The Purity Project

Chapter 20

Jada sprinted through the halls, not bothering to apologize to the people she ran into. She put her hand in her coat pocket, making sure that the explosive was still there. The cold metal sent shivers through her arm, and she couldn't help thinking about what would happen if she accidentally set it off. The gun she was hiding under her coat didn't make her feel any better. She looked around, desperately trying to spot a sign that might help her figure out where she needed to go. Suddenly, she heard loud voices. She panicked and ducked into a storage closet. She peeked out and watched as a group of armed men walked past, and they looked oddly familiar. The men from the fountain.

"The threat will eventually be neutralized, but for now, we need to protect this room at all costs." one of the men said as he opened a door and ushered the rest of his group inside. "Don't fail me."

"Yes sir!" they all shouted in unison.

Jada watched as the man who seemed like the leader disappeared down a different hall. She looked back at the door and saw two guards positioned outside the door. She started panicking, not sure how she would get into the room.

"Calm down, Jada. You need to think," she whispered to herself. She took many shaky breaths then slowly pulled the gun out of her coat. She could shoot the two men and force her way into the room, but then the men inside would definitely beat her. Suddenly, she felt a cool breeze on her neck.

She turned around and saw a vent, and she started bubbling with excitement. The vent was open because of the blackout, and she could use it to slip into the room. She took the cover off, then pulled herself up, wincing at the sound of her gun hitting the sides of the vent. She quickly pulled the cover back on, then started to make her way through the pitch black vent. She crawled slowly, but the surface beneath her disappeared, and she was falling. She suppressed a scream as she thrust her hands and legs outward, trying to slow down her fall. She stopped just before she had crashed out of the vent and into the room with the micro-chips. She let out a sigh of relief, then slowly repositioned herself so that she wouldn't fall through.

Jada peered through the vent and into the room. It was a small factory, and she stopped herself from gasping at the machines that were manufacturing a purple serum. She realized that the only way to stop the government from producing the serum was to blow up the whole room. She shuddered at the thought. She glanced toward the guards. There were three of them, plus the two outside the door made five. She knew that they weren't good people, but she couldn't leave them in the room. She had to try to get them out.

She searched the vent and found a small rock. She held her breath as she dropped it through the vent. It made a small CLINK sound as it made contact with the ground. She waited patiently as the closest guard made his way over to the rock. He knelt down, and picked it up. As he was examining it, Jada dropped through the vent and crashed on top of the guard. The impact knocked him out, but Jada knew that she couldn't waste time. She rolled away from him and ducked behind a large metal metal. It didn't take long for her to hear gunshots firing from the other side of the room. She picked her gun up and fired blindly, but all she wanted was for the other guards to know that she was armed. She couldn't risk them running over to her.

"Surrender now!" one of the guards shouted.

"Not gonna happen!" Jada shouted back as she fumbled with the explosive. She placed it on the metal machine, then paused to fire more shots at the guards. The recoil of the gun made her hands ache, but she knew she had to keep going. She fired again, then heard a scream. She peeked out from her hiding spot and saw one of the guards on the ground, clutching his side.

"I said surrender!" the guard who was still standing shouted.

Jada stood up, feeling more confident. She pointed the gun at the guard and fired more shots. She didn't know how, but she managed to hit his hand. He screamed and dropped the gun. Jada took the chance and rushed over to the unconscious guard by the vent. She grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him across the room toward the two injured guards. She kicked the guns away from the guards, then dropped the unconscious guard at their side. She used her gun to knock both injured guards unconscious. She then sprinted across the room, and took a shaky breath before turning on the explosive. She sprinted back to the unconscious guards and as fast as she could, dragged them each to the door. Once they were all there she pulled the door open and didn't hesitate to shoot the other two guards in the legs. They both collapsed to the floor, screaming and cussing. She knocked them unconscious then, one by one, dragged them away from the room. She knew she was running out of time. 

"Come on, Jada. Don't give up now!" she shouted as she dragged the last guard away from the door. Then there was a loud boom and she and the guard were thrown by the blast. She crashed into a wall and collapsed to the floor.

Her ears were ringing, and her body was throbbing. But when she looked back at the room, she saw it was completely destroyed. No traces of any research remained. She had won. She heard muffled voices and slowly turned her head back toward the hall. Large figures grabbed her and carried her away from the room. Her vision blurred and she was too weak to fight. It didn't take long for everything to go dark.