Year 12 (First Draft)

-Chapter 25-

  "We're almost there," Andrew says, giving me a brief sideways glance, his eyes not fully leaving the road.

  I try to calm myself down, having started to panic once we reached a familiar location. I've known what the plan was, but until we were here it felt surreal to me. It finally feels like a reality.

  The next five minutes feel like a blend of eternity and the blink of an eye.

  The van comes to a shaky stop, and I feel my nerves as if they are a ball in my throat. "Are you ready?" Andrew says this slowly as if he too isn't quite sure how ready he is for this.

  "As ready as I'll ever be," I say, throwing the door open. I take one final look at Andrew, and then in the back at Andrea and the rest of the group. They are all silent, and Andrea sends me a wink. I smile, ducking out of the van, stepping out onto the gravel.

  I walk away before I can change my mind.

  I look back at the van, my pulse racing. Andrew gives me a reassuring nod, and I take a deep breath, walking up to the gate of the Cells. Instantly, an alarm begins to blare, and I watch as Andrew hurriedly drives off. Every part of my body is screaming at me to run, to flee before they catch me. But that's not the goal this time. This time, I want them to catch me.

  "Don't move!" I see Government Agents running up the road, guns poised, ready to shoot if I make one wrong move. I raise my hands over my head in surrender, dropping to my knees. An Agent comes behind me, clicking a loop of wires around my wrists. The wires give off a frantic vibration, and I know that if I try to escape I'll find out exactly what this device does.

  "Nice of you to show up," A voice taunts behind me. I try to turn to see him, the man I've watched from afar. The man who's kept Kane here, broken him, broken me. When he sees my movement, his foot connects with my back and sends me face first into the dirt, gravel pressing into my cheek, dust clouding my vision.

  "I did what you asked," I groan, turning onto my back, looking up into the face of the viper. He steps over me, his eyes steely as he looks down at me.

  "I suppose you want me to keep my end of the bargain?" He states this as a question, but he and I both know there's no point in asking it, and it's even more futile to answer it. I wouldn't deal with his sort if I didn't desperately want something. And, I wouldn't deal with his sort if I didn't have a backup plan. "Take her in."

  Solid, gloved hands clamp around my wrists and yank me to my feet, dust billowing up around my ankles. I cry out as a sharp pain spreads from my wrists to my toes, and back up again, leaving me seeing spots as I stumble along with the Agent. Whatever they clamped around my wrists must have been set off by the Agent. "Move it," He grumbles, pulling me along.

  I don't fight as the Agent drags me forward, the old man waving his hand in front of a scanner, gaining us access. The environment changes suddenly from the green foliage outside, the dust at my feet to a gray hallway, door lining both sides. It looks similar to what I remember, but I can tell changes have been made. Paul's new map is pretty spot on from what I can conjure up in the moment.

  The Agent's grip tightens as he starts to yank me down the hall, stopping only when we reach the very end. It's here that he stops, swiping his wrist in front of a scanner. The Cell door opens, and he removes the device from around my wrist, shoving me into the room, the door closing suddenly behind me.

  I fall to the cold, hard ground, my hands scraping against the gritty floor. The Agent quickly shuts the door, locking me in.

  My eyes begin to adjust, and I begin to take in my surroundings. Although my nightmares were an alright starting point, nothing could prepare me for the horrors of this cinder block.