dishonesty // egobang

17. dishonesty

"after we get down here, we take a final right and then we're home free as soon as we get though that bulletproof door." dan pointed down at arin's drawn out map. he nodded and leaned back on his hands with a triumphant look on his face.

"we've done it." dan smiled.

"so when will this take place?" suzy asked as arin folded up the map.

"when they take you down to the infirmary to feed harper. when you've done that, you'll grab her and run back here and get as much as you can carry. dan and i will haul ass when you get back." she nodded. arin snatched the plan off the floor and shoved it into his pocket.

a man in a hazmat suit approached their door, unlocking it and opening it. suzy stood and leant down to give her boys a kiss on the cheek before leaving with the man.

the air was thick with anticipation and left almost no questions to be asked. none of the three of them could ask if it was too late to go back. it was too late for anything other than what was laid out in front of them. the rest of their lives were laid out and anything could go wrong if they screwed up bad enough. they could lose their lives and set an example for others wanting to escape. it could be done, although, it had to be done right. one slip up could lead to a life of terrible consequences.

suzy was soon busting back through the door with harper in her arms, sweet, innocent little harper. she'd have a chance for a life away from needles and syringes. arin and dan had been sitting at the table with their bags over their shoulders. they shot up with arin leading, suzy in the middle, and dan bringing up last place.

they sprinted through the twisting halls and corridors as red lights and sirens blared and made arin want to stop and lay himself out before the guards to save him the grief and criminal charges.

dan caught up to suzy and reached into her bag to pull out a syringe full of what looked like water. he tried to squirt out as much as he could in a couple of seconds, momentarily making their near captors slip up and lose their balance.

one of them had caught up to dan and threw him against the wall, quickly grabbing for his cuffs.

"shit, dan!" arin looked back at the man standing pinned to wall and almost cried.

"go! ill catch up with you!" suzy pushed him to keep going. they hopped the glue traps on the floor and avoided the sensory lasers and kept running. harper started to cry as they rounded the last corner.

this was the home stretch and dan was so close to leaving this godforsaken place with his friends, yet so far. suzy pressed the passcode into the code finder at the entrance. they could only wait for so long before someone would either capture or kill them.

they heard footsteps. dan's footsteps. and too many others to count were right behind him. it was so quick nobody knew what happened. arin couldn't process what he was seeing.

he didn't remember seeing his bet friend getting shot in the neck with something that was about to knock him out. it all happened so fast.

"dan!"

there were so many tones to arin's voice he never knew he had. he dropped every bag he was carrying and started to run back after dan but was stopped in his tracks. his soulmate's blood was on the pristine, white walls, the floor, arin's own face and hands. he dropped to his knees and cradled dan's head in his lap, unsure of what to tell him other than broken 'i love you's and apologies of which he had no right to.

his breathing was annoying. the footsteps had grown quiet and suzy's were getting closer, grabbing arin by his arms and dragging him to the door. she flung them both out into the muggy, airtight room and opened the door to the outside.