How To Become A Spy

Chapter Thirty

I could feel a disgusting taste in my mouth that made me want to vomit and my entire body ached in pain. I'd never felt so sore in my entire life, even after all the intense gym training sessions I'd ever had. This was a whole new level of pain.

I snapped my eyes open when memories flooded my head of why I was in pain. I was lying down and I could see the night sky. Confused, I used all my strength in my arms to help myself sit up, noticing the bandages wrapped around my thigh as I did so. I was hit with a pounding headache and grabbed my head, trying to balance it. I felt like I was going to pass out or throw up.

After a moment, I realized I was outside Kennedy High. The doors to the building were wide open and members of the RUA were walking in and out of the building constantly. There were black vans everywhere, surrounding the area and yellow police tape behind the vehicles, stretching across the entire length of the school that read: CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS

Behind the tape, stood a huge amount of confused formally dressed students that must have been evacuated from the building. Along with them were staff and other members of the public, watching on in anticipation. I noticed a reporter standing behind the tape, talking into a microphone, being filmed by a cameraman. I was on the other side of the tape along with the RUA vans, police cars, and agents who were interviewing other students and talking amongst each other.

I turned around and realized from the supplies behind me and the stretcher that I was lying on that I was in an ambulance. Oh my God. I'd survived. I actually got out of the classroom. I was breathing. I couldn't hide the relief and happiness on my face. I laughed, shaking my head. Unbelievable. I leaned back on the bed, trying to recover from the overwhelmed feelings hitting me. I could hear the sound of helicopters and looked up to see one directly above the school building - another news channel. Never in a million years would anyone have expected a case like this to get so much attention. A high school drug bust of all things.

The RUA were probably going to kill me for dragging them this far into the spotlight. They liked to stay quiet and remote.

I wanted to stay lying on that stretcher. I wanted to fall asleep on it, or black out again to ignore the pain I was feeling but I couldn't get the worried feeling out of my stomach that I needed to see everyone and find out what was going on.

I closed my eyes tightly for a moment, enjoying whatever peace I had left before pulling myself up again and dragging my body to the edge of the stretcher. I felt my legs dangle off and breathed through the pain I was already feeling from that slight maneuver. This is going to hurt like a bitch.

I slowly began to slide off the bed, preparing to let my feet hit the ground. As they did, I pursed my lips, trying not to let out any signs of pain. My legs hurt. Especially my thighs. It appeared like they'd been medically treated and some of the pain had been numbed but it still hurt like hell. It had been a struggle just to stand up.

I looked around for a paramedic and realized they weren't there. I decided I had to be quick to sneak off considering that I probably wasn't allowed to be out of the stretcher.

I peered my head out of the vehicle, looking around at the agents for any sign of Eric as I turned my back to the public and media that were a couple meters away from me only separated by yellow police tape. I knew they would have all been looking at me and I didn't want their attention. I continued scanning the people in front of the school building. Throughout the swarm of agents I couldn't see him but felt relieved when I saw a snippet of long blonde hair. I took a step forward, trying to pretend the pain shooting up them wasn't there as I limped my way over to Cassie.

My legs wobbled slightly and I worried I was going to collapse from the weakness I felt. As I approached, some of the agents began to take notice of me, staring at me like I was some kind of alien. Cassie turned to see the commotion and her face lit up when she saw me.