((hello everyone!! sorry that it is has been so long since the last update, but here is chapter 49!! and also, here is another short promo video that I made for Desolation! i hope that you all like it!))
In a split second, everyone's eyes are upon me.
"What did you just say?" one of the men asks me.
Why is everyone so surprised?
"I said, I want to kill Hal. The leader of the horrible people who kidnapped," I say firmly.
"Tessa...," Tristan starts.
"What? Is there a problem with that?" I say, anger and frustration rising in my voice.
"No matter how much you want to, you cannot shoot him," one of the men says flatly.
A wave of fury surges up inside of me. I can literally feel the anger bubbling up inside of me like a pot of boiling water.
"Do you understand what this man did to us?! He kidnapped, starved, drugged and tortured us! He deserves to be killed, and...and I should be the one to shoot him," I shout.
Everyone is staring at me.
Finally, the man says,
"Yes, we understand. But you cannot just kill him; it's not right. We will take him into custody and determine his fate once we go back home."
Even though deep down I know what he is saying is right, I still can't shake off the rage inside of me. Oh, how badly I want the satisfaction of pointing a gun at Hal and pulling the trigger.
"Fine," I mumble through gritted teeth.
"Good. Now first, we will get these kids out of the cages. And then we'll go down to their headquarters to capture all of the men who are down there," the man says authoritatively.
The men begin to walk towards the cages. Tristan, Nikki, Dylan and I follow them, looking around uncomfortably at each other. I don't know exactly why, but I have an unnerving feeling of unease creeping up inside of me. A feeling that something is going to go wrong.
As we approach them, I look into the cages to see the four kids trembling. They stare up at the armed men with wide eyes.
"Aren't there supposed to five of you?" Dylan asks as we stop in front of them.
One of the girl's eyes begins to brim with tears. Oh no.
"Alec...he....he died a few days ago, before we got captured," she sobs, tears now streaming down her face.
"Oh...erm I'm sorry," Dylan says quickly.
There is an awkward silence.
Finally, Daniel asks,
"So how are you guys getting us out of these cages?"
We all turn towards the men.
"Um...this is more difficult than we thought it would be," the leader says uncomfortably.
"What the hell do you mean, more difficult than you thought it would be? Did you not think that they were locked up in metal cages with no way out?!" Dylan exclaims incredulously.
I cringe. All of the men turn around and look at Dylan, who cowers back slightly.
"What's your name kid?" the man says gruffly.
I swallow hard and look at Dylan nervously. This man does not seem to be accepting Dylan's attitude.
"Dylan," he replies, an edge of worry in his normally fearless voice.
"Well Dylan, do you think that we have superpowers? Do you think that we have the magical ability to unlock locks without keys?" the man says, raising his eyebrows.
I have never seen Dylan look this intimidated before. His eyes flit to the ground and then he quietly says,
"No, I'm sorry."
The man nods approvingly.
"It's alright, son. We will go down to their headquarters first and when we're down there we will look for a key," he says.
"And if you don't find a key?" a girl's voice says timidly from behind the men.
I crane my neck to see one of the girls looking at us with wide eyes.
"We'll figure it out, don't worry," the man says, trying to reassure her.
All of the men then begin to walk towards the hatch. I silently follow them, my feet padding soundlessly on the soft earth. When the men reach the hatch, one of them looks up at me and says,
"What are you doing?"
"I want to come down with you guys," I say flatly.
Instantly, all of the men shake their heads. One of them says,
"I don't think that's a good idea. It's not safe."
"Don't tell me what I should and shouldn't do. I want to go down so I'm going to go down," I say firmly.
I don't care about my safety anymore. All that I want to do is see the look on Hal's face when they capture him. I want to see the fear and defeat in his eyes.
"Alright then," the man says.
"I'll come too."
I spin around to see Tristan walking towards us. He gives me a small, weak smile.
The men open the hatch door and begin to climb down, their guns at the ready. Tristan and I are the last to go. The moment I grab the rungs of the ladder and begin to descend into the darkness, a wave of trepidation washes over me.
Don't be scared Tessa. You're with armed men from the US Coast Guard. Everything's going to be okay.
I continue to climb down and down until my feet finally hit the cold, hard ground. The men have turned their flashlights on and are shining them around the cavernous gloom. They finally focus their beams of light on the steel door.
"Guns at the ready," the commander says.
All of the men raise their guns, pointing it at the door as the leader reaches out and grabs the door handle. I watch, my heart pounding in my chest as he twists and pulls. The door slowly swings open, creaking ominously.
Bracing myself, I look into the long hallway.
But no one is there.
It is deafeningly silent.
The men cautiously file out into the hallway. After glancing up at Tristan, we both follow them. We slowly walk down the hallway. I am surprised that no one can hear my heart because it is beating in my chest like a drum.
It is way too silent.
Something is up.
We turn the corner to find that there are still no people. It's as if they have completely erased any signs that they were once down here; all of the doors are shut and the carts and equipment that were once in the hallway are now gone.
As we walk the men kick open all of the doors, only to find that all of the rooms are empty. I shudder when one of the men kicks open the door to the room where they removed my memories. Just the sight of that huge, sinister machine resurfaces the terrifying memories of when I was hooked up to it. I close my eyes, trying to push out those horrifying flashbacks.
One of the men opens a smaller door to reveal a storage closet filled with racks and racks of white laboratory coats.
"Search the coats," the commander orders.
I stand and watch in the doorway as the men walk into the room and begin to turn out the pockets of the coats. Almost all of them must be empty because no one says anything until one of them cries out,
"I found something!"
I hear a jingling noise as the man pulls out a ring of keys from the coat pocket.
"Perfect; hopefully those will open up the cages," the commander says.
I smile and turn back to look at Tristan.
But he is not there.
"Tristan?" I ask, looking around the closet.
But he isn't in there as well.
When I step out into the hallway and see what is in front of me, my heart actually stops.
My least favorite person is standing at the end of the hallway, grinning at me with his wicked smile.
"And so we meet again, Tessa," Hal says, his misty gray eyes burning into mine.
But that's not what causes my heart to stop.
What causes my heart to stop is the fact that Hal is holding a gun to Tristan's head.