“Oh my word,” Ro exhaled. “There’s so many of them, all in one place.”
Three rows of cages housed an Accident each. Altogether, there were about fifteen Accidents. Owl pressed her lips into a thin line and sighed.
“There used to be more of us,” she said. “I think there were originally thirty or forty. But most of them died within a week of being moved here. Malfunctioning organs and all those fun side effects of being experimented on.”
Nick quickly divided up the Accidents among the Revealers while Troop and Travis went around the room picking the locks. To be honest, none of the locks were hard to pick—they were all old-fashioned padlocks with no fancy shmancy scanners.
Troop tucked an infant Accident beneath one arm and another in his other. He cradled an older child—a year or two—in a makeshift sling across his shoulder. The Accidents were awfully quiet and Troop had to check for their pulse to convince himself they were still alive.
Owl looked on as he did so. “Don’t worry about them. They’re all fine. The guards give them extra sedatives at night.”
Nick scanned the room one last time, searching for anything they might’ve accidently left behind. “Alright team, let’s get out of here. Same order as before—Owl, why don’t you walk behind Ro and in front of Troop.”
They fell into a single file line.
“Something doesn’t feel right,” Owl murmured.
“Shh,” Nick whispered tersely.
Owl grumbled under her breath. “I sense a premonition in the air—why aren’t the guards aware of the break-in already?”
Troop shifted one of the babies in his arms and glared daggers at the back of Owl’s head. Can’t this kid be quiet for even a minute?
If Owl felt his eyes digging into her, she didn’t show it. Team Intervention steadily climbed up the stairs and back into the main room of the church. Nick tilted his head toward the shattered window, indicating that they were leaving the building the same way they had entered.
By this time, Owl’s eyes were darting all over the place. She bounced on the balls of her feet, a spring to her steps as if she was ready to bound away the second trouble arose. She abruptly stopped walking. If Troop hadn’t been paying attention, he would’ve walked right on top of her.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Owl’s large, petrified eyes beseeched him. “I’m scared.”
Troop swallowed down his impatience. He really wanted to get out of the church as fast as possible.
“There’s nothing to be scared of.”
“C-can you hold my hand?”
“What?” Troop wasn’t sure he had heard right. He had been too taken aback by the girl’s quivery voice. She’d been so demanding and assertive so far.
Owl braced her feet and said in a steadier voice. “Hold my hand.”
Troop mentally rolled his eyes, but complied with her request, taking care not to drop the Accident in his left arm as Owl wrapped her tiny hand around his fingers. He felt her grip tighten and couldn’t help but think, She’s really no more than a four year old child with the intelligence capacity of an adult.
Nick carefully stepped through the window and onto the patchy lawn.
Bang!
“The guards!” Owl shrieked. “It’s an ambush!”
Gunshots rang out in the air, shattering the nighttime peace. A floodlight bathed the entire church property with a sickly yellow color. Hidden guards stationed throughout the room leapt out at them.
Troop spun around, eyes searching for an escape. A burly guard all dressed in black with a visor pulled down in front of his face stepped in front of Troop.
“Surrender now and you will not be harmed,” he breathed through his voice amplifier.
The man reached over to pluck the Accidents out of Troop’s arm, but Troop skittered backwards just in time. Troop dodged through the church, weaving in and out of the pews with the guard hot on his heels. Owl stumbled behind him, her short legs propelling her as fast as they could.
“Troop!” Travis shouted. His face appeared above the broken window. “I have my hands free.”
Troop picked up Owl and shoved her into Travis’ open arms. Travis dashed away towards the van. Troop leapt outside, shielding the Accidents from the impact of hitting the ground. The guard behind him crashed down beside Troop.
Troop rolled to his feet, praying he hadn’t unintentionally hurt any of the Accidents with his jump through the window. The escape van idled fifty meters away on the road. I can’t make a run for the car, he thought. The guard will overtake me in seconds since I’m carrying the weight of three Accidents.
Troop zigzagged across the ground, staying as close to the ground as he could. Windows, trees and statues exploded into fragments as the bullets missed their mark. A large object whistled by overhead. Troop involuntarily traced the path of the thing, watching it smash into a camera. The camera caught on fire the moment the object came in contact with it.
Troop snapped himself out of his trance and focused on not tripping over the debris scattered all over the church lawn. Ro appeared up ahead. Good. She has already dropped off the Accidents she’d been carrying in the van.
“Here—take him.” Troop thrust the child slung across his chest to Ro.
She snatched the Accident up and together they dove into the safety of the bulletproof van. Troop slammed the car door shut, but not before something grazed his calf, leaving a burning pain in its wake. He yanked his leg onto the seat and rolled up his pant leg.
Lillia gunned the engine and the van shot down the street.
Troop touched the raw area. His fingers came away sticky with blood. He grimaced and asked, “Is there a first-aid kit?”
“Check beneath your seat,” Lallia replied, eyes glued on the road.
Troop reached under and extracted a plastic container. Owl leaned over and peered at his wound.
“Bullet grazed you?”
He nodded, spraying some disinfectant onto the gash. Task completed, Troop leaned back his head and closed his eyes, permitting himself to grab a quick wink.
