It happens at midnight.
Why does everything bad happen at midnight?
First, there's a knock on my door.
I open it to see Salena. First, she gives me a smile, then takes my hand.
"The news..." she says. "Look." Salena carefully guides me to the conference room. The TV is on, and Drake sits there, watching it.
I read the caption that reads under the reporter:
Three Criminals of the Four Who Massacred Prison Identified.
I stare at the screen.
This is bad.
"Turn up the volume," I say. Drake fumbles for the remote and increases the sound.
"Cameras set up outside of a warehouse in Missouri have recently caught five teens, two of which appear to be wearing the same uniforms described in the recent police report of the four teens who massacred a prison in South Carolina, killing several men in the warehouse's backyard. More on this after the break."
The frame switches to commercials.
"What are we gonna do?" Asks Drake.
"I don't know..." I say.
"Well?! What are we gonna do?!"
"I DON'T KNOW!" I say. Salena intervenes.
"Let's just find out who they identified and go from there, I've got some things I can do," she says.
I've noticed a major change in Salena since her mission was completed. She always seems happier now, and even though she's still quiet, I hear her voice far more often. She still won't let others touch her much, but other than that, Salena almost seems like a new person.
We wait in silence until the news resumes.
"Through facial recognition and the help of a previous first-hand source, we've managed to identify three out of the four teenage murderers that are roaming the states. But according to the footage, they're not alone."
A first-hand source? That's impossible, I think. Unless one of the former slaves helped them... but they didn't know our names.
"Today's evidence shows that there is another one with them. Who knows how many could be roaming the streets right now? How large is this group of teens? No one seems to know."
Pictures go up on the screen with small captions under them.
Names.
Heneya Eyisha.
Drake Dekor.
My breath catches in my throat as I see the last picture on the screen.
My school picture, taken days before the agents came to my school.
Alisha Ballestri.
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"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?!" Drake shrieks.
"Calm down," I say, "it'll be fine." Although I know it won't.
"It'll be fine?! We're WANTED!" He yells. "NO ONE BOTHERED TO CHECK FOR CAMERAS?!"
I think back. I don't remember ever seeing any cameras.
"I don't know..." I say.
The news goes on to talk about who to contact if we're seen, and then talks about what was discovered inside the building.
I don't understand.
Shouldn't we be hero's? Surely they don't think we were the ones keeping those people captive. If they watched the camera feed, they should have seen what really happened.
"Keep an eye out, and stay safe," the reporter concludes. She moves on to the next story as Drake turns the TV off.
"My life is over," Drake complains.
"I know something we can do," Salena says. I look towards her.
"What?" I ask.
She looks hesitant.
"Follow me."
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Salena leads us to a room I didn't know existed. We step inside and I immediately see machines everywhere.
She leads us to a giant computer and starts typing.
The pictures of us pop up, along with our names and the reporter's face. Salena clicks on my picture. She chooses an option that says "edit."
"Don't tell me you just..."
"Mhm," she says.
"How?"
"I know my way around computer programs. Sit down," she says to me. I obey her, sitting in the chair. She looks at me and changes small details on the picture, such as my eye color and hair length, and then edits my name to "Alisa Balles."
Then she gestures for Drake to sit, and does the same, changing his name to "Drew Dekorah."
"What about Heneya?" I ask. Salena shrugs.
"I'll just change hers now," she says, editing the picture. She changes her name to "Henya Ayesha."
When she's finished, Salena hits "save changes."
"Done," she says.
"They're gonna notice," Drake comments.
"But they don't check this between now and when it airs again. And according to the people, the news is always correct. They'll think it was an error that was corrected and boom, you're free."
I smile at Salena.
Even if she can't go on missions, she might've given us the best chance we've got at survival going forward.
YOU ARE READING
Flames of Revenge
Action"Why does so much change in a short period of time? One moment I was innocent.... Then I was a murderer." Join Alisha Ballestri as she takes you along on her journey of becoming one of the world's most wanted criminals. Except everyone assumes she d...
