𝙄'𝙈 𝘼 𝙎𝙐𝙍𝙑𝙄𝙑𝙊𝙍³ ➣ 𝐵. 𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑘𝑒✔

26 | Bardo

We eventually made it to the other side of the Anomaly, ghosting so we wouldn't get caught. Three disciples and a man dressed in white had confused looks on their faces when nothing seemed to happen. I knocked out one of the disciples, as did Gabriel and Hope. Echo stabbed the man in white.

"Echo, what the hell are you doing?" Gabriel hissed as we took our helmets off.

To my right was Echo's voice. "It wasn't me."

That means it was Hope. I looked at the girl who had taken her helmet off.

"Without Orlando, we don't need to take unnecessary risks," Hope said.

"Leaving Orlando was the unnecessary risk." I crouched in front of one of the bodies as Echo stabbed the other. I brought out my knife and killed the woman in front of me on the floor. "Echo... Aiden, not you, too."

I retracted the knife, not looking at Gabriel as hope, Echo and I dragged the bodies away into a closet. "It's for our own good, Gabriel."

"Focus. We're on the clock," Echo stated.

"On the clock?" Gabriel asked in disbelief. "We drilled for five years. We have 30 minutes to get to the cell block, get our people, and get back here before shift change. With Orlando opening the doors, the best we ever did was 28 minutes."

"Then I guess we'd better hurry," Echo said.

"Look, we all know this can't be done without an inside man," Gabriel stated. The four of us grabbed our helmets.

"We have an inside man," Echo said.

"What if he's not in M-Cap?" Hope asked.

"What if who's not in M-Cap?" Gabriel asked confused.

The four of us began walking toward the door as Hope answered. "The man who helped before-- Levitt. Come on, M-Cap's on this level. We won't lose much time."

"The Shepherd brings us wisdom. The Shepherd brings us love for all mankind," someone announced over the P.A.

"For all mankind!" I heard at least a hundred people shout in unison.

"28 minutes left," Gabriel spoke, causing me to roll my eyes.

"We can all see that, Gabriel," I stated.

"Plenty of time." We continued down the hall, reaching a door to our right. "This is M-Cap."

Just as Hope stepped forward to open the door, a woman spoke. "You four, fall in. We're late."

We turned to see a woman in white with at least a dozen disciples behind her. I exchanged a look with my friends before slowly turning and following Gabriel down the hall toward the group of people.

°°°

We had gotten into an elevator, reaching the second floor, following the woman down the hall. We stopped in front of a door and the woman opened it before turning to us. "Helmets off."

I closed my eyes, letting out a quiet breath. Damn it. I did as I was told and took my helmet off, exchanging a look with Hope.

"That's Anders," the girl explained as we walked into the room. She's talking about the man speaking through a microphone.

"Let's take a moment to acknowledge our newest class if level nines," Anders spoke. We continued our way through the enormous room, filled with trees and grass and dirt. If the lights were off, you wouldn't even be able to tell we were inside. "You've each demonstrated impressive devotion to the Shepherd. Our predecessors on this planet did not share that faith. Like our ancestors on Earth, they destroyed their world."