Echoes ~ (Book Two of The Elite Series)

Chapter 11

"Come on Minho!" Emma huffed, her fear rising again, making her irritable and impatient.

"I'm working on it!" He retorted, annoyed, reaching for Teresa again, to try and push her over to the railing next to the lever.

"Both of you can slim it!" Newt ordered.
"Emmy, I want you to look at me, okay, just focus on me."

Dark emerald-blue eyes met golden-brown ones in the shadowy lighting, Newt's hands finding their way to hold her face on either side.
"Breathe, in and out, in and out."

"What's the matter with her?" Aris asked Frypan quietly.

"Oh, um Em has a fear of heights. She's doing pretty well though, Newt's always helped her through stuff like that."

And he had helped.
Before their escape, during their time in the Maze, the only ones who knew of Emma's fear were Newt and Frypan due to an incident with a cow being accidentally let out of its pen and breaking into the chicken coop.

Long story short, Emma had ended up nearly falling out of a tree trying to catch a stubborn chicken. The stupid thing had refused to come down, and she had gotten her ankle stuck in the process. Emma had then hung upside down at an odd angle for several minutes until Newt was able to help her calm down and then get down.

That had sucked, but it had been nothing compared to this.

"Its not working!" Emma hissed, panicking all over again. "Now I'm just hyp---"

She was interrupted by Newt suddenly putting his lips on hers, which of course, shut her up immediately.
Completely forgetting that she was supposed to be panicking, she kissed him back, a hand threading itself through the hair at the nape of his neck.

The couple's sweet moment was intruded when a triumphant "Yes!"
came from the others, as Teresa finally had a grip on the railing.

Startled shouts came from everyone else as they were dropped another foot, Teresa pulling the lever just enough so she could sit on the ledge, and swiftly untied herself.

From beyond the walls of the warehouse, a very familiar voice was being projected, resonating through the building, which only made the group increase their efforts.

"Good evening!" Janson's voice echoed through the building, and the faint sound of a chopper was barely audible through the metal walls.
"This is the World Catastrophe Killzone Department. We have your compound completely surrounded. You find yourselves, through no fault of your own...in possession of WCKD property. Return them to us unharmed and we'll consider this a simple misunderstanding."

"Hang on, guys," Thomas said, having just gotten himself untied, hurriedly going around to the other side to help Minho.

"Or you can resist---"

"Emma!" Teresa extended a pole for her to grab, drawing the girl towards her, and quickly helping Emma undo herself and get on solid ground.

"----and every last one of you will die. It won't be long before the Flare wipes out the rest of us. The hope of a cure, lies in your hands. The choice, is yours."

"Okay. Let's go, let's go!"

All seven of them, finally back on their own two feet, began running around the pit out the way Jorge had left before.
Only to freeze, as they came face to face with Barkley, one of Jorge's henchmen, and the long revolver he had pointed straight at them.

Thomas put his hands up. "We're not trying to cause any trouble, okay? We just got to get out of here."

"Is that so?" He smirked, showing his missing teeth. Barkley brought a small handheld radio up to his face.
"Janson, I got 'em for ya. I'm bringing 'em down. Don't shoot us." He lowered the radio from his face, waving the weapon at them.
Kyra and Emma exchanged a look.