Shadows

Chapter #9

"We should get going." I tell Adaline.
"Yeah," she says, already standing up.
She grabs my hand to help me up and accidentally sends me flying into a wall.
She looks down at her hands in horror.
I stand up and walk over to her.
"Don't worry, we all do that at one time or another. It just means you don't have a handle on the whole adrenaline controlling thing yet." I tell her.
She looks at me and says, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," I say as I grab her hands. "I'm fine."
She tries to pull her hands out of mine but I hold on.
"Of course, I have to get even so I guess I should throw you into a wall too." I say jokingly. I lift her into the air and she's laughing like crazy.
"Jeremy stop it! We have to go!" She says.
"I guess you're right." I say, putting her down.
She grabs my hand. "Together?"
"Always."
We both run out the doors and into the hall.
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There's around four Warpers standing in the brightly lit hallway. Even though the Warpers live underground like us, the people who built this obviously had no sympathy for that fact: the walls are just gray.
The Warpers notice us and spring into action. Two pull out knives so big they could be swords and the others pull out guns. The ones with the knives rush at us while the two with guns shoot whenever they have a semi-clear shot.
I squeeze Adaline's hand and we start running while also trying to dodge attacks.
One of the Warpers with a knife rushes at me and I let go of Adaline's hand. I wrap my arm around his neck, whirl his body around, and smash his face into the unforgiving, gray cement floor. I wrestle the knife out of his hands and run to catch up with Adaline, who's holding her own against the second Warper.
She throws him against the wall and he lunges at her but she's too fast. Her fist catches him under the jaw.
This is one of the times where the unbridled strength and speed of a newbie Implanter comes in handy. Adaline probably doesn't want to kill him but the way she's hitting him, he won't make it. Which means there will be one less person trying to kill us.
Then a shot rings out, sounding just like all the others. But this time I feel a searing pain in my shoulder.
I look down at it. The bullet hit my shoulder. It's not lodged in there but it hit me just close enough that it just grazed the muscle. Don't get me wrong, it hurts like hell but it could have been worse.
I look up and Adaline has the guy's knife in her hand. She obviously knocked him out and she's just kind of standing there, looking at him in shock.
I sprint up a few steps, grab her hand and pull her along with me.
"It's okay, he'll be fine. He's only unconscious." I tell her.
She understands what I'm trying to make her do and she runs a bit faster.
"Sorry," she says.
"It's okay, I threw a kid across the school yard when we were just arm wrestling."
"Really?" She asks, laughing.
"Yeah." I admit.
He was one of the only kids who would hang out with me after I got the Chip. He was my best friend, we were arm wrestling over who got to pick teams first. I grabbed his hand and had it on the table almost as soon as we started. I guess I slammed his hand so hard that his body just followed. He flew across the yard and hit the fence. When his body met the ground there was an awful cracking sound. He broke almost every bone in his body.
I remember how I beat myself up after that and I don't want Adaline to do the same to herself.
Adaline sees how sad I look and she stops laughing.
"Sorry, I guess that was inconsiderate of me."
"It's fine."
We turn a corner and I hear the rain of bullets stop. I sprint a little, knowing that they're probably going to tell all of the Warpers that we escaped. I pull Adaline down another corridor and see a hatch, much like the ones we have at the Sanctuary.
"Wait a second." I tell her after we're under the hatch.
At first she looks confused but then I crank the hatch open and a look of realization crosses her face. I pick her up and hoist her into the shaft.
"There should be a second door above you." I call up to her, "Also, a ladder on one side so you can get off my shoulders."
I hear a ding as one of her feet step off my shoulder and onto the rung. She pulls herself up and I turn to the rest of the hallway.
I pull out the knife I took off the Warper and wait to see if another Warper will come around the corner or not.
I hear footsteps and voices from around the corner just as a loud creaking and a bang echo down from the top of the shaft.
"Got it!" Adaline says as she reaches a hand down to help me up.
I grab her hand and pull myself into the shaft. I close the bottom hatch and climb towards the dim light coming past Adaline.
She pulls herself out of the shaft and I finish climbing my way out of the shaft. Once my eyes adjust to the light I notice that we're in a small clearing surrounded by thick trees.
"Let's go." I say and start running in the opposite direction of the mountain.
After running for a few minutes I get the same feeling that I got when we crossed into the Warper territory and before I know it I'm on my knees in pain.
I get up and see Adaline on the ground.
"Are you okay?" I ask her.
She rolls on her side to look at me. "What the heck was that?!"
"I have no idea, but we have to keep moving or else we'll get caught again." I say and pull her off the ground.
"I guess so."
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A.N.
I'm so sorry about the long update but it's all good now right guys?!