No Way Out ➵ John Murphy

15 //

FIFTEEN
❝ did i make my last mistake? ❞

She couldn't get him out of her head. Layla tried of course—distracting herself with ALIE's demands and persuading others to join Layla in the City of Light. But the man had become a permanent fixture in her thoughts, lingering in the back of her mind no matter what task was at hand.

She decided she had to see him again, just to tame her curiosity of the many questions that had been left unanswered.

ALIE had left her alone for the night, busy with her other subjects and Layla snuck down to the dungeons, where the criminals and resistors were kept. She didn't know why she felt the need to hide her escapade from ALIE and Jaha, but something inside herself told her to keep it a secret.

The prisoners were kept underground, surrounded by almost complete darkness, minus a few lanterns, and the heavy, damp air. Layla held a torch tightly in her grip, descending the stone stairs and navigating through the thin, wilding hallway.

She glanced in each cell, never finding the familiar face of the man she had seen being hauled away by guards. For a moment she had a dark thought—that maybe they had killed him, and for some reason that made Layla's heart drop. All her incessant questions would be forever unanswered.

"Layla Evans?"

Layla took a step back, startled, before whipping around to face the cell behind her.

A man, so vaguely familiar, sat on the dirty floor of his cell, mere inches away from her. He looked up to her with hopeful eyes.

"Are you here to break us out?" Layla cocked her head to the side. "You always were one of my favourite students."

She shook her head. "Sir, I think you have the wrong girl—"

"Don't bother, flattery won't get you anywhere," another voice spoke, raspy and rough, and soothingly familiar. The man from earlier. "She's been chipped. She's not on our side anymore."

The hopefulness left the man's features, soon replaced with disgust. "Really? I thought you'd be stronger than that."

The man she had been looking for stood, staring through the bars, on to her, with narrowed eyes. "Yeah, me too."

"I was looking for you," Layla replied quietly, ignoring the hostility he portrayed. "I know you. Somehow — I know you. Who are you?"

The man stepped forward, as far as his chains would let him, placing one hand on the metal rungs between them. Their eyes locked and Layla sucked in a breath as her eyes bore into his cerulean irises. A pang of guilt hit her as well as the dreaded feeling of betrayal, and something else—something that made her heart rate quicken.

"I shouldn't have to tell you who I am, Layla," he said tightly. "You should know. And you would if you hadn't taken that damn chip."

"The City of Light has brought me peace." She told him. "I had to take it."

He laughed but not as if she had just made a joke, as if he were taunting her. "You didn't have to do anything, Layla. You chose to."

She frowned. "Just tell me your name at least, please."

The man let out a heavy breath. "John, John Murphy."

"And you're Skikru?"

He nodded.

"And we were friends?"

"Not just friends," Murphy spoke as if he knew something she didn't — and he probably did, "We had a complex relationship."

Her forehead creased, her eyebrows knotting together.  "Complex? Then why don't I—"

"Look, there's no way for me to reason with you," Murphy cut her off. "You wouldn't believe me, anyway. You've been chipped, you're no longer Layla — you're just one of ALIE's puppets."

"I'm nobody's puppet," she defended. "I'm free; I'm free from pain, negativity, and nobody influences me."

Murphy lifted a brow, mocking her. "You sure about that, doll? Next time that crazy bitch ALIE gives you orders, remember what I said: you're a puppet."

"You don't know anything!" Layla huffed, stepping backwards from his cell and shaking her head. He watched her with a smirk, confident that he was right, irking Layla further.

Layla turned her back on him, heading back down the dark hallway, only her burning torch lighting the way.

"You're wrong!" He called after her. "You'll see — you'll see that I'm right."

She stomped up the cement staircase, out of the dungeons, Murphy's words sticking her head and giving her conflicting thoughts.

She tried to push his words out of her mind but failed.

You're just one of ALIE's puppets.

Her first instinct was deny his claims, call them false — mark him a liar. But she couldn't just throw his words away as if they were nothing, something about them made her think hard. Suddenly, it seemed entirely plausible that she was just a pawn in ALIE's plot because something about Murphy made her believe and made her trust him, blindly.

As she made her way through the near empty halls, ALIE came to her, appearing at Layla's side.

"What were you doing down with the prisoners so late, it's near midnight." ALIE's smooth voice drawled out, comforting yet unsettling at the same time.

"I was attempting to convince them to take the key," Layla lied, unsure why she didn't tell ALIE what she had actually been doing, not trusting her as much as she had before descending the stairs below. "They wouldn't. It's such a shame."

"Yes," ALIE's bright eyes narrowed, dimming. "Such a shame. Goodnight, Layla."

"Goodnight." She replied, hanging her head. When Layla looked up, ALIE had left her alone.

Layla moved through the endless, complicated hallways with ease, growing accustomed to the large tower as she had resided there for weeks now. She found her way to her chamber and locked the large doors behind her, slumping onto her bed and letting out a heavy breath.

She hadn't felt confusion or stress in a long time. Things had been so tranquil, she had almost forgotten what those things felt like. Now she felt both in such a short time and it was all ready wearing her down.

Who was on her side, who was telling the truth  — ALIE, the woman who had offered her everything she had wanted or Murphy, a man who she could not remember but ultimately trusted? It was odd, feeling tugged both ways, being conflicted on what was right or what was wrong.

She would have to sneak down to the cells again and interrogate him some more — it wasn't as if he could go anywhere, he was being held captive by the Commander. Though, she  would have to avoid ALIE, a task in itself, as it felt like the woman was always in Layla's head, spying on her thoughts.

But it was a risk she would take, a risk she had to take. She needed to know the truth, the whole truth.

ALIE couldn't give her that, but maybe Murphy could.