This story is getting really close to the climax! This is probably one of my other favorite chapters, just because it's so insane. Please enjoy, and comment/vote/fan!
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12. Arrival
"Thank you." I threw my arms around Cam's neck. "I feel like...a million bucks."
"I hoped they...would help."
My headache was just a background annoyance. I could actually think straight. I hadn't felt like that in a while, so it felt nice to be back like that. Back to my almost-normal.
I knew it wouldn't last....
I had to enjoy it while it did.
"You got...some sleep...too, right?" I asked, slowly pulling away from him, watching his face to make sure he wouldn't lie to me. I was really starting to think my bad habits were rubbing off on him.
He nodded. "I took...a small nap."
"You're gonna...need some...caffeine."
He shrugged. "I'll be...fine."
I gave him a look, and he assured me again, then ushered me out the motel room door. He helped me into the car-which earned more protests from me-then went to pay for the room. When he got back we were off on the road again.
"Is your...headache-"
"I'll live," I interrupted quickly.
He smiled at me crookedly then turned to look back at the road.
It was about an hour later that that smile disappeared from his face and the car was stopped in front of a huge, scary-looking building.
"How are we...supposed to...get in?" I asked, staring at the building in awe. It was just so important and...official.
"I would say...freeze time...but if you...could do that...we wouldn't be here." He glanced at me to humor him.
I sarcastically smiled. "No kidding."
"Then we ask," he concluded.
"That'll definitely...be easy," I remarked.
He nudged my shoulder with his.
"Sorry," I apologized. "I'm being...negative and this...is for me."
"Just relax," he urged.
"I am," I assured him, but the higher-than-normal pitch in my voice contradicted me. I shut my mouth to prevent any more words from betraying me.
He took a deep breath, then pressed his foot on the gas, and we moved forward to the security gate.
The guard on duty looked bored and glanced down at his clipboard. "Name and ID," he ordered, and it surprised me when I could hear the whole sentence. That guy must've really hated his job.
Cam cleared his throat.
"What?" the guy asked aggravated, looking up. "Oh, um, wh-ou want? The-freeway is tha-" He pointed in the direction opposite.
"We don't wa-to the freeway," Cam said, keeping his patience.
"Then what?"
"We want to-Carnell."
The guard looked at both of us wearily. "Why?"
"It's important."
"Why?"
"I can't tel-if you let-he'll recognize us."
My heart was beating faster after every word they said, despite not being able to hear them all.
"I'm sorry-an't do that."
"If you could just-"
"I'm sor-" the guard interrupted, firmly.
"If that's how it is," Cam said quickly, and before I even realized what was happening or what he was doing, Cam's foot was putting-literally-the petal to the medal.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I exclaimed, bracing myself with my hands and feet. "Cam, whoa, Cam!" I didn't have to hear anything to know that the guard was shouting almost the exact same thing.
When Cam busted through the stop bar, I covered my face with my hands even though we were clearly protected by the windshield.
Cam wouldn't stop driving. He just kept going at full speed towards the building. It was quite a distance away, so at that moment I wasn't worried we would crash through a wall or something.
Uh-oh. I really hoped that that wasn't what Cam was planning!
"Cam!" I shouted again. "What the hell!"
"We're getting you in!" he shouted over the roar of the car.
"Jesus!" I screamed in terror when I realized how close we finally were to the building.
Cam noticed too and sharply turned the car to the left, slamming on the brakes.
All I had to say about that was: I wished the person who invented seat belts was still alive, because at that moment I really wanted to kiss them. I would take a sore shoulder over being completely dead any day.
"Go, go, go!" Cam urged, unbuckling me and pushing me towards the passenger door. To show what he wanted me to do, he got out of his own door.
I flew out of the vehicle and Cam grabbed my hand as he passed me, dragging me forward until I kept up with his running pace-I was not even going to explain the running madness with my freeze and unfreeze crap-We managed to get in the front door and we kept running. When we saw the other security guards, we changed hallways and continued on our way.
I personally had no idea where we were heading. I had extreme doubt that Cam did either, but neither of us spoke up. We just made sure to keep out of the guards' sight. It was hard though. They were in almost every hallway in the building. I assumed the guy at the gate had warned them.
Finally, after hearing guards' voices in all direction, Cam grabbed a random doorknob and threw open the door. Somehow he had found a closet, and pulled me inside, quietly shutting the door behind us.
Perfect darkness. Lovely.
"What are...we supposed...to do now?" I asked in a whisper, not taking any chances to give up our position to the searching guards.
"I'm not sure," I heard Cam's disembodied voice reply.
"Great plan, genius," I replied.
There was no reply, but a few seconds later, I felt something gently touching my hip. Then it had a better grip on it.
"Um...." I said, unsure of what to actually say.
"Is that you?" Cam asked.
I placed my hand over his. "I guess so," I said, still unsure.
"Okay...I just wanted...to find you."
"Alright," I replied. He still hadn't let go, even though I had removed my hand from over his. Instead, I heard a footstep and could sense he was closer to me now. His breath tickled my neck and ruffled the hair at my ear. My heart stuttered just as it had been for the past week whenever he touched me.
"We have...to do...something," I finally said.
"Yeah," he still sounded like he didn't have a plan.
"Let's just see...if we can...find the lab.... And go...from there." I had decided that if we couldn't find anything, I was going to have him leave as I kept trying. I wouldn't let Cam get caught because of me.
"Okay." He finally released his grip on my hip and I heard some shuffling. A noise like a doorknob turning was what I heard next, and then light from the hallway poured into our hiding place.
"Come on," Cam said, reaching his hand toward me.
I took it, and we walked out. We headed in the direction we had been going before, and found that the guards weren't around as much anymore. They could've given up, but a better assumption was that they moved on to another wing to search for the intruders...us.
I just knew that if we exited this building, it would be to get into a cop cruiser. We were so going to jail.
Cam and I must've walked past five dozen doors and checked them all-carefully of course-with no luck at all. I was ready to tell Cam to give up; that I was a lost cause and it had been stupid to come here, when at one corner we ran into someone very important.
Carnell. How lucky.
He looked us over for a moment, then chuckled. Of all things, he thought this situation was funny. He was crazy.
"So you're our-truders, are you?" he said humorously. "Interesting how yo-past my guards."
Cam and I just stared at him for a moment, but Cam took over the speaking, knowing I couldn't do that.
"Do you rem-?"
Carnell nodded. "You wer-brats that tried to-my way." Annoyance was clear in his expression.
Cam smirked. "For good reason."
"Are you try-arrested?"
I couldn't tell if he had asked about him or us getting arrested, but from how the conversation had started, I assumed it was the former.
"No, we need you-"
"With what exactly?"
Cam paused before answering, scanning our surroundings. "Could we talk-private?"
Carnell had his chance to smirk. "Sure. Follow me."
He began to lead us down a few sets of hallways, then opened a door and let us in after him.
I looked around and saw that we were in a lab. But it looked like things had been moved out of the room recently. Everything that was still left in the room was placed sort of haphazardly, and there wasn't much. But what was in it was a bunch of empty beakers, some metal shelves, and some desks covered in papers.
"Now what is-me for?" Carnell asked.
I stayed in my own mind as Cam began to explain my situation to Carnell. I wasn't in the mood to have to decipher the whole conversation. Then I just kept looking around and studying my surroundings. At some points when I glanced back at Carnell to see how he was taking everything, I would see him deeply engrossed in what Cam was saying, or studying me...as though he liked what he saw there.
That man really did know how to be creepy.
"So will you help?" I heard Cam finally ask.
I looked at Carnell completely, praying for a good answer. I crossed my fingers in desperate hope.
"That's what you...get for trying...to get in...my way."
Cam and I were both surprised that he paused for me.
"What do you say?" I asked cautiously.
"I'll help you."
Relief immediately washed over me. "You will?" I asked, excitedly.
"Yes-on one condition."
My heart immediately stopped and I felt like my breathing would cease altogether. A scientist had a condition for me; I didn't like that. "What?" I managed to breathe.
"What condition?" Cam asked apprehensively. He stepped closer to me, as I did him.
"I want some...of your DNA," Carnell said smoothly.
I was speechless. "You what?" I whispered. I couldn't bring my voice to any higher volume.
"DNA...I want it," he repeated.
"What do you mean by that?" Cam asked quickly.
Carnell strolled calmly over to the wall on my right and pressed a big red button. The door behind us slammed shut. Cam and I jumped at the sound.
"What I mean...is I want to...experiment on you...Lexie," Carnell explained calmly, choosing to only address me, as though Cam weren't anywhere nearby. That caused a chill to envelop my insides.
"You mean...on, like...my saliva or...something," I guessed slowly, afraid for what was to come.
"No, I mean you.... Every part of you."
"I can't...I don't...." I couldn't manage to complete a sentence. What could I reply to something like that?
"I want to...know how your...powers work."
"You can't do that," Cam said harshly.
When I glanced at him, his face was determined and his jaw was set tight.
"Oh, I believe so," Carnell objected lightly. "You see...I could have you...arrested for...breaking and entering.... You have to do...everything I want...if you would like...to stay free."
"How are we...free if you're...testing on Lexie?" Cam asked. I knew he was only pausing so I could hear the entire conversation. At that moment, I really didn't want to hear any of that.
"That's a glitch...in my theory...but that doesn't...matter. You're staying...or at least she is."
He was blackmailing us. That was all I could think about. I had dragged Cam into this, and now he was never going to leave. At least not without getting into serious trouble and having his whole life ruined.
"No, she's not," Cam growled.
"I didn't really...want to result...to this, but...I see I must." He reached around to his back inside his lab coat, then pulled out something metal. In the dim lighting, I had a hard time figuring out what it was.
"You wouldn't," Cam said quietly, petrified.
"I most certainly...would."
It was then I saw it was a gun.
I gasped and took a step back. He was willing to threaten us with a gun just so he could use me for some crazy tests. He didn't even know such a thing like my powers even existed ten minutes ago, and yet now he was going to these extremes to find the source. No matter what, I was really not about to let him experiment on me. I was not some lab rat or guinea pig.
Cam spun and grabbed the doorknob, tugging on it with all his might. But it didn't do any good; I knew that before he even tried. The door didn't budge an inch-a centimeter.
We were locked in.
With a crazy scientist holding a gun to our hearts.