Catching the Hero

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Ticking Clock

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Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Ticking Clock

The voice came from above and reverberated off the sides of the warehouse. The room suddenly felt smaller and more like a cage, and Raven danced on her toes beside me. I looked as far as I could, but I couldn't find the origin of the voice.

"Looking for me?"

This time it was behind us, and we whipped around. Again we were met with empty space.

"Or me?" This voice was different, more feminine and far more familiar. I tried to match a name to the sound. Raven, beside me, stiffened in recognition.

"Show your face, traitor," Raven spat.

"Only if you will!" she answered with a taunting giggle. Something in the voice sparked something in my memory, but the first voice interrupted my thoughts.

"You know, you're not quite as smart as I gave you credit," it jeered. "I thought it would take a little more coaxing to get 'some of their best' to walk into a trap all on their own."

Something unseen swung forward and crashed into my chest, and I doubled over with a strangled gasp. Raven quickly grabbed my arm and hovered beside me, shouting, "Stop being a coward and show yourself."

Another laugh followed her anger. "Here's a deal," the male voice falsely offered. "I'll give you two minutes. It'll be your little head start before I catch you. And, mark my words heroes, I will catch you. So, when I start the clock--."

Suddenly a large light blared from the side of the warehouse, and a massive digital clock glowed dauntingly and blinded me. 

"-- you have until the last second to attempt to escape. Are you ready to play?"

I tightened my hand around Raven's, tensing my body to sprint. The odds were against us, but there had to be a way out.

The buzzer suddenly shrieked, piercingly, and I drove my heels into the ground and sprinted. We rammed through a set of double doors and rushed down the first hallway, taking turns that suddenly felt like a labyrinth's maze. We threw open and slammed doors, nearly screaming in frustration at every dead end. We sprinted around another corner and came upon a staircase, just as the voice rained down on our ears again:

"One minute left, heroes. Hurry, hurry."

Raven let out an angry groan and ascended the stairs in front of me. The second we reached the top I grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind me as I began running down the hall. "I know where we are," I muttered to her, my breath coming quicker now.

I found the hall Ryder and I had entered through so long ago. So much had changed since then-- but I shoved that thought out of my head. I needed to get out of here alive before I let myself think of him.

I pushed open the door to the musky room and found the outline of the brick door. "There it is."

"What are you talking about, Fallon? There's nothing there," Raven's voice had a slight quiver in it. "Come on, we don't have much time--."

"No, watch." 

I crossed the room and touched my hand to the door, finding the groove and applying pressure until it creaked slightly to the side. "Come on," I called to her under my breath, straining to keep the door ajar.

A smile of half-relief came over her face as she walked to me.

It disappeared just as quickly.

I jumped away from the opening and went to her. "What is it, Raven? Come on, we have to go right now!"