Intervention | NaNoWriMo 2018

Chapter 29

"You stay put," Potter said with his index finger pointed directly at Lincoln. "We'll pick this up in a little bit." He then turned, left the room and shut the door. The lock clicked shut a moment later and the footsteps of Potter and his men rapidly faded, drowned out by the increasing cacophony of gunfire and explosions. When they could no longer hear them, Lincoln reached for the door handle and pulled with all his might. It wouldn't budge. He then took a step back and launched shoulder first into the door. The only damage was his a bruised shoulder and ego.

"Lincoln, be careful," Marie said and put her hand on his arm. "It's not worth injuring yourself."

"We've got to get out of here. There's no time-"

Lincoln was interrupted by another blast and they were both thrown off their feet. Ceiling tiles rained down on them and the light fixture that hung above the table swayed back and forth, like a swing on a playground. The light flickered ominously and then faded and died, descending the room into darkness.

"Marie, are you alright?" Lincoln managed between coughing fits from the dust in the air. The room was pitch black and he couldn't see a thing.

"I'm ok," her voice came from right next to him, causing him to jump. "Did you hear the door?"

"What do you mean?" Lincoln said, almost shouting to make himself heard over the now continuous series of explosions.

"I heard it click again, after the power went out."

"How did you-" Lincoln cut himself off as another explosion shook the cell hard, once again throwing them to the floor. The table and the chairs they had been seated on rattled to the ground nearby. It was then that Lincoln saw the sliver of light from the general direction of the door. It had to be coming in through the open door.

"Marie, the door, I think you're right," he yelled. "Hold my hand and follow me."

With the flickering sliver of light their only guide, they slowly made their way towards the door. Marie had been right. Somehow the door had opened. Was it the power outage that had caused it or had someone left it open on purpose? He didn't know the answer to that and he wasn't sure whether he actually wanted the help to be random or come from a human being willing to help. All that matter was that they had a way out.

He peered through the crack in the door. When there was no activity on the other side, he gently pulled the door open just enough that he could fit through. The light in the corridor outside the room appeared to be running on a different electrical circuit because it was still lit, even though it flickered with every impact and subsequent explosion. Marie joined him and looked in both directions. "Which way?"

"They all ran to the left when they left the room," Lincoln said and pointed to the left with his thumb. "It's likely that way leads out of here."

Marie raised her eyebrows, a grimace spreading across her face. "Do you really think it's a good idea to follow them? Doesn't it make more sense to go the opposite way?" she said and pointed to the right.

"Potter doesn't strike me as someone that runs away. He ran towards the fight, which means it's more likely that our dungeon is the other way. You do want to get out of here, right?"

"Yes, yes, of course, I'm just not sure-"

"If I'm right?"

Marie looked down and nodded. "But, I trust you, Lincoln.""So left?"Marie nodded again.

"Left."

Lincoln took the lead down a hallway that curved slightly to the left. Lit by naked bulbs, the walls were dirty and the floor well worn from many years of foot traffic and heavy use. At the end of the hallway a brown, rusty door greeted them. A square window with an embedded metal mesh covered with grime was the only way to see what was on the other side. Marie reached for the window to wipe away some of the dirt but Lincoln grabbed hold of her hand at the very last second, look at her and shook his head, all the while he kept a finger raised in front of his lips.

On the other side of the door, hallways stretched out in three directions. Lincoln noticed a sign on the wall but couldn't quite make out what it said.

"Lincoln, we need to move," Marie whispered, urgency in her voice, her hand squeezing his arm. He nodded and opened the door. Its hinges squeaked as it swung open and the couple stepped over the threshold. The hallway was in much better shape than those outside their cell. Gray walls what appeared to have been recently painted greeted them and blue arrows with white letters pointed in multiple directions.

"Look, the garage is to our right," Lincoln said and nodded towards one of the signs. "Let's go."

"Hang on," Marie said and held him back. "Are you sure that's where we need to go?"

"I don't think we should check out the command center," he said and pointed to the hallway leading straight from the door. "Potter or his closest men are likely to be there."

"My point exactly. It could be our chance to disrupt their operations a bit."Lincoln looked at Marie for a moment, his eyebrows raised. "You're telling me you'd rather jump into a hornet's nest and stir it at the same time? Instead of trying to get out of here?"

Marie shrugged. "It's a thought."

"As much as I'd like to take Potter out and make him pay for how he just treated us, we can't lose focus on our primary mission."

"I know, I know," Marie said and looked down on the floor. "I need to get back."

"Ok, so it's settled then?"

She nodded. "Lead the way."

Lincoln smiled and squeezed her shoulder, turned and began moving towards the garage. They reached a door a few moments later. Lincoln opened the door a mere inch and peeked through the crack.

"What do you see?"

"It's a courtyard of sorts. The garage is on the other side of it."

"Can we make it?"

Lincoln looked at Marie and smiled as he swung the door wide open. "I think so."

Smoke rose above the compound beyond the garage, clouding the rays of the rising sun. Aircraft buzzed low over the compound, weapons ablaze, while ground forces outside of their view responded in kind. There was shouting and screaming while explosions continued to shake the ground around them.

"The garage," Marie said and pointed, "It's been hit."

"I know, I know. It's just one side. There are four bays. We should be able to find at least one working vehicle," Lincoln said and grabbed Marie's hand. Together they sprinted across the yard towards a door on the side of the garage. Lincoln ripped the door open and they entered inside and closed the door behind them. Lincoln exhaled forcefully while his eyes adjusted to the darker inside of the garage. Instinctively, he reached for a light switch only to find Marie's hand blocking his.

"I don't think that's a good idea," she whispered.

He grinned and nodded as he returned his attention to the contents of the garage. The far side of the garage had caved in by the impact of something. It might have been ordinance that hadn't exploded or some other object that just had landed on the garage for one reason or another. Either way, he hadn't seen a fire from the outside and his view from the inside confirmed that there were indeed vehicles that had not been damaged.

"One of these better be fueled," he mumbled as they rushed up to the closest vehicles and jumped up on the footstep leading up to the door. It was a raised all-terrain vehicle with a square cab and a short truck bed on the back. At some point, it had been painted in a desert yellow. Now it was dotted with rust spots and dings. He dropped into the seat and lowered the visor. When the key didn't drop into his hand as he expected, he dug through the cup holders and various compartments on the dashboard. It wasn't until his fingers touched the cool metal of a set of keys underneath his seat that a smile spread across his lips.

"Got it," he said triumphantly and held up them up in the air in front of Marie. He slammed the door shut and jammed the key into the ignition and turned on power to the instruments. His eyes found the fuel gauge, which showed a full tank.

"Ok, I think we're ready to get out of—"

An explosion directly above them sent dust into the air and ceiling panels clattering to the concrete floor and the roof of their vehicle. Both Marie and Lincoln ducked inside their vehicle as it was rocked by the explosion.

"That was close," Marie shouted as the dust settled around them.

"We need to get out of here," Lincoln said and turned the key. The engine roared to life and filled the garage with the rumble of its powerful engine. Lincoln tapped the gas pedal and let the roar increase with the revs. The engine sounded fine.

"I'll get the door," Marie mouthed over the engine sound and pointed towards the garage door. She exited the vehicle and took the few steps up to the panel operating the doors. By some miracle, it still had power and moments later the door in front of Lincoln slid open, revealing the carnage outside. Soldiers were now pouring out of the same door of the compound they had used just minutes earlier, rifles aimed towards the sky, firing at will as aircraft swooped in just above the rooftops of the buildings. A few bodies littered the courtyard that had been empty when Marie and Lincoln rushed across, blood pooling around the lifeless forms splayed in awkward positions on the ground. No-one seemed to notice the rumble from the garage.

Marie returned to the cab and Lincoln put the vehicle in gear pulled out of the garage before she had even closed the door. He navigated around the bodies in front of them and followed a set of tracks that led away from the garage and around the main compound building. 

They drove through a parking area where several other vehicles in various configurations were parked, most of them abandoned, some on fire.

"There," Marie shouted and pointed. Up ahead, a closed gate blocked their path. "We're trapped."

"I don't think so. Hold on," Lincoln shouted, slipped the seat belt across his chest and put his foot to the ground as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

"Lincoln, what are you doing?" Marie scrambled put on her seatbelt as they hurtled forward at increasing speeds.

"Getting us out of here," he screamed just as they made contact with the gate. The truck groaned and metal creaked as the gate swung open in a cloud of dust, releasing their vehicle from its prison. Lincoln fought to keep the vehicle under control as it whipped back and forth from the impact. Then, he stepped on the breaks so hard that Marie was thrown with force against the seatbelt and then stopped in a cloud of dust. 

In front of them, half a dozen armored vehicles were lined up in a half circle, their cannons aimed directly at Lincoln and Marie.

~~~

So the obvious question here is: who's attacking the compound and who's in charge of the armored vehicles with their weapons trained on Lincoln and Marie? What do you think?

As always, I'd love to hear what you think and if you like what you're reading, by all means, do vote :)