We The Forlorn (Book #2) (Completed)

36. Reunions

Bo stormed to the lock on the cell door and waved the keycard in front of the sensor. Her hands shook too much for it to read the card, and the red light kept pulsing as a deep beep sounded each time she failed. She growled, smashing the card over and over against the sensor as her frustration and anger built in her. Finally, Khan limped forward and took the key from her, and held it steadily against the sensor. The light turned green, and Bo ripped the door open and ran into the room where Adam had propped himself against an empty bed-frame.

Her knees hit the uneven concrete as she threw her arms around Adam's shoulders and pressed her face into his neck. He shook under her touch, and she held him closer as she fought off her sobs of relief and anguish and rage.

"Bo," he said, voice tight and staccato with obvious pain.

She pulled her head back to look at him. "What?"

"Believe me, I don't want to ever let you go, but... my ribs are going to puncture my lungs if you squeeze any tighter," he muttered, grimacing.

Bo sat back on her heels and yanked his shirt up to reveal dark bruises spread across his right side, all mottled and fresh. Many of the ribs underneath would definitely be broken, which explained Adam's short and uneven breaths. She lowered his shirt with a serious stare at his face.

"This is bad," she said, nodding to his torso. "What if you have internal bleeding? I'm not sure we can do much for a collapsed lung in these conditions, either."

He shook his head, attempting a smile. "I'll be fine. It hasn't collapsed yet, so I'm not too worried."

"Well, I'm worried," Bo replied, frowning.

By this time, Khan and the others had poured into the cell. Helga stood over Bo and Adam, biting her lip in an attempt to hide how her chin wobbled. Khan, on the other hand, had no qualms over Adam seeing just how he felt.

"We thought you were dead!" Khan shouted, scuffling forward with the help of Esme. Tears were falling down his cheeks, completely at odds with the smile he had on his face. He started babbling about their rescue mission and how they had all thought Adam was going to be dead at the end of it, and almost none of his words made much sense. Bo began to think his own injury was beginning to take its toll, but she didn't want to point it out when he and Adam looked so joyful. But as the reunion warmed and more time slipped by, she realized that they couldn't stay here forever.

"We need to get going," she said, pushing herself to her feet. "You and Khan need medical attention, and those guards we knocked out aren't going to stay unconscious forever. Someone is bound to notice we're not in our cells anymore, and they'll know we'll have come straight here."

Adam nodded. "Yes, we shouldn't spend any more time in here. We need to get a vehicle of some sort."

"Maybe the soldier will know where to find one," Khan said.

For the first time, Adam's eyes landed on the nervous soldier who stood just inside the cell and within reach of Helga.

Adam cocked an eyebrow and looked at Bo.

She shrugged. "We needed a guide."

Adam sighed. "We can't drag him around looking for a vehicle to steal. It's asking for trouble."

Bo frowned, but she knew he was right. Just because he was afraid of them at the moment, didn't mean he wouldn't try to escape or cause trouble if he got the chance. And with Khan leaning on Esme, and Adam needing help himself, it would leave only Helga to deal with him.

"We'll put him in here," Bo said, turning to look at the soldier who looked both relieved and terrified at the same time.

"They'll be furious at him for leading us here," Helga said.

Bo sighed. "True. Well, let's make it look like he at least he put up a fight."

After emptying the clip from one of the guns, she shoved it into the soldier's hands. He held it gingerly, staring at her as she pushed against his shoulders to steer him toward the back of the room. "All right, now I'll just—" She took Helga's gun and slammed it against the soldier's temple, knocking him to the ground. An angry gash oozed blood into his hair and down his face. He'd been so afraid of them this whole time, that Bo felt awful about hurting him. But if a commander saw the blood, he'd know the soldier didn't go down without a fight. Hopefully it would save him some additional beatings.

To make extra sure his bases were covered, Bo scooped some of his blood up and splattered it on the wall. Hopefully no one looked too closely at its pattern, and just assumed it had come from one of them. They'd probably be dripping blood down the hallway from either Khan or Adam anyway.

With the soldier secured, they now poured from the cell. Adam pushed against the bed frame, trying to get to his feet, but his breath wheezed and he fell back with a grunt.

"You're gonna need help," Bo said, coming around to grab his arm and throw it over her shoulders.

"I can walk on my own," he protested, but even when he tried to get away from her, he was unable to move more than a few inches on his own.

"Sure," Bo responded. "Let me know how that works out when your broken ribs pierce your lungs."

Adam snarled, but let her get under his arm and wrap her other arm around his waist. Mostly by the strength of her own legs, she pushed him to his feet, where he leaned heavily into her as they took their first tentative steps toward the door. Adam grimaced with every step, but after they were out into the main area, he seemed to have gotten mostly used to the pain. Or at least, as used to broken ribs as someone could get.

As Helga shut the soldier into the cell, Bo looked at everyone. "Khan and Adam are too badly hurt for us to get into any fights. We need to get out of here as secretly as we can. We won't be able to run."

Helga nodded. "I'll do my best to scout ahead, and if anyone sees us I'll draw them to me."

"Good," Bo said. "Now let's get outside and head for where some ships or hoppers might be parked."

The group limped its way back into the dark hallway. Khan and Adam's heavy breathing now filled the echoing emptiness, but thankfully there were no workers around to hear it. The party was clumsy and slow, which meant that their stealth was their only defense. Bo really, really hoped no soldiers stumbled on them out of pure bad luck. She didn't think she'd even get to her gun in time, if it came to it.

With Helga leading them, they worked their way back to the door they'd come in from. Helga popped it open, to see that the dust storm was settling down. If they wanted to go unseen, they needed to hurry. Bo handed Helga the goggles, and each of them grabbed the person in front of them. Securely attached, they stepped into the whirling dust and wind.

Helga walked aimlessly for a few moments, before apparently spotting something. Their steps became purposeful, heading in a certain direction, and eventually the dust settled enough that Bo could crack open her eyes and see a few tanks parked in a field behind the building they had been in. If there were tanks, there were probably smaller vehicles and hoppers, and maybe even an airship or two.

It was another two or three minutes of walking until the dust storm had all but dissipated, and the vehicle came into close proximity. The only stealable ones were some hoppers, which Bo knew how to hotwire from a few times where the keys at home had gone missing to their own hopper supply. But she wasn't sure she trusted Adam's bulk on a hopper if he suddenly passed out.

Helga was just turning, about to say something, when Bo's eyes landed on a dark smudge appearing from behind one of the tanks. Before she could even properly register that it was a man with shoots of gray in his hair, he was joined by another man, and a handful of soldiers.

Clayton and Aston. And they had guns.