The Limit [Book 1]

Chapter 3

Out of pure instinct, I swung my arm around to dislodge the hand from my arm, but the grip held. The man clamped a hand over my mouth before I could let out a scream, simultaneously pulling me through an open door judging by the feeling of rushing air.

With no light to distinguish my surroundings, I grabbed onto the hand that covered my arm for just a bit of security even if the intentions of its owner remains unknown. If he took me out of that room without the alerting the other guards, deduced by the lack of thumping footsteps, then I would have to follow him until his motives become known.

It was a period of time, through many attempts of breaking the man's hold, before he pulled me into an open classroom and the both of us ducked behind a metal counter. At that moment, through a momentary lapse in his hold, I managed to rip his hand off my mouth, allowing me to take in the air in large gulps. Before he could get hold of me again, I flung my weight at him and pinned him under me, my hands flying to his neck.

His hands, much larger than mine, also went for my face, throwing me off him effortlessly. I rolled to the side to avoid a punch and scrambled to my feet, dashing to the door. A dull impact suddenly rammed into my back and I was tackled to the ground. I adjusted my weight to kick him, but he held me down with his legs.

"Wait, hold still!" Disoriented by the lack of a mechanic voice, I faltered and took the chance to glance at the man's face, noticing the lack of the black mask. Must have come off during the fight.

He pinned my arms to my side during my hesitation, both of our chests heaving with the effort to take in air. His piercing blue eyes bore into my brown orbs, mine widening in recognition.

"Hold... still." He breathed out, the air brushing my cheeks. "Now... I'm going to let go and I need you to cooperate with me." No words escaped my mouth as I slightly tilted my head as confirmation. He breathed out a sigh of relief before pushing himself off of me, collapsing on the ground as I sat up tentatively. "You... are feisty as hell."

When his attention was diverted, I jumped towards the door. My hand had wrapped securely around the doorknob before he pinned me again.

"Who are you? Why'd you help me?" I choked out as the man was once again above me.

With that same discerning stare, he answered, "I'm Jace and I helped you because you were wrongly accused."

With a moment to take in the information, I asked, "I passed the test." He nodded.

"With a 98% no less." I cursed under my breath as he tilted his head at me quizzically, having released his hold and now sat across from me, leaning against the side of the counter.

"Will you not drop your guard?" I glared accusingly at his question.

"You are still a part of that organization, I will not trust you so easily." He gave a smirk as I observed his stature, a lean build with a high amount of muscle mass and a boyish face that made him seem younger than he is. My eyes narrowed, "You were the one who cleared me this morning."

"Correct. You observe well for an untrained girl." He leaned against one hand, "Really, I was quite surprised when you asked me those questions, almost made me tempted to answer."

"How did you know I passed the test?"

"You are known to be quite a genius student, miss. It's not hard to suspect something when you end up failing." Just then, voices could be heard outside the door as footsteps echoed down the hallway. Jace reached forward, pulled me towards him and I collapsed against his chest, having no strength to support my body. "Stay silent."

I pressed my forehead against his uniform, subconsciously keeping track of his warm hand on the back of my head and the other on my arm. The voices outside faded as their owners disappeared down the hall.

"The guards are starting to notice our absence, we must leave this building."

I pulled away from his hold, "Where?"

"There's an abandoned safe house north of the school for a few miles. We can take shelter there for a few days if needed." He assured and pointed to an air duct on the ceiling, "We escape through there, I memorized the basic layout of this building."

Before he could get up onto the metal counter, I took a hold of his forearm. In a calm voice, "Can I trust you, Jace?" Jace turned to look me in the eye, the blue orbs holding more than just the experienced emotionless gaze that all the soldiers possessed. He placed a gloved hand on my own.

"You can trust me, Vera."

-

Despite Jace's assurance, the winding and often suffocating metal air duct made me constantly doubt his competence to get the both of us out. The boy paused at a three-way intersection, both paths leading into the unknown.

"What now, Jace?"

"Hold on." As if considering the mental image of the building blueprint in his mind, he pointed to the right after a moment of silence. "This way, it'll lead us to a sewage drain that is used to filter out food waste from the school's cafeteria. There should be an iron gate a few feet to the right of the drain that opens to the outside."

I nodded, satisfied with the detailed description. "Alright, lead the way."

About 15 minutes passed until we met another metal grate that was built into the air duct. Jace motioned for me to back away before he adjusted his weight and kicked off the grate. He peeked his head out to check that the coast was clear before flipping out of the air duct. I followed suit, jumping down several feet before my legs landed in sewage water.

Suppressing a disgusted groan, I turned to follow Jace down the drain, shifting my eyes around the enclosed space. Subconscious of the low ceiling and the horrid stench of rotted food, I pushed through the knee-high water after the soldier, fingering the key in my pocket. I had slipped it out of my mouth earlier to avoid swallowing it. Muttering a silent thank you to my classmate, I gripped the key in my hand tightly.

"So... does this mean you quit the military?" I caught up with the boy, staying a bit behind him to avoid his scrutinizing gaze. He paused slightly at the voicing of my question before continuing as if I hadn't talked at all. "Well, you must have known the consequences of helping a failed student escape, did you not, soldier? Though I don't particularly care for the full truth and obviously the excuse you gave me before is certainly not the whole story, I need a confirmation if I am to work with you with getting out of this mess."

This time he came to a full stop, turning to appraise we with that same dead gaze in his blue eyes. I instantly put up my guard. "I know what I am doing." He broke eye contact and continued to trudge through the water, "I expect you to follow my orders if you want to live."

"... understood."

The remainder of the walk was uneventful and as we reached the end of the drain, where the ground rose up to create a space to dry off, the silence became nearly intolerable. However, I held my tongue, pressing into Jace's wound before was enough for him to revert back to his soldier mode, any further and he may lose it altogether.

Wringing out my pant leg, I slipped off my shoe to dump out the water that had seeped in. Mildly annoyed at the sewage ruining my clothes, I watched as Jace gripped onto the bars of the iron gate he talked about in the air duct. He cursed as the gate refused to budge out of its position.

"It's locked tight." I shook off the remaining water droplets and stalked over to observe the keyhole next to the handle of the gate. "We might have to go back and steal a key from a guard."

"No need," I called, having already slipped the key out of my pocket and fitted it into the lock, "got one right here." I pushed the gate lightly and it swung open with only a slight creak to its limbs. "Let's go."

"Where did you get that?" He asked as he led me outside into the fresh air and away from the stench of the sewage. I shrugged and gave a vague answer, not intending to expose Kaden in case Jace ever does betray me.