City of the Fallen - unedited

Chapter Forty-Five

"Colton? I'm here!" I whisper back, trying to get myself onto my feet, but I only have one good leg to do so.

"Oh thank God." He mutters, "tell me which door you're at when I turn the handle."

I crawl to the door, dragging my limp leg across the cold ground. I groan under my breath, for any movement makes my body ache. "I'm in this one." I begin to shake the handle back and forth. His footsteps approach me and I hear him begin to fidget with the lock.

"Back up." He instructs, and I do as he says. I watch the door handle wiggle, and then it stops. It slowly turns and opens, and I gasp with relief.

Colton walks inside with a worried expression on his face. His glance moves down to my leg and back up at me. "Oh my god, what happened? Are you okay?"

Colton moves his hands to my back and begins to loosen the rope that tied my hands together. "What did they do to you?"

I flinch at the thought. "They tortured me for trying to escape. We need to go now before they come get us. There's a lot of them."

"I know." He exhales. "I know the way out, follow me."

I use the last of my energy to spring to my feet, relief and hope refilling my body. As soon as my hands are free I drape my arms over his shoulders and squeeze him tight. I'm so happy I could cry.

He seems a bit taken back by my embrace, but he gently places his arms on my lower back. I feel safe now after being so hopeless in that prison cell.

Once we separate, he bends over next to my leg. "What happened? This looks bad, Juliet." 

I nod. "I'm fine, I just want to get out of here." Never have I been so happy to see somebody. My eyes are met with Colton's face, and he was smiling proudly.

"I think I underestimated you, blondie. Let's get going."

A smirk lifts the corners of my mouth. He grabs my hand and pulls it over the back of his neck. His other hand wraps around my waist. "Can you put any pressure on it?"

I nod. "I can walk just fine, only not very quickly."

He acknowledges my response, but continues to hold onto my body. I would've told him that I didn't need his help, but for some reason I want it. I trust him more than I trust myself to get out of here.

Colton holds the cell door open and I limp out, then peer down both hallways. Nobody. Thank goodness. It is very late at night, I doubt anybody would randomly be walking the halls.

I grip my left hand onto his shoulder, using it for balance as we move quickly through the building. We enter a long hallway where the ceiling is low, but I can see an exit-- more specifically, a door.

"How far from the gate are we?" I inquire in between heavy breaths. Clearly I'm not up to doing much walking.

"Only a few minutes." He replies, and just as he does so, a loud voice bounces off of the walls and into my ears.