Planet X

Chapter thirteen: The Plan

"So, what exactly is the plan here?" Riley said. We had about a half an hour until we landed in America, and I didn't tell much about what was going on. That was mainly because I myself didn't know what was going on. All I knew was that I couldn't wait any longer.
"Umm... well, I was thinking we walk in, all confident and stuff, and then we just take him and walk back out." I said. That sounded a LOT better in my head.
"You're joking." Riley said. I shook my head no.
"Are you insane? Oh yea, that sounds like such a great idea. Let's just walk through the front door, where there will be tons of heavily armed guards looking for anyone who is on our side of the war, trying to break Derek out, or people who were there when he was captured in the first place. We happen to be all three. Let's just walk right through the fucking front door and take the guy they are protecting. Great idea" She said.
"I'm detecting a hint of sarcasm."
"Oh, detecting a hint of sarcasm! Funny!" She stood up, her face turning red. "WE'RE GOING TO FUCKING DIE WITH THAT PLAN ASHLEY YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIOT."
She was probably right.
"I know it sounds crazy, but I think it just might work. People will believe practically anything if you act confident enough about it." I said.
"That's for when your stealing a pack of gum from a store, not trying to free your captured boyfriend by walking straight through a crowd of armed guards!" She told me.
"Well no one ever said that to me! Look, come with me if you want, or stay here until I get back. It's your choice, but I'm going."
Riley sat down in defeat. "Practically killing yourself for some dumb boy. This is so dumb. I'm going, but it's dumb." She mumbled.
•
We walked in between two lines of soldiers. The three of us stood up straight and made occasional eye contact, but mostly looked straight ahead at our destination. Some of the guards gave each other confused looks, but no one said anything. We were five feet away from the door when someone stepped in front of our path.
"Just where do you think you three are going?" A guard asked us. "This area is private."
"The general brought us here. He wants us to transfer the criminal to a better location." Riley said.
"And how come none of us were told about this beforehand?" The guard said.
"The general wanted everything to be as  secretive as possible. He wanted to make sure no one from the other side of the war heard where he was going." Riley told him.
The guard looked at her angrily. He still didn't believe her. "Right. Hold on." He called over someone to watch us and he walked a few feet away and make a phone call, I'm guessing to the new general. My face turned pale with fear. How are we gonna get out of this? I turned around to see if Riley or Samantha had any ideas. Riley seemed a lot calmer than Samantha and I were.
"Don't worry." Riley whispered. "I rigged the phones, we'll be fine. You may be ready to come in here without a plan, but I'm not as stupid as you are."
The man walked back. He told the rest of the guards to let us in. Two guards led us into the room they were holding Derek. I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from crying out. Derek had cuts and bruises all over him. He was more black and blue and red than his actual skin color. He was tied to a chair with ropes, and the ropes wore into his skin and gave him wounds that looked like they got worse everything me he moved. He looked up when he saw us and started to smile weakly. We stared back blankly, hoping he would realize what was going on. He did, and his smile quickly faded. Riley untied him and brought him to our helicopter. The task felt like an eternity, but we were all finally safe. The moment we were out of sight I kissed Derek. I put my hand on his cheek, but he jumped back in pain.
"I'm sorry." I said. I grabbed out first aid kit and took the ice. There were so many bruises on him I had no idea where to put the ice pack first.
"Where do you need this?" I asked.
"Everywhere." He said. I was too worried to laugh. "But put it on my ribs." He added on. I lifted up his shirt to reveal even more injuries. At least one of his ribs was broken. His entire stomach was black and blue and he looked like he hasn't eaten in days. I put the ice on him and he flinched. I gently grabbed his hand, which seemed to be the only body part that wasn't completely broken.
"Does it hurt to talk?" I asked. I had a million questions, but I didn't want him hurt more than he already is.
"Yes." He said.
Tears started to form in my eyes. "This is all my fault. I should have never traded you for the general like you were a stupid baseball card. I should have just given up-"
"This isn't your fault, Ash. You did the right thing. I'm proud of you." He squeezed my hand and I couldn't help but smile.
Suddenly, the helicopter rocked and then spun around. I looked out the window to see the tail falling into the ocean.
"They must have realized who we were and hit us!" Riley said.
"What are we gonna do? We're surrounded by water and our enemies. We can't swim to Switzerland, and Derek can't swim at all." I said.
"Well, we're gonna have to try to swim, because we're going down."

AUTHORS NOTE
I know I haven't added on to this story since like the summer of 1983 and tbh I was just gonna abandon this story bc let's face it its shit but I was in a restaurant without wifi last night and I got really bored so I decided to just write this. Ik it's really bad and I don't even know what I'm doing anymore tbh