In my Blood

CHAPTER 24 - Trust

My body swings through the air as Minho and Aris collide with yells, Minho cursing loudly.We're hanging upside down above a deep hole in the ground, fifty feet in the air. Our feet are tied with thick ropes, and we all sway from side to side, trying to avoid crashing into someone else.

"Watch your bloody language, shank," Newt mutters. Minho laughs, raising his eyebrows as he tries to crane his head in Newt's direction, continuing to spin. "Really? That's what you're worried about right now?" 

I sigh loudly. "Guys. We have bigger issues than your petty arguments. How about we focus on getting the shuck out of these ropes?"

"Good plan, Thomas," Minho grunts, ignoring me. "Hear them out. How's that working out for you?"

"Oh, shut up, Minho," Thomas retorts.

I sigh miserably, gritting my teeth together in frustration. 

"Enjoying the view?" a voice interrupts. I see Jorge making his way towards us from the ledge, walking slowly, as if he's savouring every careful step he makes, devouring the time he spends mocking us.

"What do you  want?" Thomas asks sassily. Jorge chortles slightly.

"That is the question," he purrs. "My men want to sell you back to WICKED. Life has clearly taught them to think small. And I don't do that. Something tells me that you teenagers don't do that, either."

"Is the blood rushing through my head," Minho slurs, "or is this shank not making any sense?"

"Tell me what you know," Jorge continues, "about the Right Arm."

"I thought you said they were ghosts?" Newt asks in an intrigued tone.

"I happen to believe in ghosts," Jorge responds with a grin. He saunters over to the lever for the ropes. I hold my breath, pursing my lips together tensely. "You tell me what you know, and maybe we can make a deal."

I see Thomas shake his head. "We – we don't really know much."

My body falls as Jorge pulls the lever. Screams erupt from around me, and then we stop falling as Jorge pulls it again, Minho crashing back into Aris with a yelp.

"Okay, okay!" Thomas shouts. "They're hiding somewhere in the mountains! And they – they attacked WICKED, and got out a bunch of kids. That's all we know, I swear!"

Jorge opens his mouth to speak before a deep voice rumbles from the doorway. I see the bald man from earlier walk towards Jorge. "Hey, Jorge. What's going on?"

"Me and my new friends were just getting acquainted," he replies. "We're all done now."

"Are you not gonna help us?" Frypan asks. The bald man looks suspiciously towards Jorge, who's wearing a slight smirk. Though... there's something more in his eyes. A glisten of secrecy, hope. Trust... no, it can't be trust. He bound us up in ropes. 

"Don't worry, hermano. We'll get you back to where you belong."

The two men walk away purposefully. The ledge is about eye level with us now, a few metres out of our reach. I scan around, and see that Teresa is in line with some railing on the ledge.

"Teresa, do you think if someone gave you a push you could reach that rail?" I suggest.

"That might work," she replies.

"Okay. Thomas, you're closest to Teresa, so you should give her a push towards the ledge," I say. Thomas nods, trying to spin himself around to face Teresa.

"Ready?" he asks, grabbing hold of her waist. She nods briskly, so Thomas uses all of his strength to push her towards the ledge. She holds her hands out, reaching towards the railings, but her fingers only brush past the metal.

"Try again!" Minho orders. So Thomas grabs hold of her again, and with much more force this time, pushes her. Teresa arches her back and holds out her arms so far it looks as if they could snap at any moment, her hands spreading out as far as they can go. And, finally, she grabs a strong hold of the railings, hoisting her body upwards. We all grin as Teresa pulls herself up onto the ledge and unties the rope from her ankles.

One by one, we all manage to get onto the ledge and untied with Teresa's help. We're untying Fry's rope when we see bright flashing lights surround the building, and hear low rumbles in the sky.

"Thunder again?" Aris asks.

"No," I gasp, with wide eyes. "That's not thunder..."

A loud voice booms out into the silence, their voice projected by some sort of speaker. It's a deep, sinister voice, on that I recognise immediately. Janson. "This is the World in Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department. We have your compound completely surrounded!"

"Oh, klunk," Newt mutters. "Right, we need to get out of here, fast!"

We all run around the ledge of the hole, towards the door, when the bald man steps out with a gun. "Where do you think you kids are going?" the man sneers.

"Look, we're not trying to cause any trouble," Thomas replies, his hands held up in surrender, "we just wanna get out of here."

"Is that so?" he smirks. He brings a walkie-talkie up to his mouth. "Janson – I got them here."

The man snickers, taking a step towards us. We immediately retract backwards. Then, without warning, Thomas steps forward and grabs the man's gun. A shot goes off, and everyone runs backwards, ducking as the bullet fires into the air. The man fights Thomas, but he's not strong enough . Thomas headbutts the man, causing him to stagger backwards and growl at Thomas angrily.

"You little-"

A gunshot sounds.

I gasp in shock, looking around in confusion. I wasn't hit; I would definitely feel it. No one else has fallen... apart from the bald man. He collapses to the floor, the gun falling from his grasp and sliding out across the floor to Thomas' feet.

We look around in confusion. And that's when I see her, standing in the doorframe: the short-haired girl from earlier, holding a pistol up to where the man used to be standing. 

"Okay, come on," she orders breathlessly. We stand there, petrified and disordered. "Come on, let's go!" she shouts.