Project HALO

5

"Please," she says and wraps her hand around my forearm, tugging at it. "Help me, and I'll give you your life back. You will have your freedom."

I twist out of her grip and set toward the door.

With a glance back, I say, "I don't negotiate with terrorists."

The door slams shut behind me, and it automatically locks. Regina screams something from inside the room, but I'm already on my way down the hallway to room 3114.

It's so silent, it feels wrong for my pulse to beat this loudly and my breath to move this quickly. My footsteps echo through the hall as I stamp my way to Mikey's room. I don't know how much time we have left, but it can't be more than five minutes.

My speed is so high, I slide past his door as I try to stop, but grab onto the handle to stop myself.

"Mikey!" I unlock the door and step inside, heaving for my breath. The room is dark, and at first I think I'm in the wrong place, that Regina tricked me, and a ball of panic starts to unravel in my stomach as I scan every corner of the room.

Then I see him.

He turns around with a yawn, like we have all the time in the world.

"What do y—"

"Mikey, it's me. Get up, we have to run!" With hurried steps, I walk toward the bed and pull him out from underneath the covers. He grabs his glasses from the nightstand and narrows his eyes at me, then they pop back up. "Charlie? What the—What?!"

"Not now," I tug at his t-shirt to make him move. If we had time, I would hug him. "I'm serious, we have to run. Now!"

"From what?" He hurries into his pants and steps into his shoes.

I open the door and push him into the hallway. "From a bomb that will go off in less than five minutes."

All of his other questions and doubts vanish in that moment.

Then we run.