32. Maybe This Is How It All Ends

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Chapter 32

Maybe This Is How It All Ends



"You've got to hurry!" I told Drake. "They've almost found us!"

"I...can't...get...the...lock," he huffed, trying to capture the lock between two fingers. It was the same door we'd come through after we found the first key. We'd changed the lock, though, and I had the key in hand before shoving it at him.

"Hurry!" I screamed, hearing the calls from the Order members as they saw the ruins come into view. "They're..."

"Got it!" he cried victoriously, sticking the key in and unlocking it.

I looked back just as he swung the door open and held out his hand for mine.

"Hattie, come on!"

The Order members appeared through the trees, their flashlights creating an eerie glow across the ruins. One light shined across my face before others followed and the pounding of footsteps came next.

I grabbed Drake's hand and all but jumped into the underground room. Drake followed, the lock in hand. But by the time he jumped and closed the door at the same time, they had already gotten their hands around the edges and began prying it open.

"Just forget it! Run!" he yelled, and grabbed my hand. "We've got to run!"

And we ran.

We ran down the stone steps before hitting the iron grates that blocked our way.

Somehow, we found another passage created by what looked like the cave-in from when we were down there months before.

Up more steps and down a few more.

Through the tunnels we didn't even know where down even further than what we'd been through before.

But no matter how far we managed to get, the echos of voices always seemed to surround us. It was a neverending game of cat-and-mouse and the mouse was losing.

You want to guess which one we were?

It was no use. It felt like hours had passed by and we weren't any closer to finding a way out or even getting rid of those who followed. I was in tears, realizing this, just as our flashlight began to flicker.

"No," I moaned.

"Just a...little further, Hattie," Drake huffed, dragging me even faster behind him. "We've got to..."

Blinded by my tears, I didn't see the fallen rocks until I was flying over them, landing roughly on my side as my face scrapped against the ground. I cried out in pain as I moved. My wrist was throbbing, undoubtedly broken.

I would have never said it was a good things it happened, but the sound of rushing water ahead of us would have stopped us...and possibly killed us in the process of doing so.

"Hattie," Drake whispered gruffly, kneeling down to sit me up. I sagged against him. "Hattie, are you okay?"

"It's no use," I cried, clinging to his shirt. "We might as well just let them get us..."

"We've got to find some other way."

"But we don't have another way!" I yelled. "They're going to find us. They're going to kill us. And I can't..."

Drake stood up, leaning me against the wall, and started smacking the flashlight until the flickering ceased. He turned the light on me and I could barely make out his face. What I did see, though, were the tears that began trailing down his dirt-smudged cheeks.

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