Chapter 26

When the officers were thrown, the doctors nearby noticed us for the first time, so did the other officers. Jemma started blasting more guys while I headed for the doctors. They were surrounded by six guards in seconds. “Back down,” one of them said and I grabbed his arm and twisted it in the opposite direction then shoved him back into one of the doctors. Other officers tried to grab me and I punched one in the gut then one of them in the foot with their own gun. Jemma blasted away one of them and knocked the legs out from beneath another. I turned my gun on the last officer and he backed off a little.

“What do you want?” he asked trying to see from under my hood.

“Either you or one of the good doctors will give me your key card to the private lab now,” I informed him.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

“Who is giving over the key card?” Sara joined me.

“Williams, you should be ashamed of yourself,” the officer told her, “Siding with those freaks.”

“Let us in there now,” I shot at his feet.

“Wait,” one of the doctors came out with a key card in his shaky hand, “We do not want any trouble.”

“Thanks,” I grabbed it then Jemma threw them to the other side of the room. We unlocked the door and burst into the private lab. Morrison's officers went for us immediately and Sara shot two of them in the leg while Jemma threw two of them into the next room.

 

“What is the meaning of this?” Morrison came out of a bathroom and I saw Peck in the corner, “We have a deal with your leaders, you stay out of our level.”

“Didn't stop you from taking our people,” Sara replied.

“Williams, what is going on?” Peck demanded.

“Jemma,” I saw Eliot trying to get free of his restraints, “Is that you S...?”

“Eliot,” Jemma went to his side and started to undo his restraints.

“Don't try it girl,” Peck tried to grab her and Jemma protected her.

 

“Are you the fire raiser? Did one of the leaders send you down here?” Morrison said and I pointed my gun at him, “Watch yourself, girl.”

“I am not a girl anymore,” I took my hood off.

“Maya,” he smiled, “I was hoping you'd come down here again, my dear.”

“I didn't come to please you,” I shot just above his head.

“I was expecting you to come for Price,” he started forward, “Have you seen any more visions lately?”

“You'll never know,” I snapped, “Just stay still, Morrison until we are gone.”

“You will not be leaving this floor again, Miss. Garnet,” he chuckled, “This is where you belong.”

“Leave her alone,” Eliot said then the ground started to shake.

“Eliot, stop that now,” Morrison told him, “If you try to escape, I will be very upset.”

“Like you were with my parents,” I shot again and it scarped his shoulder.

“Your parents didn't see my vision, do not be as ignorant as them,” he held his shoulder.

“You're going to hell,” Sara told him.

 

“How did you convince Williams to change sides?” he asked me, “What did you tell her?”

“Not everyone is under your control, Morrison and our numbers will only grow,” I warned him.

“Put down the gun, Maya,” he insisted.

“You're going to lose, Morrison I see it every time I have a vision,” I said, “There is no scenario where you'll have complete control and you cannot change that.”

“More officers will be here in seconds,” he pulled a beeper out of his pocket, “Then I'll have you and whoever has the strongest player wins.”

“Except in chess,” I shot the beeper then grabbed Eliot, “We have to go now.”

“You won't get out of here,” he shouted as we ran out the door. We got to a side entrance of the main lab then Eliot collapsed.

“I'm so tired,” he said and Sara put her arm around him and helped him to his feet again.

 

“Hey, kids,” I shouted and some of the test subjects came running over. Two of them just sat there with blank eyes and I grabbed the boy. “You are coming with us,” I told him.

“I belong to Morrison,” he said then the girl seemed to snap out of it. I grabbed the girl's hand and threw the other over my shoulder. We were out of the entrance then the ice girl appeared.

“We belong to Morrison go back inside,” she said freezing the ground.

“Vicky, you don't have to do this,” Jemma warned her.

“You three will be added to the collection,” she walked closer and Jemma threw her into the wall. “I will not be thrown,” she blasted at Jemma and Jemma got out of the way before the ice hit her.

“We are getting out of here,” I told Vicky then I saw officers coming this way.

“Eli, try to make the ceiling crack,” I turned to him.

“I'll try,” he agreed then touched the wall and the whole floor shook until blocks of the ceiling fell. Jemma levitated them then hit the guards with them.

 

“I am getting tired, Maya,” Jemma told me and I saw the sweat on her forehead.

“You are all going to give up eventually,” Vicky shot ice at Sara.

“Where is the nearest exit, Vicky?” I demanded.

“That direction and around the corner,” she pointed behind us, “But you will not make it there.”

“I have the foresight,” I told her, “Jemma, can you manage one more blast?”

“Yes,” she threw Vicky again then we hurried off down the hallway. The girl holding my hand made the officers fall asleep that came at us then I saw the exit.

 

“We made it,” I said relieved then my foot was blasted with ice and froze in place, “Sara, Jemma grab the kids and go.”

“The door is locked,” Sara banged on it.

“I'll try to unlock it,” Jemma said, but she looked exhausted.

“Like I said, you aren't going anywhere,” Vicky came up to me, “You, Maya Garnet are going to be his ultimate weapon.”

“Got it,” Jemma broke through and I handed off the young boy to the girl holding my hand and she dragged him out the door.

“Come on, Maya,” Sara tried to help me.

“We need her,” Vicky created a wall of ice between me and my allies, “You are staying.”

 

“Sara, Jemma get upstairs,” I shouted then Vicky tried to grab my arm, “I am not going back in there.”

“Yes you are,” she took out handcuffs then without warning she was hit with a ball of fire. Another one hit my foot and it was free. I hit Vicky with my gun from behind and she fell forward. “Fire raiser, I have orders,” Vicky tried to get up and I saw Eva had got here. She caught Vicky's hair on fire then I saw two more people had joined us.

“Hey, May,” Nora said out of breath, but all of my focus was on her brother.

 

“Maya,” he looked weak and he was bleeding.

“Eva, ice wall,” I told her putting Darren's free arm over my shoulder. Eva set another fire ball into the wall and we broke through. Eva closed the exit door behind us and melted both sides of the door knobs.

“You should have stayed upstairs, Garnet,” Darren said as we helped him up the stairs.

“I don't stay up there while you were down here being tortured, Price,” I said and I heard alarms go off all over on the lower level.

“We should go down to the unfinished level below,” Darren told me, “I heard them say they were shutting off the heat on our level.”

“We'll go soon,” I promised then we reached our level. I opened the door and guardians looked at us in surprise. They took us to a cell room and when I got inside I collapsed onto the floor exhausted and so everyone else.

 

“You five are in big trouble,” Rogers said coming in some time later.

“We broke the rules,” I nodded, “But we saved six kids and one that might be saveable.”

“We also got Eli and your junior combat officer,” Sara changed her face back to normal.

“I am glad to see you again, Price do you need a doctor?” he sighed.

“Yes, he does,” I got up slowly, “I'll take the blame for all of this, Rogers.”

“You better believe you will,” he helped Darren up, “The leaders are in the conference room, Jones and Garrison will escort you.”

“Yes sir,” Garrison grabbed my arm and they took me to the conference room. When I got inside, everyone was silent, except for Seth who came storming over to me.

“What the hell were you thinking, Maya?” he demanded.

“They were torturing Darren and they had some of our people, no one was helping them,” I retorted.

 

“We appreciate your drive, Miss. Garnet,” Dr. Jamieson said seriously, “But you are our best chance of survival and we need you to stay here from now on.”

“I know who I am and that everyone thinks I am important,” I had to sit down, “But those kids they had down there could be important too.”

“You said you would stay up here and let me handle it,” Seth argued.

“Would you have risked going into Morrison's lab?” I asked him annoyed, “They had one kid who could make people fall asleep by looking at them and another boy who could cause an earthquake, I think all of their lives are important too.”

 

“You should have voiced your concerns, Maya,” Jamieson told me, “You have to understand that with you on his side, Morrison can predict every move we make.”

“He doesn't have me though,” I argued, “I cannot just sit around and have visions, I have training I should be a guardian too.”

“I am sorry, Maya,” Dr. Hunter stood up, “You are too valuable to put into danger, we may need to increase your guardian detail.”

“Are you guys going to try and hold me prisoner?” I crossed my arms.

“Absolutely not,” Jamieson answered, “But tomorrow we will be starting to look for exits downstairs and we need you to stay out of the action.”

 

“Price might have found something,” Rogers came in.

“Found what?” Hunter inquired.

“A way out of here,” Rogers explained, “The unfinished level is abandoned and there may exits there into tunnels.”

“We can get out,” I muttered.

“Get Price to come here once he's healed a little,” Seth suggested, “He needs to give a full report.”

 

“I'll go find Jillian she can help wounds,” I started for the door, but Seth caught my arm, “What?”

“Stay on this level please, Maya,” he ordered.

“I will,” I headed out the door.

“Maya,” Nora came running down the hall, “Darren is asking for you.”

“Let's go then,” I said then she led the way to the bunks.