Starsong

Part VIII - Escape

  Yara heads down the hall towards Kaya's room, nodding to the one guard posted outside – the others having been sent to deal with Allioni – before opening the door and stepping in.

"Kaya? Come with me," she says.

Kaya looks up in surprise. "To where? I thought I wasn't allowed to leave this room?"

"We're escaping," she replies. "There's no time to explain everything – just trust me."

"What do you –"

That's when the fire alarms begin to ring.

"Right on time," Yara muses. "They really are quite reliable. Allioni's acting was perfect too – he might want to consider a future in theatre instead of piloting."

"How –" Kaya begins, shocked.

Yara smiles. "I did say they would come for you, didn't I?"

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"Bad bad bad bad bad –" Chia repeats as they race back down the hall from where they came from, the fire alarm ringing shrilly in their ears.

"Why are you even carrying the fire extinguisher with you?" Tam shoots back over his shoulder, counting the number of rooms flying past them yet again and hoping he really hadn't missed a room.

"I don't know!" Chia, who's indeed carrying a fire extinguisher in her arms, says. "I just panicked! And, I mean – it can't be good to just leave it there for them, right? Otherwise they'll put it out too quickly and our distraction will have all been for nothing!"

"Fair enough! But then again, they could just grab one from the next room, so you'd only delay them by a few seconds anyway!"

"Oh no. I hadn't thought of that!"

"Doesn't matter anymore! Right now we just need to –" he pauses, skidding to a stop. "Wait. Someone's coming."

He throws open the nearest door he can find, yanking Chia in with him as fast as possible and clapping a hand over her mouth to muffle her surprised yelp.

"Who are they?" Chia whispers to him, eyes wide in the dim light provided by the tiny sliver of open doorway.

"Guards, I think," he whispers back, peering out through the crack in the door to see several figures jogging past – four of them. He waits until they're down the hallway and well out of sight before flinging the door back open.

Then they're running again, charging down hallways even faster than before to make up for lost time. "There! I think Al's in that one!" Chia calls out, pointing at the door with, unfortunately, a guard posted in front. "Uh oh," she says as he turns to see the two of them, his brows furrowing.

"What are you –" the guard begins.

"Uhhhhh... fire!" Chia yells, pointing down the hallway towards the direction of the kitchens. "That's why I have this!" She holds up the fire extinguisher.

He takes a step forward, frown deepening –

Chia swings, connecting with an audible 'thunk'.

He falls to the floor, unconscious.

"I think I may have hit him a little too hard..." Chia says worriedly, leaning over him to inspect the egg-shaped lump already beginning to swell up as, beside her, Tam pulls out the ring of keys Yara had given them to unlock the door. "Sorry, buddy."

The lock clicks, the door swings open.

"Guys?" Allioni says, squinting in the sudden light from where he's tied to a chair.