Shadows

Chapter #7

I'm falling. I thought the hole would be a lot shorter. At first I shouted, then I asked if anyone was there, but now I just want it to be over.
Then I land, I wish I could say gracefully, in a battle stance, or even some kind of cool tuck-and-roll thing. But I land on my face with an, "Oof." I feel a nose bleed running down my face.
Brianna and Chase help me up. I'm in a small grey coloured room. I wipe my nose on my arm and look for Adaline. The streacher is surrounded by a group of Warpers.
I run over and elbow my way through the crowd.
I get on my knees and brush the hair off her face.
"Can you get the bullet out?" I ask the doctor.
"Yes, but the gash is infected."
"Can you sterilize it?"
"Not completely, we don't have that kind of technology." I grab Adaline's hand and squeeze it.
"Well, do all you can." I answer.
Chase and Brianna pick up the streacher again and start to carry her through one of the many doors. I start to follow but the Warpers stop me.
"How well do you know her?"
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After they try to recruit me, to no avail, I go to see Adaline. They took the bullet out of her leg and gave her a needle to make sure she didn't wake up during the procedure. The effects are starting to wear off now and I'm holding her hand again.
There's been a steady stream of Warpers coming in and out. They just come in, look at Adaline, whisper to each other, then leave in a hurry. Chase and Brianna are the only ones who have stayed here the whole time or talked to me. Even they whisper to each other occasionally though.
Adaline's eyes flutter open and she looks at me. She smiles and squeezes my hand in hers.
"We made it." She says. She looks around and her eyes widen with fear. She drops my hand and backs up against the headboard.
Chase and Brianna walk over.
"Look, Adaline-" Brianna starts. How does she know her name? I ask myself.
"No." Adaline says, backing up even further. Then she looks at me and I see a tear rolling down her cheek.
"You were working with them the whole time?" She asks, her voice cracking on the last word. I reach out to calm her down but she pulls away and her eyes harden. "So everything I thought, about us was a lie? Just an act? To get me back here?" She hisses.
"He could have left you for dead when you got shot, but instead we found him wandering around in the forest carrying you, begging us to help you." Says Chase.
Her lips curl into a snarl and she says, "Sure he did. You probably planed this from the beginning. Now I know why that Peter guy was at the at the Sanctuary. It was all planed."
Chase steps closer looking sad and confused, "Peter?" He asks.
"Oh that's right! You thought he was dead, didn't you?" She laughs. "And he was your brother!"
Brianna steps forward, probably to get her to stop.
"Don't start! You don't even realize that your partner is in love with you!" Now she's doubled over laughing, completely hysterical.
I step back, shocked. I've never seen this side of her before, and it's terrifying.
I'm too terrified to move and Chase is sitting on the floor with his eyes really wide and Brianna's trying to shake him out of it by actually shaking him.
Since we're all preoccupied at present, Adaline gets up and starts to leave.
Suddenly, Brianna is in front of her.
"Where do you think you're going?" Brianna asks. Adaline just laughs.
Brianna starts pushing her back against the wall.
"What are you laughing at?" She asks.
"That's a good question." Says a voice next to me. I look over and Brianna's leaning against the wall. She winks at me.
"Weren't you just..."
I look over and Brianna still has Adaline up against the wall. I raise an eyebrow and turn around again. This time there's two Briannas.
"Hey there hot stuff." They say at the same time.
"What the hell?"
"Chase! Come help me with this!" Yells Brianna.
Chase stands up, walks over and helps her get Adaline onto the cot where they cuff her down and put a gag in her mouth.
Brianna pulls out a walkie-talkie and says, "Base, we've got her."
"What?" I ask. My brain feels like it's going to explode.
"Astral projection." The Brianna clones answer, right before disappearing.
"It's my Chip ability. They don't last long and they can't touch anything but it's a good scare tactic. The fact that they all say the same thing at the same time freaks me out though." The one I think is the real Brianna tells me.
"Uh, okay." I say, even though that's not the question I wanted an answer to.
Jeremy... sending... Storm... Sanctuary... blocked, Peter says. I can't quite make out what he's saying.
Before I get a chance to respond, three people walk in the door. A nurse pushing a cart looks at me and furrows her eyebrows.
"Who's he?" Asks the nurse, pointing at me.
I step closer to Adaline and put my arm across her.
"Who are they?" I ask, nodding towards the group of medics.
"People who have unfinished buisness with Adaline." Chase says, moving closer to me. I move away from Chase, closer to Adaline again.
"What kind of buisness?"
"A sort of pilot project of ours." The nurse tells me.
"Really, because if I recall correctly, she looked pretty mad when she figured out where she was." I say, hooking my thumb toward Adaline.
"Well, then you can recall pretty good." Brianna mutters. Chase elbows her and she turns it into a cough.
"Move aside." Says the other nurse, trying to get past me.
I move in front of her and cross my arms over my chest.
"This is your final warning." Says the first nurse, who has a needle in her hand.
I don't move.
The first nurse's hand shoots out and I feel a prick on my arm.
Everything warps and gradually the world starts to shrink. And suddenly, everything fades to black.
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A.N.
I seriously don't need an author's note but I feel like it. So there!