The elevator dinged, doors calmly opening. Jett stood in the entranceway, stepping out rather slowly. She checked out her environment. It looked almost exactly like upstairs. Well, at least the south, east and north sides did.
The homey-looking surroundings opened up into a dungeon. There weren't chains or whips or torture devices hanging on the walls, but it did look like an unfinished basement.
Jett explored, and walked around the corner to see what was behind her.
"Jett!"
Jett heard her name being called. She spun around, looking for the source.
"Jett!"
The blue-eyed girl's head darted around. She sped to where she thought the voice was coming from. When she saw it, relief flooded over her like a tsunami on a beach. There sat Heidi, strapped in her comfy-looking chair.
"Heidi! Holy moth-- Oh my goodness!" Jett exclaimed. She rushed over to the taller girl. Jett kneeled on the ground, unstrapping Heidi's ankles.
"Guys," Jett began speaking into her walkie-talkie, "I got Heidi. We're coming now."
"How-How did they treat you? Are you okay? Did they poison you? What happened?" Jett rambled, fumbling with Heidi's wrist strap.
"Jett, I'm fine, I'm fine. Don't worry about me." Heidi said, then told, "But I think they did surgery on me or something."
"What?!" Jett exclaimed, then looked around as if she hoped nobody heard her.
"Yeah, I remember waking up in what I guess was their makeshift hospital room," Heidi stood up, "And Ginger asked me if I was doing okay. My side hurt, and I felt as if I was coming off of some anesthesia."
Jett led her over to the elevator, replying, "Oh, great. Well, Phillip has a degree in surgery so I think--"
Jett was cut off with a horrifying ding. Somebody was coming down from the elevator.
Jett's relief and happiness was instantly cloaked by despair. A taller boy came walking around the corner along with a red-headed girl and boy, a short, thin, blonde boy with glasses, and a short-haired girl. Elijah, Penny, James, Saul and Hannah.
"Jett?!" All of them exclaimed in unison.
"Yeah, that's me." Jett replied awkwardly.
Elijah looked at the other four kids next to him. He looked as if he were contemplating something.
Elijah spoke, "Look, it wasn't my idea to kidnap Heidi. So, we're going to help you. There's a vent right behind you--"
He was cut off by the elevator dinging again. This time, and older male came walking around the corner. Zelek.
"Well, look who came to join the party! Hey Jett, your friend April, yeah, she tried working her way down here." Zelek pointed over his shoulder.
Two other kids, a boy and girl, came from behind the corner dragging April by her arms. She was struggling, but she knew that she was no match against these other kids.
"Jett." April weakly called out. Jett looked at her friend, then to Zelek.
Suddenly, a banging was heard from behind them. All of their eyes turned to see what it was.
A boy kicked out the vent in the wall. Toby.
"Toby?!" Jett, April, Heidi and the other Genesis kids exclaimed. Toby immediately paused what he was doing when he saw Zelek.
"Looks like we have another one! Well, what are you kids waiting for? Get 'em." Zelek commanded. He stood there with his arms crossed, glaring at Toby. The Genesis kids did nothing.
Zelek questioned, "What are you guys doing? Are you going to arrest them?"
"Nope." Elijah responded, punching Zelek right in the face.
The older male collapsed onto the ground, Elijah instructed, "James, help the Vertigo kids outta here. I'll take care of Zelek."
James nodded. The boy sped over to the entrance, and called out, "C'mere, Penny. Help me out here."
Penny and James interlocked their hands, and helped Heidi up into the vent. Toby helped pull her up. They did the same with April and Jett.
Before Jett could completely turn around, she offered, "You guys should come with us! I'm sure you'd be welcomed!"
"No, Jett," Penny began, "We need to stay here. Now go! Before you get caught!"
"Thank you so much!" All four Vertigo kids shouted. They crawled back into the darkness of the duct.
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Phillip jumped at the sudden noise coming out of the walkie-talkie, "Phillip, we made it out. Heidi's with us, and we're currently in the elevator heading to the first floor. We'll be there soon." Jett stated.
Phillip replied with, "Are you all okay? Nobody's hurt? What about Heidi?"
Heidi spoke into the mic, "We're all okay. None of us got hurt."
Joseph quietly sighed in relief at the sound of Heidi's voice. She sounded okay, and that was all he really cared about.
A few minutes passed, and Marie and the boys all got edgy. But that was soon over.
"Scoot over, Akio!" Toby ordered as he jumped into the car. Jett plopped herself into the front seat, April not far behind. Marie was forced to get out so Heidi could sit by Jackson and Akio. Marie then sat on Heidi's lap.
The entire car ride home was filled with questions for Heidi. Questions like, "Are you okay?" "What was it like?" "What happened?" Were the most frequent. After the questions were over, Heidi had to explain something to Phillip.
"I think they did surgery on me. I hunk they might've implanted something in my left hip." Heidi stated.
"Oh shit." Phillip whispered under his breath, continuing, "It might be a tracking device. They may have known that you were going to get rescued. They want the location of the Vertigo Project's headquarters. Dammit!"
A few moments passed, Marie breaking it, "Can't you do surgery on her? I mean, you have a degree in it. Right?"
Phillip sighed, "I guess I could. But, it's not just gonna be like I can slice open her side, find a chip in there, throw it away, bingo we're done. No, this is going to be beyond dangerous. Heidi, is this okay with you? Are you trusting me to dig a possible tracking device out of your hip?"
Heidi thought for a second, then replied, "Yeah, I mean, if it means that we won't be tracked down by Genesis then sure. I'm up for it."
"Okay, thank you Heidi." Phillip said, gripping the wheel in an effort to calm down.
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Hey, Trubberys again! I still hope you like the book. I really hope it doesn't seem rushed.
Trust me, it doesn't end here. There's still many more chapters, so hang tight! Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it! It means a lot to me.
Trubberys, signing out.
