Upload (Pt. 7)

Jason looked at the computer making sure that he had gotten everything he needed. He wasn’t sure if his friends would ever believe him about his betrayal. Could giving them this information and saving Alexsis somehow gain their trust? He wasn’t sure, but either way it would be invaluable to the rebellion.

He pulled out the flashdrive that held everything he had been able to get his hands on in their database. He hoped that Alexsis had been able to get the coordinates to them and that Braxton and the others could come and be able to get them out. If not they might just have to try and sneak out on their own which would be far harder without backup or a clear plan of where to go after they escaped. Jason shook his head, that would never work. Braxton and the others were their only hope.

Please don’t hate me kid. He thought. I didn’t actually do it. I never wanted her to get hurt.

A crash sounded behind him and Jason turned his breath stopping at the sight of the Commander walking into the room. Jason shoved the flash drive into his pocket.

“There’s been a breach! Jason-” his voice trailed off as he saw the empty bed. His face contorted into unbridled rage. “WHERE’S THE GIRL?!”

Jason fell back into his subservient role. A simple thing to do after all this time. Act like you couldn’t think of doing anything rebellious and no one would think of you as a threat.

“S-sir I-I the rebels attacked and they…”

“WHERE’S THE GIRL JASON?!”

“T-the rebels took her sir. I hid so they wouldn’t see me. I would have tried to stop them but I was afraid they would kill me!”

They might do that anyway. He thought sadly.

The punch hit him squarely in the face knocking him off balance causing him to hit the desk and chair on the way down leaving bruises. Jason gritted his teeth. He had survived worse than a few bruises. He could take a hit.

“You coward! We should have known better than to let you into our plan! I bet you let them take her! Well, you should have gone with them. You’re nothing but a useless traitor!”

Jason looked up shakily at the commander who was pulling out the pistol he carried at his hip. Jason’s eyes widened.

“No! S-sir please!”

We were so close.

Jason closed his eyes, time seeming to slow down. He didn’t want to see the gun that killed him. At least Alexsis wouldn’t have to see his death. At least she was hidden and the commander thought she had escaped.

“You’re a failure. We do not tolerate failure in this organization Jason.”

“Braxton” Jason whispered under his breath to his old friend who would probably forever think him a traitor. “I kept my promise.”

BANG!

***

I didn’t know if I had screamed. I couldn’t hear anything from the other side of the door after the gun went off and I realized that if I had screamed then the commander had just heard it and knew exactly where I was.

I swallowed dryly trying to hear anything beyond the door to tell me if he had heard me. If I had betrayed myself. 

“…you’ve hurt her Jason, so help me!”

Was that…Braxton?

The door opened in front of me and a girl with brown hair stuck her head in a smile widening on her face, her eyes shining with relief. She turned behind her, opening the door a bit wider.

“Braxton, she’s in here!” 

I blinked. Her voice..was that?

“Lexi?”

The girl looked back at me smiling. “Yep! Told you we’d make it! In the nick of time too it looks like!”

I blinked still trying to connect what was going on. “Your hair changed.”

“What? Oh! Yeah it’s normally brown. I changed it to blue as a disguise in the simulation so the spies wouldn’t recognize me as easily.”

Braxton’s face appeared around the door and he smiled at me with a look of relief filling his face. I was relieved to see them both but I was still reeling and my mind was having a hard time adjusting to all this information.

“I-Is Jason alright?”

Braxtons face fell a bit and he glanced behind him suspiciously before turning back to me and nodding. “Yeah he’s fine.” 

Jason’s face came into view behind Braxton as he stood up. “It’s alright. I’m ok Alexsis.” he put a hand on Braxtons shoulder causing him to glare suspiciously at him. “Thanks for the save bud!”

Braxton shoved his arm off. “It’s nothing.”

I sighed with relief flooding me and felt tears coming to my eyes. He was alive. The others were here to save us. I would survive. We wouldn’t be killed today.

“We should get going.” Braxton said all business “More guards could come soon.”

Lexi nodded coming in and pushing my wheelchair out of the bathroom. I spotted a lump on the ground covered with a sheet that looked suspiciously like the commander. There were two other rebels standing at the open door with guns in their hands, their attention to the small room outside and another door. One of them turned back looking at us.

“Woah! She’s already out?! You guys work fast!”

The other rebel looked back, seeming equally shocked and flashed me a quick smile before addressing Braxton. “The hallway is clear for now but I don’t know if it’ll stay that way for long! That N.I.N’er might’ve called back up.”

Braxton nodded and waved the first rebel over. “Jason got her out before we got here. Get all you can from the computers and then put in the virus, it should destroy all their files. Lexi, get to work on the charges.”

Jason stepped forwards holding up a flashdrive. “I already downloaded everything I could find from the database.”

The rebel looked Jason up and down suspiciously. “I’ll see if I can find more. There may be things you couldn’t reach.”

Jason rolled his eyes behind his back. He clearly thought that the lone rebel wouldn’t be able to get to things that he hadn’t been able to break into in months, but he let him get to the computer without complaint. 

Lexi nodded going towards a contraption that I hadn’t seen earlier next to the bed. Made up of a large box that connected to the computers it had a strange device that sat above my discarded pillow in a clump of wires and electrodes. The N.I.N. even piled in a discarded clump the thing seemed menacing, like a pile of sleeping snakes.

I would be happy to see it go up in flames.

While the others got to work Braxton crouched down next to me a smile spreading across his face though there was worry in his eyes. “How do you feel?”

I sat back with a small smile coming to my face. “Like I was hit by a train.” Braxton laughed and I heard Jason give a small chuckle too as he stepped up to us.

“How’d you get put on this mission kid? I thought Savanna’s team was going to come, don’t they usually do extraction missions like these?”

Braxton shrugged, giving Jason a suspicious look. “I got back after our meeting and the other team had already started out for the Department of Detainment and I managed to convince my Dad to let me come check out your coordinates with my own team.” He looked back at me smiling. “Looks like I made the right choice.”

I smiled back at him. “I’m glad you believed me.”

He reached up holding one of my hands in his own. “I never stopped.”

Braxton’s eyes narrowed and he reached towards me turning my left arm over to reveal the long, jagged, scar that Jason had shown me. Braxtons hold tightened on my arm and I could feel his hand trembling. I looked up at him biting my lip but he was still staring at the scar, his teeth clenched.

“What happened?” He asked breathlessly. “Who did this to you?!”

I looked away fighting back tears. “I don’t know.” I didn’t think I ever wanted to find out. Braxtons angered gaze went to Jason and I jumped in to defend him. “They did it to Jason too! He showed me his scar.”

Braxons gaze changed from accusing to questioning. Jason looked away from us both and I noticed he clutched his arm closer to himself. “Some things are better left forgotten.”

Braxton nodded solemnly and helped tuck my arm under the blanket again. Standing, the person who had gone to the computers came back over. “I got what I could from their database and put in the virus! They won’t have a scrap of data left on this model.”

“Good, Lexi? How are we doing on the explosives?”

“Almost…Ready! Lets go. We’ll want to get out of here before I engage them.”

Braxton nodded and went behind me to push the wheelchair, at his signal the two guards moved out into the next room and said it was clear for the rest of us to come out. Braxton pushed the wheelchair forwards and I went into the unknown.

The room we emerged into was large and cluttered with workbenches and an operating table off to one side. I looked at the ground after I saw it. Jason was right. I hadn’t wanted to know what was beyond the door.

We didn’t stay in that room long, the guards at the door quickly gave us the all clear and we moved forwards out into a white, brightly lit hallway that made me have to squint to see.

The group started down the hallway, one of the rebels with guns in the front to scope out our escape and another watching our back as we fled down the hallway towards an elevator. We were going extremely fast and I wished we could slow down. Moving again after being asleep for months was throwing my body for a loop.

“We’re almost there.”

Pounding footsteps sounded behind us and the man in front with the gun turned behind swearing and started rushing back to help the other who had already started shooting. Shots rang through the hall, everything erupting into chaos.

My wheelchair jerked to a stop and I barely managed to grab the armrests and stop from falling out. Glancing back I saw that Braxton had stopped me and was now turned to the approaching guards helping to shoot.

Jason rushed over taking control of my wheelchair starting to push it towards the elevator doors when he glanced back and suddenly shoved my chair forwards so I ran into the wall right next to the button. I heard something hit the ground as Jason cried out and looked over to find Jason had shoved Braxton to the ground and was now getting up clutching his shoulder as a red stain seeped into his white lab coat.

“Jason!!”

He glanced back over at me grimacing as he gestured at something near me. 

“Alexsis hit the button for the elevator!”

Looking around I saw that he had pushed me right next to the button. I hit it waiting anxiously for the doors to open glancing the opposite direction I saw more guards turn the corner coming towards us.

“Guys! Incoming!”

Lexi glanced behind her at the incoming men and rushed over standing between me and the guards pointing a gun at them. “Oh come on!”

Braxton scrambled back to his feet defending Jason. “Everyone fall back to the elevator!”

Everyone crowded towards me and I looked at the elevator. What was taking them so long?!

The shooting stopped. The lack of sound was even more shocking than the fight had been to the point that I wondered if I had gone deaf from all the noise. That was until I looked around Lexi and spotted a man in a uniform who had moved to the front of the guards.

“Well,well, what have we got here? Think we could pull off a little rescue did we?”

The group around me stiffened, their guns still pointed at the man and other guards. The man seemed unconcerned about the weapons pointed at him as he assessed our group.

“Hmm. Let’s see. What has our bait lured out of hiding? Ah! Lexi Amaran, the terrorist who helped destroy the Department of Reeducation.” The man smiled. “Such a shame your family got caught in the blast.”

Lexi stiffened her hand touching the detonator at her belt. “It…It was an accident.”

He didn’t respond looking at the others in the group.

“Who else? Two ex-marines, and ah, Braxton Keller son of the rebellion leader Laurence Keller. I wonder what he will give to get his precious son back?”

“Who says you’ve got us?”

“Well,” The man said, gesturing to the men around us. “I have you all outgunned. Unless Miss Amaran decides to blow you all up just to take me with you that is.”

Lexi flinched and I reached up and put a hand on hers, the same one holding the detonator. 

Jason shoved his way to the front. “Harry.”

“Oh and how can I forget Jason. A traitor to the end. How am I not surprised?”

“You know what they would do to Alexsis, Harry. Do you really want to hand her over to that?”

The man glanced at me and as I saw his eyes, realization finally dawned on my exhausted mind. Harry, this was him in real life. This was who he was. A glimmer of sympathy was in his eyes as he looked at me but I met him with a rageful glare and his sympathy was quickly smothered by cold calculation.

“She’s been tainted by you all. She’s useless now, but we can find better uses for you.”

The guards took a step closer when I felt a shudder behind me as the elevator finally arrived. I steadied my glare at Harry.

You know Harry. Now that I think about it you’re a terrible friend.

The elevator doors opened and I hit the detonator.

BOOM!

The entire building shook as Lexi’s bomb went off and the blast sent most of the guards behind us slamming into the wall or running away as flames and smoke spilled from the doorway to the lab. Braxton and the others after only a second of shock recovered themselves and started shooting at the guards as we backed into the open elevator doors forcing them closed to protect against the guards as they tried to fire on us again and get in.

Jason rushed over to the control panel and tried to pull it off the wall only to grunt clutching his still wounded shoulder. “B-braxton we need to-get the control panel off and rewire it to override their protocols or else we’ll- be trapped in here!”

“Move over.”

Jason stepped aside and Braxton took out a set of tools getting to work on the control panel. Once it was off he started pulling out wires searching for certain ones pulling out a knife to cut through them.  

The elevator started going up and Braxton frantically started cutting wires causing the elevator to suddenly jolt to a stop and then suddenly drop nauseatingly down so fast I was surprised my hair didn’t go flying in the air. All this jerking movement, from rushing down halls to these sudden drops weren’t doing me any good and I felt that at any moment if this elevator didn’t stop moving I was going to get sick. I was about to tell someone when it jurked again and finally settled to a stop.

Closing my eyes I settled myself for a moment. Relishing this one moment where I wasn’t moving or being shot at. I felt a pain in my stomach as I shifted in my seat a little but shoved the worries aside. It was just all the movement. I just wasn’t used to it.

Lexi moved in front of me holding two metal balls. As the doors to the elevator opened she rolled them both out in different directions down the hallway. Small explosions burst from where they had rolled. The two marines went out first guns pointed every direction and giving the all clear we were all rushing out into the smoke filled hallway towards some nearby doors leading outside.

As Lexi pushed my wheelchair through the smoke closer to the doors I coughed on the smoke filled air pain spiking in my stomach again making me grimace and then squint my eyes as we burst out into the daylight rushing towards a van that sat on the curb. As we neared more people got out of the back holding the doors open defending us as we ran up with rifles in their hands.

Two more people got out and rushed over to me helping Jason and Braxton jerkily lift my wheelchair inside. Once I was in Lexi and the rest lept in and closed the doors as the driver took off speeding away from the compound.

Everyone from our group collapsed exhausted and the others sat down on benches on the side while the rebels that had been waiting in the van moved to the front to help with any fighting still happening as we escaped.

We’re safe. We’re… free.

“Hey Simon.” Braxton said motioning to a man sitting near the front. “Jason got hit while we were escaping. I don’t know how bad it was but it’ll need to be looked at and Alexsis might…”

Braxton glanced at me and sat bolt upright, his face going pale.

I looked at him confused, struggling to keep my eyes open. “What?”

He glanced down and I looked to where he was staring a jolt of shock going through me. The blanket that I’d had around me now had a red stain that was quickly growing.

“Simon! Simon! Get over here! She’s wounded!”

Braxton and Simon both rushed over the latter, opening a first aid kit. Jason sat up taller trying to see over them.

“What happened?”

“She’s bleeding. Alot!”

“Did she get shot?” Simon asked, trying to pull away the blanket. “I don’t see a bullet hole here.”

“She has s-stitches!” Jason exclaimed. “The fighting must have broken them!”

My vision was swimming, blurring in and out. Whether it was from blood loss, exhaustion, shock or all three I wasn’t sure but I knew I couldn’t stay awake much longer.

“I’m dieing.”

I felt a hand on my arm and looked up to see Braxton looking at me eyes wide in barely concealed panic. “Alexsis, Alexsis, look at me ok? Everything will be alright. You’re going to be fine. You’ll be ok. I promi-”

The world went dark.