The Infinite

Chapter 3

That night, Ashton shook Adam and Aryn awake. He had told them of Rask's plan, and they had agreed to the terms of what they would have to do to escape. "We need to go onto the girl's side," he whispered. "Come on. Damian and Wes are meeting us there."

"I can't help but feel a little guilty about this," muttered Aryn.

"What's there to be guilty about? Master Cheng's been lying to all of us for years," spat Adam. "He doesn't care about us, he's just using us so that he and Damian can be kept safe."

"Yes, but Adam, you and I are leaving our mentors behind. Jay and Martin would want to know about this," said Aryn sighed. "Ashton, you're lucky your mentor is in on this-" Ashton shushed them.

"Do you guys even know the definition of stealth?" he growled, and Aryn and Adam looked at each other with bewilderment. Ashton face-palmed, and rubbed his temples with irritation. "Be quiet, and don't be seen," he then said, and the two nodded with understanding.

As they crossed over, to the other side of the Chamber-which took about 30 minutes, because the Chamber was so freakin' big-they looked at the opening in the wall cautiously. "W-What if something's in there..." Aryn stammered, his eyes wide in fright, and Adam was no help making scary noises like, Oooo! and, It's coming! It's coming, Aryn!

"Would you two shut up?" Ashton had muttered under his breath.

When they finally got to the other side of the Chamber they spotted Damian and Wes. "You guys are late," hissed Damian. They all looked at their wrist watches. It was still pretty early, Rask wouldn't expect them to be ready for another 30 minutes.

"Nevermind, let's just go find the girl's dorms, and be careful. We're lucky girls are deep sleepers," chuckled Damian.

"Not necessarily," remarked Wes, pushing his glasses to his forehead. "Mostly, teenagers are the ones who are deep sleepers. And that's true with both genders."

"Guys, we're wasting time. Let's go, now," said Ashton.

"Why do we even need to bring the girls along, they'll just slow us down," Adam sighed.

"If the Infinite attack, the girls won't be as defensive against them. They were only taught self-defense, but if we help at least some of them escape, our world will still have some of it's future leaders," explained Ashton, sliding open one of the girl's dorm rooms. He put a finger to his lip, and then went over to one of the girls' bed. He shook her awake. She was the pretty brunette, and she yawned before opening her eyes.

"Hey, what are you doing here, perverts?" she growled. "Do you want me to go get security?"

"N-No, we need you to come with us. We're here to get you out of here," explained Ashton.

"Wait, you mean out of the Chamber?" she asked, her eyes wide.

Ashton nodded.

"What about Master Cheng?" she asked.

"He's a liar," Ashton sighed. "He's been making deals with the Infinite since he first made this place. He's going to let the Infinite attack us, as long as he and Damian are allowed to flee to New Genesis." Ashton looked into the girl's golden brown eyes.

"You're telling the truth." she stated. It wasn't a question, and Ashton nodded in agreement. "Well, I believe you, but...my friends won't," she warned. "None of them will. Most of them are new, and have barely began their life here. I've lived here since I was two. I've seen things."

"What do you mean?" Ashton inquired, and he looked back to make sure his friends were listening. He couldn't help but snort, at Adam's kissy face. Why can't he just be mature? He thought.

"I mean...," she walked over to one of the closets, and slid it open quietly. She opened it up, and moved the torque dresses away to show a large vent that looked like it led somewhere, "I found this when I first moved in here. I was the only one who slept in here for a while, and sometimes at night while people were sleeping I would sneak in here and eavesdrop on some of the staff. I saw Master Cheng a while ago and he was video chatting someone or something, I couldn't see it, and it was threatening him, and Damian. He couldn't deal with it, and he promised the thing or person on the screen that he would let them have the people in the Chamber as slaves, as long as he and Damian were allowed to flee.

"A few nights ago, when my friends were up late training I snuck into the vents again, Master Cheng was on the phone with whoever, and he was talking about the fruits and vegetables that have been going missing. He's the one that stopped them from coming. I don't know why or how, but he's behind the vegetables not showing up."

The boys looked at each other. Damian looked down at his watch. "Well, if you're coming we've got to go now," he said to her. Ashton led her down the halls and toward the open wall.

"What's your name?" he asked her.

"Evanlyn, but you can call me Eva," she informed him.

"I'm Ashton," he said, as they met Rask at the edge of the Chamber. He had a few bags in his hands, and handed one to Ashton, Adam and Aryn. He greeted Eva, who greeted him sheepishly. She had probably never actually been around this many boys.

"Nice to meet you, Eva. You sure you want to go out there," he was looking at her, but Ashton knew he was referring to all of them.

"Oh, I'm sure," she nodded her head.

"We're all sure, Rask," Ashton promised. "We wouldn't have agreed to this if we weren't."

"Alright then. I have a map of all the escape routes, so let's get going..." his eyes widened, and the apprentices turned to see Master Cheng.

"You traitors!" he hissed.

"Traitors?" Damian croaked. "You thought you could go behind my back, and promise something to the Infinite that I don't want. I don't want to live the rest of my life on a tiny little colony on a planet I have never seen. I'm staying here, with the people love, and saving Earth!"

His eyes teared up, and his voice broke. Ashton put his hand on his friend's shoulder, calming him down.

"I did it for you!" Cheng retorted. "I did all of this for you!"

"Did you? Are you sure about that," Damian shouted. He shook his head, eyes filled with betrayal and rage. "You did this for you! I never want to see your face ever again!"

"Well, I'm not letting any of you leave," Cheng warned, and he took out a small box with buttons and levers. He pulled the lever up, and the walls began to close.

"Quick! Run!" screeched Ashton.

The seven of them tore through the closing walls, as fast as they could, while Rask defended them, fighting Cheng with all his strength. Ashton held the wall open for as long as he could, and then screamed, "Rask! Come on!"

"Go on without me, Ash," Rask bellowed, but Ashton shook his head. "That's an order, Ashton!" But he didn't mean it, Ashton knew. He cried in pain as he tried to keep the humongous walls from closing.

Rask was in arm lock, and was watching Ashton furiously. "Foolish, boy! If you let go for even a second those walls will smash you into a pancake," he grumbled, quickly getting out of the arm lock, and kicking Cheng to the ground. "I trusted you, respected you. This is how you repay my loyalty?" Rask shook his head, and gave Cheng a look, like, Don't even think of getting up!

And Cheng didn't, he looked so small, as if he had just lost all his fight in that one kick.

Rask opened the wall wide enough for him and Ashton to escape through, and as it closed, they saw the face of hate and spite coming from Cheng, as the walls shut. Nothing could penetrate it now. They were locked out, never to return to that place.