TRIGGER WARNING//:
I just want to warn my readers that there's references to guns & gun-firing through out this chapter. I try not to be graphic, but the theme and plot of my story makes it hard sometimes.
Characters:
Tyler Posey plays Matt Grey
Max Irons plays Grayson Harp
Dylan Obrien plays Josh Vincent
Lotus (Zayn's girlfriend)
Cara (Matt's Girlfriend)
Eleanor (Grayson's girlfriend)
Chapter eighteen|
Y o u r p o v
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Three SWAT trucks.
Not one but THREE.
In this moment, my feeling of hopelessness makes another guest appearance.
How can one outrun or stop three trucks, equipped with god knows how many highly trained officer's, who are willing to kill to stop this car?
The answer is: you can't.
They know he's in this car.
Why chase "innocent" people?
"You fucking jinxed it." Zayn curses. I narrow my eyes at him through the rear view mirror. He's joking right? Apart of me starts to wonder if we would've been in this situation if I hadn't said anything.
"Who thought it was a good idea to use the direct route from the Arc?" I ask, sarcastically.
"We weren't going to stay on this route forever, and it helps us avoid other cars." Zayn argues.
"We would've been undetectable with other cars. We stick out like a sore thumb, that's why we're being chased." I sigh, messaging the bridge of my nose dramatically. I study the trucks speeding behind us. I wish they'd just disappear. Why are we always unlucky?
"We would've been at least fifteen minutes behind." He says, glancing at the time.
"How behind do you think we are going to be if we don't even make it to the jet?"
"That's enough." Lo sighs.
Zayn subtly glares at me from the driver's seat. I forgot that Zayn has a temper. The simplest things get him vexed. The difference between Zayn and Jason is Jason is more vocal when he's angry, but Zayn stays quiet and glares you to death. What the hell. Why am I comparing them? I can honestly say we've never gotten this frustrated with one another since the day I first met him. It feels unnatural bickering with him. It's not something that makes me feel good afterwards. I rather save this sort of energy for Grayson.
"Here, put this on." Lo says, pushing what looks like to be a black ski mask in my hand. In this moment, I know shit has just gotten real. Without hesitation I place it over my face, making sure the holes on the mask aligned with my eyes, nose, and mouth. I officially feel like a criminal, getting ready to wreck shit.
I glance over at Jason, noticing his eyes fixated on me.
I wonder what he's thinking? The fact that he doesn't look away realizing that I caught him watching me starts to make me feel nervous.
We both study each other. I study his eyes, watching as realization kicked in for him. He can't save me anymore. This isn't a situation where he can protect me. He's the one they want. He's the one that needs the protection. I didn't waste months planning this break in, training, losing part of my sanity, and risking my life, just to screw up right before reaching the light at the end of the tunnel.
I'm speaking it into existence: We are going to get out of this—all of us—alive. We are going to make it to the jet and get the hell off this island. No more self doubting myself—us. All of us agreed on hiding out in Tokyo for a couple of years, but I'm daydreaming more of a tropical place that's more isolated from other humans.
Humans are disappointing me right now.
Although Zayn is currently going about one hundred forty miles per hour, the trucks feel like they're getting closer and closer. The deafening sirens coming from the them is enough to wake up every neighborhood on this island. Is that their goal?
"Pull over the van now!" An amplified voice echoes from the speakers. What if we don't? I look back at the trucks, studying them. What would they do exactly if we kept driving? Shoot at the car? Bomb it? Hit it? Zayn suddenly pushes on the gas even more, causing the view of the trucks to become less vivid. That doesn't even ease the rate of my heart a little.
"Lo, I need you to drive." Zayn tells her. What? Completely perplexed, I divert my attention to the front of the van. She places both hands on the wheel while he maneuvers to the backseats of the van. Once he's out of the driver's seat, Lotus places herself there. I'm honestly amazed at how effortlessly they executed that action without crashing the truck. I can tell that they've done this too many times. While making sure to steady the direction of the vehicle, Lo motions Zayn her gun she had previously laying on the passenger's seat.
Zayn grabs the gun, loading it.
Matt opens the roof of the car attentively, I examine their movements knowing exactly what's about to happen next.
"Keep Lo company." Zayn says right before lifting his gun outside the roof of the van, sending bullets to the SWAT trucks behind us. He and Matt were both firing their guns simultaneously. I didn't turn around to check the status of the trucks, but I can hear the exchange of bullets from each party. I moved to the front of the truck, sitting idly in the passenger's seat.
"You ok?" She asks. I think that's a rhetorical question, her mind seems too preoccupied to be discussing our mental state.
"Are you?"
"No."
"There's your answer."
"Fuck." She mutters. I look over at her noticing that her gaze is fixated on the rear-view mirror. I can't read the look on her face. Did something happen? Are the trucks gone? Is there more? "Now!" Matt yells, ducking his head inside the van. Lo suddenly takes a sharp turn down a side road, causing the van to collide and run over many tree branches. My body collides against the passenger's door. I reach out for the handle on the roof of the car, trying to regain my sense of gravity.
I don't remember this ever being apart of the plan. We are supposed to follow the direct route from The Arc to the jet.
I suddenly hear a loud explosion from behind us. I look back noticing the smoke in the air from where we just were. "Holy shit that was meant for us," I mumble under my breath. If that came near this car, we'd all be dead by now—burnt into crisps. A small part of me wishes that I was back in that facility. That was level one, this is level two. Each level getting more difficult as it progresses. This whole plan is feeling like it's never-ending. I don't even know what time or date it is. How long has this whole thing been going on? How many levels do we have to survive?
Enough.
I look over at Lo who lets out a loud laugh, feeling somewhat exhilarated from the
van almost flipping over and crashing. Uhh ok then. That's the difference between Lotus and me. She finds things like this exciting, I find them somewhat numbing. I turn back seeing one truck following behind us. I thought we lost them. Lo's reckless driving results in the car hitting a bump, causing me to divert my attention back to the front of the car. I feel like at any moment we are going to crash into a tree.
Everything would completely be over at that point.
"Are YOU ok?" I ask sarcastically.
I better not die by the hands of Lo's reckless driving.
I hear another loud explosion, this time it's from our end. I quickly turn around, notching the last truck that was following us exploded. Zayn threw an attachable bomb that attached itself to the surface of the truck, detonating five seconds later.
Boom.
"Is that it? Can we escape in peace now?" Lo asks. I felt that. But I have an unsettling feeling that this isn't over just yet. All the trucks that were sent out are non-responsive and off the radar. They're going to know something happened and send more back up. And where are we? In the middle of the woods, behind schedule, and lost.
"We have to abandon the car," Jason speaks up, it's been a while since he's said anything.
We all look at him.
Lo starts to slow down her driving, occasionally swerving trying to dodge trees and branches.
I have to run—again?
"He's right. We can't drive through this, this isn't a cleared path." Matt says, wearingly studying the branches that continuously collides against the van windows.
Zayn pulls out his phone showing me a map of the island, which automatically zoomed into our exact location. There's a glowing red circle signaling the location of the jet and a blue circle signaling our current location. We were a good bit away from the jet. I honestly don't know if I have the energy to run for my life again. Pass this body of woods is a large field where the jet is securely stationed.
If we make it out of the woods, we make it to our destination.
"Fuck," Lo says for the tenth time tonight. She quickly presses on the brakes, causing the van to stop abruptly. We all look out the window noticing a vast tree blocking our path. This is why you don't drive a car through the woods. That fact that we were able to make it this far is surprising. It was only a matter of time.
"Do you think they'd be able to find us?" I ask, starting to panic. This car is our shield, abandoning it is like abandoning our protection. We'd be exposed. We'd be vulnerable again.
"Not if we torch the car," Zayn says while studying me closely. I guess he can tell that I'm starting to feel hopeless. But I understand that this is our best option.
I feel like the kind of people we are dealing with is always gonna be one step ahead of us. I won't be surprised if they're already surrounding the jet once we get there. Here I go overthinking again.
"We need weapons," Matt says, he walks to the back of the van. He opens compartments, prepping himself with different weapons.
The bodysuit Lotus and I are wearing previously wearing already has bulletproof material. All we have to do is strip from the nurses disguises. The boys are the ones that need the extra protection. Jason strips from the nurse disguise he's wearing, and puts on a pair of clothes Zayn hands him.
"What happened to the rest of the squad?" I ask, almost forgetting about them. They literally just disappeared on us.
"They left once we told them you guys made it out of the facility safely," Matt says while watching us.
Great. No backup, stranded, vulnerable.
Zayn notices the look on my face. "The whole gang cant die in one mission. We can get out of this by ourselves." He says, sounding somewhat confident.
I impulsively grab a gun from the seat, swinging the van door open. I look ahead, noticing the sun is starting to rise. We are completely behind schedule. We were supposed to be flying in the air by now. We were supposed to be off this island by sunrise. Following the plan allowed us to be untraceable. When the sun rises, it's easier to see things that want to remain hidden.
I hop out the van, studying my surroundings. The birds are starting to chirp, the air is less crisp than before. I can almost feel the warmth of the sun on my skin. I place the gun in my pants, heading North. Overthinking is something I'm notorious for and I know that if I want to get out of this alive, I need to obtain some ounce of hope and keep it.
I hear footsteps jogging behind me. I look over noticing Lotus smiling at me. It's nice that she can smile because I can't.
"Are they talking to each other?" I ask, studying the dirt on the ground.
"The boys?"
I nod.
"Uh. It was quiet when I left." Lo says softly.
I don't say anything. I hope they can rekindle their friendship for the sake of each other and the gang. I'm not worth ruining a secure bond over. If we ever make it out of this, I hope everyone knows I had no intentions of causing problems. I had no intentions of being here in the first place. We all know who did. I just need everything to go back to the way they were so I don't feel at fault.
I turn around, remembering that the van has to be torched. We both study the boys as they pour gasoline on every inch of it. Jason grabs a rope, tying it to one of the tires. He pulls the rope a couple feet away, while Matt pours gasoline on it. Once everything is highly flammable, Zayn grabs his lighter from his pocket, lighting the end of the rope. This gives them some time to walk away from the van, without it setting on fire. Once they reach us, Jason wraps his arm around my body, placing a kiss on my forehead.
What was that for?
I look over at Zayn, who has his arm around Lo's shoulders and Matt who has his hands in his pockets. We all look distressed. Everyone is watching the van set on fire except me. Does this symbolize something? What part of ourselves are we leaving behind to burn? I pull Jason closer to me, feeling as though I could protect him from the flames that are several feet away from us.
We all turn around, heading North—the quickest way out of the woods and the only way to the holy grail. The burning of the van signifies that we officially made it past level 2. We've entered the woods which means we are in the last level—the third level. All we have to do is survive this, and we officially win the game.
Right on cue, the car explodes.
A/N: Hiiiiiiiii. It's been a while. Thank you guys for reading my books although I suck terribly at updating.
I'm currently finishing up school which means more time to actually focus on writing and updating. If you guys have any questions, please ask. I'm always responding in the comments (I try).
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