I freeze at Asher's comment. Anna is there? Alone?
His eyes go wide when he realizes what he just said.
"Anna, you have to get out of there. It isn't safe."
"You were going to send me here anyways!" I hear her exclaim, and I don't know whether to applaud her for her bravery or smack her for her stupidity.
"Not alone you idiot," says Asher, getting more panicked by the second. "We were going to send back up to go with you."
"Fine, don't get your knickers in a twist grandma, I'll start heading back to..."
Her voice suddenly dies off, and I can feel my heart skip a beat. What happened? Why did she stop? Fear crawls its way up my throat, digging its dark claws into my skin.
"Anna?" Asher calls over the TekPad, once again waiting for his teammate to answer.
"Someone is here," she whispers, yet I hear it as if she had screamed, and I see all the color drain from Asher's face. He pauses for half a second before his adrenaline kicks in.
"Get out of there!" He yells at her. He walks out of the room, and we Kalen and I follow, heading into the living room.
He heads over to his computer, typing away frantically at the keys. He must be trying to access the security system at the old medical center, wanting, no, needing to help his friend.
"What do you think I'm trying to do!" She exclaims, and I can hear the fear in her voice. God please, please let her get back safe, let her...
"He saw me!"
Everyone freezes at the sudden outburst, hardly moving as we listen to the sounds of heavy breathing and feet on concrete form the other end of the line.
"Anna!" Exclaims Asher, a tortured look on his face.
"Asher I'm—"
Static. The line goes dead.
Nobody dares move, as we stand motionless, waiting for Anna's voice to come in through the device once again. When it doesn't, Asher completely loses it.
"No!" He yells, rushing to the door and yanking it open, making to run into the hall.
"Wait, Ash!" I call, running after him. Kalen beats me to him, catching the kid before he manages to make it out the door. Asher struggles in his grasp, screaming and kicking like a madman.
"Let me go! We need to help her! We need to save her! LET ME GO!"
Mara runs into the living room after hearing all the commotion, eyes going wide when she sees the scene in front of her.
"What's going on?" She asks me, worry evident in her brown eyes. I turn towards her, helping Kalen close the door and getting Asher back into the apartment.
"We need to save her!" He keeps yelling, as Kalen takes him to his room. Mara watches with wide eyes, a dumbfounded expression on the face.
"Bri!" She exclaims when I don't answer right away, panic in her voice. "What happened?"
I stare at her, not knowing what to say, trying to get my voice to work.
"Anna... was at the location Asher found. We think... well...she wasn't alone Mara."
Mara's face goes white, the color draining from it so fast that I fear she might pass out. She stumbles, catching herself on the back of a chair before letting herself fall onto it, breathing hard.
"What do you mean she wasn't alone?" She asks, though we both know she knows the answer to that question.
"We think he is there with her."
Mara makes a whining noise in the back of her throat, burying her head in her hands.
"Hey!" I say, trying to console her "Anna is strong, she can handle herself."
"Not against him!" She exclaims, looking at me with a tortured look on her face. "We need to go get her."
I know she's right, we do need to go get her, but we won't be good to anybody if we are dead.
"We can't go alone Mara," I whisper, hating myself for saying it out loud.
"So what, we just let her die? By the hands of that monster?" She fumes, eyes dangerously dark.
"I don't like it any more than you do!" I shout.
Mara seems stunned for a second, and I immediately regret my sudden outburst.
"I'm sorry," I say, taking a deep breath and sitting in the chair across from her. "I'm sorry."
Mara keeps staring at me, but eventually she seems to come back to herself.
"We can't just leave her there Bri. We need to help her."
"I know," I mumble, hanging my head. We can't leave her alone, at the mercy of that mad man. I know in my heart what we have to do, but logic is telling me to take a different path.
"We should wait for back up," I say slowly, trying to convince myself more than anyone.
If we go after him on our own, who knows what the outcome will be. If anything happens to us no one will know where we were, what had happened. Why we suddenly disappeared.
"If it were Cassie out there, you would go."
At her words my head shoots up, staring Mara right in the eye. She is right if course, if it were Cassie I would already be down there, fighting for my best friends' life.
I groan, admitting defeat, and getting up from the table.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" I say, more serious than I've ever been in my life. Mara smiles, heading to our room to grab our mission packs.
I rush to the boys' room, ready to knock on the door when it flies open before me, revealing a very red, very upset Asher. He stares at me, a murderous glint in his eyes, his voice sounding more animal than human, a growl escaping his throat.
"What are we waiting for indeed."
YOU ARE READING
Brianna Acero and the Second One's Return
Science FictionOne hundred years ago, war threatened the existence of humanity. One man's actions might bring it back. During WWV, battles weren't won with bombs, but with science. Specifically, with DNA. Now, a person's place in society is determined by their gen...
