spitting out a web that stuck to the end of Max's blaster. She tensed her arms as she was pulled upwards, swinging toward the open window.

Max tucked her knees up to her chest and tried to get a good footing on the window, but the edge of her boot slipped. For a second, her heart leapt in her throat as Max felt herself begin to fall back. But Sam sped forward from the darkness of the room, wrapping her arms around Max and pulling her inside, dressed in a white tank top and purple pajama pants with her curly brown hair in a wild mane.

Max felt her face flush, and hoped the darkness of the room would hide it well enough. She looked up at Sam and smiled faintly.

"Good evening," she laughed. Sam rolled her eyes and let go of Max, quickly clicking the screen back on and shutting the window.

"You could have gotten in trouble with Blakk's workers," Sam said disapprovingly. "And there's no Shane Gang coming to save us now."

"Well, the Shane Gang's why I'm here, actually," Max said, holstering her blaster. "I was supposed to check in with you. The gang doesn't want to send any messages into the hospital if they can avoid it. But... I was also supposed to scope out the security they've got patrolling the streets. Can you see them from up here?"

Sam shook her head. "Not in detail," she replied. "I can just see them walking around the streets. Why?"

Max sighed and shifted her weight back and forth.

"They're not from Blakk Industries," she said, her eyes meeting Sam's. "They're from Gray Enterprise."

~~~~~~~~

Alana lay on the edge of the mushroom tree's canopy. She was on her side, her legs pulled up to her chin. This was one of the highest points in Wild Spores, completely cut off- the top of the enormous tree that held up the Shane hideout.

Tears flowed down her cheeks, but there was no more noise from her throat- how long had it been since Will had disappeared? It felt like an eternity. Time had stopped working properly ever since Blakk had first fired that monstrous slug.

She hadn't been eating or drinking properly. Grendel had stopped by once or twice, but even though the caverns all seemed to be holding their breath, waiting to see if the Shane would return, he still had plenty of work to do at the forge.

Ash and Mage sat a few feet away from her, at a loss of what to do for their slinger, their poor little girl who had far too much misery for such a small body.

"What are you doing up here?" a voice snapped, breaking the dead silence.

Alana blinked slowly, processing who the voice belonged to. But she made no moves to acknowledge it.

"I know you can hear me," the irritated voice said, growing louder as the person walked closer. Ash and Mage perked up, chirping quietly, although they knew she wouldn't stop to say hello to them. She wasn't the kindest when in came to slugs, but even they knew that she had a shot to get through to Alana.