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Author's Note: Here's 12...finally. I've been slowing down my writing a bit to keep myself from burning out. This one shouldn't disappoint though...there's a lot of good action here. I'd like to thank djkauf for the wonderful editing.

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Chapter Twelve:

Son of a bitch. Diana still continued to scream as they dragged her off. I tried to block it out but it was too loud and shrill. She screamed for a long time and then it abruptly stopped. I bit my lip and clenched my fists, anything to stop from screaming out myself. Declan was a bastard. She was one of his own, someone vital to his operation. How could he treat her this way? I knew he’d snapped, but I never pegged him as being a psychopath. It made my blood boil. As soon as I got out of this room, I was going to find the bastard and smash his face in.

I heard them coming long before they got there. There were two of them, one large and heavy footed and the other light on his feet. It was two guys, I could tell by the smell of their body odor. One of them walked with a swagger so I had a good guess it was my friend from before, Brock. The other one was quick, bouncing about, his feet barely touching the ground. I tried to weight my options. They’d only dragged Diana off about ten minutes ago, I found it hard to believe they mind wiped her or whatever this quick. Diana was a good kid, if they did anything to hurt her so help me God I’d make all of them pay.

When they got to the door, I pressed myself against the wall. The door opened and light streamed into the room. I acted out of pure desperation; it was the only thing I had left. I struck out at the first body that came inside. Unfortunately, it was only half effective because the door was still wide open. I did manage to deliver a blow to his head though. It was the big bastard from before, Brock. He staggered and stumbled into the room, collapsing on the floor. For all his talk, he was kind of a lightweight. The other guy on the other hand, not so much. After Brock went down, he leapt into the room like a fricking monkey or something.

He went for the far wall, only lightly touching it with the tips of his toes before he spun in the air and came back at me. He caught me off guard, slamming his outstretched fists into my chest as I was turning to face him. I stumbled, half falling into the light still streaming into the room. I let out a startled scream, pulling my arm quickly out of the scorching UV. The son of a bitch landed lightly on his feet and spun in place, snapping his leg around, hitting me in the side of the head with a kick so fast I didn’t even see it coming.

I went down, hard.

I landed on top of Brock, who groaned. The wily guy came at me again, dropping a heel toward my face. I rolled out of way, his kick connected with the small of his downed partner’s back. Brock moaned some more. Me, I rolled to my feet. It was the kid with the red spiked hair. I think I remember hearing something about him from Brad. There was an incident where Dr. Strickland sent some of her thugs to acquire him and Emma at a motel they were staying at. There were three of them I think. Brad fought them off; one of them was a kid with red spiky hair. I think he said something about the kid being too light on his feet, bouncing about like a freak.

I spit blood from my mouth. “You’re the one who tried to get my friends?”

He smirked, bouncing on his feet like a boxer. “And you’re the famed Becca Howe. Dec talks about you all the time” He smirked again. “I was expecting a little more.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

There were too many things that could go wrong here. For one thing, I had to make sure Diana was ok. I’d only known the girl for a few minutes but there was no way I could let these bastards hurt her any more. The other reason for my imminent escape: I had to get Emma and myself out of this place, away from the Dominator and his range of control. I’m not sure why he hadn’t put the whammy on me but I assume it had to be a proximity thing. All the Dominators I faced in the past–save Melanie Crane---all had to be fairly close for their power to work properly. I’m not sure how he was controlling Emma. Maybe he had to have physical contact first, why else would these guys be here to bring him to me.

I went at him. It was a feint, something to throw him off, a straight punch. He danced away from it just like I thought he might. It gave me time to come at him with my left knee. When he was dodging the punch, I drove my knee into his side. The look of surprise on his face was priceless. He rolled away from it, wincing. I caught him in my other leg, driving a blow into his right calf. He dropped and then I landed another blow to his throat. It wasn’t fatal but it would sure put him out of commission for a while. He fell to the ground, gasping for air. For all his fancy footwork, I was the far superior fighter, the only thing he had going for him was his speed.

Brock grumbled and slowly pushed himself off the floor. He looked around a bit, saw his unconscious buddy and looked around. I spun on him and laid a punch into his face, bone cracked and his head snapped back. Once again, not a fatal blow but it served the purpose of rendering him unconscious again. I prodded him with my foot a few times to make sure he was really out then I went rifling through his pockets. He didn’t have much: a carton of cigarettes, a lighter and some hard candy. All of it useless except the lighter, I took that. I went over to Bouncy Boy and checked his pockets too. I found his wallet, flipping it open and laughed: Tobias Funk. He definitely gave himself that name. I tossed the wallet aside and checked the rest of his pockets.

Jackpot, I found a set of keys. Now to get out of here. I turned to the door and grimaced. Light was still pouring it, far too much for me to go into. But I finally got an idea of where I was. I could see a white wall beyond and floor looked to be linoleum. Which meant I was probably in some place similar to Section Four, possibly a lab? I wonder how Declan pulled that one off. I moved closer to the door, daring a peek. I couldn’t get too far because of the deadly UV but I was able to catch a glance of a window further down, it was boarded up. So, if this was a Syndicate facility, it was definitely a former one. Maybe it was an acquired property of his father’s or something they abandoned like their main ones. I assumed I was still in England, I couldn’t imagine them dragging me elsewhere. I don’t think I was out long enough to be taken back to the States. Besides there’s no way we wouldn’t have known about this place state side, it looked big.

I stepped away from the door, cursing. So I took out my captors, great. But I was still a captive, not so great. I looked at the two guys on the floor and groaned. It was only a matter of time before they woke up again and I could only punch them unconscious for so long. I needed to get out of this place and fast. First, I needed to find something to cover myself with. I looked back at the guys, trying to see if I could any of their things. My best bet was Brock. He was a big guy, his shirt like a tent; I suppose I could cover my head with it. My arms would still be bare but it would be enough for me to get out of the room at least, maybe find some place to shut the power off. I bit my lip. It wasn’t the greatest plan but it was better than nothing. Besides it was only a matter of time before someone came running, they did have a camera in the room after all.

I moved quickly, flipping Brock on his side so I could easily work his shirt off. He was ripped, like a body builder. He smelled too, something horrible. It took everything I could not to throw up all over the place. His shirt smelled even worse as I pulled it over my head, turning it into a makeshift cover. His feet were too big for me but Tobias’ weren’t. He was a small guy so he had small feet. I took off his boots and slipped them on. They were a little big but not so big that they’d fall off my feet. With that done, I wandered back over to the door.

The shirt wouldn’t keep all the light off me but it would keep enough off until I could find a dark place to recover.

I took the deepest breath I could and rushed into the hall. Its funny how much you take something for granted until it’s gone. As much as the Second Skin chafed, I definitely forgot what it was like without it. As soon as the light hit my bare arms, the pain was unbearable. I nearly dropped to the floor in agony. I bit my bottom lip to keep from screaming out, drawing blood. I stumbled along, using every bit of will power I had to keep from collapsing. It was hard going, a lot harder than I remembered. I was about halfway down the hall when I came upon the next door.

I threw myself against it but it wouldn’t budge. I cursed and fumbled with the stolen keys. I put one into the lock and turned but it wouldn’t open. I tried another and another. Finally, on the fourth key, there was a click and I stumbled into the room. Thankfully, it was dark inside. I shut the door quickly, falling to the floor. I pressed my back against it and started to pant heavily. There was no way I could do that again; it was too damn hard.

I pulled the shirt off my head and rubbed my sore, red arms. Luckily, I wasn’t in the light for too long so there was no permanent damage. My arms looked a little sunburned but other than that I think they were going to be ok. It was me that I was worried about. I’d only managed to get a little bit down the hall. It wouldn’t take long for them to figure that out. I had to find another way out of here. I couldn’t keep slinking from one room to the other in hopes of finding them dark and empty. There had to be another way, an easier way.

After finally catching my breath, I pushed myself to my feet. I took stock of this new room. It looked to be an office of some kind. There was a desk and a hard back chair. It had a filing cabinet in the corner, its drawers pulled open. There was a couch, too, and a window, thankfully with blinds. I rushed over to the desk, hoping I could something to use. I pulled open the side drawers first but there was nothing in there but a few gum wrappers and useless papers. Then I tried the top drawer. There was more of the same until my hand came across something thin and long. I pulled it out and smiled. A letter opener, score. It wasn’t the best weapon but it was better than nothing. It might be useful if I caught someone off guard and stabbed them in the arm or throat, someplace soft where I could do the most damage.

I went to the filing cabinet next but it was just as empty as the desk. I sighed; I guess the opener was the best I was going to do.
I looked at the window, wondering if I could chance a look. I inched slowly over, lifting the blinds slightly. I sighed in relief. The sun wasn’t out yet. I could see it rising in the distance but it was still too early for it to be fully up. Which meant it was probably early morning, around four or five am. Which also meant I’d only been here for about six or seven hours. I groaned; it felt longer than that. Then again, I had been unconscious twice already. Unless it was dawn on the following day.

I continued to stare out the window, trying to find some distinguishing landmark. The building was in the middle of nowhere apparently, woods all around. I think it was a couple of stories, looking down I saw at least three rows of windows below me. My room was facing the direction away from the entrance but in the far distance, I could clearly see the perimeter fence. I could see beyond it too, but there was nothing there but wilderness. This definitely felt like a Syndicate place: it was secluded, hard to get to and surrounded by natural made obstacles on all sides. Clearly, it was one of their lesser known places, probably a research lab or something.

A noise in the hall drew my attention from the window. I dropped to the ground quickly, crawling over to hide behind the desk. The noise was actually voices, two of them. It was two girls and they were moving fast, probably wondering where those two morons were.

“Son of a bitch” one of them said, it sounded like Jasmine.

I think they just found my handiwork.

“She took them out. I can’t believe she got both Brock and Tobias,” said the other girl.

“Don’t stand there gawking, go get backup. Make sure one of them is that new girl” snapped Jasmine.

“You can’t possibly think you can take her by yourself”

“Shut up and go,” snapped Jasmine and other girl ran off.

So it was just me and Jasmine now. Good, I wanted to pay the little bitch back for earlier. I slid around to the other side of the desk and listened. She was moving down the hall, walking slowly. I hated going into these things not knowing what I was up against but if she had a kinetic power, I was in for a long fight. I didn’t do too badly against guys like me, people with less active powers. It was the big guns I had problems with, the guys and girls who can shoot lightning and throw fireballs. Trust me; I’ve had my problems with those. I had a particularly hard time with a psycho Aerokinetic named Natasha back when we were trying to bust out of the Syndicate. If it wasn’t for my friend Chloe, I’d probably not be here right now.

She was moving further down the hall, getting closer and closer. She was wearing different boots now, these ones had a stiletto heel I could hear tapping as she walked. I now knew that the girl was a definite poser. I’m not sure why I thought she was such a kindred spirit before, maybe it was the alcohol or maybe it was whatever she slipped into my drink before. Now that my head was clear and I realized who she was working with I just knew she was the biggest fake out there. She tried too hard to be whoever she was pretending to be. It was a combination of the clothes, piercings and makeup, it was too much. It was like she was trying to get noticed, maybe even by me.

“I know you’re here somewhere,” she said aloud, moving slowly closer to my hiding spot. “I can feel you. I can feel all that doubt and frustration and the fear. You reek of it.”

Feel me? Oh, Son of a bitch, another Empath. Ok so I only knew a few and most of them were really good friends of mine. But to actually have to face one…I could only groan. I closed my eyes and tried to clear my head. She could find me by my emotions. I took a deep breath, trying to remain as calm as possible.

Jasmine laughed. “That’s not going to work,” she said, moving closer. “In fact, I think you’re feeling really scared about now.”

Something came over me, something overwhelming. My breathing came out really fast and my heart started beating like a drum. I started to sweat and I got this overwhelming feeling of dread. Images came into my head, horrible images. I kept seeing Dekker coming toward me and laughing, shooting me over and over again. I tried to fight him off but I couldn’t. I tried to fight off the feelings but they wouldn’t go away. I was terrified and it was controlling me. I crumbled into a ball on the ground, pulling my legs to my head and started to sob. The images of Dekker disappeared to be replaced by images of Trish, she was laughing, laughing at me. She was telling me I was a disgrace and she didn’t want me. Then she opened a door behind her and let Dr. Orange into the room.

Outside my head, Jasmine stopped but I didn’t pay attention. I heard the door open and light flooded into the room. I barely felt the sting from it. She walked over to me and looked down at me like an adult would a child. I turned and looked up, tears in my eyes. She looked huge, like a giant with bright blue hair and nasty spiked heels.

“Did you think you could hide from me, you little bitch?”

She reached for me, her hand changing into a wicked claw and I screamed.

_________________________________

When I opened my eyes, I was in a different room. I groaned, the fogginess slowly starting to fade away. I waited for it to disappear before I looked around. This room was similar to the last one, except it had no window and there didn’t seem to be any other furniture besides the bed I was laying on and the chair in the corner. I ignored the chair for a moment because I wasn’t ready to acknowledge the person sitting in it. Instead, I tried to think about what just happened. She did something to me, something horrible. It was foggy at best but I think she got into my head, throttling me with my own fears. My thoughts instantly went to Melanie but what Jasmine did was completely different.

“Becca, you ok?” said the voice of the person I was ignoring.

I didn’t turn toward him when I finally answered. “What the fuck are you doing here? I thought Declan said he’d keep you away from me.”

Barry sighed, dragging the chair closer to my bed. I would have lashed out at him but my hands were cuffed to the bed like before. He rubbed his temples. He didn’t look so good. I’m not saying he was physically tortured but he definitely looked like he was under a lot of stress. I wonder if Declan’s precious Dominator did a number on my ex-boyfriend. Not that I’d shed a tear for Barry anymore but no one deserved that. I felt a pang as I looked at him though, I couldn’t help it. A part of me still cared for him even if he was a dirty traitor.

“I’ve got some time before anyone notices,” he said, lowering his voice. “I disabled the security cameras in this room. I needed to see you; I want to explain some things.” I scoffed but he continued as if he didn’t notice. “I’m sorry if I hurt you, it was the last thing I wanted to do. But you have to understand where this comes from. Things were different when we came up with our plan…things were complicated.”

“Complicated? You made chips to control people.”

He nodded. “They were promising things back then. They told us if we used our powers to help them then they’d cure us” He sighed. “I wanted more than anything to be a girl again, Declan and Beatrice felt the same.”

At the mention of her name, I groaned. Of course, Bea would be involved in their crazy plan. “What about Mattie?”

He shook his head. “Matt was different than us. When he got there, he was already dressed like a girl. When he changed, it was like the greatest thing in the world. I’ve never seen a more happy kid. He was on cloud nine. It didn’t even bother him when they started to run their cruel experiments on us.” I smiled, I knew some about Mattie’s past but I was glad she wasn’t involved in all this craziness. “Declan hated every minute of it. He played along like a good little soldier but on the inside, he was seething. You have to understand that in the beginning he was all passion and fire. It was hard not to follow him. After we were there for only a few months, he was already coming up with an escape plan. The only one not privy to it was Mattie, he said we could clue her in when it got closer to the actual escape.”

Barry sighed. He looked over at the door for a second then continued. “But we needed time and more people. That’s why it took us a few years to get around to the actual plan. More people started showing up and Declan decided to work them in or not. It was easy to sway Beatrice’s cronies to fall into line, but the others not so much. Max was a wild card, so was Donnie. Holly and Chloe were not really important; we figured they’d fall into line as soon as the escape happened. Then Clara showed up, shortly followed by you. Things changed when you showed up, Declan changed. He’d already replaced Zero and was now in charge but his whole plan changed when you came.”

That sent shivers up my spine. Why the hell was I so important?

“I think he was in love with you. For the first time, he started talking about a girl like she was a person he could love. When he found out that little Ricky was one of us, his whole outlook changed. He wanted you in the scheme of things. He became obsessed with you. He started setting up things to test you, to make sure you were worthy or something. For the first time he didn’t care about the cure, it was like he accepted his male self and all he wanted was a girl to spend the rest of his life with.”

I threw up a little in my mouth. There was no way I was going to let Declan do any of those things to me. “You used me?”

He sighed and nodded. “That’s how it was at first. He sent me to your room, made me tell you it was Mattie. He wanted me to keep an eye you, to make sure that no one else got close to you so that you could be all his.” Barry sighed. “Falling in love with you wasn’t a part of the plan.”

Love? My heart skipped a beat. It was only for a second but it was there nonetheless. He loved me. For a second I couldn’t find the right words. I opened my mouth and closed it just as quickly. I took a few seconds to father my thoughts then spoke. “I think I might have been in love with you, too.”

There, I said it.

He smiled. But I shook my head. “I said I might have been. Then you betrayed me. If you were so in love with me you should have warned me, you could have stopped this.” The anger rose in my voice. I didn’t feel anything toward him anymore, except maybe wanting to throttle him. “You led me into a trap Barry. Do you realize what that bastard wants to do to me? Have you seen Emma? He’s going to do the same thing to me. It’s the BMC all over again. Do you really want that?”

Barry groaned and got to his feet. He started pacing the room, mumbling to himself. For the first time I noticed the bandage across his face, over his nose. A small smile came to my lips. So I did break it. But at the same time, I felt a little guilty too. Yeah I know he’s a traitor but I guess I overreached when I punched him so hard. Yes, he deserved it but it ruined his pretty face now.

He stopped pacing and bit his lip. “Maybe I can get you out of here.”

That peeked my interest. Was this another ploy? I scoffed. “In case you’ve forgotten, there’s a lot of them and only two of us?”

He sighed. “I know it won’t be easy, especially with Jasmine and Miles. She can project emotions at people, that’s how she took you down before. But there are ways around that.”

I nodded. “What about Miles? Last I checked the only way to stop a Dominator is to get them before they get you.”

Barry didn’t look so confident anymore. He looked like someone just socked him in the gut. I could see him trying to think things through. After a few minutes though, I saw a smile form on his face. “We’ll have to give them a distraction.”

Before I could say anything, he rushed over to the corner of the room, a place I couldn’t see because I was still strapped down to the bed. As much as I believed him---which wasn’t much---he had yet to un-cuff me, which was kind of suspicious. But I’d let him have his little flight of fantasy or whatever. Clearly he wasn’t thinking straight anymore, like Declan. But unlike Declan, I don’t think it was madness leading him. I think it was guilt. He said he was in love with me but I think he was just trying to clear his guilty conscience. Not that I was complaining at the moment, as long as he could get me out of this place.

Barry came over to the bed, carrying a backpack. Clearly, he’d done some thinking without me. He reached in and pulled out his laptop, setting it up without saying another word. I watched as he typed rapidly, lost in his own little world. I looked at the pack, wondering what other goodies he might have inside. I recognized it as one of the bags from the Center, so clearly he took it with him from the MCU. Thoughts of my friends inside the van came to me. I wonder if he did anything to them or if he had the bag already to go.

I took a deep breath. “I still don’t trust you, you know?”

He nodded. “I don’t expect you too,” he said, not looking my way. “But I think I can prove my intentions to you.”

He stopped his typing and reached into the bag. He rummaged around a few seconds and pulled a few things out. One was a hard black case; I know what was in there. The other was a folded article of what looked like snake skin. But I knew what that was as well: my Second Skin. I looked from it to him. He smiled.

“You’re serious about this?” He nodded. “They’ll kill you once they found out you’ve helped me?”

He nodded again. “That doesn’t matter anymore. Declan’s changed. This was never supposed to be about hurting anyone. I wanted to destroy the Syndicate just like him and let’s face it; the Center isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be either. But harming Diana the way he has been and some of the other stuff---Strickland for instance----that was never a part of the plan.”

“You’re wrong about the Center.”

He didn’t disagree with me. Instead, he stopped typing again. “If we get out of here…will you come with me?”

Whoa, big question. I bit my lip. “Where are you going?”

He sighed. “I know I can’t go home, not like this. But I want to see them again, my family. Maybe write them a letter like Max did for his little sis. I know it’s asking a lot but I want you with me. Maybe we can start a life together, a real one, not this fake crap that I’ve been putting out.”

I nodded. It sounded nice but it wasn’t for me. But if he could get me out of here and if that’s what he wanted to hear then so be it. “I can go with you if you want. Just you and me, with the whole world behind us. I think I’d like that.”

He smiled. He went back to his computer and continued typing. Ok so I was using him but he used me too. To tell you the truth there was no true way I was going to go with him. Even if he did bring me the Second Skin and whatever was in that black case---I had a good idea. There was just no way that I’d ever trust Barry Morrison ever again.

“That should do it,” he said, finally finished with whatever it was he was doing with the laptop.

“What did you do?”

He smiled and held up a finger. I gave him a look then an alarm sounded somewhere. It was loud and blaring. A few seconds later, another alarm sounded somewhere. Barry laughed aloud then reached into his pocket, taking out a key. I spied it suspiciously until he came over and unlocked the handcuffs. I sat up, rubbing my wrists out of habit. They were already sore and red from before. Somewhere after being unconscious for the umpteenth time my pain from earlier hit me because I could still feel some of it. Now I’d have all new pain to worry about. But all of that could wait. I’m sure the two of us only had a very small window before whatever it was that Barry did was discovered.

I slipped off the bed, grabbing the Second Skin. I ordered him to turn his back and he did so reluctantly. Ex-boyfriend or not, we were still virgins. At least I was. The two of us had been getting really close but for some reason I wasn’t quite ready yet to allow him to go all the way. They also meant that he had yet to see me naked. So he reluctantly turned around as I quickly stripped. I donned the Second Skin as fast as I could then put my clothes back on over it. I looked at his little bag and found a pair of shoes inside too. I shook my head, he thought of everything. It made me wonder if he went into this room thinking he could convince me to run away with him.

“So what’s the plan now?” I asked as I sat on the edge of the bed, putting on the sneakers.

“You and I are going to slip away in the commotion. I’ve got the keys for the van. As soon as things are safe, the two of us will go out the back. I’ve made some arrangements to get us out of the country.”

He reached for the black case but I grabbed his wrist. “That’s mine,” I said and he nodded.

I opened the case and smiled at the P Gun. I figured that’s what was inside. I was a little shocked though when I noticed five darts instead of the usual six.

“Did you use one?”

He shook his head. Very interesting.

I took the gun out of the case, loaded a dart and then grabbed the remaining four. There was no belt or cartridge holder for the darts but Barry remedied that when he took off his coat and handed it to me. It wasn’t a hoodie but it had a hood. I pulled it on; making sure the hood was big enough to cover my whole head. With that out of the way, Barry put away his laptop and went to the door. He opened it slightly, peering out. I took the handcuffs off the bed, turning them so I could use them like a makeshift pair of brass knuckles. Barry stepped into the hallway, looking both ways to make sure. I waited in the corner, ready in case someone realized what was going on and ran into the room.

He stepped back in after a few seconds. “We’re clear.”

I nodded. “How many here besides you and Declan?”

He stopped to think. “You’ve already met Brock, Tobias, Jasmine and Diana. You know about Miles?” I nodded. “The only other two you haven’t met are Kat and Reggie. Reggie is a telekinetic; he specializes in throwing playing cards of all things. But Kat is the one you need to look out for; she’s a real nasty photokinetic. She does this thing with light that’s really nasty, especially for someone like you.”

I nodded, including Barry and Declan that made nine. I could deal with that. I just had to make sure that one of these darts went into Miles. Now that I thought about it, Declan and Jasmine had darts with their names on them too.

Barry took a deep breath and led the way out into the hall. I took my only breath and followed. We were in a room similar to the first one; it was possible it was the same one. Instead of bright fluorescent light though, there was red strobes flashing, the alarms still blaring. The noise didn’t seem to bother Barry but it was driving me insane. I did everything I could to drown it out, including humming. When we got to the end of the hall, Barry opened the last door on the left. He gestured me inside. The room was dark, Barry went for the light switch but I grabbed his wrist. I could see what was in the room and I didn’t like it one bit. There was row after row of firearms all along one wall. I understood why Barry brought me in here but I wasn’t about to let him have a gun.
I still didn’t trust him.

“You’re kidding right?”

“Out of the two of us, only one of us is a traitor,” I said, closing the door.

He sighed. “I’m trying to help you escape, doesn’t that count for anything.”

I sighed and looked around the room. There was a shelf with just knives. I walked over, grabbed two KA-BARs, sheathing one for myself and sticking it into my waistband and then bringing him the other. I thought about grabbing an actual gun but it felt like I was cheating on Reta. Besides a gun would make too much noise. We were trying to be stealthy after all.

“You’re kidding,” he said, taking the knife.

“It’s that or nothing.”

He nodded, securing the knife on his belt. “You can trust me, you know.”

I nodded. “I could also knock your ass out and go on my own.”

He opened his mouth to protest but I held up my hand. A noise from the hall caught my attention. It was two noises actually. The sound of running footfall, two people. They ran past our room and stopped in the middle of the hallway, probably at my former doorway. I listened as the two of them talked. It was the girl from earlier---the one who was with Jasmine---and another voice I didn’t recognize until I heard her call him a name:

“Damn it, Reggie, I knew we shouldn’t trusted Barry.”

The guy, Reggie, sighed. “How far do you think they got?”

“I don’t know. But if it was me I’d hit the weapons at the end of the hall.”

Shit. I snapped around. “Barry we have to go now.”

I didn’t wait for him to respond. I ran over to the door and yanked it open, grabbing his arm and pulling him out into the hall. I dragged him along, moving as quick as I could, around the corner and down the hall. I let go of Barry as we ran, he kept good pace. Behind us, I heard a shout and then footfall. Something thin flew past my face, slicing my cheek. I didn’t feel it but a second later, I saw the Queen of Hearts zip past the other side of my head. Son of a bitch. I put on the speed, hoping that this Reggie guy didn’t have the skill that Holly had. Another card whizzed past my head. I saw it hit the wall as the two of us whipped around another corner.

“This is crazy,” Barry shouted.

I didn’t respond. He was absolutely right. There was no way these jackasses were going to leave us alone. We had a could several feet on them so I snapped around and pressed myself against the wall. I could hear both of them, Reggie---being the heavier one–was in the lead. When he came to the corner, he charged around it. I snapped around, slamming my fist into his fast. It was almost as if his face ran into my fist. I didn’t feel a thing but Reggie sure did. The blow took his feet out from under him. He flew into the air and fell quickly to the ground, all in one big fluid motion. I looked to make sure he was down for the count then Barry and I started running again.

Barry laughed. “You don’t pull punches, do you?”

I laughed. “I had a good sensei.”

We both shared a smile. I fought back the urge to reach over and kiss him. Ok, so I’m a sucker for a cute guy and a smile. I know I should have been infuriated at him but there was just something about him that made me all mushy. I know that most of our relationship was a lie but that didn’t stop me from wanting him to hold me in his arms like he used to. I think I can chalk it all up to the excitement of the moment, after all the two of us had a relationship built around all this pulse pounding stuff.

We continued to run even after I couldn’t hear the pursuit anymore. Apparently, that girl, Kat, wasn’t much of a runner. Barry led the way down a couple more halls and then a narrow staircase. Finally, we got to a bottom floor, this one devoid of flashing red and siren sounds. I sighed, resting against a wall. Barry went to a door, using a key to unlock it. He explained as he did so. On the other side of the door was a little garage where they kept the van. When they brought Emma and me here, they carried us up these exact same stairs.

“From here” he said as he opened the door. “The two of us can make it to my safe house. I’ve got this great view, you’ll love it.”

He started laughing and I smiled. He turned and froze. He looked at me, his hand seizing up as his fingers tightened on the doorknob. He was still laughing but suddenly it cut off, his mouth partially open. I saw the look on his face; it was the same one that Diana had from earlier.

“Becca” he said, forcing the words out painfully. “Run!”

Photo Credit: Model AJ Stewart