Heartbeats

Chapter 12: The hearts of the third recon squad

Morning.

August was running all around the recon ops base. His heart was wildly beating inside his chest, that if not for his ribs he swore that it could had jumped out of his body. His mind was focused on finding Saha, nothing else mattered at that time, he needed to find her.

When he visited Sasha this morning she was gone. Thinking that she just went to work early, August went to work as well. But as soon as he arrived, one of the resident chefs talked to him about Sasha. From him, August learned about what happened to Sasha last night.

"Tell Viktor I'll be absent today!" August shouted, almost already out of the door. He just dropped everything without a second thought and left.

August went to the gym, the garage, and even around the barracks. All the empty rooms and halls passed by his vision like blurred images, as he quickly scanned them and discarded them when Sasha was not there. After a while, his mind adjusted as he started to broaden his quest to any member of the third recon squad. Anyone that could tell him where Sasha was.

Finally he found Gino, one of the newest members, walking in the hallway. August dashed to him. His lungs were exhausted as it begged for more air and his legs are numbing with exhaustion, but August ran with legs flailing and mouth gasping for breath. He had been high with adrenaline and his legs were too stiff to control, that he found himself hard to stop. He collided with Gino, tackling and tumbling over the younger boy.

"OW." Gino shouted, already on the floor. "What. August!"

August crawled to him and grabbed his collar, "Where is your Captain? Where is Sasha? What did they do to her?"

August's shoulders moved as he heaved to breathe. His eyes fixed on the younger boy. Gino looked down and pursed his lips. That could not be good.

"They were all taken to the interrogation room. I heard they will be staying inside the cells downstairs until the Commander could give his final decision regarding the matter. The whole squad and all of our activities are on hold until further notice."

August's chin sunk to his chest. He looked at the ground, his brain already buzzing, thinking of what he could do.

"I can't believe the Captain would endanger herself like that." Gino said, quite pissed.

"She did it for Daniel." August answered in defense, "she must've thought that it was the right thing to do. Don't hate her."

Gino looked up at August with a furrowed brow, "I don't hate her. I'm just annoyed that she did not ask for my help. I'd be more than willing to be by her side through all this."

"She'd be really happy to hear that."

Gino then stood up and held out a hand to August. August took it and tried to stand. His legs protested with all their might with the twisting burning pain that shot from his foot spreading up to his legs. He glanced down a bit and apologized to his legs; they needed to do more running.

"Which way to prison?" August demanded.

Gino smiled wide. "I'll come with you."

Gino led the way as they ran down the stairs. August knew that the boy was running slower than his average speed and yet August still struggled behind him.

The cells were located at the deepest part of the main building. They have to go to the lower ground and through a narrow hallway to get to the warden's office. Both of them did not have any plans after that but they just continued running down the stairs, hopeful that they would think of something once they were there.

When they arrived at the small square office, August saw nothing but the large metallic double door at the back of the room. He knew instantly that it was the entrance he had been looking for.