Rebels

Ch. 23

"Luca, what happened?" Lyla practically screamed in his ear. He slammed his laptop shut out of rage, and stood up from his chair. "I don't know!"

"Weren't you watching? You said there was a monitor in the room." Lyla argued.

Luca tried his best not to yell at his little sister, but it was growing more difficult by the second. "Yes, but I had to pull up the hacks for the keypad. Don't stress. For all we know, Jack is fine and it's just the communicator that's not working."

Lyla crossed her arms, beginning to pace. "That doesn't make sense. I made sure they were working." She stopped in her spot, beginning to think about what Jack had said. "What favor did he do for you?"

Luca shifted uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact with Lyla. "Nothing. He was just messing around."

"I am not an idiot, Luca! I'm you're sister. If anything, you're the one who needs work. You couldn't even keep your eye on Jack! This is the most important thing that has ever happened to us, and yo-"

"I didn't blow it!" Luca yelled a little too loud. "I gave him the code. I hacked into the monitors. I gave you directions to instruct him in where to go! What else do you want from me?"

Lyla took a deep breath. "I want you to tell me what favor he did."

Luca was never fond of expressing himself to anyone, especially Lyla. No one had ever taught him the importance of doing so, but he knew that he had to begin to tell Lyla things now that they were getting themselves mixed up in this sort of rebellion. He figured he should have Lyla know everything, in case one day things got too complicated. He sighed, biting down on his tongue. "I asked Jack to beat up Tom."

Lyla's eyes widened at this. "Tom, as in the Tom who lives here? The one who's always stalking us?"

Luca nodded.

"Why would you ask that?" She asked, folding her arms.

"That guy bothered me, Lyla. I was trying... I was trying to protect you. Do you remember when we first met Tom, just as he was getting ready to move into the palace?"

Lyla nodded her head.

"After he had told us about moving into the place when he'd be gone, he said things to me. He... He had told me that if I were ever to intervene between him and you, then he'd kill me."

Lyla's eyes widened, and her mouth stood open. "Luca, why didn't you tell me about this? You kept this hidden for a year?"

Luca ran a hand through his hair nervously. "I didn't want to worry you, Lyla. You're my little sister, and if anything, I should be old enough to look after you." Then, in a voice so quiet Lyla couldn't hear, "Sorry I haven't been there to protect you."

Just then, a loud ringing came through the communicator in Luca's ear. Luca winced and put a hand up to his ear, turning and flipping open his laptop. He sat back down in his chair, and pulled up footage of all of the monitors he could access. Not one of them showed Jack. "Jack, can you hear me? I can't see you."

Luca pulled up a screen of Jack's vitals. His heartbeat was too slow.

"Why is his heartbeat so slow?" Lyla asked from behind Luca.

Luca only shrugged. "Jack's been unresponsive for a little while. My guess is it was a drug."

"A drug?" Lyla asked.

A soft ringing sounded once again in Luca's communicator. A voice spoke through, nearly startling Luca. It sounded like Jack, only Luca couldn't interpret his words.

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Jack could feel the cold floor beneath him, and the stiffness of his limbs. He groaned, unaware of where he was. He wished he was back in a home- any home for that matter, and that he was in a soft bed with fluffy comforters, surrounded by warmth. When he opened his eyes, he was proven wrong. He lie on a cold, black stoned floor, and a wall sat in front of him.

He could not feel his legs, and this scared him. He sat up, using his arms for support. He lie back against the wall behind him, and took in his surroundings. He sat in a hallway with dim lighting that ran both left and right. To his left, the hallway opened into a large room. A person lie at the end of the hallway, not moving.

Jack tried to stand, but his legs collapsed once again beneath him. Butterflies began to dance in his stomach. "L-Lyla?" He asked, his voice raw.

"No, it's Luca. Jack, what happened? Do you remember anything?"

Jack recollected his memories. The last thing he could remember was of running from the guards before everything went black from then on out. He was scared, and he didn't know what was going on or where he was. "Where's Lyla?" He asked, swallowing down his fear.

"Lyla's here." In a quieter tone, Luca said, "Do you want to talk to her?"

Jack shook his head no, even though Luca couldn't see the action. "No. I- I'm just confused."

"You were asking me for the code to a door. I couldn't see what was happening to you, but my guess is that you ran into a guard."

Jack remembered the black door he was previously trying to get into. He turned behind him, finding he was leaning on the same door. "I can't feel my legs."

There was a momentary pause before Luca spoke. "I think it's just an after effect from some sort of drug. I think you were shot with a drug from a guard. What's around you?"

Jack looked around him once more, still eyeing the person at the end of the hallway in the room. The person had not moved, and Jack was becoming skeptical.

Without thinking, Jack began to crawl, using only his arms. He knew he couldn't stay where he was, for if there were any guards nearby he knew he was at risk of getting caught. The person still was not moving, and Jack knew they had to have heard him speak. Nevertheless, he continued to drag himself across the ground, inching closer to the body.

"Jack, bud, what are you doing?" Luca asked, yet Jack did not respond.

When he finally dragged himself into the room, he was out of breath. His legs felt as if pins and needles were being stabbed into them, yet he took this as a good sign.

Now the body lay just a few feet from him. It appeared to be male, and he was wearing a dark shirt. What scared Jack the most was that a pool of dried blood lie just beneath the man. Jack's eyes trailed up to the man's face. Jack's heart suddenly began to beat faster in his chest, and his breath hitched in his throat.

"Jack, what's wrong?" Luca asked through the communicator.

"It's the guy from the rebellion; the one on tv. He's definitely dead, Luca."

And he was. The blood had been dry for weeks, and the poor man's chest had collapsed from a single, large knife having been plummeted into his heart.