Spy School: Was It All A Dream?

30-Exitus

I was trapped, and I needed to get back to the academy. Cursing, I kept a level head. Maybe I could free myself from the handcuffs somehow. They were pretty loose. My hands clanged.

"Looks like someone's awake." A small snicker came from the entrance of the room. I looked up, blinking the sleep out of my eyes.

"Chloe." I hissed. "Let me out. You don't know what you're doing." Chloe laughed.

"You think I don't know that I betraying a shitty organisation that doesn't care about its employees? This country is out of whack and only women have the guts to take it back. Everything has been because of men, their stupid egos, masculinity complexes and I have to fix that. I own this syndicate. So what's it gonna be, huh, Erica? Your father already joined us. It's too bad he doesn't care about you. You would make excellent blackmail."

She trailed a finger around her gun, examining it like a true psychopath. Her voice was as unemotive as her face. My heart dropped. This was not the girl I had become best friends with when I was 15. This was not the girl who called me 'smokescreen'. This was a cold-blooded killer.

"Who else is in on this, Chloe?" I yelled, trying not to show how much this affected me. Chloe laughed.

"Like I would tell you," Chloe laughed. "My name isn't even Chloe, you imbecile. My name is Zoe Zibbell. I used to be one of the CIA's little lab rats. Y'know, like your little friend Ben. He was the only achievement in that experiment. They were going to pair us up. But you got in the way. There were four in total. Would you like to guess who they were?"

I stuttered, thinking it over. Chloe- no - Zoe had always seemed skilled. Who else? Warren wasn't that good. Zoe interrupted my thoughts by placing her hand on my shoulder and replying, practically spitting all over my face.

"You!  You stupid bitch! You were the failed experiment of aucipis, but they only cared about you, because you were Erica Hale. The daughter of the two greatest spies of the previous generation. Your family has been spying for the United States since before there was a united states! You took all that for granted! I had to work my way to the top. You took away my chance to be with my soulmate. I pretended to be your friend for years. You thought I was helping you. I was going to be paired up with Ben, and you were going to be with..." She stopped herself. 

"What?" This couldn't be possible. I was nowhere near good enough to be part of the super soldier training. The reality of this started to dawn on me. I was a super spy. I was part of Experiment Aucipis.

"And now, you're going to stay here, forever, while I reunite with my soulmate. Don't worry, no one will come looking for you. They won't remember Erica Hale. Death isn't optional for you. In fact, I should just get it over with right now."

Zoe popped open a zippo. A small flame opened over it, eagerly feeding on the oxygen. She looked me straight in the eye and grinned. It was a grin full of hunger and greed. This wasn't my best friend. This was a monster. The heavy wood door slammed closed. Flames hungrily devoured the doorway as she disappeared from view.

"Help!" I screamed. The blaze was drawing closer to me. I looked around for something. My chair was one of those cheap plastic ones. I stood up, and the chair closed behind me. Wow. All that panic for nothing.

I crouched low. The air in the warehouse was foggy with smoke. Flames were biting at my feet like snakes. I made it to the door, but it was bared and burned. I threw my shoulder against it, bruising the skin and burning it too.

I finally made it out and collapsed on the grass, panting. My shirt was charred and ripped. My shoulder was smarting from the burns. I jingled my wrists and was surprised when my hands escaped out of the metal clips. I examined the handcuffs and found that the clasps had been melted in the fire.

I almost fainted and saw the world swim before my eyes. Drawing in a deep breath, I summoned enough energy to walk to the main road where I called an Uber. The man didn't even give me a second look. If my suspicions were correct, Zoe was the one who had poisoned Ben. She was crazy. She was going to use that serum to convince Ben that he never met me. She was going to convince Ben that he was part of SPYDER.

Two questions remained. Who attacked Mike and who was the other mole? I arrived back at the academy twenty minutes later. I raced up to the infirmary where Mike and Ben were. There was the man in black guarding the exit. I engaged him in combat, my shoulder burning as my opponent took advantage of my weaknesses. Eventually, though, I knocked him out and removed his mask.

"Chameleon?" I gasped quietly, running away quickly before I could be burnt to death. Was Warren the other aucipis? I guess there are benefits in leading people to believe you're something that you're not. He always was good at blending in.

I called Mike, who couldn't believe it either. He promised to contact Chip, Jawa and the others. Chloe-Zoë had always been my best friend. I would have never believed it if this hadn't happened. I was wrecked, working purely on adrenaline. I ran towards the academy, busting open the door after I entered the code. I'm sure the principal yelled at me. It didn't matter. After today, I was firing that man. Could I do that?

Like I said, didn't matter. Sprinting up towards the infirmary, panting, I began thanking Ben for making me do those suicide sprints. Finally, just outside of Ben's hallway, I stopped, canvassing the side with my gun to make sure that no one was there. All of sudden, I felt the barrel being pressed to the back of my head.

"Now, now," The chilling voice said, the one person that I had loved since I was younger. "We don't want anything to happen to your pretty little head, don't we? So let's lower the gun."

I gritted my teeth, raising my hands to behind my head after placing my weapon on the ground. My eyes darted around, looking for an escape, looking for a plan, looking for anything to help me when I realized... I could save myself.

Quick as a flash, I spun around, grabbing the barrel of the gun and jerking it upwards as Joshua's trigger happy finger emptied the rounds. Hitting his thumb, I grabbed the gun and after placing the safety on, slid it away from us. He was at my mercy now.

Joshua chuckled weakly, lifting his hands above his shoulders in what seemed to be his attempt at making me pity him.

"Erica..." he started. With a snarl, I kicked his kneecaps and continued to swing as he feel to the ground, groaning. Finally, he stopped moving, but I wasn't about to take any chances. I took a ripped piece of my shirt and tied up his hands, punching him once more for good measure.

When I remembered why I was so urgently trying to get back to school, I began to run. I ran towards the hospital wings. No one was around in the hallways. The school seemed deserted.

"Ben!" I yelled, running into the room. Zoe has a needle in his neck and a manic grin on her face. Grabbing the taser from the first aid kit, she quickly went down, and I rushed to his side.

"T's okay, 'Rica." Ben slurred as the heart monitor began to flatline. I cried out for help, although I knew that it was fruitless.

"I'm sorry." I whispered. "I'm sorry."
———————-
"I'm sorry." Was all Ben heard before he was greeted by the sounds of chirping birds outside of his window. Blinking, he tried to push himself up in what appeared to be a hospital bed.

"Glad to see you're awake, buddy!" Mike said, so Ben turned, expecting to see the Mike he had grown accustomed to.

"You got a concussion after getting your ass handed to you in class." Mike chuckled. "Erica's been worried though, even though she insisted that you were just being a wimp."

"Oh..." Ben said, falling back in bed and staring up at the ceiling in disbelief. "So it was all just a dream."