Message in a Bottle

~6~

Something was wrong. The lights were going crazy, and the doors opened and closed of their own volition. Japanese blared through the loudspeakers, and my roommate had disappeared almost immediately.

"Oh Saa-aang," Jade called as something metallic rang out against the bars of my door. My blood went cold, and I jumped off my bunk and into a low crouch. I was cornered, the only way out was the doorway that the psychopath was standing in, and I didn't have a weapon.

She stepped into the room with a wicked smile plastered to her face and a two foot long piece of rebar clutched in her right fist.

"Your time's up, bitch."

She swung at me and I ducked tightly out of the way.

"That's the best you could come up with?" I snarked, trying to keep as much space as possible between us. I know I shouldn't be taunting the lunatic trying to kill me, but sometimes my mouth just got away from me.

She took another swipe, and I couldn't fully dodge it. The rebar caught me on the shoulder and my entire arm went numb instantly. I kicked up, catching Jade in the stomach, and heard the satisfying wheeze of her breath being knocked out of her.

I leaped over her as she clutched her middle and made it out the door just as a searing pain tore through my abdomen. I looked down and saw the handle of a kitchen knife sticking out of me, and I felt my strength flee. I thrust a last-ditch elbow at her head and stumbled my way through the mess of rioting girls toward my hidey hole. I had to get there if I had any chance of surviving.

I began to feel disoriented, and my shirt was clinging to me, saturated and sticky with my blood. My head was swimming, and sounds were fading into nothing. I slipped behind the statue of the headmistress and into my forgotten storage closet. An inky darkness began to seep in, taking over the shadowy chamber, and I fell to my knees. I crawled forward another foot before my strength abandoned me completely, and as my breath shuddered, my last coherent thought was, "At least I'll die in peace."

***

*Luke*

We burst into the headmistress's office, and the woman let out a startled yelp. Kota stepped around her massive desk and pushed her firmly back down into her chair.

"What is the meaning of this?" she shouted, reaching forward towards her top drawer. I beat her to it, and pulled out the handgun she had stashed there. "SECURITY!" she hollered. "INTRUDERS!"

Mr. B closed the door behind him and clucked his tongue at her. "Your security is being detained by the rest of my team. They'll be of no use to you."

He sat gracefully across from her, and glared. He held out a hand to me, and I gave him the firearm before I was tempted to use it.

"What do you want?" She snapped out at us, trying, but failing to shrug out if Kota's grip. Victor took out his laptop and placed it on the desk before her.

"Where's Sang Sorensen?" he demanded, his eyes dangerous infernos that matched the rage inside of me.

The headmistress blanched, and stuttered, "I- I don't know who you're talking about."

Vic pulled up the surveillance video of her talking to the guards, and her pallor paled further.

I slammed my fist on the desk and repeated his question. "Where is she?"

She shook her head rapidly, and her gaze darted between the five of us in the room. Doc folded his arms across his chest, and the shadows under his eyes made him look more menacing than I'd ever seen him. He stared her down, and when he growled, she began to tremble.

"I really don't know where she went." She swallowed and tugged at her collar, eyes locked on the gun sitting casually in Mr. B's hand. "My guards looked, but there's no sign of her."

I leaned across the desk and got within an inch of her face. "Which one is her room?" I hissed. She pressed her lips together and it was Mr. B's hand on my arm that stopped me from doing something violent.

"Here's how this is going to go," he said, leaning toward her and clasping his hands together on the desktop. "You're going to answer my colleague's question, and then you're going to take that laptop and write out your letter of resignation." She struggled against Kota's hold, and he tightened his grip painfully against her pressure points. "If you don't do this willingly, then you will have to be persuaded." Mr. B cracked his knuckles. "As a woman with a military background, I'm sure you're aware of the myriad of techniques we could employ to get our answers," he paused and slowly rose to his feet so that he was towering over her. "And I assure you that I'm well versed in all of them."

She nodded her head quickly and I slowly let out the breath I'd been holding. I didn't know what we'd have done if she'd called our bluff. "She was in cell- I mean room ten." She darted her eyes to me and said, "But she's not there. I don't know why you're bothering with her, she's not worth the effort."

This time I growled, and Doc grabbed me by the shoulder and steered me out the door. "Focus, Luke," he whispered. "We've got to find her, and you're best at seeing what isn't there."

We went directly to her room, and I had to grit my teeth when I saw it. There was a girl, maybe fourteen years old, lying in the bottom bunk and staring up through the empty slats of the bed above her. She didn't acknowledge our arrival, and if the track marks on her forearm were any indication, she was flying high.

"Damn it," Doc muttered as he pulled out his med kit. He immediately went to work checking her vitals, and I began to search for clues as to where Sang could have gone.

I crouched down and started examining the floor, and my heart constricted when I found a small patch of dried blood.

"Doc," I croaked, barely able to push sound out of my throat. "I've got blood here."

He nodded that he'd heard me, and used the radio to call for an ambulance. Apparently the girl wasn't responsive.

I crawled out of the room, eyes glued to the concrete floor for a trail, and spotted another droplet about a foot to my left. A foot beyond that, and there was another, and I looked around me for an idea of a destination.

Behind a gaudy ceramic statue, I saw the shadow of a concealed door, and my gut clenched, instinct screaming that this was Sang's secret spot. I raced forward, pausing only long enough to pull out a flashlight, and came to a screeching halt at the sight before me.

"DOC!" I screamed as I fell to my knees beside the still, ashen form of a girl. "SPARROW! DOCTOR GREEN! SPARROW! SPARROW! SPARROW!" I sobbed, turning her gently and seeing the handle of a knife protruding from her midsection.

***