Chapter Thirty-Three:
ESME
We left Drake bleeding and cursing in the hallway; he was too heavy to move and we had nothing to shut him up. I felt bad, but I knew he deserved it. I knew Nero needed to shoot him, to cause him pain, like Drake had done to Nero.
Nero marched ahead, the gun in his pocket thank god. But I felt queasy.
"Hand it over," I said shakily.
He stopped, but didn't turn to face me. "What?"
I lunged for his pocket and took it out. He barely flinched.
"Thank you," he said quietly, and started off again.
The gun felt cold and powerful beneath my hand. It didn't fit within my grasp just right. I went to hide it and then realised I couldn't.
"We need a change of clothes," I told Nero. "We're too recognisable."
"We don't have time," Nero argued.
"We have to have time," I countered. "If we want to get even slightly close to Adam, then we can't look like us. There's a laundry room. It won't take long to get there. It's not far -"
An alarm blared, cutting me off. A voice boomed over an intercom, "Offenders Esme and Nerovian Jackson have broken free of their cells and are believed to be armed. They have already seriously injured a member of staff. If you see them, alert the nearest soldier immediately. Families must be locked in their rooms."
"Families?" Nero shouted over the noise.
"They've got a whole village here," I replied loudly. "This is the facility where all the operations and technical Borne stuff are done. All the families - husbands, wives, children, partners - who are related to workers or soldiers are given accommodation. They know very little about the work done here, but they're told to believe we're dangerous reckless young offenders."
I'm not sure how much Nero exactly heard, but I think he got the gist of it.
We entered the laundry room, which wasn't guarded (who would guard a room full of people's dirty linen?). We soon found things that fit us.
I laughed as Nero stared in horror at his new clothes. "You look like a cheesy cruise singer," I giggled. He was decked in a scarlet shirt and black trousers and a white jacket. "You can't wear that!"
"It was in my size," he mumbled, embarrassed.
"I'm sure you can squeeze." I picked him out a much more suitable grey t-shirt with a blue slogan on it and a long pair of faded jeans that covered his shoes. "Roll them up or you'll trip," I told him. I chucked him a sensible cleanish pair of black trainers.
"Yes, Mother."
I changed behind a stack of boxes into a small purple long-sleeved top and black leggings. I found some white sneakers and a navy hoodie. Then I scraped my long curly hair into a loose ponytail.
"Ready," I said, emerging from behind. Nero nodded at me.
"Ready to stop an execution," he grumbled. "Never thought we'd be doing that."
"Me either," I said with a nervous laugh. "Let's go."
The execution was most likely to be private now that everybody had been sent back to their homes, so we started by searching all the big rooms. There'd be plenty of soldiers and officials there, so they'd need somewhere spacious. The largest rooms in the facility, the canteen and assembly hall, were empty.
"Could they be outside?" Nero wondered.
"There's an area out back that's cordoned off," I said. "But apparently it's hazardous. Loads of monsters there, some that release poisonous -"
Both of us realised as I said it. "They've taken him there," I whispered. "Oh my gods. They're going to let him be choked to death by gas."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Nero said.
"We can't go!" I said. "We've got no way of rescuing him. There are huge monsters in there that can shoot an acidic venom that burns the flesh off of your bones!"
Nero shook his head. "When did you get so selfish, Esme?"
"Excuse me?"
Nero sighed. "I'll go. Stay here. Keep a lookout."
"What are you doing, Nero?"
He left the laundry room. I followed him. "Nero!" I called.
"I'm going," he said, "to rescue Adam. My best mate. Are you coming or not?"
I bit my lip. So yes. I was a coward. Maybe I didn't want to be there and go in and die. I'd heard the stories. The dozens of monsters that inhabited the back area. Some with claws like razors, others with breath that could knock you out so they could gnaw your flesh-ridden carcasses.
"Yeah." Fear clawed up my throat, trying to stop my words. "Yeah, I'm coming."
***
It was too late. When we got to the back area, there was nobody there, but you could see somebody lying flat on their face about eighty feet away. This time I didn't hesitate. I ran.
Then I saw the monster.
It was huge, black and oily with seven heads. Seven sharp teeth grinding hungrily. Seven pairs of golden eyes watching the prey hungrily. The body moved, struggling. As Nero and I got closer, we saw Adam was bleeding.
He didn't look scared, though. He didn't look like he was pain. He looked pitiful.
I threw Nero the gun. He could see I trusted him now.
"Don't chop off the heads," he told me. "Hydra. It'll grow more heads until there's hundreds. They need blasting by celestial bronze. Good thing I picked up some bullets."
He fired. Hard. The hydra hissed as one bullet lodged into its side. It growled and turned to us, licking its seven lips.
Adam rolled out of the way as the hydra leapt forwards towards us. I took out the knife Nero had armed me with. Adam stood up.
"Don't kill it!" he pleaded.
"It'll kill you!" I yelled as Nero fired another shot.
"It's being programmed, like you were!" Adam shouted at me. "Nero, cut it out!"
The hydra yelped suddenly, and exploded into gold dust.
But the noise had drawn more monsters. Some I recognised from pictures or stories - drachanae, cyclopes, hellhounds. Others I didn't - stormy spirits made of smoke, skeletal figures with rotting bones, and a giant hairy guy with horns.
"The Minotaur," Adam whispered, eyes round.
He didn't look all that scary. He was just a massive grumpy beast in his tighty-whities.
"I'll take him," I decided. "Adam, you take the left flank. Nero, you take the right. I'll take the middle. We keep to the formation. Once we're done with our section, we go to the person who needs the most help. Got it?"
"Es, there's at least fifty monsters per flank," Adam said sceptically. "I can't take fifty monsters."
"Soak and electrocute groups of them with your weather powers," I suggested. "I'll see if I can charge my power. Once we're done here, we find the rescue team. Lucas will send half of them to take out the Borne Reduction machines. I'll get my powers back. We can do this. We've just got to have faith."
Both boys nodded. And then...
... we charged.
_______
Next chapter will be a full-on war! It won't be from Esme's or Nero's perspective - it will be a third person account of what it looked like with the twins and Adam's separate attacks as they kick asses!
Second update in a day! Both chapters really short but still updated TWICE which is aweeeesome for me!!
Anyway. Might get a third up soon.
- Lauren xx