Prodigy-Ch.5

~Beca~
Cool wind hits my face. I look around and realize we're on the roof of the facility. Far off to my right, I hear waves crashing. Then, it's brine water smell hits me.

This is the first time I've been outside in nine years. There's a small window in my cell, but not much of a breeze comes in and it's far too small for me to fit through it.

I take a moment to let my body take in the fresh air. I  close my eyes and lift my face to the sky. Momentarily, I forget where I am, what I'm doing, who I'm with. It all just fades away.

"Beca," I hear. I look at the boy. His gray orbs gaze into my hazel ones. "We have to go. Now." He tugs on my arm and starts walking. I follow him before stopping again. I listen carefully. "What is it?"

"Shh," I hold a finger to my lips. Suddenly, the doors we just exited from burst open and men in black uniforms, the same uniform that the boy is wearing, and they surround us. The boy gets a firm grip on my wrist and we run towards the edge when he stops at a voice.

"Shane!" We both turn around and see the director of the institute, the main analyst that performs a majority of the tests of me, walking through the door and the wall of guards towards us.

I look up at this boy, Shane's, face. He's glaring at the man. Why is he so angry at him? I turn my attention back to the enemy.

"Shane, you wouldn't dare disobey your father, now would you?" Dr. Riley asks. Something snaps inside me. I take my hand away from him.

"You're Shane Riley?" I ask, infuriated. That's when I see his patch on his right shoulder, his last name carefully stitched in all capital letters. "You let these monsters destroy my DNA all these years, and now you decide to help me!?" I scream at him.

He looks at me, his gray eyes in a hard stare. "You have to trust me. Please." he says quietly.

I shake my head and I'm about to turn away when he grabs my hand and holds my head close to his. He says in a low voice so that only I can hear. "I'm helping you now because I was waiting for the right moment. If you sincerely trust me, jump with me."

Tears stream down my face. Do I really trust him? Can I trust him? He tried to help you before, a voice in my head whispers. I can't help but think of when I first tried to escape. I saw the worried look on his face. He ran towards me before being held back. He was going to help, but couldn't because of his status.

"Son, what's it going to be? Join forces with me, or turn into a traitor?" Dr. Riley asks, his voice shaking with anger.

I nod, almost imperceptibly. Shane smiles slightly, before pulling away and muttering "Sorry," to his father. He leaps off the roof, pulling me with him, just as gunshots fire.

One moment, air is rushing past my ears, making it hard to hear and the next, water is all around me, filling me, making me choke. I try my best to swim to the surface and when I finally reach it, I'm able to gulp in air for a split second before the waves pull me under again.

I'm tossed around like a small boat during a raging storm. I land hard against one of the rocks and I try my hardest to grip onto it, but the algae covering it makes it slippery.

I finally realize that Shane is no longer holding my hand before I'm slammed hard against a large rock and I black out.