The Race Against Time

Chapter 42

Xander POV

At first when we were running, not one of us made a second glance backward since that would only slow us down. The adrenaline that I experienced at that moment blinded me of everything else that was happening around me. When we finally stopped running, out of fatigue we recognized that we lost the men in suits but what we didn't realize was that Yori and Brooklyn were not there anymore. We tried to shout the name just in case they simply went in a different direction but there was no answer.

They were out of sight. I do admit, I began to panic because I didn't want to believe that this is what was happening right now.

"Where's Brooklyn and Yori? They were right behind us just a second ago." Lucas said.

"They're gone," Xiomara uttered

"Do you think they got caught?" Tyler muttered shakily.

"I don't know, anything is possible," I answered him

After noticing that Brooklyn and Yori were gone, we waited a while just to make sure that the men actually left and were not lurking around waiting for us to come out fro hiding. We went back to the bunker and Keith finished removing the iron sheet so we went inside.

"We can't just sit here doing nothing when we know that Brooklyn and Yori are gone."

"I know that Tyler, but we can't just go look for them unprepared, anything could happen. If we're caught we'll be useless to them."

Suddenly the flat screen tv in the room lit up. A video came onto the tv, with Esmerelda's enlarged face on it."

"I know the rest of you are in the bunker, so listen up. I have Yori and Brooklyn right here with me and I'll make sure that they are dead within 2 hours if the rest of you don't come to me. Your 2 hours start now, don't try anything because I assure you that it would not end well."

The video immediately cut off and the entire tv went black.

"Here we go again, we all know this is a trap if we go everyone dies if we don't Brooklyn and Yori dies!" Tyler shouted.

"Calm down Jamaal, don't pull out the knife, hahaha."

"Is this really time to be thinking of tik tok jokes, Xiomara, really," I said to her.

Her huge smile instantly dropped.

"I was trying to lighten the mood, but okay, carry on."

Why on earth is she this way, I can't even stand her, she is the most out of timing girl I ever met, she is basically the third wheel in this entire situation.

 I switched my focus back onto Keith trying to stop thinking about how much I hated Xiomara.

"We need to come up with a plan that is smart because,  one wrong move and we're all dead," Keith explained.

We talked about our strategies and plans even if something went wrong. In about 15 mins we had everything planned out and was ready to go get Brooklyn and Yori.

Before we left we took a lot of stuff since we would not be coming back. Surprisingly when we were picking up things we found a few guns hidden in a room. Of course, we gave one to Xiomara because everyone knows she needs one more anyone of us does.

We came out of the bunker and walked through the forest making sure to stay hidden along the way, it was a good thing that beyond the river there was still forestry, or else we wouldn't have been able to be concealed by all the surrounding trees and plants and we would be in plain sight.

After a while of walking, we finally reached the end of the forest where the building was. There were two guards in front of the door with large guns in their hands. Our plan wasn't necessarily to ambush anyone, only if we really had to, so we proceeded to the back of the building to see if there was an exit door there.

Tyler, Lucas, and I carried on going to the back, leaving Keith and Xiomara behind to guard the area. There was indeed a back door when we went to the back so we went straight through it, not thinking twice. We were met with a small vacant hallway that leads to the busy one.

"There's a door over there, let's go." 

They both followed me into the room. It was a basic storage room that held cleaning supplies, there is nothing in here that we needed so we decided to go but something stopped us from leaving. When I listened closely, I could hear thuds in the ceiling.

"What is that?" Tyler uttered.

Abruptly, the ceiling came crashing down making all three of us fall to the round. The force of impact with the ground made me groan in pain.

"What are you all doing in here?"

I was about to pull out the gun in my pocket but when I heard the voice that spoke I stopped mid short too shocked to say a word.

"Ask questions later, we need to go now. That noise was not quite and I'm pretty sure people are not just going to ignore it." Brooklyn exclaimed.

We all rushed out of the room and ran out of the building, signaling Keith and Xiomara as we ran, when they saw us they joined. I looked back to see if anyone was there and to my surprise, there were 12 men.

They all came running after us. I held on to Brooklyn's hands making sure she wasn't being left behind once again and we ran and didn't look back. Gunshots were being fired and every second we have to duck our swerve. My heart palpitated in my chest. 

Keith got shot but there was nothing we could do about it cuz he was shot in the head, the second we slow down or stop it's over and I don't intend for that to happen. 

The only place we could go at the moment is the cave that we found when we first came here, so that where we went. When proceeded into the cave no one followed us meaning that we lost them. 

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but that was a hell of an escape I may say," Yori added

It sure was.

"How on earth did you guys reach in the ceiling?"

"Well, I stole the keys from Esmerelda and when we were loose we crawled through the vents, we heard you and Xander's voice so we dropped down but the landing wasn't quite graceful as we thought it would be." she said laughing at the last part."

"Keith's dead," Tyler mumbled

"Although we weren't close to him, he helped us a lot and we should be forever grateful for that but right now we can't do anything about it."

Everyone was quite tired after that eventful evening so they just relaxed and talked to each other, but I stayed by myself, I wasn't too much of a talkative person so I sat alone and thought. I do a lot of thinking to calm my mind. Even if we do get home tomorrow I'm not really going back to anything, everyone was expecting to go back and meet their families but not me because I had none.