Agent (Book 1)

Chapter 39-Lynn

39

Lynn Kramer

Agent: 53

Mission: Not Applicable

Date: September 12th, 2089

0740

    Before Rap can come after us, or send another one of his pawns, the floor gives way. Everyone's thrown to the side as a boom shakes the building.

    "Get down!" Slivinski screams, although none of us need to be told twice. Some look grateful for the chance to fall, others, just too exhausted to care. I subconsciously throw myself over a small girl in my confusion, shielding her from the bits of debris that rain down from the ceiling. She whimpers and sends fresh tears into my hair.

    I've no idea what's happened. But whatever it is, we're all best to be dead in seconds.

    "We need to get out now!" I yell back to Slivinski, who's lying only a few feet back, grappling for the gun dropped at her feet. This would be the perfect moment for them to strike, while we're vulnerable in these new explosions. But quite frankly, we'll die within minutes anyway, whether they come for us or not.

Was this just another part of Rap's master plan? To burn the ACA to the ground?

    There's another boom. The girl screams. "Get through security!" Slivinski screeches at me, though it's barely audible past the collisions. She nods to a steel door up the hallway, with a small reading device connected to the frame. I reach for the communicator on my belt, but stop as piles of concrete hit the ground surrounding us.

    When the explosions have ceased for a few moments, I push myself off of the girl and rise to my feet, keeping a wary hand on the wall as I approach the door. Whether it be my dizziness, or an effect of all this debris, I collapse to one knee as the floor tilts. I give it another moment, before rising again and pushing on.

    An ear-shattering eruption throws me against the wall, and pushes my feet out from under me. I feel my body start to roll, and kick out my heels to dig into the floor. It does nothing. I turn in several circles, before I can hear Slivinski's screaming for me.

    My back makes contact with the adjacent wall, and shoves all the air from my lungs, filling me with nothing but smoke. Nausea crashes down on me, and Slivinski's shrieks of my name only grow more distant, like she's calling down a long tunnel. I struggle to focus my cock-eyed vision, but take notice of something large and black splitting up the floor, separating me from the rest of the group. Slivinski's red hair draws my gaze as she's leaning over on her hands and knees, screaming at me to jump. Before it's too late.

    I'm just beginning to recognize the danger of what's happened, when something—or someone, rather—rams straight into my shoulders and pins my arms against the wall. More breath rushes out of me, and I gasp and kick. Flail my arms and legs. My strength is no match for my attacker. Even my thrashing, fueled by desperation, does nothing. 

    "Stop...struggling!" the figure hollers, and sure enough, it's Rap's voice. I ignore him, and flail around a bit more, knowing that it's a lost cause, but not really caring at the same time. "You need to understand!" he says. And I feel his hands, pressing on both sides of my face, pushing it against the wall so that I'm forced to look only at him. His curly hair is wet, and the smoke blurs his face, but his eyes are the saddest I have ever seen. They beg me, plead for me, to understand what it is that he's done. "Come with me," he whispers.

    I can't though. I won't let him. I do all I can think of to force him away, even resort to spraying spit in his face (which is considerably difficult, given all the smoke) but he stays rock solid on top of me. His weight crushes my organs, only adding to my breathing struggle. The smoke has thickened, and I can barely see through my tears, can barely breathe past the stinging in the back of my throat.

    A bit of relief floods through me when Rap's pushed away, sent hurdling into the floor. I cough, and cover my mouth with my hands. Blinking through the tears of smoke, I search for the face of my rescuer.

    It's Hood, dangling over Rap's struggling form. He's got him tackled, while he lays his fists in his gut several times before turning to me. Grabbing my hands. Pulling me up.

    Rap's laid out now, but I can see how quickly he's recovering, and know that if I have any shot of getting back over this gap in the floor (Approximately five feet across, two feet wide) this is the time. Slivinski's bleary figure has risen to her feet, clutching her own communicator, prying open the security door. She's motioning the citizens through, barely wasting a moment, scooping up the girl I'd been covering and tossing her down the few steps to the outside. I spot the small ray of natural light gleaming in through the doorway, cutting through the smoke.

    Another explosion erupts from below, sending me tripping backwards once more. Hood reaches out to grab me again, but I shake my head. "Go!" I say, but it is lost. He hesitates, staring at me for what must be an eternity, but he eventually complies. My heart leaps when I see his legs dangling over the side, but he pulls himself up easily, and turns to wait for me.

    "Come on!" He mouths. It's now or never.

    I move until I'm standing at the floor's edge and back up a few paces, stealing myself before I have the chance to spring. I try not to think about my feet dangling over the side, or of falling straight through the floors. I burst into a sprint and leap, watching as Hood's form grows steadily closer...

    A hand. A hand, wrapping around my ankle. My momentum is lost, my weight too much, and I'm falling, falling, seeing nothing but the black abyss below, open and ready to swallow.

    I have the good sense to stretch my arms out to the opposite floor's edge and kick out of Rap's grasp. My arms burn, but Hood is there instantly, leaning over. Pulling me onto the surface.

    Rap's on his hands and knees on the other side of the floor, and his face sends a line of red streaking across my vision. The remorse is killing him, and in this one moment I know he wants to take it all back, to do anything just so that he can have me. He can protect me.

    "I have a feeling you'll like it here," the man had said, smiling. I'd tried to smile back, but smiling only ever reminded me of my mother. He didn't seem to mind. "I know what you're going through," he said. Then he took my hand and squeezed it.

     The warmth of his skin was a comfort I hadn't felt for a long while. I squeezed back. "It'll all work out in the end. You'll learn to love this place. Lynn, right?"

    "It's Fifty-three," I said.

    His smile deepened. His eyes softened. "Just because you're an agent now, doesn't mean you have to lose who you really are."

    "Please," he mouths now, and I see that same soft look in his eyes.

    I turn away, and don't look back. Slivinski's gaze follows me through the doorframe. The sunshine is blinding.

I don't stare back into Rap's broken face, as I retreat into the light.