ESCAPE

Chapter Ten

I stare at Will through the glass, forcing myself to stand strong and keep my chin up, despite sheer terror running through my veins. It feels like seeing a stranger for the first time. Without another word, he spins around and storms out of the room, disappearing from view.

"Oh god, oh god," Bella says, her hands shaking. "I can't believe this is happening."

I scan the room, hardly able to lock on to anything. "He's on his way. We have to get out of here."

Bella hums and makes panicked sounds as she looks around. "How the fuck could Will do this to us?"

I ignore her as I focus on the consoles. There are so many buttons; one of them has to do something. I turn as Bella starts grunting and see her pulling against a metal pole under the counter. I'm surprised by the strength and determination in her as she yanks and kicks at the pole, shaking it loose. She manages to break it free, almost collapsing to the floor with weariness. I help her up and she heads straight to the glass divider.

Bella slams the metal pole into the glass, which leaves a sliver of a crack. Huffing and panting, she hits it again and creates a larger crack. She keeps going, screaming wildly as she swings, working like a machine. I'm waiting for the moment that Will bursts through the door and comes for us. Chia is squirming in her chair but seems to be held firmly in place. Bella cracks the pole into the glass several more times before she collapses over the consoles, exhausted. There's a large spider-web of cracks but the glass is holding strong.

Adrenaline pushes me on as I grab hold of one of the square, blocky monitors and pull it free from its cables. I charge forward and throw the monitor with all the strength left in me. It slams into the cracks and a corner embeds itself in the glass. The monitor holds in place for a heartbeat before it falls back onto the consoles, sliding down to hit the floor. There is now a large hole in the glass.

Bella reers back with renewed strength and cracks the pole into the glass, knocking shards away until there's a large enough hole for us to climb through. My heart is pounding as I keep one eye on the door behind us.

"Go," Bella says, ushering me through the glass.

I don't want to spend a second debating who goes first and climb onto the consoles. "Keep the pole," I tell her as I jump through into the room with Chia.

I rush to Chia and start scrambling at the thick rope bindings over her hands. Bella comes to us and takes the gag out of her mouth. She drops the metal pole and gets started on untying the ropes at Chia's feet.

"Oh, guys," Chia says, sounding delirious. "I'm so happy to see you."

"Let's get out of here," I say as the ropes fall to the ground. I start to wonder why Will hasn't reached us yet, although I don't know how long it takes to get from one door to the other.

Bella helps Chia to stand and they hug. I point my head to the open door. "Come on, let's go. Quick."

Bella picks up the pole and nods. I take Chia's hand and lead us out of the room, not looking back.

We go through a dimly lit metal-walled corridor, my feet dragging with exhaustion. I have no idea where we're going and if we're heading straight towards Will or the old man.

"Chia, what happened to you?" Bella asks.

"A man came into the room." It's hard for her to speak with a swollen and cut lip. "I tried to run but he threw me around, and then hit me with the butt of a big axe. I think I hit my head when I fell. I just remember waking up tied to that chair. I don't know how long I was there for until you guys showed up. Was that really Will?"