Alexis's POV:
"CJ I don't care how tired you say you are, I'm not leaving without you!" I tried to make him move but damn it, he wouldn't budge.
"Lexi....I'm sorry...but..I can't...go." He said in between breaths; clutching his chest.
"I'm not leaving you CJ! We didn't endure this crap storm for one of us to be left behind. Now please just lean on me. I won't let you down, I promise."
"I know you won't Alex. But this thing I have, you can't cure it. They made sure that it can't be cured. They engineered it from different diseases and created something so lethal it should be classified as bio-terrorism. I don't have much time left and I definitely have no energy left. So please, just go. I did my part and made sure nothing happened to you. I fought hard to convince them that you're more valuable than I am. I fought until I made sure that you will be next to me on my final days. So please don't waste your chance Alexis. Jaycee and his people might never find you and you would've wasted your only chance to escape this crap hole. Please Alexis! Stop being so stubborn " He said with such difficulty I almost gave in and left him; for his own sake.
His little speech made me tear up because I started to realize that I could actually lose my brother. I've known CJ my whole life; as a friend. Now that I found out that he's my brother, my twin, it hurts even more. I gave up and put my back against the wall and just let it all out. All my frustration and anger came out in the form of crystallized salt water flowing out my eyes.
"I won't let them take you from me CJ. Our parents need you and I need you!" I say making absolutely no sense since I was crying.
"Hey hey. Shshsh it's okay. It's okay." He said, hugging me; resting his chin on my head. "I did what I had to do to keep you safe and to me, that is all that matters. And besides, the point of saving anything is far gone. Just go and save yourself, I'll be ok." He whispered, hugging me tighter and.... crying?
"You know what? I'm going to go look for something to use to get you the hell out of here!" I said. I dried my tears and took out the key I got from Lucas.
"Don't come back for me. Just go! Take your first right outside the door to the end of the hallway, then left and the door should be to your right." He said, sputtering up blood?
"What the hell CJ?"
"I told you I don't have much time." He said, wiping it with the back of his hand.
I can stay here and cry at my jinxed luck, or I can get off my butt and actually do something about it. I so badly wanted to lie down, but I'm running out of time to get CJ to a proper doctor.
"Yeah yeah. You can tell me that when we both make it out of here."
I climb up the stairs that lead out of this disgusting, fungus infested basement and tried to open the door. It didn't even need to be unlocked; it was already open. Hmm, that's weird.
Anyways.
I slowly stepped out of the door, sticking my head out to scout for any trouble.
Nothing.
Nada.
This is so weird, and what's even weirder is that there, at the end of the hallway stood a perfectly functioning, wheelchair. The red light turned on indicated that it is electric and turned on. Bingo!
I stood still for a few more seconds just to make sure everything is alright.
Three.
Two.
One.
I ran towards the end of the hallway with each step creaking so loud it felt like a shard of glass in my feet! I got to the chair and stopped for a few seconds just in case anything pops up. When nothing moved, I brought the chair back to the basement door and after setting it exactly outside the last step; I noticed something.
A little box.
Confused, I opened it and found a little syringe, a note, a clean blanket, and two bottles of water. The note said:
"Don't think that I've forgotten about you little one. When they ask you about the sun, your best bet is the seventeenth of July, where we first danced to 'You and I'."
What?
Ok I don't have time for Dr. Seuss riddles right now. I rush down the stairs and get to CJ's side.
"Ok CJ. You gotta help me out a little."
He gave me that look that pleaded with me to understand his situation.
"Buddy, I know it'll hurt you a little- or a lot- to move, but we're almost there. Just a few steps and we'll make it. Please CJ. Please. I'm not leaving you here." The tears in my eyes might've been an aid in getting him to agree.
Reluctant, he put his weight on my shoulder and to be completely honest, I was expecting something way more heavier; but I didn't say anything. We climbed up the stairs, step by step, until we finally made it all the way up. I put the box on the floor and sat him comfortably; securing him in place.
"What's in the box?" He asked.
"I found it on the chair." I shrugged, showing him the contents.
As he was going through the items, he held the syringe in his hands; awestruck.
"No way in hell this is what I think it is!" He exclaimed.
"What?"
"I heard these uncles from hell made a serum that could cure cancer but I don't know. Maybe...maybe it's worth checking out? I literally have nothing to lose." He said, extremely defeated.
"I don't know CJ. I don't trust them, but maybe whoever wrote this letter purposely left it here." I concluded, taking out the paper note and showing it to him.
He took a while to read it and think it through.
"What the hell does this crap even mean?" He breathed out.
"I don't know. But we can figure it on our way out of this dump. So tell me, where do we go from here."
He took a while to scout the area and a few minutes later he finally spoke.
"Where the hell? I've never seen this place before. They must've changed locations when they brought us here?" He looked around; confused.
"Dude, you just gave me directions when you told me to leave without you."
"What? When?" He replied, looking genuinely confused. "Ow my head really hurts Alexis."
What in the name of many hecks is going on? Oh my God was that a side effect of the crap poison the put into him? I had to make sure.
"CJ, what was the name of our history teacher last year?"
I ask him that because Miss Rayan was his favorite teacher. He would help her out with stuff after school, she tutored him and he always got great marks, and she even gave him a $500 Amazon gift card. He was sad when she retired at the end of the year and was absolutely devastated when she died a few months later.
"Um. I think it was... um, I think... I really don't know." He said, really confused and distraught. "What's wrong with me? What the hell is..." he trailed off, looking at the syringe. "This is my only way of finding out what's wrong." He said as he injected it into his bloodstream.
"CJ what the hell are you doing? What if it's a poison? They could be trying to kill you!"
"Trying to kill me? That was already a sealed deal when they injected me with whatever poison they gave me a month ago!" He cried out, but I understood his pain. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have lashed out at you like that. I think maybe go left from here and we'll see where that takes us." He said as I fastened his seatbelt and covered him with the blanket.
We took the first right that lead us down the opposite hallway I got the chair from and from there, we turned right on a longer and seemingly uglier corridor. It was super long with one, single room to the left end side. I pushed my brother's wheelchair all the way until we were finally outside the room.
"Oh my God. This is where they kept me." He whispered.
We went inside and to be completely honest, the sewer smelling bathroom of a basement ain't got nothing on this place. This room looked pretty decent but smelled like the inside of an insulin bottle.
There was a queen bed to the left corner, covered in decent, floral bed sheets with at least a few pillows. Next to it was a small night stand table, with a pretty red night light on top. To the opposite side of the room, there was a study; a medium sized desk with a few folders, books and stationary supplies. One of the pages definitely caught my attention but I kind of zoned out and lost its place within the other papers.
"This is.... this is exactly where I was locked for days on end. I mean, I would always get food on time, but I wasn't allowed out for days!" Exclaimed CJ.
"I'm so sorry I brought you in here CJ but we're leaving I promise." I said as I wheeled him inside. He turned on the brake and it looked like he was about to doze off.
I sat on the study table's chair and started rummaging through the huge pile of papers in front of me. They were mainly newspaper cut outs of the coverage of their crime. Countless headlines that spoke about burned cars, burned sheds and a few burned bodies. What the hell did they do?
I rummaged some more until I found what I think I was looking for; a yellow folder labeled "Walker". I opened it and to my surprise, there was CJ's birth certificate, pictures of him as a little kid, copies of various achievement awards from elementary school and middle school, a copy of his adoption letter, and finally a few pictures of him as a kid. I get that these heartless monsters were watching him for a really long time, but why would they keep something that is easily considered sentimental? What, are they suddenly growing fond of him? There were pictures of him during a fourth grade spelling bee, one during a soccer match in grade six, one of him graduating middle school, and a few others of him playing in the park. They had access to him for very long which meant that they were always watching him. They knew where he lived and what school he went to but why? Lucas could've brought him home and made amends with his sister but he didn't? I wonder if they had anything to do with CJ's adoptive parents kicking him out of the house? Because if they did, that'll explain so much! You can't just throw away your own child like that, unless you were really scared for your life; sometimes not even then. I just find all of this confusing. They knew about him yet kidnaped and tortured him. They keep things of sentimental value yet they inject him with a lethal virus. They trap us here yet make it so easy for us to escape. I'm pretty sure something is up but I'm not going to hang around long enough to find out.
A small shuffling sound caught my attention and I suddenly turned towards the door; CJ sound asleep. I stayed still for a few more seconds, just in case I did actually hear it but there was nothing.
Ok time to skedaddle the heck out of here. I put all these papers back in the folder and put it in the box secured on CJ's lap. I exit the door and turn right, which lead me to a long corridor again. At the end of that corridor though, was a door with a security pin.
I pushed CJ until we reached the door, illuminated only by a small, dying light bulb. That's smart of them, not use a lot of electricity so as not to get caught. The door was metallic grey, looked extremely heavy, and had a medium sized screen attached to a keyboard right in the middle of it. Since there was no doorknob, I assumed that door will open by itself.
The only way we were getting past that door is if I magically know the pin code. How am I even supposed to know that? The keyboard had letters and numbers which made the whole thing even worse because now it's a million times harder!
The password on the screen was missing a few characters which meant it made me job a little less harder. Just a little. The screen said:
_ 7 _ _ _ D
It was only missing four characters but it still doesn't mean a thing. Based on the math lessons I took in school, if we can use letter and numbers, that the answer to this can be a combination of many letters and numbers. Since there are twenty-six letters in the alphabet and the numbers we can use are ten, then that means it'll be:
26+10 = 36
And since I'm missing four characters that means:
36 x 36 x 36 x 36 = 1,679,616 possible answers!
I sat on the floor, head hurt too much to even think about it. What could the stupid password possibly be? If it was either of our birthdays then that wouldn't make sense because CJ and I were both born the beginning of January. I wouldn't know anything about my demon uncles because they were both non existent up until recently. What else would it be then? I put my head against the wall and just looked at the ceiling hoping that the number would magically come to me. We survived this long and this stupid door can't be the only way out right?
I studied the door a little more, hoping to find a small passageway or anything that might get us to the other side, but all I could see on it was a small logo of a sunset.
Sunset.
Sun.
Why does this feel familiar. Have I seen this thing before? Maybe on a commercial somewhere? Or a security device at my parents' company.
Then it hit me! The note!
I went to CJ to see that he was still asleep so I took the box and opened it and re-read the note again.
When they ask you about the sun, your best bet is the seventeenth of July, where we first danced to 'You and I
Seventeenth of July , You and I.
17 / 07 is a date, but that still doesn't explain the second half .
You and I?
Danced to You and I?
A memory flashed in my head right that instant. Grade eleven spring break, where Jaycee and I took his car and drove to an ocean side during the sunset. He played a song on his radio that we both danced to. I remember him singing "You and I, we don't wanna be like them. We can make it til the end, nothing will come between you and I..."
You and I is a song by One Direction and that made all the sense in the world.
Seventeenth of July, danced to you and I by One Direction.
1 7 0 7 1 D
As I got up to type the password something made me freeze in my place. There was someone on the other side. I heard whispering and laughing and I just froze, so I just listened carefully.
"Dude what the heck are we supposed to do now?"
"I don't know blow it up?" Replied a very familiar voice.
"Are you crazy? What if it blows this entire place up Tangerine?"
"I told you! My name is James Adline you ape face!"
"Yeah, and the guy whose name is Alexander kept saying the same thing." That sounded an awful lot like Jace. But no way will they ever know we're here.... right?
"No dip stick it's a compound name; Alec Xander! Are you LA people really that dumb or is it just you?!" Replied the guy.
"Can you both just shut it before I blow you both up! I'm trying to think!" Yelled another voice. A voice I haven't heard in such a long time yet it still manages to make my heart beat so fast.
This isn't true is it? Did missing him make me imagine hearing his voice? Then the angelic voice spoke again.
"I'm trying to save my friends here, but if that means I get to babysit you two then I'm leaving."
Well, ouch.
"Wait until Lexi hears you say that. She'll kick your butt straight to India." Snickered....Ashton?
What the heck are they doing here? They actually found me?
"You're damn right about that Ash. You're getting your butt kicked Royce. May the odds be ever in your favor." I yell out, on the verge of tears from happiness.
"Did anyone else hear that? Was that her ghost?" Said Jace.
"I think it came from the vents." Said a guy with a British accent; probably that Alec Zander guy.
"I'm trying to think wait." Said Jaycee. "Lexi is that you?"
"Yes! Yes it's me!" I cry out. "And CJ is also here with me!"
"Where the hell are you?"
"I'm behind the door!"
"The door is locked though and it has a very hard password with about a million combinations!" Yelled our Ashton.
"Actually about a million, six hundred and seventy thousand. But I figured it out." I said as I move towards the door to unlock it.
"Of course you did baby. Of course you did." Said Jaycee.
That word alone sent butterflies down my spine.
I entered the password and the door beeped for a few seconds and it finally started opening. I went to get CJ and turned to face the sliding door.
When it finally opened, I came face to face with a normal door. I pushed that and that's when I saw him.
"Gotchu." He said as he ran to hug me.