"Loosen those weights on your shoes, mate!" Ferlando said to Michael and I smiled in spite of my slow pace. I did feel a plunge of guilt due to the fact that Michael took these beatings, but I could tell he wouldn't take it back for the world. He seemed to think of it as a reminder of how he beat the duke almost senseless.
We ran up the wooden steep steps to the roof but it seemed to take forever; the ache in our legs were clearly noticeable and Michael seemed to take it worse than any of us. There was no chance that we could have made it in the main entrance and exit, it was hoarded with the dukes own army of men. There were only four of us whilst there were a hundred of them. The duke seems to have taken things overboard with the security measures. Maybe William was was right, the duke would now be guaranteed a hundred percent of protection and the security measures would be rise off the charts.
I didn't even have the time to process what he had said in the duke's office, when suddenly Ferlando barged in and introduced himself to everyone in the room with a beaming smirk on his rough face. I admit, I was scared at first due to his sudden positive and strange levels of his happy meter but soon found out that he was on our side. He must be the 'they' that Michael had talked about in the dungeons.
I heard the click of the handle of a door and forgot the ache in my legs as my pace increased. Looking upwards to find that we have finally reached the top floor, I looked down at the swirling sight of wooden stairs and suddenly become dizzy yet a feeling of relief rushed through me at the knowledge of my foot on the last steep stair. I ran through the door and followed the others to their home.
Suddenly I felt a plunge of sadness. Will I ever be at home? Is my home anywhere but at some strangers house, whom of which are trying to save the world? I encouraged myself to stop thinking and I was lucky to even meet them. I wouldn't have to go through this by myself, there are others around me, thousands of others I probably have not met yet, and they'll all aspire the same thing as I do: save the world from anymore sickening and woeful rules set by anyone, especially the duke.
"They're closing in!" One dark haired boy and olive toned skin said, by the edge of the roof.
Ferlando looked down with sensational eyes, and within a second his head shot back up at him. "Drop 'em down, boy!" He shouted. I stood there gaping at them, wondering how in the world we're going to escape from this roof! I've only ever been on the ground, not even had set a foot on a second level of the mansion. I looked over to Michael to see him pulling out a couple of green patterned spherical objects. He seemed to pull something and throw it to the floor, then threw the spherical object down at the enemy. Within seconds it looked as though it hit the floor, as a loud explosion set in, causing the vibrating thunder of the ground. I stood with wide gaping eyes. He had gotten hold of grenades!?
Whilst Ferlando, Michael and the boy were shouting instructions at each other, I leaped from my position and grabbed a hold of my long fabric, tearing it slightly so I wouldn't be at risk for tripping over. Nobody needs to worry about looking good in this situation, they seems short on people and I was ready to join in. Surely they would allow such a thing, they wanted the girls to be free of the schools anyway.
I ran to Michael, seeing as Ferlando and the boy had managed to settle success with the enemy who were now holding guns against us. I don't know how the heck they did it, but they did. That's all that had mattered. Michael was struggling, his injuries taking over. He looked inside his bag but it was empty due to the look on his face. I looked over the roof and saw the hoard of men with guns in their hands, both the duke and William weren't visible to sight. The wreck of equipment were pretty obvious due to Michael's aims of the recent thrown grenades.
"Um, Michael? How long have you been here?" I asked with concern, still looking over the edge.
"Three years of heaven. Why?" He said sarcastically.
"Exactly, how strong is the building?" I looked up at Michael.
He looked to where I had my attention fixed in, his eyes widened as he got where I was getting at. I sucked in a breath and we both ran towards Ferlando. Michael was ahead, looking as though he had forgotten all about his brutal injuries. "Hurry, go go go!" He yelled to them. They looked at us in puzzlement and frustration that was until the whole building started going lower and lower at every second.
The pace of my heart fastened and I knew we may not make it, but it was worth a shot. We all ran towards the other edge of the building, hoping we wouldn't be late until the whole building collapses with us underneath it. When we made it to the edge, we all stood in our positions, the army of men had no more shots fired at us, thinking we would die anyway in the wrecked building. I noticed some of the men had actually ran inside despite the state of it. They were probably warning the duke and William to evacuate immediately.
Michael had his back to all of us and had his arms spread, preventing anyone from plummeting down the building. "One," he started, waiting for the right moment to jump of to the ground. I felt the building lower more deeply to the ground. "Two," my heart mastered the beat of drums as the building fell with a much quicker pace and feeling of fear and hopelessness crowned itself inside me. "Three!" We all jumped as fast as we could, leaving the now shattered and forsaken roof.
All emotions and thoughts whirled inside my head during the jump. At first I knew my position of the fall wasn't right, I knew I'd fracture something. We landed on the ground and Michael immediately looked up at us to see if we were all safe. Thankfully we were, except for a few broken toes and scrapes I believe we were as healthy as all could be.
We all rose up, looking at our surroundings. The army had taken many steps back and some of them weren't in view because of the smoke and dust. Fear crashed inside of me, much more stronger this time, wondering if William had made it out. But when Ferlando started running ahead of us, I had to force the thoughts out my mind and continue catching up with them. I had to focus, our main priority was to get out of here. If we fail, we might lose our lives, I cannot let that happen. The memory of Martha will forever be in my mind and I will be in her debt. She was the one who gave me access to go this far and I just can't make it go to waste.
We turned a few hundreds and thousands of corners in the forsaken and empty streets. My heart rate was all over the place, from high rates to extreme and intense levels to another. I didn't know if Michael even knew were he was going but judging by his focus and proximity, it seems he was doing pretty well. Ferlando and the boy were just beside him at each side. I felt left out and quickened my pace, but whenever I did that, my ankle brought much more pain to me than the moment I jumped from the roof. I saw from the corner of my eyes that the three boys started to lower their speed, I repeated the motion.
Michael faced Ferlando, crouching down with his hands on his knees, catching his breath. "So, what are we supposed to do now?"
Instead of answering, Ferlando reached into his pockets and drew out a digital SR mobile. I heard about them, it was said in the news that they were consisted along with many graphics that drew themselves into the air in blue coloured transparent lines and symbols. However I didn't understand a word of it, until the picture had showed up. It was white and flat, as soon as I saw Ferlando reach a button in the center of the tech, blue transparent lights showed and were emerged into a square. He tapped continuously until finally I heard a few rings. He must have been calling someone.
Finally the dial ended and we were introduced to a deep male voice. "Lans?" The voice said, urgency noticeable his tone. "Are they with you yet?"
"We've escaped and we might be heading to the Safe House. Where're you at right now?" The breathlessness was clear in Ferlando's voice. I couldn't keep my focus out of the voice, feeling like I've definitely heard that somewhere, but eventually the device must be playing tricks on me as I couldn't think of anyone.
"Good, come to the Middle East, You'll know when you get there. Is Toby with you?"
"Yeah, that nut head surprisingly has managed to help."
The olive toned boy, known as Toby grunted at Ferlando and gave him an icy stare before speaking into the SR mobile. "We don't have much time in our hands, we need to get out of here fast."
There was a pause. "How long do you suppose you'll reach here?"
Toby looked down on his wrist, frowning. "All I can say is that it will take till afternoon, sir."
There was silence until he spoke again, much more softly and with less authority in his tone. "Make sure Eden stays out of sight, I haven't told everyone yet." The call ended just as Ferlando looked shocked and his expression was quite raged.
I snapped my head to Ferlando as soon as I heard my name sliding off the deep yet smooth voice. "What did he mean?" I questioned, a little frustrated that Ferlando didn't have an answer. "Who was he?"
I felt a hand land on my arm, making me glance at them through furrowed eyebrows, but relaxed when it was Michael. "You'll find out soon enough." He said calmly. He seemed to say it too many times, I got somewhat annoyed, but he continued. "First things first, we need to get out of here." He faced Ferlando. "We're we heading? The Camp or Safe House?"
"The location of the Safe House is all I know, I came from there. But-"
"And I know where The Camp is." Toby calmly interrupted. "I was from that side originally and still am." He said proudly. "That's where we need to head. They're waiting."
Michael waited for a brief moment, just staring at the two, then rubbed his temples, looking frustrated. "Guys, I've been working for the devil for three years, I've forgotten almost everything," he said, "would you kindly explain to me where Ethan wants us to be exactly?"
My eyes widened and my lips went stiff. Ethan? Ethan Hartley? My mind swirled with thoughts that I can no longer make anything out of them. He was part of this all along. comprehension hit me as fast as the sound of thunder would snap on the face of earth. 'I have a duty to complete'. I was sure it was based on getting rid of The Collection that nothing else could make any more sense. Everything about him, all the mysterious and intriguing behaviour he set upon himself, it all makes sense now. But for some reason, I didn't feel ecstatic nor did I feel displeased, I was completely bewildered and shocked to it all.
A snap of fingers got me rid of my daze, causing me to look at them with wide, lost eyes. "Did you hear that, Dee? We're going to the moon!" Michael shouted ecstatically.
This made me more confused than ever. "The . . . moon?"
He shrugged, facing away. "Needed to get your attention, didn't I?" I scuffed and looked behind me, checking if we were safe to even be remained here, suppressing my fear and nervousness. But hey, I just jumped from a roof, with a sprained ankle, and now finding out the boy that decided to give up on the whole thing will once be facing me again.
We trodden on towards the deep end of the forsaken sector and somehow reached it to the wired fence whilst each of us were keeping an eye out in every direction, ensuring that no one was at sight level and we were safe enough to leave. Lucky enough, the whole area was deserted. Not one figure was caught sight upon. We walked in silence with me pondering along the way. Curiosity was left to fill in my emptiness as we went on wards. How come no one came after us? After all the duke went through, how come we were left alone in the end. Something wasn't right. And I wanted answers. Did William lie about it? Did he lie about the fact that the duke was now guaranteed 100% safety? No, William wouldn't lie, he has no reason to. After he let out his feeling about his parents, he would have no reason to lie for them, especially the duke.
We finally reached a point where an old rusty wiry fence was visible within a certain distance. By the time we reached there, it was too tall for any of us to climb over it. "How did you manage to make it in?" Michael questioned, probably trying to figure a way out.
"We used the front gates." Michael looked at him, shocked. "We had our ways but I'm guessing it's an overly guarded sector by now. What do you suppose we do?" I saw by the corners of my eyes Toby had reached into his backpack to pull out something.
He drew out three types of technological glasses possessing dark lenses. "Here." He threw them to each of us and wore one of his own. Ferlando looked at Toby as if he had three heads, whilst Michael's expression was more puzzled.
"What's this for?"
"I don't know how everyone works in The Camp, but I'm hecka sure it's not vaycay sunglasses." Ferlando said, inspecting the glasses. Toby rolled his eyes at his immature behaviour and drew out some sort of small mechanical devise from his baggage.
"We certainly aren't the same, we are prepared for whatever comes in our way." He said, looking at Ferlando in victory. I glanced at them, completely confused. This seemed like a conversational battle between them, I didn't want to get myself involved, especially between two grown men, who were completely armed with weapons I'm bound to even agnize. He swiftly handled the devise well and his expression held nothing but seriousness. His entire concentration was on that particular machinery.
We all heard a click, just as I heard the roaring footsteps of individuals. I knew I hadn't imagined it, as Michael turned round to search for anything making these thundering noises. We both knew what it was, but we wanted to make sure we weren't just going crazy. We needed to be sure rather than just being urgent with no efficiency in return.
In the flicker of movement, my gaze caught upon something. Not too far away were a hoard of uniformed men with black solid clothing, in camouflage with the dark surroundings. I couldn't see them too clearly but I was dead sure they carried weapons among them. Hundreds and hundreds of weapons, my heart rate sped.
I quickly pointed to that direction and faced Michael. "They're coming!" He nodded my way and immediately turned back to Toby and Ferlando, explaining the situation. Ferlando began barking commands at Toby to speed up but he remained oblivious to his instructions. He needed to do this efficiently, and I understood him. Ferlando began pacing around until eventually he rummaged around with abandoned weapons in the bag. I watched to my left Michael helped set the device onto automatic along with Toby, who was now trying to fix the device urgently. I set my attention back to the army of men as their footstepts began closing in. "Ferlando, hand me some of those!" Ferlando understood what I meant instantly as he threw over a type of gun. It wasn't too much of a hassle, it was the lightest gun I had known to exist and the force of each bullet was incredibly powerful.
Both me and Ferlando positioned ourselves in front of Michael and Toby as they continued to fix the device. I shifted onto my other foot as I hear the pounding of my heart beat louder and louder at every ticking second. I saw as the men passed the building and were close enough to shoot us directly. My head spun, could I be able to do this? I shook my head at the thought mentally. This is what I've been waiting for for the past years, what I've planned for. I was born ready.
"You ready, girl?" I heard Ferlando say beside me, his hard gaze still fixed onto the mean whom are now drawing much nearer.
"Oh yeah."
Within seconds we pulled the trigger, sounds of thunder echoed into the air as the men finally reached us within a reasonable distance to attack. I could feel the power of force pushing me backwards against my heel every time I pull the trigger. Somehow I didn't feel victory as I watched the men collapse. I felt remorseful, pity for them at how they had to cope with such a vicious man. But my remorse decreased and turned into shock and rage as I watched them hit a bullet at Ferlando's leg.
He let out a hiss before positioning himself against a metal object watching me as I hid myself behind the wall. My eyes darted themselves to Toby and Michael beside me, who were now getting somewhere by typing the last few digits onto the devise. What are the digits for? I let the question ponder but not for too long when I registered the fact that Ferlando needed my assistance. After a few silent moments I quickly raised my gun at them and they seemed to know instantly-they were men trained after all. My heavy breathing got me nowhere, my pounding heart was a huge distraction and the tremor in my hands were vicious.
Shots after shots were fired and I still remained useless. It was my first time using a gun, I wasn't surprised at my lack of victory. I leaned against the wall, catching my breath, my eyes caught up to Ferlando who was bandaging his injured shoulder, not paying attention to his leg. "We're making it for a run next, don't you want to take a look at that?" I said nodding to his leg.
He shook his head, his mane moving again the motion. "No, kiddo. I've gotten used to this job." He chuckled. "Now reach for that AK 47, the party cannot go on without me." I shook my head in disbelief but obliged to his instructions anyway. I took hold of the gun and held in a breath, it was heavy; too heavy in fact. I wondered how in the world he'd use this with his injured shoulder. "Thanks." He muttered as positioned himself once again.
"Guys!" A hiss came from behind us. We both looked back to find Michael throwing the piece of device away. "We need to go."
"We need more time, or else they would easily catch up to us." Ferlando said and fixed his attention back onto the battle.
Suddenly Michael grabbed hold of our weapons and tossed them aside easily. I looked at him in confusion; was he insane? Michael beckoned us away from the scene and I noticed Feroando look at him in irritation. "Are you crazy, man?" He echoed my thoughts. "If they were to know about this we would be meat, you hear me!" He hissed.
Michael rolled his eyes and led us on. When we reached the wired gates, I found a huge whole carved onto it, marking our escape into freedom. "What's taking long?" My head shot up to Toby who was ready and packed to make the run for his life, yet his face was full of liveliness and competition.
"Mikey here, wouldn't let us finish the battle." He spat, huffing childishly. I couldn't help but suppress a laugh which caused a playful glare to come at me. Ferlando was playful and silly but he seemed to want to enjoy life, and due to the job title he has, I respect that.
A loud perching bang followed by a light of flame. We crouched down with hands over our heads as the sound ended. Metal objects flew over the gates and landed on our side; it was a miracle we weren't hit yet. I glanced through my fingers to see a ruined empty field of dead yellow grass of which we stood upon, there were no more noise that belonged to the army of men at the other side of the gates. I looked around searching for Michael, a sudden fear rose up in me.
Just as I was about to throw myself through the hole in search for him, a loud clap of hands stopped me. Michael closed our distance with a beaming smile on his face, hands still clasped together. "Are you ready, team?"
Ferlando seemed to want to pounce on him. "What. . .in the world . . .are you on about?" He said between heavy breaths and gritted teeth.
"We're heading to Ethanol's location." He leaped ahead, not looking back. "I've missed that fuel."
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Hey guys. I'm really sorry for the lack of updates despite the fact that's it's the easter holidays, but hey I got a lot on my plate.
Anyway remember to vote and comment and maybe just follow??!!!!!