Carter Reynolds

Aaliyah's wolf towered over the agents that surrounded her. Everyone scattered in fear, hugging  the walls of the courtyard. The agent behind me shifted in surprise, and I quickly grabbed the gun pressed against the back of my head and pushed him into the wall.

Without thinking, I slammed the hilt of the gun into the agent's head, and he dropped to the ground instantly. I only let myself stare at his body for a second before turning around. He wasn't dead yet, but I didn't trust myself to be near him for another second.

A border of black uniforms circled the wolf, their weapons aimed. The remaining Forbidden huddled away from the chaos, no longer in their Forbidden form. All of their hope was resting on the wolf creating some kind of miracle.

"Come on, Aaliyah." I whispered. "You can do this."

The amber eyes of the wolf met mine, but only for a moment. The wolf bared her teeth at the agents that surrounded her, but they didn't step back. I watched the scene unfold with bated breath.

From the corner of my eye, I could see that the windows along the courtyard were filled with agent spectators, their greedy eyes glued to the wolf. One of the agents was scribbling down notes, not bothering to contain his excitement.

"Fire!" one of the agents yelled. At his command, a torrent of gunshots echoed into the dome as the agents aimed for Aaliyah's wolf. The wolf howled at the sky, the bullets bouncing off of her fur like pebbles.

"Holy crap." Kiara whispered, standing next to me.

"We need to figure out what the heck Aaliyah is." I whispered back.

Aaliyah grabbed a gun from one of the agents with her teeth. The agent held tightly to his weapon, his entire body suspended into the air. The wolf shook her head like a dog trying to dry off. The agent went flying like a child's plaything, and crashed right next to a window. The observers behind the glass didn't even look down at their fallen comrade. They were too entranced by the unfolding spectacle.

Kiara grabbed my hand. "Come on." she instructed. Her eyes were locked on the door, which was still wide open.

Without another word, Kiara and I slowly moved towards the exit. Aaliyah had placed a spell on the mad scientists behind the glass, and two Forbidden attempting to escape weren't about to break their focus. At least, that's what I hoped.

The endless gunshots were deafening, and I had no idea when the ammunition would run out. A stray bullet almost hit Kiara, and she froze in her tracks, her face frozen in shock at how close she had come to injury.

"You're okay." I whispered to Ki, squeezing her hand. Kiara nodded silently.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted an agent turning his firearm away from the wolf.

"No." I muttered.

"Carter!" Kiara screamed as I dashed across the courtyard. I forced my way into the crowd of violent agents, trying to reach him in time.

"Don't!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, the sound lost in the chaos.

I was too late. The bullet soared across the sky, striking Aaliyah's rib. The wolf, which had been impenetrable to the waves of ammunition so far, buckled in pain. I could make out the sound of polite applause from spectators, making my entire body shake with rage.

The agents were watching our suffering like it was TV show, and I couldn't tear my eyes away from them. Everything else was fading into nothingness, and I already knew that my eyes were glowing bright red, ready to kill.

"Carter!" Kiara's voice sounded like it was underwater. "Carter!" she shouted again. I tried to focus on her voice and snap out of the trance.

The distant roar of my surroundings exploded into clarity, and I felt aware again. Kiara was waving her arms and pointing to the tree where Aaliyah had been hiding. I watched in horror as her body lurched to the side and tumbled towards the ground.

Before I knew it, I was positioned right beneath her body, my arms outstretched. As Aaliyah's body fell, I cringed, closing my eyes. When I opened them, Aaliyah was sprawled across my arms, her eyelids fluttering.

"That wasn't that bad." I muttered to myself. Then, I took a look at Aaliyah's left rib and changed my mind. The excruciating scent of Forbidden blood was making me sick. I set Aaliyah down on the ground, and her eyes opened.

"I'm sorry." were the first words Aaliyah spoke, coughing.

"You did great." I promised Aaliyah. I looked back at the circle of agents, who were staring in confusion at one another. The wolf had vanished the second Aaliyah had woken up.

"I didn't." said Aaliyah. "Where is he?"

"Who?" I asked.

Aaliyah only groaned, clutching her rib tighter with a red stained hand.

"If you die from this, I'm going to be very mad at you." I joked.

Aaliyah managed to laugh before doubling over again.

The agents were splitting away, each of them choosing a Forbidden to escort back to the cells. A few of them were trying to fight back, but after the loud echo of a gunshot, the resistance was quelled. I could smell death again, but I didn't have it in me to turn around and see who it was. The rest of the Forbidden had to be carried back, too injured to move on their own.

The body of the yeti laid eerily still, the agents parting around him mindlessly. Opaque walls covered where the spectators once were, signifying that the show was over. I felt heavy footsteps hit the ground before an agent grabbed my arms and locked them behind me.

I writhed dramatically, trying to break out, but the agent's grip was secured tightly. I gritted my teeth and stomped on one of the black boots the agent was wearing. He didn't let go, but it was enough for his grip to loosen. I managed to work my way out of his grasp, and the agent's heart thudded in a distracted panic as I slammed him into the ground with the strength I had left.

"This again?" I heard to agent say.

"Finn?" I asked.

"Yeah." Finn mumbled, almost sounding embarrassed.

I paused, unsure of what to do. I hadn't seen Finn in a while, so I had no idea what side he was on. My grip on Finn didn't budge as I tried to debate whether or not I should trust him again.

"Can you get off of me now?" Finn asked.

"I guess." I answered finally. I shuffled backwards, trying to remove my weight from Finn's body. Before I could do anything else, Finn had turned me around and locked me in handcuffs.

"Listen, I-"

Before Finn could defend himself, I got to work trying to snap the handcuffs apart. For some reason, they were refusing to break.

"What the hell, Finn?" I asked.

"Dude, there's agents everywhere. If we walk out together, people are going to get ideas."

"That's homophobic." I deadpanned.

"We can talk later." Finn promised. "Right now, just pretend you hate me."

"That's not too hard."

For good measure, I tried to tug my way out of Finn's grasp, almost succeeding a couple times.

"Stop struggling!" Finn demanded loudly. I stopped immediately, and a couple of agents stared in our direction. "Okay, maybe struggle a little bit." Finn whispered.

We walked back into the experiments, with me tugging against the cuffs every couple of minutes just for show. Finn led me in the opposite direction of the cells until we were the only ones walking down a blissfully dark and quiet hallway.

Finn confidently strode down the cement walkways, pushing me forward. I was too scared to say anything, and green lights were haunting us from every direction. Finn turned the corner, and the walkway thinned.

We stopped a couple paces after the corner, and looked around for a few moments before Finn could unlock the handcuffs. The cameras were thankfully absent in this part of the hall.

"What are those things made out of?" I asked, rubbing my wrists.

"Titanium. I think." Finn replied, staring at the handcuffs absentmindedly.

"Glad you know what you're doing." I commented sarcastically.

"I didn't sign up for this stuff!" Finn protested.

"Well, neither did I!" I pointed out. "Now can we please figure out how you're going to get us out of here?"

"It didn't work." Finn admitted.

"What?" I asked.

"The idea was to get Aaliyah out of the facilities so she could meditate and break everyone out with the wolf. But she couldn't get out. They cut her off and cornered her in the courtyard. It didn't work." Finn explained.

"So that was it?" I asked. "That was your big idea?"

"Possibly." Finn muttered.

"You've had seven months to think this through, and this was your grand idea?" I asked.

"I was busy." Finn complained. "I didn't have enough time to come up with something better."

I took a deep breath, trying to collect myself. Everything - the chaos, the death, the sunlight, Aaliyah - it was finally starting to weigh on me. My adrenaline was gone, and now I just felt exhausted.

"I'm sorry." Finn admitted.

"Shut up." I replied automatically. Finn quieted instantly, not questioning my command. I could hear footsteps slowly echo across the corridor, getting closer.

"Someone's coming." I whispered. Finn nodded quickly, and shoved me forward. He ran his hand along the gray wall until a square sector pushed under his weight.

A small section of wall slid over, revealing the entrance to a small gray room that matched the hallway around it. Finn and I stepped inside, the wall clicking back into place. Fluorescents buzzed to life above us, illuminating a cork board littered with photos and news clippings. Red and green yarns danced across them, spinning a dizzying web.

"What is this place?" I asked. The room was mostly bare, with a mattress and blanket dumped in the corner.

"It's my dad's." Finn responded flatly. As I walked closer to the board, I noticed that everything was related to Atalka. One news clipping in particular caught my eye.

A Town Locked Away: Atalkans Make a New Start

Written by Inessa Mayumi

Back in March, when the gated community was evacuated and its remaining citizens quarantined inside, no one knew what the future held. Now, with no end in sight, the residents have constructed a new life in their strange circumstances. Not much is known about the disease that keeps them isolated, but it has resulted in several hostiles, who are now being treated at the repurposed Atalka Academy. Katrina Matthews has her hands full taking care of her two children and husband, who have lived in Atalka since December.

Photo provided courtesy of Katrina Matthews

I stared at the picture of the four Matthews smiling together. It was odd to see Lena missing, but her parent's wide smiles didn't seem too bothered. Finn stood a few inches away from his family, his smile forced. The little one, Aurelie, was staring at the camera with a death glare.

As I looked at all of the pictures, I recognized familiar faces. Mrs. Pearce, Flora, and Makaya all had a black line drawn in sharpie across their eyes. Lena, on the other hand, was defaced more than anyone else. She was circled in red, with X's sometimes drawn over her eyes.

"Your dad's a little intense." I pointed out.

"That wasn't Dad." said Finn. I turned around, surprised. "It was Aurelie."

"Why are we in the blindspot?" a male voice echoed from the corridor. I walked to the wall, listening intensely.

"What are they saying?" Finn whispered.

"If you keep talking, I'm not going to hear anything." I hissed back.

"Sorry."

"Stop talking!"

"Okay."

"Stop!"

"Well, you're talking back, and I just didn't know-"

I glared at Finn until he backed away.

"I need you to expedite the study. Did you see what happened out there? 14B is extraordinary! It's our responsibility to do as much as we can to find out more." another male voice was saying. I guessed that he was one of the observers in the courtyard.

"What if this makes things worse?" the first agent asked. His voice was gravelly, like he had just spent the last two hours screaming.

"We need to know. If we combine 14B with its Forbidden form, its results can become more comparable with the others. Right now, 14B and 88A are the only ones who have a different relationship with their Forbidden form. Why? That's why we're here, Agent Turner." the first voice continued.

"14B and 88A." I whispered. "Who's that?"

"Aaliyah and Jane-Anne." Finn whispered back. I nodded and kept listening to the conversation.

"It's risky." Turner warned. "Attempting something that drastic is going to call for manpower we don't have."

"We have enough men, we just need to redistribute them! There's a bunch of agents patrolling this place, and all we need to do is divert them to the Lab. We can go one day without them. I don't think those animals are going to try something again. We showed them what happens when they try to distract us from our job." the other agent insisted.

Agent Turner sighed. "I'll speak with Matthews."

I backed away from the wall and turned to Finn.

"What?" Finn asked.

"I think they want to combine Aaliyah with the wolf somehow." I explained. "They think it's her Forbidden form."

"Okay, so how do we stop it?" Finn asked.

"They want to divert a bunch of agents to the Lab for the experiment." I said, lost in thought. "I think this could be our chance."

"What are you talking about?" Finn asked.

"Think about it!" I exclaimed. "There's going to be less agents patrolling this place. We can save Aaliyah, but I think we can save ourselves too."

"You really think that's possible?" Finn questioned.

"If you let me plan this time." I replied. "I don't trust you with this stuff anymore."

"Fine." said Finn. "Do you know where you want to go when all of this is over?"

"It's never going to be over." I said the words before I had even processed how true they were. When Finn didn't say anything, I kept talking. "Jessica mentioned that she has a penthouse in New York that her friend looks after."

"Okay, I'll let Taylor know." Finn agreed. "If I can find her," he added quietly.

"So it's settled. We'll go to New York." I confirmed. Finn nodded.

For the first time in a while, I let myself hope.

A/N: Okay, so maybe this escape attempt didn't work out, but we're going to try again! And this time, it better work. I'm very excited for this next dedication, which is ridampanesar ! Honestly, I give her credit for even getting The Gate on the map. She was one of the first people to get invested in this weird world I created, and has actually made me laugh out loud with her comments. Thank you so much!

QOTD: Looks like we might go to NYC! What do you guys think?