Phantom ▷ b. barnes [1] ✔️

xxi. phantom

"When all is gone, the only loss, is to not have loved at every cost" -- I'll Be Okay, Nothing More

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Zola yanked away from her, eyes widening as he spun around. Sam snapped back to reality, yanking against the straps holding her down as she tried to look up. In the distance, another explosion went off.

Zola's face paled.

"Get her up," he gestured to the guards, who quickly unstrapped her from the table. "You secure her at every cost, understood? Get to the nearest truck, I want her out of here."

"Yes, sir," the men nodded, yanking Sam up. She sagged in their arms, her mind reeling.

Something was happening. Someone was here. 

Zola grabbed his stack of papers and bag, hurrying out the door. The guards dragged her after him, but turned down the other hallway. Panic alit under Sam's skin.

She couldn't let them take her. 

In the chains, she had no hope to call on her abilities. But... she hadn't needed them in the past. She didn't need them now.

Going dead in their arms, she dropped to the floor. 

The men cursed, scrambling to hoist her back up. Gathering all the strength she had left, Sam threw herself up, swinging the manacles at the head of the guard to her right. The metal cracked against his skull and he fell back.

The other man lunged at her.

Whirling around his grasp, she drove forward, wrapping the chains around his neck. He grunted and bucked, but she latched her legs around his middle, holding on with all her strength. Gasping, he stumbled back and rammed her against the wall; pain exploded through her entire body. But Sam held tight. 

He was choking now, movements becoming slower. She twisted her wrists and yanked up. She felt his neck crack.

His body fell limp to the floor and she fell with him.

For a moment, she laid there, trying to find her breath. Her whole body hurt and she'd definitely broken a rib, if not two. Clawing herself up, she searched the man's belt. 

Nothing.

Her heart leaping into her throat, she pulled herself to the other guard's unconscious body. If she couldn't get loose--

There was a ring of keys at his side. 

She could have sobbed.

Searching for the key that fit her manacles, she quickly unlocked them, the metal clanging as it hit the floor. Instantly, a burst of power raced through her body and Sam squeezed her eyes shut, embracing the rush of undiluted energy.

She could feel her broken rib healing. The exhaustion and pain drifted from her body, along with the cuts and bruises across her face and arms.

She opened her eyes, taking a deep breath.

A smirk pulled across her face.

It felt strange. She hadn't smiled in so long, she'd forgotten what it felt like. Rising to her feet, Sam glanced up and down the hallway. She turned in the opposite direction they'd been heading.

Toward the sound of explosions. 

Toward where Zola had fled.

Her body flickered in and out, radiating power. She might have looked like an apparition, face gaunt and pale, clothes stained with dirt and dried blood. Rage burning in her eyes.