Kelly drags me through the maze of hallways. My feet unwillingly follow him, one foot after the other, moving farther away from my sister and closer to my unknown future. Lex is behind me, and the nameless Mod, who arrived with them, is in the rear. The alarm continues to blare and flashing red lights illuminate our path towards escape.
Launch commencing in T-minus 15 minutes.
"Come on," Kelly shouts, turning back to look at me while his feet never stop moving forward. "We're running out of time!"
I don't want to run. I want to curl up in a ball on the floor and cry. I want to sit next to Aveline and hold her head in my lap, stroking her hair and easing her transition from this world into whatever awaits her in the next. But Aveline wouldn't want that, she didn't want that. She wanted me to escape. She knew far more about what's happening right now than I do, and I have to trust in my sister that she is leading me in the right direction. It's a blind trust, a leap of faith, but if I don't take it then her life was lost for nothing. Then she is just another number to Environettix, one of the many people who tried to stand in their way and was destroyed in the process. I won't let them erase my sister's life like that. I owe her that much. I will remember her and what she did, because no one will ever have control over my memory, over me, again. Just the thought of what they have done, and everything she did for me, lights a fire within. I feel my feet lift higher as I run faster and faster towards my destiny. A smile crosses Kelly's face as he sees my renewed determination.
"That's the girl I remember," he says and speeds up to keep pace with me. "This way!" he shouts, ignoring the signs pointing towards the launching docks. "All boarding happens through entries A and B so we have to steer clear of those. They'll be looking for us."
Kelly continues to lead us through endless hallways. With every turn I expect to be met by armed soldiers, but the path remains clear. I let out a quick sigh of relief with each empty corridor, but the closer we get to our destination, the more alarmed I become by the lack of resistance. If they aren't trying to track us down it's either because they haven't caught up with us yet or because they're waiting for us to arrive. I just pray that they're waiting at the wrong location or none of us will make it out alive.
Finally, after what feels like forever, we reach a dead end with a large door. At the top of the door frame is a camera watching our every move. I lift my gun to shoot it, but Kelly's hand pushes the barrel down.
"Don't waste your bullets," he says. "They know full well we're here."
I nod in understanding and our eyes both move from the camera to two lights above the entrance, then down to a key pad on the right-hand side of the door. Kelly reaches for the door handle and tries to open it, but one of the lights at the top of the doorframe flashes red.
Access denied, a woman's voice speaks politely.
"Worth a try," he chuckles, in the typical ill-timed humorous way that only Kelly can get away with. "At least she's polite."
"We don't have time for tries!" Lex yells at him. "Or politeness." She strides over and yanks the lanyard from around his neck. The strap snaps and in her hand lies my sister's access card, splattered in her blood. Kelly catches my eye and gives me an empathetic look. I step closer and take the access card from Lex, wiping the blood away with the end of my shirt. Through the smeared blood I can see that it's not my sister's face on the ID card, but that of a woman I don't recognize. I look to Kelly for answers, but he's busy fumbling with a pocket on the side of his pants from which he removes a device with a long cord. He plugs one end into his device and the other into the port on the keypad.
"This will allow us to bypass the fingerprint and eye identification requirement without having them physically," he states, walking me through what he's doing. "That is, if it works."
"What do you mean, if it works?"
"We obtained the retina and fingerprints of a Environettix employee with high level security clearance and we were able to enter the identifying properties electronically."
"Obtained?" I raise my eyebrow at his use of the word, knowing full well the fate of the woman whose pass I hold in my hands. It might be Aveline's blood smeared across the hard plastic, but hers wasn't the only blood spilled to obtain this access.
"Don't ask," he replies and then continues on. "The system resets every four hours, which means we don't have long. We should be fine as long as..."
"As long as what?"
"As long as they haven't noticed she's missing and as long as a security reset wasn't implemented when we made our presence known."
"That's a lot of 'as long as's,'" I respond.
"Kelly, we've got movement coming in our direction," the Mod speaks up, as he holds his hand up to an ear piece. There must be someone communicating on the other end, and for a split second, I wonder what's happening in the rest of the Environettix headquarters right now. How many other Mods are here risking their lives for me? How many nameless faces will I never get to thank?
"How long?" Kelly asks.
"A minute, maybe less."
"Well there's no time like the present," Kelly says and swipes the mystery woman's pass, then hits a button on his handheld device. The keypad on the wall lights up and a series of numbers begins running across the screen. Kelly holds his breath in anticipation and for the first time he actually looks nervous. Then three green lights appear and the words "enter access codes" blink across the screen.
"Yes!" Kelly shouts holding his fist up in celebration.
"Thirty seconds," the Mod says, raising his weapon and readying himself for attack. Lex and I follow suit.
I glance back and forth from Kelly to whatever is about to come around the corner. Kelly types away on the device, entering numbers and cursing under his breath when the light above the door flashes red again.
"You only have one more chance before it goes into complete lock down," Lex reminds him.
"I'm aware," he yells back at her. His fingers are sweaty and he wipes his right hand on the side of his pants.
I gently place my hand on his shoulder. My touch startles him, bringing him back to the present from his intense stare down with the device which holds our lives in the balance.
"You can do it," I say softly, looking into his eyes. "I believe in you."
My words seem to calm and recenter him and not even the Mod's warning that we're going to encounter the enemy in about ten seconds, can rattle his nerves and determination.
He takes a deep breath, then enters the numbers one last time. We all look up anxiously at the lights above the doorway. Seconds seem like hours before the green light illuminates and a voice says, access granted.
Kelly reaches for the handle and we hear a click as it opens, but our excitement is short-lived as a voice shouts, "there they are!" from the other end of the hall. Shots ring out and we duck in response.
"Move! Move!" Kelly yells as he holds open the door and signals for us to run through. Lex and I sprint as fast as our legs will carry us as the Mod returns fire.
"Come on!" Kelly yells at him.
"I'll hold them off!" he yells back in return. "Go! You don't have much time! Go!" But Kelly holds his position, not wanting to leave the man behind. "I was never meant to go further anyway," he assures Kelly.
Kelly hesitates for a split second, wanting to save this Mod who will surely die, but he knows, as I do now, that each one of the people who are assisting in my rescue have made the decision to put their life on the line for me and for the greater good. He won't live, but he won't go down without a fight, and because of that, he's giving us a chance, one we can't waste.
Kelly releases the door and it slams shut. The last thing I see is the Mod returning fire as he moves towards Environettix's army. I know his death won't be painless, but I say a silent prayer that it will be quick.
"Follow me," Kelly shouts over the alarm. "It won't be long before they get that door open." He turns to guide our way, but I stop short by the sight of what lies in front of us. A spaceship, unlike any I've ever seen, stands before me. Its immensity is both impressive and intimidating.
"Come on Ever," Lex says, taking my hand. "The future awaits." Her voice is surprisingly calm. I can't imagine what this has all been like for her, and yet, here she stands, with my hand in hers, ready to take on whatever lies ahead of us, with me by her side. I wouldn't have made it this far without her. I wouldn't have made it the last several years without her. Despite our differences and our faults, we're still in this thing together, so I squeeze her hand and we follow Kelly towards the ship.
"There," he says, pointing to a small door labeled "Entry C." The door is closed, of course. It seems when one door opens, another door closes. Kelly peers inside through a small porthole located at eye level, then knocks in a specific succession. Nothing happens. He knocks again, and again, nothing happens.
Launch commencing in T-minus 10 minutes.
"No, we couldn't have missed him!" Kelly shouts as he pounds his fist against the porthole. "He wouldn't have left us. He wouldn't let Aveline down."
I wonder if the "he" he's referring to is the one Aveline told Kelly to tell, "I love you" to. I wonder how he'll react when I tell him the news that she's dead. It's strange to think that there's someone who might know her better than I do. All I have are my memories of Aveline, and I'm not even sure those are real, but the longer I try to understand my memories, the more I realize that a memory is really just a feeling. It's a feeling that your heart holds of a specific time or a specific place or person, which is why the memory re-imaging can't erase it completely, because a memory isn't just built in your mind; it's a part of your heart and soul.
Just then there's a loud sound and the door before us slides up, revealing a large man whom I can only hope is the one Kelly is expecting. He's dressed like one of them and I take a step back, looking to Kelly for guidance.
"You always have to be the last to show up to the party," the man says, shaking Kelly's hand and pulling him into a hug.
"Gotta make an entrance," Kelly quips. They both smile as they embrace and Kelly lets out a laugh of relief. But his relief is brought to an abrupt halt at the sound of yelling and footsteps running towards us. The Environettix soldiers have opened the door and are making their way towards the ship at an alarming pace.
As soon as they are within range, shots are fired. Lex dives to the left and takes cover behind a forklift for loading supplies while Kelly throws his body in front of mine, pressing me up against the ship, using his body as a shield. Luckily, a large metal overhang on the shuttle provides some protection from the bullets whizzing by.
Lex is back up on her feet and returning fire from behind the forklift. I try to move from underneath Kelly's grasp and take a shot, but he pushes me back up against the ship. I turn to him in confusion and the look on his face is soft and somber.
Launch sequence initiation commencing in T-minus 30 seconds, the voice says.
I try to speak, but I'm stopped by Kelly's hand against my cheek. He looks at me with a sad sort of longing in his eyes.
"Time to fly birdie," he says and presses his lips to mine. His kiss is deep and desperate, the way someone kisses when they haven't kissed someone in a long time or won't be able to kiss them ever again, and I find that my lips respond in the same sort of passionate desperation.
As his lips crash against mine, images flash through my brain, only this time I see it all. I see Kelly and me as friends. I watch as our friendship develops into something more, laughing, teasing one another, holding hands, kissing, staring up at constellations while Kelly tells me the story of Lyra, lying next to one another trying to comfort each other in the dark as we struggle to survive under the control of Environettix, trying to hide our relationship from the others. His words reverberate in my ears, "Birdie," that was the name he called me, because I wanted to fly free of this place. That was the tattoo I saw on his back the first night I slept in his room, the one outlined in a heart. He got that tattoo for me. Those years I lost, the ones that Aveline mentioned, the years that Environettix took from me or that my parents erased; those years were spent with Kelly. We loved each other. We love each other.
He pulls his lips away, while mine linger, desperate for more. But as soon as I'm free of him, it's like a record player screeching to a halt. The images stop and he stands before me. He's the same Kelly as before, but now everything is different. He tilts his head to the side and I watch as the skin near the corner of his eyes crinkles and he lets out a smile in acknowledgment that I have finally figured it out.
"Farewell," he whispers, stealing a line from Eurydice. Then he grabs me, and with great force, throws me through the door of the ship. I smack into the man who is aiding our escape. We both tumble to the floor. Kelly types a code into the keypad and smacks a button. Before I can make sense of what's happening, the door slams shut and locks. I scramble to my feet and push against it. I kick and punch with all my might, but it's made of a steel so thick that it can withstand the atmospheric pressure of space. There's little my tugging and pulling will do, but I try nonetheless. It won't budge, of course, and all that's left of my efforts, are the bloody imprints of my knuckles smeared on the door. I slam my palm on the glass porthole and scream at the top of my lungs.
"No!" I yell, but the thick glass muffles my panicked cries. Through the porthole, I see Kelly grab Lex. They run away hand-in-hand in a direction out of my view as shots are fired at them. Where are they going? And then I realize, he's trying to draw the gunshots away from the ship so that I can escape. And there's nothing I can do to stop it. I'm Orpheus, left standing on the other side of Hell, as my love vanishes forever.
Launch commencing in T-minus 10 seconds.
Tears stream down my face. I watch helplessly as the Environettix soldiers follow after them. Several of the men from the group break off and run towards the entrance of the ship, where I stand. Their bodies slam into the cold hard steel. One of the men tries to override the system and open the door. Through the thick glass porthole he pleads with me to let him in, which is when I realize, their desperation isn't about me. They're frantic to board, to escape their impending death at the hands of the very company they work for. The panic in their eyes is terrifying. They're just as afraid to stay as I am to leave.
10...9...
The man who has aided in my escape is now back up on his feet and standing next to me, watching the hysteria that is unfolding on the other side of the glass. One of the Environettix employees is yelling at him, screaming for him to open the door or to stop the countdown, but the man just smirks.
"They deserve it," he says callously.
Some of the men are trying to break the door down while others try nonsensically to claw their way inside. Their last moments will be of sheer terror and all I can do is watch.
8...7...
I hear the sound of the engines roaring to life. The man grabs me from behind, wrapping both his arms around mine so that I can't fight back.
6...5...
I squirm in his grasp and kick my legs violently, but he yanks me across the room and plunks me down into a seat.
4...3...
He straps a belt across my chest and lap. I can feel the fight leave me as the earth begins to quake violently beneath the ship. He throws himself into the seat next to me and hurries to put on his own safety belt.
2...1...
The entire craft shakes as it launches into the atmosphere. We're hurling through the sky at a ferocious speed. I close my eyes, trying to focus on my breathing.
"You don't want to miss this," the man says.
I open my eyelids as a large panel expands, revealing nothing but glass and the sky above. It quickly changes from blue to black as we leave the atmosphere and the Earth fades away. The light of a million stars spreads across the giant glass window as we enter the vastness of the galaxy. It's the most beautiful sight I've ever seen. I just wish Aveline were here to witness it with me.
***
Author's Note
Hi Everyone!
Thank you so much for reading my book. It means a lot to me that you have taken the time to read it. I hope you're enjoying the story!
The next chapter is the final chapter and I just wanted to remind you that since this is Book One, that means that the story won't be wrapped up in a pretty little bow. Some questions will be answered, but the fate of many characters will be left in limbo. Hopefully it won't frustrate you too much, but will leave you wanting to read more.
So again, thanks so much & I hope you enjoy the FINAL chapter of Dissonance.
-B