Rebel

Chapter Thirty One

"Sage! Oh my gosh!"

I looked up to see Alexsandra running full speed at me. She was wearing a dark green turtle-neck jumpsuit and it was the darkest clothes I've seen her in. She was also wearing black boots that were coated in mud.

Aw man. I thought, leaning against the wall, Now I'm hallucinating. Either that or it's Jace. How am I supposed to get out of here when I can't believe anything I see?

"Sage, oh heck. What have they done to you? Are you okay? Why are you looking at me like that? Sage!"

I blinked at her. Gosh she looks so real. No, I can't be distracted like this. Escape. I must escape.

"I don't need you right now, hallucination of Alexsandra." I said, blinking as another bout of dizziness spilled through me, "I uh... I just need you to get out of the way so I can make my very heroic exit."

Alexsandra blinked, "What? No, Sage, it's really me. We're here to save you!"

I rubbed my head, sure I heard wrong, "We?"

"Yeah you heard her right. We."

I looked behind Alexsandra to see Bailey standing there, wearing the same outfit as Alexsandra. Her arms were crossed and a small flame was dancing around her head. "Now let's go before Morsie finds out and sends her guards for us."

I eyed them for a moment, then came to the conclusion that whether or not they were hallucinations I was still gonna follow them.

"Alright." I said, "Let's go."

"Finally." Bailey said, turning around and running down the hall, Alexsandra on her tail.

"Alright." I called after them, putting my good hand on the wall and sliding my feet sliding forward. "Coming." Walking wasn't an option. If I took either of my feet off the ground I'd fall right away.

After a while they seemed to notice I wasn't with them and they turned around. "This isn't a joke!" Bailey huffed, putting her hands on her hips, "We really have to get out of here."

Suddenly I was mad. "Does it look like I'm joking?" I asked, "I can't walk. I don't think it's healthy to go however long I have without food or water."

Bailey huffed, "Well then we'll just have someone carry you."

"Who? It's not like you or Alexsandra could carry me."

"I got it." A voice said from behind me. Before I could register what was going on, my legs were swept out from under me and an excruciating pain coursed through my left arm. I yelped as white spots danced across my vision.

"That," I panted, "was uncalled for."

"Oh, sorry." Dario said, adjusting his hold on me to take some of the pressure off my arms, "I forgot about your shoulder."

"How?" Bailey demanded, "It's the size of a cat!"

"Is it that bad?" I asked, turning my head so I could see Alexsandra.

"Um... maybe not that bad." she said, the corners of her eyes crinkling with pity, "I mean, it is a little swollen but..."

"Are you kidding?" Bailey asked, "It looks like you have a giant purple pillow stuck to your shoulder."

"Bailey!" Alexsandra said, elbowing her lightly in the arm, "That's not very nice!"

"What?" Bailey asked, "It's the truth!"

"Alright, you two." I said, leaning my head back as excruciating pain shot through my ankle, "How 'bout we argue about this later. Right now we should worry about getting out of here before the guard or Jace wakes up."

"Right, sorry." Alexsandra said, "Let's go."

"You ready?" Dario asked.

"I was born ready." I said through gritted teeth.

"Alright." he said, "Don't scream."

I clenched my jaw, closed my eyes, and nodded. With that, Dario hefted me a bit higher in his arms, and took to running down the hall after the girls.

The pain was excruciating. My head was swimming and a scream was building unwillingly in my throat. The run felt terribly long, and I had no idea where we were in the compound. I felt a sharp stab of guilt as Dario started panting, but I couldn't do much about it anyway. We ran into no one the whole time which was kind of suspicious, but hey, I'm not complaining.

"Almost there." I heard Alexsandra mutter. I opened my eyes groggily but could only make out a giant patch of light through my swimming vision.

"We're gonna make it." Bailey said, "We can go back and live our perfect, Cathleen free live--"

Dario stopped suddenly, making another stab of pain shoot through my arm. I hissed, clenching my jaw and blinking away the white spots in my vision. "What--"

"Freeze!"

That's exactly what I did. They found us! I thought, trying to clear my vision so I could see exactly what we were facing, Jace must've woken up and told Morsie.

"Sage." Dario whispered, his voice full of caution and unease, "I'm sorry, but you have to stand by yourself now."

I blinked up at him, testing my vision, then looked around. What I saw nearly gave me a heart attack.

The whole compound was surrounded by guards, and they were pointing their guns straight at our heads.

"Uh... right." I said, my mind whirling in many different directions, "Lex, would you mind helping me?"

Alexsandra nodded and walked over to me, never taking her eyes off the guards standing in front of us. Dario set me feet down and I wrapped my arm around Alexsandra's shoulder.

"Don't move!" One of the guards shouted, "We have you surrounded. Lay on your stomach and put your hands on your head or we will have no choice but to fire."