The Elementals

Escape- and something other

Sophia's POV
" Pick up your bags!" I cried, my brain instantly clicking back into leader mode. The two of them stood stock still for a moment. " Go on!" I yelled. Immediately, the two of them snapped into action. My black hair flicking across my shoulders in a ponytail, I grabbed my bags and glanced out of the window. Darn. There were a ton of military officers surrounding the the house, guns pointed strategically at every opening, every window, every door. Which meant we couldn't escape. Which also meant around ten guns were pointed at my face.
" I spotted her! She's at that window!" One of them yelled and I sprang back, heart beating.
Alicia and Joreen were grasping their backs in their taut hands, looking around wildly for an escape.
" Can't. We're surrounded." I said, and their attention snapped back to me.
" So what do we do?" Alicia whispered. I hesitated.
" We try to get out, I guess," I said.
" And how are you planning to do that?" Alicia asked, her usual sarcasm replaced by fear.
" We'll have to fight them off, I guess," I said. Joreen shook her head.
" No. We'd be outnumbered." She said. I gazed at her with a look that basically radiated sarcasm.
" So, what do you suppose we do, then?" I questioned. My eyes had turned stony as my body fully adjusted to the serious position of leader. Joreen had a determined look in her eyes.
" We run." I rolled my eyes.
" Yes, I know we run! But how, is the real question." I said. Joreen gazed at me.
" I have a secret tunnel outta here." Joreen answered.
" Oh, really? And you didn't think to mention this when we first arrived?"
" Never came up." Joreen shrugged. " This way!"
" Girls! You have ten seconds to get out here, now, or I'm skinnin' you alive myself." A rough commanding voice said. He sounded like he was throughly fed up.
" Come on!" Joreen yelled and we hared after her, running up the stairs. The morning, which had seemed so peaceful just earlier, had turned into a place where you would assume a nightmare would be waiting for you as the peaceful tranquility of the place was broken by the horrible sound of ammunition clicking into its rightful place in a gun.
Joreen ran to her room and dashed straight to the cupboard. She flung it open and I saw that it was nearly smothered in clothes. She pushed them aside and flipped her hair across her shoulders. Pressing her hands against the board of the cupboard, she pushed hard.
Suddenly, the back of the cupboard seemed to go back even further, revealing a secret door! Joreen scrambled inside and beckoned to us. Alicia wasting no time in getting in, but I hesitated. Was this really right? Was running away from the law really right? The door started to make banging noises as the men put their big and burly shoulders to the door and slammed their body weight against it.
" Come on!" Alicia shouted. Ram! Ram! Came the door as I debated with myself, trying to push down the raging storm of emotions down and follow Alicia's lead, but somehow my body just wouldn't comply with my actions.
" Come on!" Alicia yelled and the door was kicked to the floor. Finally, my body kickstarted itself and went into action. As the men began streaming into the house, I scrambled into the secret door, concealing my body. I pushed the fake wooden door back into its position and, hearing a satisfying click sound, rushed further into the dark, damp tunnel. It seemed to go on forever, and twisted and turned and ascended and descended awkwardly, as if following the perimeter of many different winding streets.
" I don't care if they've disappeared into thin air! Find them or Constable Jones will have my head." Came a loud voice, startling us. We must have wound round downstairs again. Joreen beckoned and we continued on. Stooping against the low tunnel, my back started to ache.
" Aha! What's this?" A voice came from behind us, and I turned. Bad mistake. I saw faint light coming from the turn just before us. Darn! They must have found us!
" Joreen! What are we going to do? They're getting closer!" Alicia whisper shouted. Joreen shook her head, sweat dripping down her face.
" Won't. It's too small for them to stand or even bend down in. They'll have to commando crawl. It'll take them three hours, tops, to reach here. We can take that lead and run off before they reach us." She replied.
We continued the tedious task of bending our backs while walking down the tunnel. My stomach growled and all I wanted to do was go to sleep. But Alicia held my hand tightly, and I was pulled along by the force of her body.
Two hours later, or so it seemed to me, we finally got out into the opening. I gasped as fresh air filled my lungs. I felt like I could breathe again. After so long in that musty tunnel, the fresh air felt like a blade stabbing cleanly into my lungs. Panting, we collapsed on the ground.
Not long after, Alicia stood and said," Come on! We need to run before they catch us. Which way?" She asked, turning to me. My leader mode snapped back into control again.
" We have to go where they least expect it." I said. " Definitely not there" I said, pointing to the direction covered with overgrown vines. " they would expect it there."
" What about in the opposite direction?" Joreen asked. " They won't expect us to go back in the direction that we came from, would we?" I nodded, impressed at Joreen's quick thinking.
" But...because reverse psychology..." Alicia said. " They'll know that we're smart enough to think of that, so they'll go in this direction." Alicia said. I ran my fingers through my hair. This was a nightmare!
" We'll just have to take the risk, then." Joreen said. I nodded and started back in the direction we had come from. Navigating our way through the overgrown forest was a challenge because the overgrown plants created obstacles I didn't think were even humanly possible. As I picked my way through the undergrowth, I was deep in thought. Who was that mysterious voice? And why was he in my head, annoying me?
" Sophia? Earth to. Where now?" Joreen's voice rang out, breaking me out of my thoughts and pulling me back to attention. " Back to the apartment or orphanage?" I shuddered at the thought of returning to that dreadful place, and nodded back to the apartment, even though I knew it was dangerous. I just couldn't stand the thought of seeing the charred orphanage and the people Alicia and I might have injured. Walking back to the apartment, I looked as if in a daze, but my brain was furiously working. Was it really right to go back, or was I leading my friends into danger?
A strangled scream broke me free from the thoughts holding me captive. While I was immersed in my thoughts, we had reached the apartment. Alicia's lips were parted in a soundless scream and Joreen's eyes were wide. I followed their gaze and dropped my jaw. Where the houses had been, there was now a pile of rubble. I watched Joreen's eyes fill with tears. I didn't blame the girl. Watching the place you had been staying in destroyed must be terrible. I didn't know what the poor girl was going through right now. Suddenly, my sharp eyes spotted something red in the pile of debris. Running forward, I snatched it up. It was the burnt shell of a bomb. Wait, if they could blow up the house, it meant that the men had already escaped that excuse for an escape route. Which means...
" You're surrounded. Put your hands up!" A voice came from the back. Darn. I put up my hands and slowly turned around. An army of men were holding up their guns. All of them had explosives strapped to their backs. The twisted face of their leader made me cringe. The smirk on his face showed it all. We'd been captured.
A/N
Don't worry guys, they're not gonna get captured. Eh. Maybe they will, but that's only if I'm an evil author. Which I probably am. Mwahahahahaha!! But thanks for commenting, voting and reading!
This chapter's shoutout goes to....( drumroll) FloraViolet !!!
Unedited.