Chapter 19

“The emergency exits are locked from the outside.” A faculty member was informing Principal Todd.

“I just said that.”

They still didn’t acknowledge me even after saving them. I continued to look at them as they kept going on. After a few minutes I walked over to Tiny who was still out, I dug into his pocket until I came across sets of keys. I went back to Principal Todd handing him the keys. “These should open the locks.”

He gave me a questionable look. “What if there are others outside?”

“In the east wing there’s a group of students hiding as well as a number of acolytes tied together. There’s also a couple more in the band room and one in the faculty office.”

He gave me an even more questionable look. It must have been real hard for him to believe. “Is that so? You did all of that?” He finally asked.

I guess I could see how he would have trouble believing a teenager was able to do something he himself was incapable of doing. “Yes.”

He nodded and took the keys handing them to the school campus monitor. There were some that shared the same skepticism but many others were thankful for what we did. They know what they saw. As much as I wanted to acknowledge them there was still the issue of Jessica’s brother. I wanted to continue our search, but I had to convince everyone it was safe to head outside. The communications were still down but there was no immediate danger. The faculty and monitors did eventually take charge and started leading everyone towards the exit.

My head was still plagued with where Jason could be. We pretty much ran all over the place and made our presence known. I thought about the different rooms I could try looking into but none of them made sense. Once the police came in they were going to sweep each location so staying indoors would be dumb strategically. During my train of thought I heard something.

Was that a helicopter? Being so deep in thought I was surprised it caught my attention but the more I thought about, the more it clicked. I looked at my phone again and it still showed no signal. Police and news stations have helicopters and to be flying around would make sense but with the threats given by the acolytes this area would still be considered a no fly zone.  Helicopter…? What would a helicopter being doing in this situation? An escape. I looked around the roofs…of course, they needed an escape plan. It was a theory and crazy one but it made sense.

“Gabriel what is it? Are you coming?” Emmalin’s voice calling to me. I found her looking at me with the rest of the team. Jace didn’t need to ask, he knew something dawned on me.

“I need you guys to go.”

“Come on Gabriel not this again.” Alec followed.

“What.” They all yelled at the same time.

I held my hand up to stop them from continuing. “No time to explain.” I said walking over to one of the campus monitors leading everyone out. “Roof accesses, which would be the easiest to access from here?”

The campus monitor looked at me weird but given the recent events he didn’t question it. “There’s a few but the easiest is above the gym, in the back there an access hallway to stairs leading you right to it.”

“Gabriel what are you doing?” Emmalin asked grabbing my arm.

“This isn’t over. Felicia get to Dad and get them in here. The roof, there’s a helicopter coming that’s where they are.”

There was a lot of confusion except for Jace who said nothing as he stood by me.

“Emmalin go. I need to know you are safe.”

“Gabriel what is going on?”

The helicopter was still faint but it was getting closer. There wasn’t much time left. “Go.”

She wanted to argue, she wanted to yell as tears started forming in her eyes but she didn’t, she held her lips and let the silence between us speak enough. Felicia grabbed her and started leading her out. I couldn’t continue to look at her, I turned away.

“So the roof, makes sense.” Jace confirmed.

As we headed to the access door, I couldn’t  stop my mind from thinking why am I doing this? I was actually surprised how I was still pushing through this as I was hurt and noticeably tired, I could have just walked out with everyone and hoped they caught him…no I knew why because I wanted to prevent this from ever happening again and if this was the answer then it was justified.

The door was right there, my pulse started rising and my speed picked up, without thinking I was slamming my shoulder right into the door. The light from the sun shot in my face as I heard gunshots come from my left. Jace threw himself against me and we both hit the floor as more bullets riddled around us. I moved quickly to the end of the barrier to take a quick peek and there stood an older version of the boy I saw in the picture at Jessica’s house…Jason, right behind them was Charli and Jessica.

What the? They found her? I went to tell Jace but when I turned to him he was holding his arm with a good amount of blood coming through.

“Yeah, I got shot.”

I took my shirt off or what was left of it and started pressing it against his wound tying it off at the back. Damn, it must have happened when he pushed me down. Jace tried moving but the pain was fresh and winced hard. He wasn’t going anywhere

“Looks like I’m out of this one. I took a bullet you better not let them get away.”

“No I got it. Stay down.”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

I gave him a reassuring smile as I checked his wound, it wasn’t good and I was considering giving Jace my undershirt. Okay what was I going to do? I could see the helicopter it was close but still pretty high. I needed to do something and do something quick.

“Gabriel the great, you can come out.”

Did I just get called out? Jace looked at me and didn’t know what to think. I gave a shrug. I really had no options at this point, I was hoping this was going to play out to my favor. I put my hands up hoping they weren’t shot off and slowly started rising.   

“You have been a pain in my a*s.” A sly smile was forming on his face. “You were only supposed to be the bait. I honestly thought the so called unknown was doing all of this. I give you credit time and time again you managed to screw everything up.” He started laughing, it was really annoying, half sarcastic half loud. I was focused on his gun but my eyes kept darting to Jessica, she was unharmed but scared. Charli had a gun jammed against her but I knew she wasn’t going to do anything. I needed to stall, the helicopter was right above us and it was shortening any options. Where was Leon? He should have heard about this? Where were the cops? Nothing…it was up to me.

“I have a question.” Interrupting his rant, he actually looked surprised but he waited for me to ask. “Why all of this? I can assume it was for Jessica but why the big theatrics? At least give me that. I’m screwed in this situation either way and you clearly won so at least answer that.” I didn’t expect him to answer but just asking the question brought back memories of anger and pain. Adam’s face appeared in my head, the image of his lifeless body.

Jason did answer, “I actually wanted the unknown to come. The attack on your school was for Jessica to lure her out. I was there at the party and I saw how she looked at you so it only made sense to go after you. My business partner actually had an interest in the unknown. As you probably saw already the acolytes are heavily involved. I made a deal with the leader, I get Jessica, and they get the unknown.”

He confirmed his involvement in all of this and I could barely contain myself from wanting to run straight at him. He was the reason for everything. My plan was to stall but I didn’t want to stand around and wait anymore.

“Jason. Fight me.”

Jason was even more surprised. He just stood there looking at me, as he processed what I said. I stood there, my fist balled and ready for a fight.

The helicopter was loud as it approached on its decent, the wind picked up causing debris to kick up everywhere, but I kept my eyes on him. He must have been tempted because he didn’t answer.

Charli was yelling from the distance. “Come one, we have her.” It brought Jason back to reality as he just smiled and started walking away.

So much for that plan. It was time for plan C. “Is that why your father prefers me to you. When it gets serious you run and hide.” It was a low blow and I knew what kind of response it was going to have.

Jason stopped immediately after the words finished coming out of my mouth. Anger was clearly written on his face as he was turning.  Yup, I definitely hit a nerve with that one.

Charli continued to scream at Jason but it was falling on death ears. Jason already had his sleeves rolled up and was halfway towards me ready to unleash all the anger I brought out. I took a deep breath and prepared myself. Every tournament, every fight always in some way meant something to me. Whether it be the challenger or the outcome of the fight, win or lose I remember each fight. This one though I knew was going to mean the most to me.

Jason sprang forward, attacking at a very fast rate. He threw punches in a fury as he quickly put me in defense. My whole attention went to blocking with very little chances to counter. I saw his leg shoot out and blocked it with mine but he didn’t slow down. I felt the hit on my shin but he didn’t give any indication he did. I was keeping up but Jason was good, my teeth were grinding against each other as I kept getting hit. I was able to get a few in but there were nowhere in comparison to the ones he dealt.

Another kick came in but I didn’t react in time and took a solid strike on my knee. It took me down and it left me open. I blocked a couple but found myself on the ground.

Get up, again. I heard myself yelling in my head. I was up but Jason was on top of me again. I was on the defensive side again blocking his oncoming attacks, some still were able to slip in but I countered with square punch to the jaw following it with a left hook and right leg kick. It phased him but he was back on the offensive.

I was tired and my body was hurting all over. The effects of the earlier battles were finally catching up. At this point I had bruises on top of bruises but I couldn’t let it stop me. I let my body take over as the speed of the fight increased, it took over my breathing and pushed me harder than I could remember. It was really something but it was short lived as Jason caught my arm hitting me a number of times in the head. My vision went blurry as another hit connected causing me to hit the ground.

Again.

I was getting up but a foot greeted me. I was on the ground with my mouth filled with a familiar warm sensation. I knew the taste and confirmed it was blood as I spit it on the ground.

Again.

I got up and Jason was on his way. Jace stepped in and started attacking but Jason knew exactly where to attack and he did with conviction. Jace was down yelling in pain.

I climbed back up on my feet and charged at Jason. Given under different circumstances the fight could have gone differently but Jason was too fresh and too skilled. I was able to attack but Jason countered striking me again in my head and then a combination of punches on my body. I blacked out momentarily waking up on the ground.

Again.

I drove whatever I had left into my arms as I started picking myself up. Jason was standing a few feet from gun pointed right at me. I didn’t bother, I didn’t need to. A figure dressed in black finally showed up and was standing behind Jason without him knowing.

“You are just a pawn, you are nothing in this.” He yelled

My eyes must have gave it away because he immediately turned. Leon disarmed Jason as the gun flew a couple feet from Jace then they went at it. It was a thing of beauty seeing them fight and if it wasn’t for seeing Charli aiming at Leon I would have love just to stand and watch.

“Jace, gun.” I yelled. The copter was right on top of us as it made its final approach. The thought of the no gun policy rule shot in my head but whatever the consequence I would deal with later. Jace tossed the gun with no hesitation. I caught it feeling the familiarity of the gun, already knowing what I was working with. There was only a partial clip based on the weight. I wasn’t shooting to kill but I’ve gone with my dad enough times to know how to aim. Another deep breath, lined up and fired.

Charli shot off a couple of shots but she was shocked to see shots coming her way. More gunshots came from the helicopter as two acolytes were shooting out of it. I ducked out of the way. I quickly peeked over to see Charli pointing towards Jason and Leon. The copter was hovering as Charli pushed Jessica in. This was my chance. My body took over again and gave me the energy I needed. I stayed low and ran towards it. The acolytes were making their way to Leon. I emptied the rest of the clip in their direction trying to delay them but my focus was on the copter.

I jumped in to everyone surprise, Jessica, Charli and the two pilots. The copter was a decent size with plenty of room to move around. I started hitting anything that was moving. Then to my surprise I was being attacked by Jason.

“Get it in the air now.” I heard someone yell and shortly after were ascending.

It was tight quarters and I knew I had seconds, my adrenaline and desperation kicked in and I didn’t let up on my attacks. During my fury I had an opening, I saw Leon outside and we were already at least 6 feet up, I grabbed Jessica as an arm tried to wrap around me. I threw her out of the copter then disarmed whoever grabbed me, driving my head into theirs, I turned to strike whoever it was but I was met with a kick. The kick was solid enough to strike me out of the copter into a freefalling state. I don’t remember much except looking up and seeing Jason face as I fell. The stupid sly smile of his was no longer on his face, replaced by rage then darkness…