Elemental

Chapter 23

The next morning, Christine and Damien trekked until they reached the open field surrounding the lab. The sun was setting but the lab was still alight with late-night workers. They stopped behind one of the trees on the outskirts of the field.

They surveyed the pristine white building on the other side of the field. There was a barb-wired fence surrounding it and Christine had to pull her binoculars out to see the small cameras stationed on the fence. They were on the right side of the building, but she could see the field surrounding the building was at least a half a mile deep. It would be impossible to get near the building without being seen unless they figured out a way to disable the cameras. There was a paved road that led to the main gate with a guard station. There were at least five guards that she could see out front and she spotted a few guards walking inside the fence. The fence itself was only a few yards from the building but that was more ground they had to cover to get inside.

"We should circle over towards the front of the building," Christine suggested. "See what kind of security we're dealing with."

Damien nodded and they made their way towards the front of the building. It was more of the same. The guard station was filled with small screens that no doubt showed the surveillance around the grounds. They were all heavily armed. And using her binoculars, she noticed a keypad to get into the building itself.

Christine looked at Damien. "There is no way—"

A shot tore through the air and into Damien's shoulder. He stumbled and Christine crouched and pulled out her pistol. The five guards were closing in on them and had their rifles pointed at the trees.

"Come out with your hands up," one of them commanded.

"Get on Bane's back and get out of here. I'll take care of them and meet up with you." Christine said.

"I'm not leaving you," he said, clutching his shoulder to lessen the bleeding.

"Damien—" A bullet grazed her thigh and instinctively she put up a wall of roots between her and the threat. "Go."

"Not without you."

She was about to yell at him when she heard someone say to stop firing. She felt something tugging at her control before it slipped completely and her wall fell. A root wrapped around her ankle and pulled her. She gasped and slammed to the ground, her pistol slipping through her fingers as she was dragged out of the trees. Damien yelled and she struggled to grab a hold of something. She tried to ease the root off of her but it was resisting her. She shot a ball of flame at it instead and when it let up, she stumbled to her feet.

She was standing in the middle of the open field. The five guards had their guns pointed at her but another had joined the group. Her heart dropped when she recognized the man as Kevin, one of the three dictators. His brown hair was cut close to his scalp, his hazel eyes trained on her as he smirked.

"Well, if it isn't Christine Cooper," Kevin said, taking a step toward her. "We've been searching for you for quite some time."