Chapter 15

It"s now or never.

The sweat drips from my forehead into my eyes, but I don"t stop. I waited until Gabrielle and the girls were asleep before I started on my plan. In a perfect world, I"d have warned them that we"d be making a jail break tonight, but I didn"t want to get their hopes up for nothing, not when they"ve already been through so much.

I"m not able to pick the lock the traditional way since the bolt is on the outside of the door, but I have noticed that the back edge of the metal bar that slides into place is serrated. Slowly, I"ve been poking the small paring knife into the back opening of the lock and sliding it open. It"s tedious and hurts my hands, but at least it"s moving. I"ve been hunched over this lock for hours, but I refuse to stop.

There were a couple of times I thought I was about to get caught. Once when a guard walked by, once when I heard two other guards arguing about something further down, and one final time when I heard both Shade and Liam arguing down the hall. Shade was on his way off location, which only further cements the fact that we need to get out today. If Shade is gone, it would stand to reason that several of the guards have gone along with him. It"s a skeleton crew today. The perfect opportunity for us to make an escape and hopefully not stir up too much attention.

It"s dead silent when I get the lock to the last ridge. I suck in a breath, shove the lock one final time as softly as I can, hoping to keep it from making too much noise. A low thunk echoes in the hall, but no one comes to check. The relief that floods through my body when I pull the small knife out of the hole and see past the metal is addicting. The next part may prove to be less enjoyable.

I rush to the corner where Gabrielle and the other girls have taken to sleeping together and shake Gabrielle awake.

"Not now. Please, no more," she whimpers and tries to fight me away. She thinks I"m one of the guards come to take her for their entertainment purposes. It breaks my heart to pieces.

"Gabi, open your eyes. It"s me. Open." I shake her again, and finally those chocolate brown eyes open and focus on my face. I"m sure I"m bruised up from the beating Liam gave me earlier, but I"m praying she doesn"t focus on that.

"What is it? Are you okay?" She pulls her hands up and swipes them down my face. I hiss at the contact but quickly bite down any minute pain I"m feeling.

"I"m fine. I need you to get the girls up right now; we"re leaving."

"What? What do you mean we"re leaving? Shade is taking us somewhere?"

"No, I opened the door. We have to run."

Gabrielle"s eyes go wide, and she looks from me to the door and then back at me again. A few weeks ago, she"d already be up and racing to the door, but now I see hesitation in her gaze.

"We shouldn"t; they"ll find us. They"ll catch us before we even get a chance to get out." Gabi shakes her head and cringes back against the wall.

"We have to try. It"s going to be tough, and there"s a chance there are more guards than I think, but we have to try now, or we"ll never make it out of here."

"What about the club, they"ll?—"

I cut her off before she can finish the sentence. "They won"t make it in time. I can"t bear the thought of any of you in the corner with Willa and Skyler. Please trust me; we have to leave now." I plead with my eyes, hoping I don"t have to do much more begging.

"Okay... Okay, I trust you." She nods once and quickly gets on with waking Uma and April. Without hesitation, I fill them in on what I want to do. There"s only one way in or out from where we are. We gather what little bit of supplies we have in the room, and they line up behind me.

"I don"t know where the guards are. Keep your eyes open and be quiet. If they catch me, you all keep running. Get out and call for help. Gabi, you know how to reach Wyatt. Get them here."

"Wait, I"m not going to leave you behind." Gabrielle pulls back stopping me from moving forward to the door.

"If you have to, then you have to. This is our only shot." I hold her gaze so she knows I"m serious. I don"t want her to have any doubts. I"d rather them leave me behind than have to sit in this cell even one more day.

"We"re all going to make it. I know it." April says from her spot in the line.

"That"s right. We"re all going to make it. Just stay with me." I nod in April"s direction.

I let my eyes trail over each of them. None of them have had anything to eat in a long while. They don"t have shoes or anything to protect them from the elements outside. Still, I know this is our only shot.

"Come on." I slowly push open the door. The old hinges groan, and I silently curse them.

Gabrielle grabs hold of April, who is behind her, and April grabs hold of Uma, who is at the end of the line. We"re so close together I can feel Gabi"s breath on the back of my neck. As long as I can feel her, at least I know she"s okay.

I take the first step out the door and look both ways down the long hallway. I don"t see anyone.

"Stay close to the wall," I order the girls, and just like old times, I fall back into my role as leader. I"ve been in battle situations before. I know how to get in and out without anyone noticing me, but I"m not at my peak. My eye is a little blurry from the beating Liam gave me earlier.

I let out a breath when we make it up to the first flight of stairs. It"s been a while since I"ve seen these stairs, but I remember this being the way they brought me when we were first captured.

I take the stairs one at a time, listening closely with every step.

"I can"t wait until they shut this place down. I"m so sick of this shit." I hear a guard above and stop the girls from moving.

The four of us hold our breath until the guard seemingly walks away.

The adrenaline pumps through my veins, and I thumb the small paring knife I used to break out of the cell. I"ll have to use this as my only weapon. Once it seems like the coast is clear, I start up the stairs again, and the girls follow behind me. We make it up to the second floor, and there are windows scattered around. I don"t see any windows around, but I think I"m on the final level. I don"t remember going down more than one flight of stairs. Across a large open space, there"s a ladder that seems to lead up to the surface. I remember one of the guards pushing me into a small hole, so this must be the way out. The only problem is there"s no real place to hide. We"re going to have to run straight through in order to get to it.

"Alright, do you see the ladder?" I whisper to the three of them, and all three nod their heads.

"Get to the ladder and climb out. I"m going to be behind you just in case anyone shows up."

"Okay." Gabrielle"s voice shakes, but she takes the front, still holding onto April"s hand.

"I can"t believe we"re here," Uma says. I"m just as shocked as she is.

My shock is quickly replaced with anxiety. I can hear guards coming in this direction. Not walking fast, but if we don"t move now, they"ll be on top of us before we can make it.

"Go now!" I snap. The sound of my heart beating fills my ears as I watch the three of them sprint across the open area until they make it to the ladder. Gabrielle goes up first while April and Uma follow close behind. It"s easy.

But nothing comes easy to us.

The moment Gabrielle twists the handle to pop open the hatch, an alarm blares to life.

"Shit! Move now!" I yell, no longer worrying about staying hidden.

"Hey! Where the fuck are you going!" Three guards begin running down the hall in our direction. Guns are being pulled from holsters, and the window for us to get away is becoming smaller and smaller.

"Go, go, go!" I yell, and the four of us hustle up the ladder.

I can"t even appreciate my surroundings. It"s the first time I"ve seen trees in months, the first time I"ve tasted fresh air, but my focus is only on escaping.

"Run!" I yell just as the first guard pokes his head up out of the hatch. I pull my foot back and kick him square in the jaw. His head snaps back, and I watch him crumble down the hole. It"s just enough to give us a little head start.

"Which way?" Uma calls out.

"Straight. Get into the trees!" I point in the direction I want them to go. Honestly, I don"t care which direction we head as long as it"s away from this place.

The four of us run as fast as we can. Uma falls a few times. She"s still hurt from the beating she took more than a week ago. I know she"s giving her all, but we can"t slow down. I grab hold of her arm and take the majority of her weight so we can keep up with the group.

"Fucking stop! Now!" I hear someone scream out behind me. Fat chance in hell that"s going to happen.

"Keep going!" I order the girls, and we dodge behind a tree at the last second. A bullet whizzes by my head. When I turn to see how many are behind me, there are at least six. No way I"m going to be able to take them on, especially when they all seem to be armed.

"Stop!" Gabrielle screeches from the front, and I see her skidding, trying to get her feet to stop her motion. There"s a drop ahead of us. "Fuck! Turn right." I don"t want to go in a circle, but there"s no way we"re going to be able to scale down these rocks. It"s too steep, and I don"t have nearly enough strength to get them down.

"What about there?" April points off into the distance. The trees open up a bit, which is not the best for us, but I do see a small ledge that looks as if it leads further into the dense trees above. If we get into those trees before the guards can catch up to us, then we may be able to outrun them. They won"t know which way we"ve headed.

"Yeah, go!"

"I can"t, my feet," Uma whimpers as she sucks in huge mouthfuls of breath.

"You can make it. Just give me a little more. Just a little more." I urge her forward. The guards aren"t more than a few steps behind us. Bullets fly by every few seconds, but luckily the trees are in their way.

Finally, we make it to the ledge, but it"s a climb up. There"s no way for us to get over. It"s not as steep as the drop down, and I know that if we turn back, it"ll be right back to the cell we all just came out of, or we"ll be dead.

"We have to climb." I push Gabrielle and April forward, and they quickly do their best to climb up from the forest floor. My eyes focus on the trail of blood their bare feet leave behind.

One step at a time. It"s all I can do.

"Come on, I"ll be with you every inch." I push Uma toward the rocks, and we start to make our way up.

"Oh God, I"m going to fall." She cries out as her foot slips out of the hold.

"No, you won"t. There"s another rock right there. Just push." I find my next foothold and go up the rocks a little more so she can see there"s a way up. She follows behind me, and I nearly whoop in excitement when I see both April and Gabrielle pull themselves over the ledge.

"Come on! They"re right behind you!" Gabrielle yells out, pointing behind me.

"Get down!" Right now, standing, the guards will have a clear shot.

Realizing the danger their in both April and Gabrielle drop down to the ground and out of sight.

"It"s right there Uma. We"re so close." I say doing my best to ignore the pain in my arms and back.

"We"re going to make it." She wheezes out.

I"m the first to get to the ledge and make quick work pulling myself over. I lean down as far as I can go and reach for Uma to pull her up.

I see the desperation in her eyes as she reaches up for me. All we need to do is get over this ledge. Freedom is right here.

With one final grunt, Uma juts her hand up enough for me to grab hold.

Using the last bit of my strength and with a shout I pull.

Time stops.

I see the guard aiming before I have a chance to do anything. I will my arms to move faster. Will the gun to jam. Anything.

The guard fires three rounds in quick succession and before I can get Uma all the way over the ledge, the hot lead pierces her body.

"No!" Gabrielle screams and tries to scramble forward but April holds her tight.

"Bishop?" Uma coughs, splattering my face with blood as I finally get her body over the ledge and out of linesight of the guards below. "Bishop." She cries as she gasps, trying to catch her breath.

"Uma, I"m so sorry. I"m so fucking sorry." I cry, my tears mixing with the blood on her face.

"Please, take me home. I want to go home." She begs.

Throwing my head back I howl with grief. A sound that would drive any predators awake.

"Bish-" My name dies on her lips, her eyes open wide in fear and her heart silent.

I lay her body down in the dirt and I focus on those bright green eyes. The ones that are losing their luster with every passing second. She didn"t deserve this. Didn"t deserve to die like an animal in the middle of the woods. She had so much more life to give. Goals and dreams she"ll never get to achieve.

And it"s all my fault.

She"s dead because of me.

If I hadn"t suggested that we leave tonight maybe Uma would"ve made it. Maybe...

"Bishop! They"re coming around. We have to go." April yells at me. She"s still holding onto to Gabrielle who"s coming to pieces in her arms.

It"s hard to peel my eyes away from Uma"s dead body but the sound of the guards whacking thier way through the trees and getting closer to us spurs me to action.

I lean forward and press a kiss to Uma"s forehead before I get up from the ground and run over to where Gabi and April are waiting for me.

There"s nothing I can do now to bring Uma back. All I can do is get the rest of us to safety.

Get the rest of us home.