Fracted (Book #2)

Chapter 59: Liberation

The two clones that held me by my arms collapse on the floor after I hear a couple shots go off from a small distance. I leaned against the wall to keep myself steady and from falling. I see two shadows walking towards me, one of them shooting my shooter. New hands touch my shoulders, as if they were petting me, making sure I experience comfort. Another sign of familiarity makes a deep impact on me.
"Jess, are you okay?" I wait until my vision clears up after all the smoke. He's muscular, a few inches taller than me now. His touch on my arm makes me cringe and punch him back like he did before. Henry.
"Come on, buddy, speak to me," he said.
"Jess, it's me and your brother. Can you hear us?" I see my mom. Her face full of glow and excitement. Wisps of hair covered a portion of her face. It's good to see her having bangs for a change, like she's a completely different person now.
They were both dressed elegantly, which clearly shows that they're with Iris.
"Y-You're here?" I managed to say despite all the commotion. "But how?" I asked.
"Mom looked all over the country for me, she convinced me to join her and the rest of the Royal Innates and rescue the rest of the captured," Henry said as if he knows exactly what he's talking about. So does that mean he's completely changed now that he knows the circumstances that we are surrounded by right now?
"Jess, I am so sorry I--I was just so foolish back then I--"
I didn't let him finish, instead I pull him in a tight hug along with mom.
"It's so good to see our family complete again," I said.
"But, Jess, there's not much time," mom said, pulling away from the hug. "We have to get out of here as soon as possible, the Pattersons are activating the EMP device that will disable the cloning contraption in a few minutes, but it's so strong, it would blow up the entire compound to ashes. We have to go now!"
"But we can't leave Jackson and the others behind--Dad is with them, I found dad!" I gave Henry a reassuring look in the eye.
"Dad's here?" He smiles.
"Yes, come on, we have to get them!"
I hurry down the hallway, back to the control room. The flesh on my bleeding shin aches for comfort, the blood never stopped flowing. But I--we--have to get back to the control room to retrieve dad and the group.
Distant gunshots were heard a couple hallway turns away. I couldn't help but think that those men in suit and ties with large guns on their hips would risk their lives in the battlefield rather than the adversary's realm.
"There they are!" I shouted and pointed at the open door across the hallway.
I see them still brawling with a few clones, and Benjamin is still getting pounded by the real André. I take Henry's SMG8 from his holster and aim at the clones and continued to hobble towards the control room. I shoot at them, having no doubts on finishing this battle. The clones fall down immediately and the group looks at me in surprise.
"Jess!" Eiffel's voice echoes. "You came back."
From a distance, André turns around, distracted for a moment, giving Benjamin a chance to overpower him. A hard punch hurtled towards André's face, causing him to fall back on the floor with a squished nose. I swear I heard the bone on his nose crack, as if an avalanche was about to occur.
Benjamin clutches André's collar and rolls over to his left. He's on top of him, gaining more power. He grabs the gun immediately, and points it to André's forehead.
"Come on, shoot him!" Zach commanded. As if dad would take orders from a teenager.
"Just leave him to me," he said to him. "Go, get out of here."
"What?"
"I said get out. I just have to finish this myself."
"But, dad--" Jackson starts, only to be yelled at by Benjamin.
They all step out, shivering. While we wait, Ace hands me the four tubes containing my powers and the syringes that go with them.
"You should inject it before anything else happens," Jackson suggested.
"Okay. Know any place where I can't cause destruction?" I ask him.
He grabs my arm and looked into my eyes sincerely. "Just run off. Somewhere far. We'll see each other on our way out."
"Okay." He wraps his arms around my shoulders and pulled me to his chest. I could smell his signature fragrance, Axe and waterfalls.
He rips a long, thin portion of his shirt, and binds my gunshot wound with it, wrapping it tightly around my bloody shin.
"Be careful, Jess," Eiffel said. She plants a small kiss on my cheek. "You know we can't keep losing each other, right?" I nodded. "I'd be very satisfied to see you alive, keep that in your mind okay? Don't forget me." Her smile gives me confidence, that I would make it out alive, away from André.
"Stay alive," Henry said, smiling. "Don't get killed."
"I won't." That was the first time we ever hugged, and I'm hoping for more.
"Be careful, son," mom said. "You get back, okay?" Her voice shaking.
"Hey, stop crying. I'm not going to die. It'll be a hundred years before I die. Okay?" She nodded.
I looked at my friends. "See you guys on the other side, okay?" Zach gives a thumbs-up, Ace waves goodbye, Sarra smiles in faith.
I ran full-speed, nonstop. The syringes jingling against each other inside my pocket. The hallway was still covered in smoke, and I had to shield my face as I ran. It's so difficult to hold your breath while running. My eyes tear up from all the dust flying around. I take the next turn on my left, then my shoulder hits something hard and metallic. An asian boy armed with large gun kept his eyes on me.
"Jess, right?" he said, squinting at me.
"Yeah. You came to help us, right?" He nods. "That means you know the place very well because of those glasses." I gaze up at his spectacles. He nods again.
"Yeah, what do you need?" he asked. His grip on his gun tightens, as if prepared to shoot at any moment.
"I need to get to someplace private, where no one can come near me."
"But shouldn't I be getting you out of this compound right now?"
Who made that jurisdiction, huh?
"Whose command is that?" I ask instead.
"Jackson's, specifically."
"Well, it's also Jackson's idea to have me run around the compound, looking for some safe place to hide in."
"Hide from what?" This boy's getting in my nerves, but I try so hard to keep my fists open. "You can just come with me and find the exit."
"It is none of your business, kid. Now show me the way, or your I'll finish you myself."
"Okay, okay, I'll show you the way."
As we skim through the hallways, looking for some confined closet--which is a very eccentric idea--I notice that his hand was shaking.
"Look, I'm sorry about what I said. It's just that--"
"No, it's fine," he cuts me off. "I should've been more sentimental about your priorities. After all, I'm just a soldier serving you guys."
"A trustworthy soldier, yeah. But trust me, there's more than just loyalty and courage behind it," I say kindly. He gives me a light smile.
Three gunshots rang from the tunnel on our left, and the young soldier to my left winced after the second shot. We should have been more alert on our surroundings.
"Take cover, Jess, take cover!" I turn to see who tried to shoot us.
A young man with bronze skin and black, tousled hair had his eyes fixed on us. Ready to shoot us again at any moment.
"Jason," I mumbled under my stifling breath. I raise my hands in surrender.
"Think you can escape from us that easily, little boy?" He kept his gun aimed at us. The young soldier did the same with Jason.
"Just don't get in our way, it's much easier to get back to us, Jase. You don't have to join André." He shakes his head. I knew he was going to give me that response, but I had to try at least. But his gun shifts down slowly. Maybe he is changing his mind.
"It's okay," I say to the young soldier. "He's fine, you don't have to keep that thing pointed."
His muscle snaps forward, and his gun was pointed at us again. He tricked us. The young soldier blocked whatever it is I am looking at, jumping infront of me. His body limp against mine, his weight making it impossible for me to keep standing up. Warm blood trickles down his side. He's been shot. And he saved me. "No," I said.
The soldier laid down next to me. Red blood drips from his lip. He coughs it up a little bit. He grabs on to my hand.
"At least...you're...worth saving...right?" He managed to crack his final smile before dying.
"What a waste," Jason sighed. "That was my last bullet." He tossed his gun down. I look up and glared at him.
"And that was my last straw," I said.
I hear his light footsteps approach me. His hand slithered up to my shoulder, trapping my nerves inside his bare hand.
"Come with us instead," he said.
Every nerve in my body screams for me to surrender. But you know what my heart and mind says? Finish him.
I take his hand off my shoulder and I lay my hand on top of his. I twist myself to face him and bundle my thighs around his neck. He falls forward instantly, his head and his one arm trapped between my two legs.
"You dirty--" I didn't let him finish his sentence, since I snapped my legs and pulled his arm back. Suddenly, his breathing stopped. Did I really do it?
Yes, I killed Jason.
There was nothing to be ashamed of. He killed an innocent soldier, and it's partly his fault that I'm in this mess in the first place.
"Goodbye, old friend," I said to his lifeless body before continuing running.
There is no safe place, I thought. This is where safety was lost in hopelessness. Actually, no--safety has never set foot in this compound. Everywhere I go, they always find me. I take out the syringes, all four of them under my knuckles. But there was an extra one. Did Ace know that I had the vial with me? Well, of course he did somehow. He's often distracted, but that doesn't mean he's stupid.
I drop three syringes and only one remains in my hand. I take the vial out and stick the needle in. However, I felt this heavy weight push against me, making me drop the vial with the needle stuck to it. The force had braces and bandaged wounded hand, similar to Patrick's. He stood infront of me, watching the blood from my elbow gash drip on the floor.
"Think you're so powerful now, huh?" Patrick said, wrapping his huge hands around my throat and squeezing.
Every vein of mine is trapped within his touch, gasping for oxygen. All I can do is watch his evil grin and hold on to his wrists. But I launch my knee up, targeting his crotch. While he is distracted, I reach up to his face and push his right eye into his socket. He shook his head wildly, and the next thing I know, a few of my fingers were bleeding because he was constantly chomping on them.
The more he tries to hurt me, the more I try to hurt him back. Looks like he's doing the same thing with me. That's why it took forever for me to escape from his deadly hands. There has to be something on the floor that I can use for my escape. I spread my arms out, looking beyond the dusty floors. All the pieces of rubble were too tiny to hurt him anyway. I have no choice but to look for the vial. Whatever's inside it, I hope it's enterprising.
"I know André needs you," he said. "But that doesn't mean I can't kill you for it. The only reason I'm doing this is to save our race. I mean, without you there's nothing André can do, right? So I might as well just kill you now."
I felt the cold glass of the vial touch my fingertips. I immediately yank the syringe out, which was halfway filled up with the substance. I twist the syringe around, the needle beneath my skin. I push the plunger.
The little pinpricks puncturing my temple come back all at once, and the hot and cold feeling flooding my system. Patrick's hands lifted off from my neck. I could finally breathe, though I wouldn't say I'm in peace. All this power flooding over me, I am drowned in strength and invulnerability. I sometimes wish I was normal, but wouldn't have I met my brother and father then if I wasn't? I wouldn't even be this powerful if I hadn't met them.
I felt no presence of heavy weight on top of me. Patrick is gone. Where could he be at this moment? Based upon my shaky vision, Patrick's on the ceiling above me, his back hunched and mounted against the ceiling, causing a huge crack while his arms and legs dangle over me. His eyes closed firmly with a scrunched forehead.
I waste no more time and injected another one to my arm. I felt myself sink down the solid, opaque floor as Patrick started to slip down from the ceiling. I rise from the grimy floor in a matter of seconds and ran as quick as possible as if my life depended on it, because it did.