Young Writers Society

A/N: Skylar, Darien, Kiersten, and Issac have successfully infiltrated the building and retrieved the files they came to steal. Now that they have the necessary files, they are attempting to make it out of the building alive and report back to headquarters. 

Chapter 1.3

"Wings 1, 2, 3, and 4 reporting back to HQ," Skylar reported into her com device. "Mission has been accomplished. Files have been gathered, prepared to report back to HQ. Waiting for further instruction."

The reply was instant. "The hallway is clear. Make your move now, but be careful. It is extremely likely that the security of this building has been alerted to your presence."

"Copy that." Skylar placed her hand on the doorknob but paused, glancing back at her 3 colleagues. "Are you guys ready?"

All of them nodded, and Skylar practically threw the door open, storming into the hallway with her hand on her gun. She brushed a bead of sweat off her forehead as she moved down the hallway, drawing her gun and brandishing it in front of her. This was easily the most nerve-wracking part of their missions; this point in time when every security personnel was on high alert and had her description, the time when it might come down to who could pull the trigger faster. These were the times when she was painfully aware of how she was putting her life on the line, aware of the possibility that she might not make it out of this building alive, aware of how many people wanted her dead and how heavily outnumbered they were.

She shook the thoughts off. The more she worried about herself, the less she was focused on the mission at hand, and she needed to exert all of her energy on making sure these files made it to their headquarters, a cause she was mroe than willing to die for. The four of them reached another hallway perpendicular to their current one, and Issac stepped forward.

"Are you ready?" he mouthed to her, and she nodded quickly. Her hands were beginning to sweat, but she gripped her gun tightly.

"Let's do this," she whispered back, and then Issac jumped out into the hallway. Skylar heard a bullet and moved to tackle Issac out of the way, but it was too late. Issac let out a grunt of pain and collapsed to the ground, his hands moving to cover his side.

"Wing 3 has been shot," Skylar whispered into her com device. "Requesting a visual of the hallway." Her legs were trembling; she was painfully aware that every second she waited was a second that Issac was in grave peril.

"There are three guards, all of them very inexperienced."

Skylar didn't question how it was possible to know this, but she motioned for the other two to approach her. "We have the element of surprise here. They're out in the open, and we have cover. On my count, one of you cover me, and I'll drag Issac back here. We don't have a lot of time."

"I'll cover you," Kiersten volunteered, glancing at Issac lying on the floor. He was still moaning and clutching his side, and Skylar could see Kiersten's concern in her eyes.

"On three, we go. One, two, three!"

Kiersten turned the corner and began to fire rounds at them, one striking a guard in the chest and the rest finding no hold. Skylar darted out into the hallway, keeping low to the ground, and grabbed Issac's feet. She dragged him back behind the cover of the wall. Darien immediately ripped off part of his cargo pants to wrap the wound, and Skylar let him do what he had been trained to do: repair wounds and minimize the damage until the professional surgeons back at HQ could work their magic.

"You're gonna be okay, Issac," Skylar whispered, fighting back tears. The gravity of the situation was just beginning to hit her.

Issac responded with a moan, letting Darien shift his hands away. Skylar winced when the wound was uncovered; the area around the wound was bright red, and blood was still flowing out of the small hole. Darien pressed his makeshift bandages to the wound to stop the bleeding.

Skylar grabbed Issac's hand and squeezed it tightly. "We're going to take care of you, Issac. Don't you worry."

Issac forced a smile and glanced up at Skylar. His green eyes shimmered with tears. "If... if I don't make it out,"

"No," Skylar interrupted. "Don't talk like that, Issac. You're going to be fine. Darien's gonna patch you up, and we're going to make sure that you make it out of here alive. And then —and then we're gonna get you back to HQ and have them stitch you. Everything will be okay, alright? I promise."

"But...but just in case," Issac whispered.

Skylar wiped a tear from her eye before Issac could see it, but let him continue.

"I want you... I want you to take my salary and give it to my family. Make up... make up something for them... help them host my funeral. Make sure... make sure they're taken care of." Issac's eyes fluttered shut, but Skylar gripped his shoulders and shook him gently.

"Stay with me, Issac. I need you to keep fighting. I know you can. You're one of the strongest people I know, and we're going to make it through this together. And before you know it, we'll be laughing about this over one of those team dinners. You know those dinners? I'll make sure they serve spaghetti just for you, Issac. Spaghetti and ice cream sundaes with loads and loads of meatballs."

"That'd be nice," Issac whispered. "Don't... don't worry about me, Skylar. I knew what I was getting myself into."

Darien had finished wrapping the wound and grabbed Issac's hand. "Come on, we have a mission to complete. Skylar, help get him on my back."

"No, I'll just slow you down," Issac protested.

"Absolutely not," Skylar and Darien said in unison.

"We're not leaving you behind, ever." Skylar insisted, letting go of his hand and helping Darien lift Issac onto his back. Issac gripped Darien's neck as tightly as he could, and Skylar couldn't help but giggle. "Look, Issac, it's a piggy-back ride."

Issac smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. Skylar drew her gun and glanced up at Kiersten, who was frantically reloading.

"I got two of them, but there's one left, and he's a damn good shot, Skylar. I don't know how we're going to take him down."

"We get him to come to us," Skylar murmured. "I have an idea. Follow my lead."

"I'm out of ammo, Kiersten! Do you have any extra?" Skylar hissed in a stage-whisper that carried through the hallway. She shook her head at Kiersten, and Kiersten seemed to catch her drift.

"I'm out, too. We'll just have to hold him off for as long as we can."

"But we don't have any ammo! There's no way we can take him! We're basically sitting ducks," Skylar protested, and then there were footsteps approaching them carefully. "Should we surrender?" she added.

The footsteps were getting closer and closer, and Skylar and Kiersten both drew their guns silently. Skylar quietly counted off the footsteps until the guard was just around the corner, then she jumped out, squeezing the trigger and aiming at the same time.

The bullet struck the over-confident guard right in the chest, and he screamed and dropped his weapon. Skylar grabbed his weapons from him, as protocol dictated, and shoved them into her belt. "Let's go!" she shouted to the rest of her crew, and they immediately followed the hallways back to the stairwell.

They stormed down the stairwell like a horde of elephants, their heavy footsteps echoing throughout the chamber. Throwing caution to the wind, they ran as fast as they could, all of their training preparing them for this mad dash to the finish line. Despite their exhaustion, they made it to the ground like this was just their warm-up. Skylar and Kiersten flanked both sides of the door, and on Kiersten's signal, they threw the door open and stormed through the hallway.

The only people in this hallway were employees in business clothes, all of them cowering away from the four of them. Skylar fired a round upwards to scare them, and all of them hid away in their cubicle. One or two of them attempted to stop them with their bare hands, but both of them were easily able to deflect the blows.

"What turn do we make next?" Skylar asked, directing her question to HQ. She was short of breath and had to stop and brace herself against the wall. Kiersten did the same, and they both noticed that Darien was lagging behind.

"Where's Darien?" Skylar demanded, and Kiersten shrugged, grabbing her chest.

"He was... right behind us... last time I checked," she said in between gasps.

"How long ago was that?"

Kiersten shrugged again, and Skylar sighed and turned around, charging back towards the mob of employees. As she ran, a thought occurred to her. Deflecting the blows of that mob had been easy enough when she was by herself, but would Darien be able to hold them off with Issac on his back?