30: Escape, Pt. 2 (CHAPTER THREE FINALE)

Kyle sprinted as fast as he could, barefoot. At the first door he found, he yanked open the door. SMACK. With stars in his eyes, Kyle fell onto his back, a flow of warmth across his cheek. Nosebleed.

“Kyle!” Piott said, surprised. He helped the boy up. “Sorry about that,” he apologized. “I thought you were a Seeran.”

“A what?” Kyle asked, smearing the blood off his face. “Nevermind. Let’s go!”

Kyle grabbed Piott by the arm and sprinted to the next door. As soon as he touched the handle, the thing came off its hinges and slammed into his face.

“OW! AGAIN? REALLY??” Kyle shouted, clutching his face in pain.

“KYLE?” Samantha said, surprised.

“Who’s she?” Piott asked.

Samantha turned toward him, even more surprised. “Piott, you don’t remember me?”

“Should I?”

Kyle shook his head. “He’s a different Piott. Come on, I’ll explain everything as soon as we’re not in mortal danger!”

“Different? He looks like the same Piott to me,” Samantha insisted.

“Sam, he’s not from your timeline,” Kyle said. “He’s from mine. Let’s go!” He ran toward the next door, expecting them to follow. They did.

“Wait, Kyle,” Piott said. “Where’s Doctor Bradley? What timeline is this girl from? What is going on?”

Kyle ignored him, and instead opened the next door, but it was empty. The rest of the cells were, in fact, completely vacant. No Bradley, Kenny, or anyone from Samantha’s timeline.

They were alone.

The last door Kyle checked had something completely different. Weapons.

“Stock up,” Kyle said, picking up a shotgun. “We’ll be breaking some heads before we leave.”

“There they are!” shouted one of the guards as they turned the corner. These were not actually guards in white business suits, but were soldiers donning all black SWAT-style armor, right down to the gas masks and big guns.

Kyle hip-fired his shotgun, hitting the first soldier square in the chest and knocking him over, then swinging the butt of the weapon into the face of the next.

“GO!” He shouted. “Turn left!”

Piott held up a pistol, fired two rounds into the goggles of two soldiers, then waved for Samantha, who turned the corner.

After holding off the men in the first hallway, Kyle and Piott followed her. The elevator stood like a sentry in a dark tunnel at the end of the long vestibule.

“Clear!” Samantha shouted, running toward it. Kyle and Piott followed. The bright white changed to an dark blue under-glow and the familiar bone-shaking nerve-alarm started up. A single set of footsteps echoed out behind them.

“Oh, crap,” Kyle breathed.

“One person against three?” Samantha asked. “Too easy.”

“Too easy for him, you mean.”

“Kyle’s right,” Piott defended. “Seerans have amazing strength.”

A silhouette punched a hole in the doorway, and started walking toward them.

“RUN!” someone said.

Kyle was the first to reach the elevator, and pressed the T button as soon as he could get his hand through. When Sam and Piott were safely inside, the door closed, and they started lifting.

“That was close,” Piott said. “I don’t want to get closer to that thing than I have too.”

There was a grinding screech below their feet, and everyone screamed. The elevator shook, then resumed its ascent as if it hadn’t happened. Everyone stayed stock-still.

The door opened. The same dark, cold room. The skylight was still lit up with overcast sky, constant pouring rain, an occasional spark of lightning.

The sounds of sea were distant.

“It’s like a big funnel, and we’re in the bottom,” Sam said to no one in particular.

“Let’s go, we don’t have much time. And watch your step,” Kyle added.

They began the trek up the skinny steps, trying not to slip or take a false step.

No wires came shooting out at them, much to Kyle’s relief. Only it might mean something worse was waiting for them above, beyond the skylight.

They reached it, and Kyle was the first to slip out. When he stood up, he gasped.

“What? What is it?” Piott asked, worried.

“Look,” was all Kyle could say. He sounded distressed.

Piott helped Sam up, and hauled himself after them.

“Oh, no.”

They were at sea.

It was a big rainy, stormy sea planet. They were standing on a big upside-down conic structure that stuck out above the water level, made so that ocean water couldn’t splash in.

“We’re not on Seera,” Piott said, confused. “I can’t even tell for sure where we are.”

“Look!” Kyle pointed up into the sky.

Piott winced and felt something between his shoulder blades.

“It’s a trap,” he said.

“What?”

“They were planning on us trying to escape, so they could find Bradley!” Piott said, then pulled off his shirt. There, below his neck, between his shoulders, was a glowing, winking red dot. They had embedded Bradley’s distress beacon into his skin.

A helicopter, a Lunar one from the ship they’d taken to Lightsyphon, was circling above them. A rope ladder dangled down. Bradley poked his head out and gave them a thumbs up.

Piott grabbed it and started climbing, but Kyle didn’t move.

“Kyle,” Piott said. “Aren’t you coming?”

“I…” Kyle began, uncomfortable and nervous. “I don’t think we should trust Bradley, Commander.”

“What?” Piott said, eyes wide. “Why not?”

“Sam,” Kyle said without taking his eyes off Piott. “Do you know who Doctor Bradley is?”

Samantha hesitated, then shook her head. “No.”

Kyle carried on. “Was there a siege at the treaty convention you went to?”

“No.”

Kyle crossed his arms.

“Remember when I went into his memory machine?” Kyle asked Piott. “I was almost killed. In fact, I was clinically dead for a few minutes. While he was alone with me in his lab.”

“Kyle, he saved your life!” Piott protested. But he wasn’t climbing up any further.

“Also, how do you think Amos got into his underground lab? After it collapsed, do you think they just left the door unlocked? He must’ve had some back way to get in.”

“So you’re saying Bradley is one of them?”

“I’m just pointing some things out,” Kyle responded.

“This is - ” Piott started, but someone grabbed him and tossed him to the ground.

“OVER, Commander,” the man in the white suit said. “This is over.”

The man grabbed the ladder and gave it a tug, pulling the entire chopper’s weight downward towards them by several feet. Bradley screamed as the door was jerked open, and dangled out of the vehicle above the ocean.

Piott stood up, but the man in the white suit swung-kick him to the ground, sending him sliding dangerously close to the edge. He hadn’t realized how slick the roof was. With nothing to grab onto, and the rainwater making everything frictionless, one wrong move could kill him.

The ocean’s splash below was ice-cold combined with the harsh storm winds.

Kyle swung a fist at White Suit, landing a blow on the back of his head. The sunglasses fell to the ground and shattered, the pieces sliding everywhere. “NO!”

White Suit turned toward Kyle. His eyes, originally milky black, started blooming into a deep, angry blue. White suit grabbed Kyle by the wrist and threw him toward the spotlight, who managed to cling to the edge, dangling over the steel floor with a hundred-foot drop in between.

Sam launched herself at the helicopter and started climbing up. Bradley had gotten back into the pilot’s seat and steadied the craft for her.

Piott climbed up after her while White Suit was busy with Kyle.

"Kyle, come on!"

White Suit stood above Kyle, then placed one shoe on Kyle's fingers.

"Kyle," he said, applying pressure. Kyle winced. In resistance to White Suit's foot, his fingers pushed upward, away from the ledge, in reflex - he couldn't help it. He wouldn't be able to help falling, either.

"I'm afraid," the man continued, eyes throbbing an icy blue that made Kyle's gut freeze over. The rubber pressed harder against his hands, then started pushing outward.

"Our time is up for today," he finished, then pushed off.

"KYLE!" Samantha screamed.

Kyle felt the sensation of falling, hands raised over his hands.

They connected.

Samantha's hand was clasped around Kyle's. She was dangling from the bottom of the rope ladder.

White Suit, caught off guard, roared and swiped at Kyle, only managing to lose his balance. The helicopter rose up as the Seeran fell in.

"KYLE!" White Suit managed to shout before hitting the ground with a crunch, and lying still.

Kyle only stared, stunned, as the rope ladder was lifted up into the helicopter.

"Kyle, are you okay?" Piott asked.

"Yeah," Kyle said, relaxing into the chair, glad to be out of the undersea laboratory.

"Sam?" Piott turned to her, and she nodded.

 “Will you explain now?" Samantha asked him, worried.

Kyle nodded.

The helicopter slowed down to a stop, hovering high above the ocean.

"Bradley, is everything okay?" Piott asked.

"Kyle," the doctor said, turning around in his seat, holding a gun. "I want you to tell me exactly who you think I am.”