The Lost and the Hidden

Chapter 11

The door swings open and Miles and Liam appear in the doorway.

They nod for us to come along. We follow them outside, towards the other rooms. Sarah is standing five meters away, keeping guard if someone comes this way. She will really do this. We will really do this. When we've gathered all of us, we let Twelve lead us to the exit, Wynona hiding us away. It takes a few minutes to get there, the whole time we walk there, it is silent and there is tension in the air because we could get caught every second.

Then the silence is suddenly broken. There's a thud on a door we pass. We stop, and Wynona makes us visible again.

I step closer listening on the door. Again, there it is. It sounds like someone is punching against the door.

"Wha-I someone in there?" I ask no one in particular.

"All of us are here." Liam shrugs.

"If they are holding someone in there against their will, shouldn't we let them out?"

"Not if they're dangerous. There's a reason nobody knows what's in there. There's a reason it's in there. We don't know what will await us in there if we open the door."

He's right. Liam's right. Still... It doesn't feel right to let somebody here, when they maybe wanted to come. It doesn't sound like the person who is in there wants to be there. But Liam is right, maybe it isn't even a person. It could be, I don't know, an animal. "You can go. If you go and I wait here and open the door when you're gone, then it's safe for you." I say.

"You know what, forget it." Liam tells me. "Open the door, we can handle it." He's standing in front of the others like a human shield. I don't know if that would stop whatever is in there, but I don't tell him that. "Okay."

Liam hands the key card to me. I hold it in place and wait for the familiar click.

Nothing happens. "Try again." Liam whispers. I do. Then I hold it out to Liam for him to try. He closes the gap between us and tries himself. Again, nothing happens.

He shrugs again. "Doesn't work then. We don't have time to look for a way to open that door. We have to go."

Then there's another thud. Only this time, it doesn't come from inside that room.

I only realize what's happening when I turn around to see seven men with guns.

"Run" First it's only a whisper leaving Liam's lips. Then he gets louder. "RUN!"

All of us start to move towards the exit. We stop at the door waiting for Twelve to open it. "It's locked."

Please, please, please. It's the only thing I can think when Liam tries to open the door with the card. This time it works.

The door clicks and opens. Liam shoves it completely open and gives us a sign to run. "Go, go, go, GO."

There are shots behind us. I hear them, I see some. The soldiers are seeing us now, too. It makes Wynona too weak to hide us the whole time, so now we, so now we're very visible to them.

They come closer from behind us, but when all of us have gone through the door, Liam slams it shut in front of them. It'll not give us much time, they surely have key cards, too.

I look around to see, not the streets, but the rooves of buildings.

"Twelve!" Miles says. "You said it'd be an exit."

"I thought it was. Every time this door opened, I saw sky, so yeah, I thought it would be an exit. How was I supposed to know we're not on the ground floor." It's not a real question so no one answers.

"Okay, okay, we can make this. Calm down." Mona tells them.

I walk to the edge of the roof and look down. Then I look at the building next to this one.

"Could we jump? Onto the next roof, I mean." I ask out loud.

The others walk up to me. "Yeah, I mean, we could try..." Miles says.

"Uhm, in fact, we should try, 'cause our friends are coming." Liam informs us.

One after another we jump. Sometimes it's a little close, but with enough run-up, we can make it. Liam tells me to jump next, when it's only him, Sarah and me standing on the first roof.

Although my heart is pounding, I do. As soon as I'm on the other roof, I turn around.

Then click.