The Altered.

Chapter LXXIII.

"Close the door!" Miles yelled as the Unaltered who had gone to fight staggered inside.

Angelina's group accompanied them. Miles didn't have time to be disgusted by this.

Percy, who had opened the door to let them in, frantically slammed his elbow against the button beside the door to close it. Outside, Altered scrambled over one another to try and get to the door before it closed, chasing the Unaltered. The Unaltered that had fought were wounded - that much was clear - but none of them seemed to be in an incredibly amount of pain. At least, that's what Miles thought, until the door closed and everybody let out a breath of relief bar Aaron, who was completely unresponsive.

When Miles noticed this, his brain immediately flicked into panic mode. Trying to ignore the sounds of Altered hammering against the glass doors from outside, trying to get in, Miles demanded, "What's wrong with him?"

Kano, who had been half carrying, half dragging Aaron, collapsed to the floor with an unconscious Aaron in his arms. Expression grief-stricken, he shook his head wildly. "I don't know! He hit his head!"

Before Miles could kneel down beside Kano, Angelina snapped impatiently, "We need to move! As long as the Altered can see us, they'll be trying to get in. We need to get into another room before we can deal with him." She nodded briefly at Aaron while she said the last part.

Miles registered when he started trembling, but not when he said, "Let's move."

Eira clutched Miles' shirt the instant he took a step back away from Aaron. There was a long scratch on Eira's head, dribbling blood into her eyes, but she didn't seem to notice. Her eyes were glued to her brother, and she was pressing herself against Miles, hiccupping eas she tried to catch her breath and stop herself from shedding tears.

"He'll be fine," Lia said, but only because she needed the others to believe it. Whether or not she was right was hard to tell.

With Spike's help, Kano was able to lift Aaron again, and the group moved quickly to the nearest room. For the most part, the rooms were unlocked. Percy muttered something briefly about how the majority of the proper labs were on the upper levels, and all of what was on the bottom level was merely for viewer enjoyment. Displays and models, mostly.

The room they found themselves in had a table set up with a microscope and a black-screened computer. Aaron was settled into the corner quickly, and there was a soft groan from him once Kano stepped away. This earned a shuddering breath from Miles - Aaron was definitely alive.

"What are we going to do with him?" Angelina panted.

With a snarl, Miles whirled to face her. "Whatever it is, it won't be your decision. You've no place in this conversation."

She took a startled step back, but quickly recovered from his words. There was snark in her tone as she said, "You're going to have to get over your grudge somewhere along the line tonight."

"You should leave." Miles narrowed his eyes, distracting himself from Angelina by turning back to Eira and taking her hand. "We need to keep moving," he said, though his heart ached as he spoke and he could feel his gaze drifting back to Aaron. Hiking his backpack higher onto his shoulders, he added, "Somebody is going to have to stay here with Aaron while the rest of us keep going. Percy, you need to come with us to help us navigate. Angelina, there's no fucking way I'm letting you or your pets stay here with Aaron."

After being called pets, Bates and Spike simultaneously bared their teeth at Miles. Animals.

Angelina lifted her chin. "I wouldn't dream of it, anyway. I came here for adventure, not babysitting."

If Miles wasn't clutching Eira's hand, he'd have considered swinging a fist for Angelina's nose.

"I'll stay," Eira said. "He's my brother. And... I'm not really an asset to the team, anyway. I'm not used to being in a lab."

"Half of that was bullshit," Percy said, taking Miles by surprise. "You'll always be an asset to the team. But it makes sense for you to stay."

Miles finally let his gaze wander back to Aaron. Apart from the fact that he'd obviously hit his head hard enough on something to knock him out, there was a jagged - probably deep - wound running over his right eye. Looking at it made Miles shudder. Aaron's eyelids and the area surrounding the wound were swelling quickly, turning an ugly green-purple. Whatever had left the wound can't have been clean or sharp.

"Miles."

Miles lifted his head at Bri's voice, snapping his gaze to her, startled. "What?"

"Did you hear what I said?"

Miles shook his head dumbly.

"Eira shouldn't stay here on her own," Bri repeated. "I'll stay here with her. The first aid is in your backpack, right? We're going to need that."

Shaking himself so that he didn't look so much like a deer in headlights, Miles shrugged his backpack off and passed it to her without so much as another word. He hoped so severely that Aaron would be okay that it almost physically hurt him to think about what he'd do if Aaron wasn't okay.

That wasn't something he'd have to worry about. Aaron was going to be fine.

Bri took Miles' bag, and in return, she passed him something that he hadn't realised she'd been holding until now. "Since he won't be able to use it right now," she said as she handed Miles Aaron's bat. Miles took it without thinking much of it, but once his fingers were firm around the weapon, he felt a sudden surge of confidence. He tightened his grip.

With Bri and Eira staying behind to take care of Aaron, the group that would accompany Miles was a little smaller. That being said, they now had the company of Angelina, Bates and Spike. Not that Miles had much confidence in those three carrying any brains.

"Percy," Miles said, turning to the boy as he addressed him. "Do you know where the main control room is?"

Percy pondered silently for a moment. "No. But I know which floor most labs are on, and I'm sure the control room will be around there. And everything in this place is labelled. I'm sure we can find a digital map somewhere around."

Miles was relieved that they'd have at least some electricity for this - it would make everything a lot easier.

"Right. That's where we need to go, then." Miles straightened up, the weight of the bat in his hand comforting in an empowering way. He felt better holding it than he had without it - maybe because it was Aaron's, or maybe because of what he could do with it. Miles nodded at Percy. "Take the lead, asshole."

____________________

+1160 Words.