The Harvest Trials

Chapter XXVI

Jason

"Do you have eyes on us?" Reyna yelled at Rachel through her comm. I risked a glance over my shoulder, but I didn't see her. Either she wasn't as close as I thought, she was stealthy, or I couldn't see her due to the flickering and dim lights.

Reyna touched my elbow, getting my attention. We rounded a corner and she said, "They'll tell us where she is. They've got eyes."

Her face screwed up. "I take that back. Cameras are down." I cursed softly. Last time I caught a glimpse of Montgomery chasing us, she had a gun. "Do you think everyone made it up safely?" I asked. 

"Rachel said New Rome is safe and sound. It's just us." 

We came to a wide open space with nowhere to hide but the long, empty hallway. 

"They're saying Everette's dead!" Montgomery yelled from down the hall. "If he's dead, then so is the entire organization. You're coming down with us!"

Reyna peeked around the corner. "Shit! She's coming. We need to run now, there's a lab down the hall we can hide in."

We made a run for it. We were almost to the lab when Reyna cursed and I heard the gunshot. Reyna shoved me hard through the doorway, where I crashed to the ground. I tried to get up, but I was suddenly dizzy, black spots blocking my vision. 

That's went I felt the gunshot. I brought my hand to my side and gasped. It came away sticky with blood. 

"Oh my gods," Reyna said, sliding over to me. She heard Montgomery coming and hissed at me to move. I slid as best I could behind a desk. Reyna grabbed some bandages off the desk and wrapped them around my torso. I gritted my teeth in pain. 

"Rach, can you here me? You're cutting out. Can you here me? Jason's down, we need- Rachel!" She turned back to me, frustration evident in her voice. 

"Hylla lost a few Amazons to some faulty explosions in building one. It took out communications too, I guess. I can't get a signal."

Montgomery entered the lab. "Jason," she taunted. "Where are you? If you'd just come back with me we could still make this work. We need your powers."

She was getting closer so Reyna took a chance and dashed across to another desk as a distraction. Montgomery shot randomly in that direction. I winced and tried putting pressure on the bullet wound like I was taught at Camp.

"You know," Montgomery was bragging now, "I was there when Jackson died." That stopped me cold.

"I'm the one that gave the final order to get him in the Harvester for the last time. I may have even cranked the dials. Just a little bit."

I growled and tried to get up. She swung around and pointed her gun back in my direction. Reyna threw something on the other side of the room. 

"If you won't come with me, then maybe it would be enough to be able to say I killed you. Another notch on the belt, am I right?"

She crept ever so slowly to me, her gun drawn and out in front of her. Finally she rounded the desk, looking down at me with a sweet smile. She raised the gun again, settling it in the middle of my forehead, her smile never wavering.

And once again, I heard the gun shot.

I blinked. Why was I still alive? Montgomery's hand fell limp at her side, the gun falling to the floor. She swayed and collapsed, a bulled between her eyes. 

Reyna stood, holding the gun that fired. She holstered the gun and ran to me, making sure I was okay. The building shook and dust rained down from the ceiling.

"Communications are down. That means Hylla doesn't know we're still in here. We gave her a set time to set off the bombs just in case something like this happened. We need to get to the landing pad now."

She hoisted me to my feet and put my arm around her shoulder. "Come on," she said, and started walking, guiding me along. 

Pain tore through my side at every step. We were on the thirty-eight floor, only two flights of stairs to go and we'd be home free. We started up, Reyna supporting almost all my weight as I focused on putting one foot in front of the other and not passing out.

One flight left and a tremor shook me off my feet. I cried out when I hit the floor. The door leading to the thirty-eighth floor burst open, flames pouring out. Reyna grabbed me under the arms, pulling me back up. 

"Time to go," she said. 

By some miracle, we made it onto the landing. But the sky canoes weren't there and the landing was on fire.

I dropped to my knees, unable to go any farther. "Jase. Jason, come on, get up," Reyna said, falling next to me and pulling me into her lap. I felt her lending me her strength, but it did little to help.

Tears slipped from Reyna's eyes as she searched the sky for a sky canoe. "Rachel? Callie? Is anyone there? We made it to the landing pad! We need help!"

I groaned in pain as the building shook again. Sounds of a helicarrier filled the air and Reyna made me stand again. I was half dead with exhaustion. Climbing the stairs had been a lot harder than I thought it would be. But Reyna wasn't going to let me go. She limped along with me to where the sky canoe was hovering. The back opened and Piper was there, reaching out her hand, Hedge beside her.

The flames ripped around us. "Get closer!" Piper yelled back at Rachel. "I can't," she responded. Reyna held me up and I reached out as far as I could, still about a good foot from Hedge's hand. 

"Come on!" Reyna yelled. "Closer!" Hedge yelled. They got a tiny bit closer, but it was still to far to reach. Reyna's hold on me tightened, and I looked at her face, but her expression was unreadable. 

"Let's try again," she said calmly. I was about ready to black out. Staying on my feet was getting to be incredibly hard. 

"Come on, Jase, you can make it," Piper encouraged.

Reyna's breathing quickened as she stepped back, my arm still around her shoulder. With a yell, she rushed forward, using her strength to throw me. My feet left the ground and I was in open air for a moment, before Hedge and Piper and a hold on me, pulling me up into the sky canoe.

I twisted around to see Reyna standing there, looking triumphant. When she caught my eye, she gave me a small smile.

"What are you waiting for?" Piper shouted. "Jump!"

But Rachel was already having a hard time keeping the giant aircraft so close and started pulling away. Reyna shook her head. She knew she wasn't going to make it.

Flames erupted everywhere and the building collapsed.

And Reyna was falling into the fire.

"Reyna!" I screamed, "REYNA!"

The sky canoe moved to join the other two in the sky, but I didn't much care. All I could do was scream her name, my childhood best friend's name, my hand outstretched as if I could still catch her.

It only took about three seconds for me to lose sight of her completely, the flames enveloping her body.

"Reyna," I cried. Piper grabbed my hand and said encouraging things while Will worked on me, but I didn't hear any of it. All I could focus on as I slowly lost consciousness was the Harvest compound, the building I'd spent the last few months in. Now I was seeing it from the outside.

And I was seeing it burn.