Parker and Ax kept pace behind the Hawks as they careened down the corridors. There were prisoners running around in the chaos, looting and fighting over crap, even when they'd just die within a few minutes. Those were the real cons; the people who actually did some serious shit to get into prison.
He hoped the people he was close to got to a Pod, if there were any left—people he cared about, his comrades in the rebellion that never even got a chance to rise. Parker let a slew of curses out through harsh breaths. Everything was ruined.
They rounded a corner and Ax almost crashed into a guy named Joksar, one of their close confidents.
"Joksar!" Parker called.
"Parker!" Joksar skidded and spun, to keep up with the group. "What's going on? The place is complete anarchy! This wasn't part of the plan, was it?" His already bug-eyes eyes were even larger.
Parker slipped his gaze to Alya and Zion to see if they heard, but they were too occupied pushing people out of their way. He kept his voice low. "No. The warden didn't like how nosy the Hawks were so he's blowing the place up. We're going to their ship, follow us, and if you see anyone, grab 'em."
Joksar's face paled, his skinny throat working to swallow, but he controlled himself and nodded. "Got it, Boss."
They stampeded around another bend, towards the staircase. The door leading up was barely being held open with a fire extinguisher. The group bottlenecked with everyone trying to get through the small gap.
Alya slipped through the gap first with cat-like grace, followed by Zion. Parker and Ax were only a few feet from the doors when some idiot knocked the extinguisher out of the way. Parker opened his mouth to yell a warning, if anyone was caught between the panels they'd be crushed, but before he could make a sound, Ax bolted forward, shoving his way through, and lunging between the panels.
Ax snarled, a vicious war-like roar that Parker had only heard him let out in the ring. His muscles bulged under the series of tattoos and the veins in his neck looked ready to burst. There was a moment of silence, everyone watching, including Alya and Zion on the other side, eyes wide. Then, Ax pushed away the panels. Everyone winced at the screeching sound that grated on their eardrums. The panels jerked apart, and then stayed, unmoving and broken.
A harsh laugh escaped Parker before he shoved forward and clapped Ax on the back. They followed the Hawks, who were already dashing up the stairs, skipping two or three at a time. "Thank the universe we were never in a death match."
Ax laughed. "I would have done the favor of making it quick for you at least," he said, and winked.
They barreled through the last doors leading to the loading dock, the flow of people bleeding and fanning out through the large hangar.
In the center of the docking bay, riddled with scratches and bullet holes, sat a modest size space cruiser—the Hawks' cruiser, Parker guessed. And between them and the cruiser, two damaged shuttles and a few guards lay sprawled on the ground, dead. They must have gotten killed when they tried to take over the Hawk's ship.
"Idiots," Parker growled. They could have been out of there already if they didn't fight against each other. But that was the problem with people. A few were smart—could work together—but a pack of people like this, desperate and free..."Morons."
"Let's go." Zion commanded. He didn't look phased by the mob of prisoners in his way, he just pushed through. Alya followed right behind him.
Parker looked to Ax and nodded. "Wasn't how I envisioned our daring escape, but it'll do."
Ax barked a laugh and nudged him forward. "We're not free yet, move it or lose it, small fry."
They ran through the horde of people, shoving and weaving between brawls and bodies. When they reached the ship, the bay doors lifted. Zion leaped onto the platform before it even hit the floor and started ordering people on. Alya followed suit, urging people to get in faster.
Ax and Parker jumped up, pulling people onto the ship. Parker grabbed Joksar's arm and hefted him up. The man clapped him on the back and laughed, as if this couldn't possibly be real, and then disappeared into the back of the ship, out of the way.
Rowan came out of the ship to help, his heavy boots pounding down the metal ramp, followed by a guy with glasses, younger than any of the other Hawks. With his mussed up brown hair and naïve face, the kid looked like he'd trip over his own feet.
"Jorrit." Zion turned to the kid. "Take over for co-pilot; we only have two minutes left."
The boy—Jorrit nodded and dashed off, into the ship, just as a male voice came over the announcement, thick with an Ethrakian accent. "Captain, the ship can't handle much more capacity. We'll be over weighed."
The pounding of the prisoner's feet echoed around them. The ones that were fighting finally noticed the door was opened, and their last chance of escape, and life was there.
Zion cursed before he pressed a button on the wall and said, "Start the countdown."
The platform groaned and pulled up under Ax and Parker's feet. They stood at the edge, trying to help the Hawks push the rest of the prisoners down and away as the metal door slowly closed from above. If they all forced their way onto the ship, no one would make it out alive.
The door was almost halfway down when someone—a huge hulking guy Parker remembered breaking the nose of in the ring—grabbed Parker's arm and yanked him into the thrashing mob.
Parker twisted, and managed to land on a foot, but he was being shoved and pushed, drowning in bodies and elbows and knees. Finally, he managed to stand; his stomach dropped. He was off the ship and the door was about to close. He heard Ax's voice, hoarse with desperation, yelling for him to run, get over there, hurry.
But it was so far, and the bodies barricading his way were like concrete walls, slamming him back. An elbow or a fist knocked him in the side of his face, splitting his lip open and causing sparks of light to dance in his vision.
At least Ax will make it, he thought. Ax deserved to get out of the hellhole.
"Parker!" Ax's voice thundered; too close to be on the ship.
Parker looked up, his heart skipping all over his chest. There was Ax, no longer safe on the ship. He had jumped into the fray of people, and was reaching for Parker."No! Ax, get back!" Parker tried to cram forward, to get to his friend and make him go back. Go back to the one chance he had at living.
But Ax had already pushed farther away from the ship and grabbed Parker by the collar of his shirt. "Not without you, brother."
Brother. The word curdled Parker's insides. The only reason he had to live. Jayden. "Together then!" Parker yelled back, he was only pushing through a small amount compared to Ax, who bulldozed through the crowd.
"Shit." Ax growled. The door was almost closed; the gap barely large enough for a grown man to crawl through—and they were trying, all of them.
"Shit." Parker agreed. Together till the end. That was what they agreed; even if the end would be so close.
Ax turned to him, his mouth set in a grim line. Guilt churned in Parker's gut. He wanted to say something witty and memorable for his last words to his best, and only, friend. But he didn't get the chance. Ax grabbed him, the wind crashed out of Parkers lungs as he was tossed over the heads of the prisoners. He slammed onto the metal grate of the platform, a shock of pain rattled through his shoulder.
Hands grabbed him, fingers dug into his skin, pulling him under the door, into the ship. He caught his breath and screamed. "No! Ax! Ax!" Over and over. But he couldn't hear himself, just the inmates screaming and rasping vocals.
The door closed in his face, cutting off Ax's determined gaze. The look of someone saying goodbye. The look of someone left behind.
"No!" He wouldn't believe it—couldn't believe it. Not Ax. Anyone but Ax. "No!" His voice was harsh to his own ears. He heard people around him, behind him, shouting, telling him to calm down. But how could he? Ax was outside, just outside the door; on the wrong side. Ax was on the wrong side of the door and no one was doing anything about it.
Parker slammed himself into the door. If he could open it a little—just enough for Ax to crawl though. Voices were yelling louder now, muffled in the back of his brain. Hands clamped on his shoulders, but he turned and slapped them away. His face was wet and hot as he pummeled the door, throwing his whole weight behind it.
Rough hands grabbed him from behind and yanked him away from the door—away from Ax. Parker screamed, he didn't know what he screamed or if he really did scream, but his throat hurt as if he was screaming for days. Like the first days he was in that prison cell, before he met Ax, before he crawled out of the dark abyss he fell into after the torture and interrogation.
His face slammed into the metal grating of the ground and he struggled against the weight of bodies holding him down. He had a vague impression of Zion and Rowan holding his arms down, and someone's knee digging into his back.
There was a prick at his neck—a needle or syringe. Then a foggy dark haze rolled over his mind. He was turned over, the bright light in the ceiling scalding his eyes, and Alya's face looking down at him, worried and beautiful. The hazy lights shimmered around her head like a halo. She was like an angel.
Then his world plunged into darkness.