This Is Not The End.

Chapter 41

"Take a left," Beck said, rushing ahead while Kai and I tried to keep Harry upright. I glared at the back of his head, envying his every free move, but I wouldn't have traded with him. Harry could break at any moment and I would be at his side if he did. "Okay, now maybe a right?"

"We're going in circles," I pointed out, half out of breath from my brother's weight. "You do know your way out of here, right?"

"Yeah," he promised, although he didn't sound too sure, "It's this way,"

We continued to run in circles, trying to avoid the headache the alarm gave us and the aches in my shoulders. My feet drummed against the tiles. I needed the overbearing stench of familiarity to retreat from my head so I could focus on something other than how we were blatantly lost. Just to my left, I could see Kai struggling, but he didn't speak up. He smiled at me through the sweat, which I returned, and pressed on.

We turned a corner, and the smell of smoke hit us before the clouds could.

"Oh, fuck," Beck whispered, coughing into his sleeve, "Oh, no,"

"'Oh, fuck'?" I repeated, trying to cover Harry's mouth and nose just in case. "'Oh, no'? Are you insane!"

"Skye, please, we've been over this,"

"Jesus, Mary, and all of the fucking lambs..."

He forced us back and I pulled my tunic up to use as a mask, the smoke clouding my vision. Through the black, I could make out the wisps of a flame lapping at the walls of one of the Colours' quarters. Even when I squinted, which was the only way I could keep my vision, I couldn't make out the walls – they had to be green or blue or something close to where the Suns lived, that much I knew. When I put my mind to it, I realised where we were, and I wasn't far off with my guesses, I'd just managed to avoid the obvious.

"My people are in there," Kai said before I realised what I was thinking. "The Yellows. They're down there... they're dying!"

"What do you want me to do!" Beck shouted, the whites of his eyes turning red from the smoke.

"Get out of here," he said, his once vibrant, blue eyes turning black with his hatred. "Just-"

"Don't you dare," I whispered. "Don't you fucking dare, Kai Myres, this is not the end-"

"I'm sorry I can't stay with you," he said to me, his voice hoarse from the fumes. "Good luck,"

He didn't wait for my reply before he dropped his side of Harry and rushed into the smoke, pulling his shirt up to use as a mask.

I watched him disappear into the black and the fire alarm had to shake me out of my dazed state before I realised what he'd done.

"Kai!"

I struggled under Harry's weight and screamed my voice dead before Beck finally pulled me back from shifting towards the flames, towards the charred yellow walls and where Kai had vanished.

I knew I had Harry attached at the hip, but it didn't seem to resonate in my mind. Nothing seemed to make sense since he'd disappeared into the swirls of toxic death. Harry was my brother sure, but Kai had been more like family to me than he ever had.

"Skye- Skye!" Beck forced me away and struggled against the weight of both of us, his voice drilling into my head, "You can't! You have your brother!"

"Take him!" I screeched, "I have to-!"

"I'll get him!" he promised, "I'll get him! You need to find Jack and Cara and get out of here!"

"I'm not-!"

"I'll find him!"

"Kai!"

Harry stirred, letting out a low growl of a cough beneath the layers of smoke which swamped his lungs.

"Skye... Skye..." Beck made me look at him, blocking my clouded view with his face. "Trust me,"

I did. I'd said it before but it had never resonated within my core as it did at that moment. I'd give him my life in the palm of his hands because in return I knew I had his. He wouldn't lie to me, and I wouldn't lie to him – he'd bring Kai back and I'd get out of there with Harry. If it could've been any other way, I'd have done it, but I needed to save my brother, and Beck could get through to Kai easier than I could.

He'd bring him back to me, I knew it.

"Be careful," I said, wincing with the miasma. "Look out for yourself,"

"I will, I just-" he seemed to weigh something up in his mind before he reached down and gently pressed his lips to mine. Just as I realised what was happening, he broke apart and shrugged, "For luck,"

"Go," I said, mind whirring as coherent thoughts tried to form, "Don't do anything stupid,"

"I am stupid!" he shot to me as he pulled his tunic up to his nose, "It's in my nature!"

I turned away first, struggling as I tried to lug Harry back into safety, but when I looked back over my shoulder, I found myself faced with swirling ghosts; black and grey smoke dancing like strangers in a cemetery, luring me back just to see their faces one last time.

I snapped my thoughts back to focus, promising myself I'd see Kai again, and I'd see Beck again. They weren't gone. They were idiots, but they'd be back. Sure, I'd got Harry back, but this would not be my cost.

"Not today, fuckers," I muttered, and with every aching step I took, I knew that this wasn't what was meant for us and that we'd see each other soon. That wasn't my concern, though. I had to get Harry out and to do that I had to untangle myself from the labyrinth of corridors and colours.

I took a left, and then a right, and the smoke began to disperse a little more, although whenever I turned my head I could hear it stalking me in the corner of my eye. Every movement got me that little bit further away from it, and the sweet taste of fresh air brought on my determination.

The facility may have been burning from the inside out, but I was untouchable by the flames. They meant nothing to me – insignificant sparks on a finished cigarette – and I'd prove it. The home run was coming, and I was more than ready to finish.