"Nick!" Matthew coughed as he stumbled over rubble. His leg gave way under him and he fell to the ground outside the room. The door was gone, replaced by a gaping hole and Matthew could just barely make out a figure on the ground. Matthew tried to stand but then Aidan was there, helping him up before racing into the room. He crouched next to Nick, feeling his pulse, checking his wounds. Seconds passed by before Aidan stood up, shaking his head. Matthew felt the weight of another death drag his shoulders down and he barely managed to keep himself supported on the rest of the wall.
"We have to keep moving, Nora has a rendezvous spot."
Matthew nodded and Aidan put his arm around his waist, careful not to touch his ribs, together they walked on. Gunfire and shots reached their ears as they got closer to the rendezvous spot. Ryder spotted them first, firing one last shot in the direction of the President's security before he ran over to them.
"What happened? Where's Nick?"
"Nicks' dead," Aidan said sadly.
Ryder shut his eyes in a moment of sorrow, "what happened to Matthew?"
"The explosion that Nora set off," Matthew winced as he said the words. "Is Nora okay?
At that Ryder smiled, "oh she's fine! Come on, let's load you two up with some weapons."
"Before we do that, Matthew needs some medical attention," Aidan shifted under Matthew's weight.
"Of course he does, the guy can't go anywhere without getting hurt, no worries, the weapon room doubles as our infirmary." Ryder helped Aidan on Matthew's other side and they moved to a room free from the fighting. There were two couches in the room, one was occupied by a boy names Seth, whose leg was being bandaged from a bullet wound by another boy Matthew recognized but couldn't put a name to.
"Cooper will take care of you," Ryder said, he turned to Aidan and gestured to the ground, "grab a weapon and join me outside." Aidan did as he was told and then followed Ryder out of the room. Cooper turned to Matthew who was balancing precariously on one foot.
"What's wrong with you?" Cooper asked.
"Suspected broken leg and ribs," Matthew replied, "from when Nora set the bomb."
Cooper stood up, leaving Seth on his couch, and moved to Matthew. He helped him to the couch where Matthew collapsed in relief. Cooper touched Matthew's leg and he flinched in pain. "It's broken alright. I have a splint somewhere in here give me a second." Cooper rifled through the bags on the floor then came up with a splint. Moving back over to Matthew he positioned the splint around Matthew's leg. "Now this is going to hurt, I have to set your leg." Matthew nodded and grit his teeth as Cooper snapped his leg back into position and secured the splint. "What else did you say hurt?"
"My ribs," Matthew groaned.
Cooper moved to his stomach, "you've got another wound here that's stitched up, it's holding but I'm going to reinforce it before I look at your ribs." Matthew nodded again as Cooper set to work. Once he was done he tenderly touched Matthew's ribs. Matthew barely held back his cry of pain as Cooper pressed down on one rib. "I think these are only fractured. I'll bandage you up and give you some pain killers and ice for swelling." With bandages wrapped around his chest and ice on his leg Matthew rested to the sound of explosions outside. His eyes began to shut, drawing him to sleep. Dreams swirled with memories and became his reality.
****
877002549 Matthew's hands shook as he typed in the numbers, knowing what it would do to people's lives, knowing if it went wrong he would be responsible for a genocide. The computer asked for a verification code. Matthew felt fear jolt him, verification? There was another code? Matthew thought hard, had his father told him anything that would be a code in disguise? Nothing came to mind. "What do I do?" Matthew thought. He had five minutes before the computer shut down. What could it be? Then Matthew realized it didn't have to be a number. Six letters. The whole organization was a secret, they uncover the truth. The Secret Truth. Secret. Three minutes left, he had to take the chance, if he got it wrong he wouldn't be able to try again. Mathew grit his teeth, glanced over his shoulder, then began to type. S. Footsteps hit his ears. E. A gun clicked. C. Matthew's fingers closed on his own gun. R. The sound of a siren split the air. E. "Don't move." The gun found its way to his head. Matthew turned, his finger on the T. "Hands up." He pressed the button. A shock went though him and he fell to the ground. But the message had been sent. Within hours the secret truth teams would be mobilized. The rebellion had begun.
****
"Wake him up, we have to go!" Nora's voice brought Matthew to consciousness.
"Nora he can't walk," that was Aidan.
Matthew blinked and groaned, "what's going on?"
"This building is going to blow, we have to get out of here," Nora replied.
Before Matthew could say anything else Ryder and Aidan had lifted him from the couch and were pulling him out the door. The building began to crumble and Nora ducked a falling cinder block. "Where's everyone else?" Matthew asked.
"Already out, you're the last one!" Nora shouted as she pulled open a door.
Ryder and Aidan dragged Matthew through the door and with Nora and Lauren's help they practically carried Matthew into the surrounding woods. Once in the cover of the trees they were reunited with the rest of their group. That was when the mansion went up in flames.
"That one was close," Peter said.
"But we made it," Nora replied.
"And what happened to the President?" Oliver asked.
Nora avoided eye contact as she replied, "I didn't manage to kill him, but I gave him some wounds to remember me by."
"How do you know he wasn't in the building when it went up?" Neo asked.
"He made it out. I saw him," Nora replied.
"Why didn't you go after him!?" Savanna yelled.
"I had other matters to deal with, like the three guards who were chasing me!" Nora retorted.
"Leave her alone, the President is harder to kill then we thought, which means we need a stronger plan," Ryder went to Nora's defense. Ryder, Nora, and Peter moved away from the group to discuss strategy.
Matthew knew that if Nora hadn't lost Jayce and Scarlett she would have probably been able to kill the President. Not having Jayce to back her up will take her a while to adjust to. "How're you feeling?" Aidan asked as he sat down next to Matthew on the forest floor.
"Matthew winced as he readjusted on the ground, "I've felt worse."
Aidan laughed, "I bet you have."
"It's my fault," Matthew said suddenly, "all of this is my fault."
"Why do you say that?"
"My father gave me a job to do and I messed it up."
"What are you talking about?"
Matthew hung his head, "never mind."
"No. You started this, there's no going back, what job were you given?"
Matthew sighed, "my father gave me the code and I managed to get into the mansion but I was caught."
"What code?" Aidan asked.
"The code that tells the Secret Truth organizations that it's time to start fighting back."
Aidan knit his eyebrows, confused, "but we got the transmission, that's why we're here."
"That's because I managed to type it in but when I was just finishing I was captured. I was sentenced to death but then Nora and the rest of you rescued me."
"I don't remember that," Aidan frowned.
"Probably because you hadn't been brought onto the mission team yet. Or you weren't in the group yet. But anyway, I wasn't supposed to survive. If caught I was supposed to let them kill me because being rescued would take resources we couldn't spare. But someone ignored that rule. So here I am. All of this is because of me, because I shouldn't be alive right now. Everyone's deaths are my fault."
Aidan is silent for a moment, "I wouldn't say everyone."
"No. Everyone," Matthew replied harshly. "My coming to the base was the start. They wouldn't have found the base without me."
"But Taylor came too," Aidan said, still confused.
"She arrived after me, they were following me, not her. It's my fault Aidan, all of it. If I had died none of this would have happened."
Aidan took that as a sign to leave, so he left Matthew with is thoughts and went to join Cooper and Seth.
