Retrospect

Forty-three

Dr. Welch shouted angrily after me once I sprinted away, but I didn't look back nor did I want to. I just kept moving, even though my legs were weak and my shoulder still burned and my head still ached. I was charging past hundreds of closed doors, wondering when the hallway would end.

A glass-shattering scream erupted from one of the rooms up ahead, making my blood turn cold. What is going on in there? I was slowing my pace, creeping over to the sealed entrance. A scanner was next to the door, but when my hand went to grab the device from my bag, I felt nothing. My bag was gone and so was the device.

"Let me go!" Somebody in the room cried. It was a woman's desperate voice. I couldn't even imagine what was happening in there. Another scream scratched the air and I wanted so badly to bust down the door and save the tortured woman.

"Cory?"

I jumped when I heard my name and spun around to see Malachi, a bloody gash across his forehead. He seemed to pay no mind to the wound, stepping closer like he had to make sure I was real. "We have to go," he said, "there isn't much time."

I looked back at the door, the woman's pleading drilling in my ears. It took everything in me to tear myself away from the room, to leave the shrieks behind and follow a sprinting Malachi. There was nothing I could do and Malachi was right, we didn't have much time. Though I still felt guilty about it all.

I told myself that woman would be free soon, once we found out what was going on here and put a stop to it. It made me feel a little better and I focused on other things, before I could let the guilt eat away at me. "Malachi," I spoke, "how did you get out?"

Malachi looked to me. "I'm guessing they put you in a room too and tried to hook some machine up to you?" he asked and I nodded. Sighing, he turned another corner into a hallway that appeared no different from the rest while I followed. "I woke up just as they were strapping me down. Punched the worker, took his knife, and thankfully my leg isn't paralyzed anymore, so I ran."

"Do you know where the others are?" We dashed down the empty hallway, narrowly avoiding a droid that was on cleaning duty.

Malachi nodded. "They should all be on this floor, since this is where they keep most of the patients that are ready for their chip," he informed. "But we should hurry and find them fast, before anyone literally loses their mind."

If Reeves, Murl, Miles, and Ana were on this floor, then where were my parents? They were the reason I wanted in this place and I wasn't leaving without them.

   Malachi halted then and put a finger up to his lips to silence me. "You hear that?" he whispered. The distant pounding of boots could be heard, growing louder and more furious until I saw three officers at the end of the hall. I pulled Malachi out of sight, around the corner again.

"They're right there," I warned.

Malachi peeked around the corner, then ducked back quickly. "They're coming this way," he told me, gripping his knife at his side.

Malachi began counting down, preparing for the officers to arrive at the corner. He looked over at me and dipped his head. "They should be about ten seconds away now," he whispered.

I wanted more than anything to have something in my hand to protect myself with, feeling exposed without my pocket knife. And it was bad enough that I was much shorter than the officers and they had protective masks on. I was about to speak when Malachi beat me to it.

"Now," he said, leaping out from cover and throwing his knife right into an officer's chest. I watched as he fell heavily to the floor, clutching the blade lodged in his flesh. The other officers instantly aimed their guns at me, so I used this to my advantage. I was distracting them, leaping over the fallen officer and ducking when I heard a bullet fly over my head.