The Academy

Part Two: Chapter Eleven

White-hot, searing pain shoots through my body, the flames reaching my leg and side as I try to drag Lacey away from the hole in the roof, towards where Derek lay. "Get up! Lacey, I'm not going to drag you and I'm not going to leave you! Pull yourself together and get up!" I yell at her. She may be my boss, but she's also one of my oldest friends.

"Go, Olivia." She whispers. I glance at Derek, who seems to be trying to figure out a way for none of us to die. It looks pretty hopeless, though. He's sitting at the edge, peering towards the ground.

I haul Lacey to her feet, holding more of her weight myself than she is. Her right leg is useless, I don't know what happened but it's not good.

I stare around, painfully aware of the fire getting closer and the roof- and myself- getting weaker. If we don't move, this thing will go down and take us all down with it.

That's when I get it. "I have a terrible idea," I rasp to my teammates, getting both of their attention. "I have a really, really bad idea."

"Let's hear it," Lacey manages, though Derek looks hesitant. I'm standing on the far side of the building, right by the edge. I glance over, judging the distance between here and the water.

"Jump." Is all I say. There's a concrete path separating this building from the cold waters of the Atlantic, but I think we could make it. It only appears to be about ten, fifteen feet. "You know how to swim?"

Derek nods, but Lacey groans.

"What do we do with her?"

"I can handle her." I decide, though I'm not sure I can.

"We have to jump," Lacey tries to use her commanding voice, but fails.

I stare down at the water, heart pounding as the clock ticks. "There's a ladder over there," I point. Derek turns his head towards the ladder that is going to be our only way out of the water back to dry land.

 The building we're on creaks and shifts, signaling we're out of time.

"See you down there?" Derek looks at me.

"See you down there," I reply, my voice shaking.

I'm terrified. I've faced death before, but I never imagined myself in this situation. I struggle to breathe and my body is in multiple degrees of pain.

"Three, tw- jump!" Lacey starts counting down, cutting herself off halfway as we feel the roof move under us.

Even in midair, I can hear the explosion behind us and the powerful blast sends us even further out. It's deafening, but before I can process it, my entire body is plunged into freezing cold water. 

The weight of Lacey's body next to mine makes it ten times harder for me to fight the waves. I force open my eyes, holding my breath as my lungs are burning and muscles are ready to stop working completely. 

Fear that I will drown takes over, pure adrenaline allowing me to propel myself and Lacey towards the surface, and just when it feels like I'm about to lose consciousness we break through.

I gasp and cough loudly for air, trying to get some oxygen into my body as I tread, making sure Lacey's head is above the water. She's paddling weakly next to me, coughing and trying to breathe as well. I hear a splash next to me and see Derek come up for air, his usually perfect hair a mess, dripping around his face.

When I see he's okay, I start kicking, trying to get over to the ladder. I can hear sirens in the distance. Our backup. Too fucking late.

My legs and core burn, but I grit my teeth and push through the pain, knowing I don't want to die, and this is the only option that will keep me alive. I can hear Derek swimming not far behind me, and I have multiple close calls where I lose control of my body and slip under the surface of the water again.