Evolution

Chapter Twenty One: Ally

"Put it down Jesse" Max now persuaded him, taking a step back so he was level beside me and Steven

Jesse also stepped forward, grabbing John with a quick single action. He now held John the way I was being held. It was like an old western show down, only without the guns, but with hostages.

My fingernails dug into Steven's grip, attempting to disarm him. I didn't know what was in the needle he had inches from my skin, but I had a fair idea. It wasn't anything I wanted in my system any time soon.
I needed to fight back, if I was going to get out of this alive, I needed to fight for myself, I couldn't rely on anyone else. That knowledge hadn't changed about me.

I dropped one of my arms, pretending to sway from lack of air. I needed to reach my weapon; I needed to reach my knife if I had any chance of getting out of this. My hand edged down closer to my belt as Jesse shuffled forward, his knife pressed into John's neck.

"Let her down" Jesse demanded, his eyes dark

"Not going to happen Jesse" Max shook his head "Put him down or we inject her with Creature venom"
It was now confirmed what was close to entering my blood stream. I would be one of them. I would be the one thing I had avoided successfully from becoming for all of these years.

"Inject her, and he's dead, along with you and him" Jesse warned back, unwavering

I was proud Jesse wasn't backing down. Even if I was injected, I wanted him to forget about me, fight for what was right, for what needed to be done. Falling victim to the injection, to Steven, it was my own fault, if I was weak enough to fall, I deserved to die.

"What is the plan here Jesse?" Max sighed "You're going to rescue her" He kicked at Nora's shoe as she lie on the floor beside him, holding her head as she continued to talk to herself

"And then what? Walk out of here alive, free?" He had his eyebrows crossed, trying to study our motives and planning with scrutiny

"That's the plan" Jesse honestly nodded "And right now, you're the only one in the way of that"

Max shook his head and smirked at the ground "No Jesse" He looked back up and then turned his eyes on me "They are"

Max's movements were quick, sudden and unexpected. His hands had reached towards me and I slammed my eyes closed just as the pressure on my neck released. I crumbled to the floor as Nora had, my heart sinking as I waited for the mixture of the needle to envelope me into the darkness of evil.

Instead, I felt a heavy body fall on top of me and when I reopened my eyes I saw Max pull out the needle that had moments been near my throat, from Steven's neck.

"Let's go" Max instructed as he leaned down and shoved Steven's body off of me. I was in shock, confusion taking over as Jesse stay frozen with John in grip.

"I'm Peter's brother, he told me what you guys were doing, thought you'd need a hand" Max spoke, revealing his true intentions. Relief fell.

Max pushed out a hand, and I quickly took the offer, peeling myself and my dignity off of the ground. He was on our side.

"We better hurry" Max sighed as he began to drag Steven's lifeless body by the leg into the room that once held Nora. Jesse didn't hesitate either; he shoved John away from his body, pushing at him to join his scientist friend in the cold steel room.

As soon as John and Steven were locked inside the room, Jesse was at my side

"Are you okay?" He asked, assessing me up and down with frantic eyes

"I'm fine" I breathed "We need to go"
I bent down and began to lift Nora again, Jesse quickly realizing we were running short of time, helping me to pick her up.
With Max behind us, we trailed back out of the Lab and then my footing stopped mid-stride, catching the others off guard.