This Is Not The End.

Chapter 37

Just as Kai defeatedly put his cow-print bucket hat into the laundry bag and slung it over his shoulder, Cara rapped her knuckles against the door. We jolted back into the moment, falling into a terrified silence as Beck pressed his ear against the door to hear the orderlies walk past, talking in government code.

My breath hitched in my throat and I clasped a hand to my mouth to shut up. I would not be the one to fuck all this up. That wasn't my role here. My role was to keep the others alive, to watch out for things they'd missed. Being here was my idea, and it would not cost us everything.

As soon as we heard Cara's knock of safety, I allowed myself a breath. Each of us more than ready, Beck pulled open the door and we filtered out, wary of people appearing from around corners and busting us.

"This is it," Kai said quietly, running a hand over his head where his hat had been.

"This is it," I agreed.

"You look funny," Cara shrugged. Beck let out a laugh which he hid as a scoff.

"Cheers, C,"

"Are we going, or what?" Jack raised an eyebrow and brought us back. "Lead the way, Bucket Boy," Beck stared blankly at him for a moment. "You give me a stupid name, I'll repay the favour,"

"Just lead the way," I rolled my eyes.

Beck started walking, "Come up with a different name,"

"Whatever you say, boss,"

The Flame tunics became intoxicating – we could go anywhere, and we wouldn't be questioned. Being with The Resistance, I'd forgotten the hierarchy of this place; the orderlies were at the top, but Flames came straight after. Nine colours and any other workers later came the Snuffs. That's what I'd gotten used to.

Beck navigated through the maze of hallways and rooms with only a few murmurs to himself. Every time an orderly passed us, Cara turned invisible and we offered professional nods. Once, Jack had to make up a story about where we were off to and we all held our breaths in apprehension. He'd never been a good liar, but it sounded believable enough for the man to give us a slip of paper with his signature on, so we weren't stopped again.

We came to a crossroads, and Beck stopped.

"What's the problem?" Jack asked from behind me. "We don't have time for breaks!"

"I don't know-" Beck glanced between each direction, pacing, "I don't know which way,"

I walked far enough down one of the paths to cancel it out, "This is my area. Take the next left and it's the shock room, keep going straight and it's the Snuff quarters. The door's not down here,"

"And then there were two," Kai said. "I dunno, man, I've never even seen the main door,"

"Face it," Jack said, "We've gotta split up,"

"We can't!"

"We can," I promised. "Sam's wrong. We've all got out of this shithole once, we'll do it again,"

"I can't lose you!" he blurted, "Any of you,"

Kai clasped him on the shoulder, "Aw, man, I'm touched,"

"Gave me butterflies, that did," Jack grinned, glancing to Kai. I hit both of them around the head.

"What makes you think any of us are gonna fuck up?" I let myself smile, "We may be idiots, but we're not stupid. We know how to look out for ourselves. We take two groups and then we get the two corridors. As soon as someone finds the door, they open it and raise the fire alarm, then we know it's done,"