||Series Removed|| OTB

19 - Just One More

19

I couldn't tell which of us landed first, falling through the darkness began to feel like an eternity after three or four smacks against the shaft walls. I tried not to make any sharp noises that would give away our position, but it was all too much to bear.

The lives we had built here had come crashing down in a matter of seconds, and now my closest friends were being rounded up and executed as I lay on the wet ground, unmoving.

I felt a delicate hand wrap itself around mine, and caught a whiff of her perfumed golden-blonde hair as Blessing hoisted me to my feet. Her trembling fingers appeared to be equally distressed, although it was hard to tell through the lack of residual light.

"You aren't hurt, Daniel? I think we landed in the basement, the platform must have been built over some kind of cellar door-" She stopped when she heard my jaw clench with a crack, and an involuntary inhale gave notice to my surfacing emotions.

Her hand found its way from my palm to my tense shoulder, while her eyes desperately searched the dust-speckled basement to find my own.

"They're going to pull through. Don't you think for a second that Harry and Alisha will let Beth or Stacie out of their sight. The agents will be looking for us, not them."

"It's not that... How the hell did they find us?! We've been so careful, and we step out for one night-"

"No, this wasn't an ordinary raid. Not even Telos can be so thorough, and it certainly wasn't luck on their part. They must have received a tip-off, or..."

"...Or?"

"I hate thinking this way... but we did give our exact location to Elizabeth Boudica."

A shiver ran up my spine, exploring the possibility against my better judgement. I could hear Blessing shifting around in her bulky army boots, exhaling her discomfort into the dank atmosphere.

"To be honest, I know nothing about that woman... and our last conversation wasn't exactly pleasant. She has every reason to suspect that my existence will only advance the F.L.E.S.H. Program to its final stages. I mean, she only allows my infected brother in her ranks so that she can watch him like a hawk. Maybe to use him as a bargaining chip, if things got serious."

"Just to get rid of you, she'd call a Telos hit squad on her own niece's location? She would never do that, after all of the time we've spent searching... Would she?"

"If it's for the greater good, I would think she's capable of anything... I really shouldn't say such things, I'm sorry."

I scratched my arm, feeling a light scrape reddening from my tumble down the cellar shaft. Above our heads, I could just barely hear the undercover Telos agents barking orders for the crowd to be divided and searched, and for the stage to be pulled apart.

"Bless... We need to help the others. I don't know how, but we need to draw Telos away from the town center and make a run for it. Now that they know we're here, they might bring in reinforcements."

Feeling a nod coming from somewhere in her direction, I grabbed her arm and haltingly we made our way through the pitch-black basement, one step at a time.

I tried not to picture what was happening up on the surface, what Telos would do if they uncovered our friends' true identities. The school kids were still hiding in the sewer, with TB and presumably the rest of the O-Saints. They would be safe, but for how long?

"Mmph? Mmmph!"

Blessing stopped in her tracks, and I almost banged into her as we searched for the strange noise in front of us. It sounded like... someone was calling for help?