Ablaze || The Darkest Minds

ONE

***Cole's Point of view***

The ceiling hung low and the lights dimly glowed red, making the walls look almost black. I heard small whimpers as I walked down the hallway. Kids sat in their cells, some slowly rocked back and forth mumbling things I understand. Others just stared at the ground or the ceiling. None were willing to make eye contact. Some were screaming nonsense and others were just whispering to themselves. They hardly looked alive, and none of them could have been over the age of 16.

It made me feel sick. Our goal was to download the testing files onto a flash drive, get whatever kids you think can get out. They recorded all the experiments they did on the kids. That's what we're here for.

The closer I got to the end of the hall the more the kids looked dead in their cells. None of the figures moved as I walked by. They just kept their heads down and refused to acknowledge me. Except for one. They— She lifted her head when she heard me coming. She sat with her knees hugged to her chest on her cot. When she saw my PSF uniform she tilted her head slightly and smiled. She wore it like it was a loaded gun.

Her face... It looked so similar to the one I knew years ago. Yet, so different. Her hair was shorter. Her hair curled around her ears, it looked red under the light. She was so much skinnier, her cheeks were hollow. Her skin was bruised. She was skinny, she looked like she hadn't eaten in days. She wore a standard uniform, the one they mad everyone wear at all the camps. But, I couldn't tell which color. It was stained black in some places. Blood.

I felt my body tense as I sucked in a breath.

She was so young when they took her. It was only a day after her tenth birthday. And it was my fault. I took off the mask covering my face. Her smile hadn't faltered until now.

"Emily?"

"Cole?"

Her voice was hoarse, like she hadn't spoken in days.
I used the butt of my gun to break the lock off her cell door. The Yellow, Jacob, we brought with us shut down the security system temporarily. I pushed my gun to the side. I kicked open the door and hurried over to her cot. She shifted. I couldn't really tell why. I knelt beside her, "God, what did they do you" I mumbled as I examined her. She shifted again uncomfortably.

"Come on, princess, let's get you out of here."

"Call me princess again and I'll punch you in the face.'' I reached to help her up, she ignored me. Sometimes I wish she wasn't as stubborn as she was. She edged herself off the cot and she hissed in pain as her feet touched the floor. I'm not sure how but she actually managed to stand. She leaned against the wall as she gripped her side, her shirt lifted up slightly and I could see her left side was black and blue.

"Emi—" she tried to take another step but her knees buckled. I caught her before she could hit the ground.

God, she was freezing. She hissed in pain as I caught her, "Ow." She said in an accusing tone. Oh right, her side. She was skinnier than I had initially thought. Her legs were shaking either from the cold or because she really was too weak to stand. Maybe both. I wrapped her left arm around my shoulders, "Come on, ace." She leaned into me, "I have to walk out." She groaned. That'll definitely make this just about a million times harder."Why?" I asked "I walked into hell on my own two feet, I want to walk out on my own two feet."

She was the one who moved us forward. We were already halfway out of the room when my radio sounded "Stewart we gotta go, the security is-" The alarms blared in my ear. "Well shit, sweetheart, we're in trouble." I looked up at the flashing lights, "Aren't we always?" She asked. Of course we are. We kept moving forward, faster and faster with every step.

We went out the way I came in.

We didn't find much trouble from guards I had already taken out. And I don't think they're exactly sure what's going on. But still, I thought the alarms were supposed be off for another ten minutes?

I radioed Barnes "I got her, we're at the fence." It was cold, Emily leaned in closer. Jesus, she must be freezing her ass off. I set her down on the ground and zipped open the bag we left there, filled with the standard PSF uniform. I handed them to Emily, "Put these on over your other clothes, hurry up. We don't wanna get caught, Ace." She did it as quick as was possible for in that moment, they hardly fit her but that didn't matter much right now. It did it's job, it hid her face and her green uniform.

I heard people yelling distantly, "Damn it." I looked around the corner before I turned back to Emily

I must have looked lost 'cause Emily tugged me to the right. The parking lot. I saw Barnes and one of the younger kids out in front of the black van we hijacked. He nudged the kid to get in the back. There were five, including me and Barnes. If you count the two kids we're breaking out, that makes seven.

I picked Emily up which earned me and annoyed grunt. I ran toward the van and the kid Barnes was talking to, Daniel the blue kid, was at the back. I handed Emily to him and he put her in the back and got in himself. She's probably pissed off we're picking her up and passing her around like a rag doll. He slammed the door behind him. More yelling, the alarms were still blaring. Pretty sure I'm going to have one hell of a headache later. My ears were already ringing. Barnes was already in the front seat and I climbed in the passenger seat.

"Stay down." Jacob warned, the yellow we brought with us. I gave him a questioning look, what happened with the security system. " We shut down the security and the power, we were supposed to disable the backup generator but ran into trouble." He said, "We had to book it out of there with greenie, Daniel was in the van waiting." Barnes finished. Harley, the other blue, was helping the green kid we rescued. Daniel tried to help Emily with her smaller injuries, but all she did was glare.

"How the hell are we supposed to get out now?" Barnes said, quite obviously pissed. "Well, we improvise." I said grinning."Improvise? Are you Insane?" He looked to me, "Don't answer that." He sighed. I probably am.

I looked back at the two blues, who nodded. He backed out and pulled forward. "Guess we're going to have to break down the fence." Daniel and Harley moved up to the back seat van windows. They opened the windows and took position. "Ready?"

"Ready for what!?" Emily's worried voiced echoed through the van.

"Brace yourself, kid" Barnes floored the gas pedal and the fence ripped open. Harley and Daniel climbed back inside the Van. The loud speakers came on but I couldn't hear what they were saying. There were gunshots us.A bullet flew past me. It somehow missed Barnes and lodged itself in the shoulder of his seat. The passenger side window shattered from the bullet.

Emily look like she was about to say something, but Barnes turned sharply and we nearly slid off the road. I heard a few bangs and grunts to go along with them. Pretty sure if I wasn't holding the ceiling handle. (I call it the "OH SHIT!" Handle.) I would have flown out of the window.

Barnes sped down the road, trees whizzed past. I turned back to check on the others, they were fine for the most part. The green kid we'd rescued looked sick to his stomach. Harley looked like she was trying to help, but I think she was a lot more invested in making sure he didn't empty his stomach on her shirt. That is if there actually was anything in his stomach.