This Is Not The End.

Chapter 35

"Look," I said after a moment of unnatural silence had gone by, "Since when do we let Pyschs tell our futures?"

"Since Sam's pretty damn good at his job?" Beck raised an eyebrow at me.

"Pretend its not Sam, it's not your little brother, pretend it's some cocky kid who's trying to scare you,"

He looked at me like I was stupid, which I returned, but he thought about it.

"Five of us are going in," he said hesitantly. "All five of us are coming out,"

"There we go," I patted him on the back and rolled my eyes. "That's the spirit,"

"Get ready!" my father called over to us and I stopped myself from flinching as I heard something crash in the background. Kai tried to be sneaky as he promised me nothing was burning yet, but it just looked like he was whispering seductively in my ear. I cringed and pushed him away from me, rolling my eyes.

"We're ready," Jack muttered like he didn't want anyone to hear. "We're ready. We're ready. We're ready,"

Ready as we'd ever be.

"Skye! I need your team in position!"

"That's us, gang," I grinned with adrenaline and pushed myself off the guardrail. It wasn't right to seem so ready, but I was. I had to be. "C'mon, up you get. It's now or never, and we are not waiting any longer,"

Kai was at my side before I'd even nagged, and Cara squeezed my hand with excitement, which only hid her clammy hands and fleeting eyes. We wouldn't leave her side.

"C'mon, then," Beck let himself grin and jumped to his feet. "Lead the way, fireboy,"

Jack didn't seem to like his nickname, still, he pushed forward, jumping the guardrail, ignoring Kai's mock salute to my father – which I let out a laugh at – and wove through the cars. Beck helped Cara over the rails, which she refused to take, and vaulted over after her. Kai and I brought up the rear, letting Jack lead the way without the two of us making cruel jokes in his ear. We both knew it was a tough job for him – he worshipped the place – but he was doing it anyway. One of these days we'd appreciate him correctly.

"Stick close," he called over his shoulder, "It's dark in the forests, the Infected love it,"

"Noted," I called up, the five of us forming a tighter line. Behind us, I could hear the vague shouts from the SWORD soldiers as they tried to fight back against our diversion. I shot a look over my shoulder, but the trees masked the commotion.

With my forearm, I pushed low hanging branches out of my line of sight and tried not to trip over mangled roots strewn across the ground like decaying corpses. Twigs and sticks reached out to snag the bottom of my jacket or tear at my bare ankles, threatening to draw blood. We couldn't afford any crimson mistakes, just now, it was life or death if it happened. Jack trod cautiously, like a lion waiting to rip apart a gazelle, but held his hand up to let us know it was safe. Every foot he pressed to the floor could end our lives – too much noise, a trap, hell, it wouldn't have shocked me if SWORD had laid out landmines to meet us. They wouldn't have, though, not if it cost them their precious Flames.

I wasn't jealous, not really, it was just that whenever I'd made my peace with SWORD's hatred, they found a new way to rub their favouritism of the Reds in.

I was a Snuff, Colourless, a blank sheet full of nothing, and I loved it. SWORD knew they couldn't control me to the point where they hadn't even tried. The rest of the Snuffs needed to know what I knew, they needed to be freed.

Any minute now.

We walked for a little longer, doubling back when Jack thought he'd lost his way. I kicked a mound of dirt, sending a small coven of insects scuttering in different directions, and tried not to jump back. Kai stopped himself from laughing and gave me a mock expression, so I hit his arm and carried on.

"Here," Jack said, stopping dead in his tracks. "It's here,"

"How'd you know?" Beck frowned, an eyebrow raised.

"I just," he knelt to the floor and let his hands glow red, illuminating the steel, emergency cover beneath him. "I just know,"

"Let's do this thing, then," he said, "Where'd you want us?"

"Uh," Jack looked up, most his energy focused on the doors, "You and Skye, just guard me, I guess. Kai, I need you here, the light helps me focus on the heat, and Cara, just be our lookout,"

"Done!" she said and popped out of sight.

"C!" Beck called, "Stick close!"

She made her head visible and shouted back a 'yeah!'. Beck and I each took one side of Jack, my eyes darting between the trees at anything that moved. Desperately, I tried to slow my breathing, control my emotions, but I hated it. I hated every second of the waiting and the watching. My foot bounced against the forest floor, just waiting for something to run to... or from.

"Jack, that's, like, solid steel..." Kai said quietly, his pocket torch shining with industrial-strength, "Doesn't that have a boiling point of like fifteen-hundred degrees

"Fifteen-hundred-and-ten," Jack corrected, "Give me more light,"

Kai abided, but his forehead creased with deep lines as he watched Jack press harder onto the steel, his temples dripping steady drops of sweat.

"Jack, you're gonna hurt yourself..."

"Let me concentrate!" the steel began to lighten up as its bonds broke, and as he felt it Jack shook out one hand, before gathering the rest of his strength and pushing down again. He gritted his teeth and forced any power he had onto the one piece of steel, letting the metal glow white-hot as it slowly began to cave in on itself. "One... more... bit..."

"Jack!" Beck shouted as he noticed his glowing hands. He abandoned his post and tried to tackle him away from the bunker, but Kai intercepted him and the two of them tried to wrestle the other to the ground.

"Yes!" Jack collapsed onto the bank of twigs and dirt, and shook his hands out, letting them cool down. "Okay, give that a minute, before, before we go in, okay?"

"What the fuck!" Beck fell next to him and held his hands up by his wrists, ready to throw his jacket to the ground and tear the sleeves off his shirt to use as bandages. "Okay, what the fuck!"

"What!" I shouted, joining the three of them on the floor.

"Cara, come back now!" Beck shouted out, and Cara materialised next to Kai. "Dude, how the fuck are your hands okay?"

"What?" Jack knit his eyebrows together and looked at Beck as if he were stupid. "The hell you talking about?"

"You're a Flame, sure," Beck said slowly, "But you still burn. You're still human. I don't, I don't get it."

Jack pulled his hands away and clutched them together. Faintly, I could still see them smouldering slightly.

"I don't burn," he said after a moment, "I haven't ever," Beck opened his mouth to retort, but Jack gently tested the sides of the hole, which had grown to be big enough for all of us, and stood up. "Are we going in or not?"

We all looked at him for a moment, trying to read his imperceptible expression, but got nowhere.

"Yeah," I said. "Now or never, right?"

"You can say that again," Kai nodded, glancing between Jack and me before he dropped into the bunker and we lost him to the shadows.