by nalasimba83 » May 25th, 2014, 12:29 am
Sarah had to cup her mouth to keep herself from screaming. She felt as if though her heart was going to explode any minute. Jane looked like she had done this a couple of times and landed perfectly and smoothly on to a mound of grass, hay, and feathers. "How convenient,"Sarah muttered. She brushed off some grass and hay off of her clothing and plucked a feather out of her hair.
"You okay?"Max asked her. He pumped a fist into the air. "Victorious landing!" Luke landed after him, brushing stuff from his clothes and tossing Max his bag.
"Fine, thanks,"Sarah said giving him a smile back. She let go of her ponytail and let it fall on her face and drape her shoulders. She walked next to Jane and behind Luke and Max. "I've never been this far from the Dauntless compound before,"she said. She never wasted a minute to look around her.
Jane looked around the buildings and areas. "Its not really pretty or anything-not like Amity or Erudite."
"It's not ugly either, like Abnegation,"Sarah replied. "I like it, its very...unique in its own way."
Jane smiled at her. "You think so?" She brightened up. Sarah shrugged and nodded.
"Luke, you have any more jerky?"Max asked him.
"Hey come on,"Sarah said chuckling. "You finished it already?" Max grinned at her sheepishly.
"Max, you finished the whole bag,"Luke muttered, chuckling. "I have one more left. At least wait until we get to the headquarters. You'll become fat. Besides..." He shook the bag to drop the crumbs. "You shouldn't eat too much of this."
"Isn't jerky nothing but skin stuff?"Jane asked.
"Pretty much,"Sarah replied."It's just dehydrated pieces of meat." Jane thought about that and Sarah stopped. "Hey look!,"she said to the group. "Its the train!" she bounced on her tippy toes.
The four of them ran across the side of the train and hopped on without making a single sound. The four wasted their time by playing Blackjack with a stash of cards in Max' backpack. Sarah initially thought all of the components in Max' backpack were useless, but if it weren't for those stack of cards, they would have died of boredom. Still, everyone made groaning noises and were frustrated, except Luke. He seemed like he didn't mind.
Suddenly, they came across a bridge. "We have to jump when we cross the bridge,"Max whispered. He held the map and showed them. "Now!" He went over from his seat and jumped early, but he didn't have any injuries of any sort.
"That was close,"Jane muttered. Sarah saw a flicker of worry in her eyes. She took a deep breath. "Max!"she shouted and jumped. She rolled over to a hill, but grasped something hard and held on to it.
"She's right. The trains going too fast. We'll die,"Sarah said. It was the two of them on the train now and the bridge was almost near them.
"On the count of three,"Luke said. He counted with his fingers and the two of them held onto opposite railings. He gave Sarah a slight push first and she jumped before him. He held onto the railings longer and jumped after her.
"Hey!"Sarah protested. "You could have told me when you were going to shove me at least,"Sarah joked around. The two of of them went rolling into the grass and stopped when they reached a flat surface. "That wasn't expected." Luke let go of his hand and helped her up.
"Sorry,"Luke replied. Sarah was going to tell him that she was only kidding, when she saw Max.
"Damn pond,"Max said as he heavily trudged towards them from the other side. "These were new shoes!"he complained. He was soaking wet and his shoes were muddy and wet as well. "I just bought them yesterday,"he muttered.
"I'll buy you another pair when we get back,"Sarah said, slowly getting up. "Whats your size?"
"I don't know. 10 1/2, maybe a 11,"he said shrugging. "Where's Jane?" He looked around. Luke tossed him a coat and he put it on.
"Over here,"Jane shouted waving a hand. "Thank you for finally noticing." She went towards them dry and unharmed. "So what do we do next?"
Max looked at the map. "It's kind of hard figuring out to do from here. There are a lot of different lines though,"he said confused.
Sarah took the map from him. "The red line was for the train stops. I think the blue is for the tunnel. Its kind of hard to see in the dark."
Luke took another look at the map. "If you're right, then the tunnel or passageway is a half mile from here. Do you guys feel like walking?"
Sarah groaned a bit. "Come on, we spent like 2 hours in that wretched train. I swear that I'm going to start throwing up any minute now, especially with that smell of beefy jerky. Can we rest for a while?"
"How about I carry you?"Max joked.
Sarah shrugged. "If you can. I'm heavy."
"Let's see,"Max said. Sarah placed her arms around his neck and jumped. Max fastened her legs and grinned. "You're not that heavy."
"I can see your arms struggling,"Sarah sang, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm just cold after almost drowning in water,"Max said cleverly. He grinned. Sarah could see his two small piercings in his left ear. "You're light as a butterfly. Butterflies are light-right?"
"Such a big flirt,"Sarah said as she held onto his back and neck. She laughed.
"You don't seem that heavy,"Luke said. "Let me try carrying you."
"You wish,"Max smirked. Luke rolled his slightly, smirking back. "Look,"he said grinning at a huge boulder with fresh water crashing down. It was like a mini waterfall. Behind that waterfall were more constructed buildings. "Dauntless isn't ugly, you just haven't seen the right parts of it yet." He raised his head to look at Sarah.
"Oh my god,"she said. "Jane look over there!"she said pointing to a crazy cool building. It looked like a glass tree. In the roof, there were to rectangles slightly slanted and in the middle was a big "D" encrusted in something white. Sarah doubted it was diamonds, but she could have been right. "This is the more sophisticated area of Dauntless. Just look at everything."
"No look over here!"Jane replied. There was another cool looking building that had water spraying out of the middle. It was for show. There was fountain showing a man shooting a gun. Out of the gun hole came the water.
"Ooh,a boy threatening to kill you. Fancy and elegant,"Luke replied. The three of them laughed. "I guess that is Dauntless' version." Luke stared at the other buildings casually. "I doubt Dauntless built these. They are probably Erudite designs. The two factions are pretty tight,"Luke said thoughtfully. "By the looks of it, we're almost there,"Luke informed them, holding the map.
"Awww." Jane frowned slightly.
"We'll get another look at them when we head back,"Luke said to her. He smiled and tossed her a disposable camera.
Jane grinned. "Thanks!" She caught the camera in her hand and began clicking a few photos. "Keep this one Sarah,"she said, handing her the big Dauntless building.
"Thanks!"Sarah replied. She stuffed it into her jean's pocket that she under a casual black top. Black was the standard color of Dauntless. Lyndsay usually went and picked cute tops for her when she had free time.
"I think this is the spot,"Luke said after they went back the pathways of the magnificent buildings. He looked down. "There's supposed to be an entrance somewhere." They went into a building and took an elevator to the top balcony.
"Here, I'll get down. Sorry if I am the cause of your scoliosis in the future,"Sarah grinned.
"Nah, its okay,"Max said. He set her down slowly and the two of them looked at the railings. "7 freaking stories high!" He turned to look. "We've never really jumped from a building before. Sure, we've done bungee jumping a couple of times, trampoline bouncing, but woah. Do we have to jump?" He turned to Luke.
"Seems like it. You up for it Max?"he teased him. "Don't worry, I packed your pacifier just in case." Jane laughed and grinned.
"Oh shut up man,"Max replied back, kidding around. "I knew coming here was worth it."
"Damn it,"Sarah said. She was almost shivering. Jane gulped as well. Sarah didn't feel like this when she went ziplining with Luke and Max. She at least knew that she probably wouldn't die if she just held on to the hangers. But this was different. "Is there another way in perhaps?"
"Not that I know of,"he replied.
Max buttoned his jacket fully and looked down. "Okay,"he said. He jumped suddenly somersaulting into the air. There was a hole in a roof and he crashed into it.
"Damn you Max!"Jane said looking down.
"He's always lucky for such a reckless guy,"Sarah replied, with a faint smile.
"I've done this before. Shouldn't be too hard....right?"Jane said. She looked down and closed her eyes. Sarah thought she was praying for her survival which she would probably have done in her place, but she was trying to calm her breathing.
"Jane, jump from here. Once your in mid-air, you can't move or control your body. Your timing sense and position has to be perfect,"Luke advised her.
Jane nodded in appreciation. "Okay here I go!"she jumped along with her screams and successfully landed through the roof.
"Are you next?"he said looking at Sarah.
Sarah shook her head. "Not a chance. Jane must be a hell of a lot braver than I am."
"To be honest, Max is braver than I am, too,"Luke replied to her surprise. "Okay, on the count of three, we jump." He didn't seem afraid. He grabbed her waist and slowly measured his distance. "One,"Luke muttered.
"Two,"Sarah replied.
"Three,"Luke finished. They both jumped with Sarah screaming her head off until they went through the whole and successfully landed. Luke let go of her waist and smirked. Max and Jane didn't land as smoothly. Jane crashed on top of Max.
"Jane,"Max croaked. "You're the definition of heavy,"he replied.
Jane pouted. "No I'm not! I eat less than you do!"she replied, offended. Luke urged them to be quiet.
"Forgot,"Max muttered. Both him and Luke turned on their flashlights. "This place is huge."
"The files must be in the leader's office,"Sarah told them. "The guy that looks old but scary, whats his face again?" Sarah asked, snapping her fingers, hoping to get the name back.
"I remember somebody saying it was Victor,"Luke said. "He should be easy to find-or at least his name. There aren't too many Victors lying around in this faction."
"Right! Victor,"Sarah said. She remembered Alice muttering his name somewhere.
Suddenly panting came from the four directions of the wall. Huge black dogs were slowly making their way towards them. They had black beady eyes and sharp yellow fangs. Attached to their necks were collars. Guard Dogs. "I forgot that we had company,"Sarah muttered.
"I knew we shouldn't have come here,"Jane said.
"They're just dogs Jane. What can they do?"Sarah told her. But she knew these dogs weren't to attack, they were to alert.
"Max, the jerky,"Luke said calmly. "Second pocket from the front,"He informed him.
"Right!"Sarah remembered.
Max immediately scourged the bag and opened the bag quickly tossing the beef jerky in the opposite direction. For a moment, the dogs seemed distracted. Then, they sniffed the jerky and ate it. Max continued throwing it further and further away from them. They took this as a chance to silently escape without being caught.
"That was close,"Sarah said. "Too close."
"Damn it. My jerky,"Max said. "Those dogs are going to get it the next time I see them."
"Usually, in any headquarters, the leader's office is usually in the middle,"Sarah said. Her parents were one of the leaders of Abnegation, but she never saw the Headquarters.
"We are close then,"Jane replied. Sarah heard footsteps coming towards them and she tightened for a bit. She could see their shadows coming towards the wall. She saw 2 shadows. There were two men. Neither of them were leaders. They had leather jackets on and piercings and tattoos.
"Hey, you guys look awfully young,"One man said. He had bright red hair, like a tomato. It was mixed with dark black strands of hair. "What are you doing here? Reporting to somebody?" He didn't look suspicious of them.
"Um,"Jane looked at everyone, and then slowly nodded. "Yes."
"Who?"The other man asked. He had black hair mixed with red strands instead.
Jane tightened and her fingers nearly twitched. "To Victor,"Sarah spoke for her. She smiled elegantly and ruffled her hair. She also maintained a straight face to look mature and older than she was. "We were just about to head towards his office,"she said. She tried doing a flirty smile, which obviously worked. She elbowed Jane. She laughed inside her head. These guys are total suckers.
Jane cleared her throat and spoke with more confidence. She also ran her fingers through her hair and pulled it back. Sarah couldn't notice her face back then, but Jane was fairly pretty. She had caramel brown eyes and a thin, curvy lip. Underneath it, was a small black mole. She also fit in easily because of her purple hair.
Sarah didn't look back, but she could feel the awkwardness behind her and Jane. Max and Luke were just looking at each other, unsure of what to do. Should they take the guys on right now? Or should they let the girls handle it? Could they take on a professional Dauntless member head on? They shrugged and decided on the second option. It was like telepathy.
"Were you about to head there too?"Luke asked him.
"Actually, we just came from there,"the first man spoke. The other man agreed, nodding,"Yup, we just passed the second corridor. We'll escort you guys."
"Err-sure,"Max said. "I meant thanks,"he said uneasily. He mouthed the word "Pedo" and pointed at the two men. Sarah and Jane covered their mouths, unable to control their laughter. Jane slipped her laughter for a moment and the two men looked around. She covered it up by pretending to cough.
The man was about to open the door to Victor's office. Suddenly, Max grabbed the dude with the red hair and black streaks while Luke grabbed the man with black hair and red streaks. Sarah and Jane covered both their mouths to prevent them from screaming and alerting somebody as Luke and Max shot the injection in and pushed the plunger. They used hand signals to talk to one another. The two guys dragged the men through the floor and placed them somewhere else.
Luke peeked into the office to see Victor doing some paper work. It wasn't normal paperwork. Luke noticed it had another faction's stamp on the paper, it was like a faction and another faction cooperating. He did a hand signal for them to move back.
"Damn it, he's in there,"Max whispered.
"Guys, I don't know about this,"Jane said.
"Jane, how can you ever call yourself Dauntless?"Max asked.
"I call myself Dauntless not stupid,"she whispered back.
Luke watched them bickering, and Sarah watched him. "Hey uh.."she asked him.
"What?"he said turning towards her side.
"What...do you actually want to find out here? What file or info do you need?"she asked him suddenly. "Nobody in their right mind would have wanted to come here.
"Nothing really. I just need to verify something,"he said, shrugging. Sarah nodded, sounding convinced.
"We need to get him out of the office,"Sarah said to Luke along with Max and Jane, but she doubted they were listening. "A method that doesn't involve us getting into unnecessary fights."
"The correct term for that would be distraction,"Luke said. He began thinking, then sighed. "Okay I got nothing. This guy is a Dauntless leader, he's not stupid." Jane and Max continued arguing and bickering. Suddenly, Max snapped out of it.
"I think this is my area of expertise,"Max replied. He pulled something out of his bag. "Me and Nel have been working on this powder." He held a small glass bottle with grayish powder. "Luke experimented on it to make it explode. Of course, it was just supposed to be a dumb prank, but Jane accidentally made it explode creating a diversion, when we were out of curfew-which of course, gave us time to escape." Max carefully held it after explaining its use.
"Right, we have to make it explode somewhere. We'll need someone to go far away from here and make it explode, while the other person goes and gets the files,"Sarah said.
"I'm guessing the people to make it explode will probably be me and Jane,"Max replied. He turned to Jane. "Come on, I hope your not afraid of heights." He smirked. "Tell me if they have a file on cool pranks,"Max said.
"Tell me if they have any information on Dauntless architecture,"Jane asked. "I have a thing for awesome Dauntless buildings."
"Alright,"he said, nodding to Max and Jane. He counted with his fingers, and once he got to the third finger, Max and Jane understood. They waited a couple minutes for them to hear a loud explosion. Sarah wished she brought earmuffs or earphones to cover up that loud popping sound in her ear. Luke smirked. "Thanks Max." They hid behind a corridor.
"What the hell was that?"Victor said, slowly getting up from his chair. Sarah could see his shadow moving towards the opposite side. He held a knife in his pocket.
"Are Max and Jane good runners?"she whispered to Luke.
"Yes, in fact they are,"Luke replied. He went to the door and managed to catch it before it closed and locked. Sarah and Luke went in quickly. "Holy sh-" Luke crossed Victor's desk to see what the papers were, but Victor locked them away. "Damn. 5 minutes, we have 5 minutes,"he said towards Sarah.
"Got it,"Sarah said. She scurged around the doors for anything, and then she found the files on all the Dauntless initiates. "Bingo,"she said, almost grinning. She took a look at her file and there was no sign of the word Divergent. Then, she realized that she didn't have a footage at all. "Alice must have sent no footage,"she muttered.
She looked at a shelf with Dauntless files. She took a closer look and found Erudite files mixed up with them as well. She remembered the woman her mom talked about. "Her name...what was it again?"she said frustrated. She looked at an Erudite file and opened it to find a strict looking lady. She had brown hair and blue eyes. She looked about the same age as Victor. She looked under the woman's picture to find the name,"Meredith Johnson. Leader of Erudite. Creator of the simulation." Sarah hurried through the rest of the files, hoping to memorize all of its contents.
She looked at another file under Meredith's. It was a file of a serum, but not the ones for the aptitude testing. It wasn't the one for the second initiation, so she decided to ignore it. "Found you,"Sarah muttered. It was in the Dauntless files with all the other initiation stages in it. She looked at the ingredients, the way it works, and how to get out of it. She didn't pay attention to the 'how to get out of it' part, since she already knew how to get out of it. Sarah flipped another page and her eyes widened. It was the results of the previous Dauntless initiates and their average timing. "Yes!"She thought in her head. If she managed to have a countdown of the average dauntless initiate's timing, she wouldn't have to worry about them finding out about her.
"3 minutes left,"Luke told her.
"Okay,"Sarah replied.
She saw Luke scrummaging through some other stuff, more like looking for something. "Cheats for the third initiation. Would you like to see it?"he asked her.
Sarah's face turned red. "No, its okay." Sarah immediately looked away. She didn't really want him to think that she was just here to cheat in the initiation. That would make her look cheap.
"Let's get out of here,"Luke replied. "I got stuff on Dauntless pranks for Max,"he said raising a file. "More like military gimmicks,"he muttered chuckling. "And famous Dauntless architecture for Jane." He put both files back where they came from. "Do you have what you need?"
"Yup!"Sarah said. "We have 20 seconds left,"she replied. The two of them opened the door and closed it, putting everything back where it came from. "Fingers crossed, they'll meet us back here in about..."
"10 seconds,"Luke finished for her.
"..4...3...2...1,"Sarah whispered inside her head, as they hid in the wall. "30 seconds before the two men wake up." Suddenly behind her, Jane and Max panted and grinned as they came back. "Please tell me your grinning because you did it."
"Well, they're still alive aren't they?"Luke said. He grinned at Max and Jane.
"Luke, you really are the god of stunts,"Jane replied. "I can't believe we were successful,"she whispered as they slowly snuck back up the roof.
Max sighed. "I'm so underrated." The four of them stood on a roof, looking up at the building they jumped from.
"Not exactly,"Sarah replied to Max. "Luke may be the god of stunts, but I consider you a god of pranks." She grinned at him. "I mean, its not like everyone could just fool a Dauntless leader like that."
Max's eyes widened. "Wait-you really think so?" He began smiling at the corner of his mouth. Sarah understood why Nel and Max would have been good friends.
"Hate to admit it, but even better than me,"Luke added, to support Sarah's claim and to boost Max's pride.
Jane shrugged. "Uuhhh, lets not go that far." She still smiled. "But that was fun,"she began to grin.
"Man, you should have seen Victor,"Max said. "He was like dancing around the place when me and Jane sent off those explosions." He raised an eyebrow. "Not exactly what I would have expected from a leader, especially from our faction."
"I know! The dude looked like a clown. It totally ruined his 'I'm-so-scary-so-run-for-your-life' look." Jane laughed quietly.
"Wish I could have seen it,"Luke said.
Sarah laughed. "Same here...by the way,"she began. Max and Jane turned their heads to look at her. "How do we get back to the building?"
"Right,"Luke said, squinting his dark eyes to look back up at the building. "Climb it?" He jumped from the roof and landed carefully below the building they jumped. Then, he began to climb on a window, clutching a pipeline.
"Like I'll lose to you Luke!"Max said. He jumped from the roof again, landing below the building, dangling loosely.
"MAX!"Jane shouted. She grunted. "What a fool! He always gets lucky."
Sarah noticed the same flicker of worry in her eyes and voice. "We can't let the boys have all the fun,"Sarah said, trying to look enthusiastic. It didn't look that scary or dangerous. She jumped from the roof and clutched the pipeline, slowly climbing by Max.
"Hey, when did you get here?"Max asked her.
"Fast climber?"Sarah said, shrugging. "I don't know." She held the pipeline and looked at Jane. "Jane!"she shouted, hoping she would hear her. "Come on!"
"Yeah! Come on, or we'll ditch you,"Max joked. Sarah rolled her eyes. "Just kidding, we can't ditch you. You're too awesome to ditch."
"Yeah, hold on I'm coming. Just waiting for that car to pass,"she shouted back. She began to climb the 7 stories building, just under Sarah's feet.
"Wow, you girls are fast,"Max said, noticing Jane.
"Its that, or your too slow,"Jane replied, grunting as she did a huge jump and began to climb by Sarah.
Max rolled his eyes and looked up at Luke, who was already done climbing, sitting at the rooftop, waving at them below with a sarcastic smile. "Luke, you show-off!"he shouted up at him.
Max climbed faster and reached the roof second. Then Sarah and Jane reached the roof at the same time."You talk too much, thats why your annoying,"Jane told Max, as she brushed up dirt from her pants. She took the digital camera and took a pic of the headquarters. "For memories sake,"she said clipping a picture.
"Its exactly 1 am in the morning,"Sarah told them. "We won't even be late for initiation."
"No wonder why Jane called Luke the god of stunts. He really planned every single detail out,"Max said. "Nice job,"he said patting Luke's back.
"We'll be heading back now,"Luke said. The four sat on the roof.The morning wind blew his dark hair back and he yawned, looking at the peak of the sun.
She was a little excited being on top of a roof next to Luke, watching the sunset. She had to remind herself that he had no interest in her. "It's really beautiful,"Sarah said. "The colors and the position. Perfect,"she muttered. The sky above them was a dark blue that looked black, then slowly in front of them it was dark blue, then purple,red, and orange. "I haven't seen a real sunset. Sure, I saw it from our window, but not like...this."
"You're right. It's really pretty,"Jane said. She smiled.
Max yawned. "I don't get what you see in it. It's just a sun rising."
"Look deeper,"Sarah spoke. "Aside from the cars and buildings. Look at the sky." Max squinted and tried looking at it. It took him a couple of moments, then he focused his eyes in a certain spot. "Do you see what we see?" Sarah smirked for a few seconds and then looked at the sun herself. "In my opinion, its one of the best sights."
Max raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I guess. If you really pay attention to it."
Luke just stared at the clouds, not moving his mouth. Then, he yawned. "Damn, I'm tired."
"I'm not,"Sarah replied immediately.
"Do you have some sort of super-power? We literally went a whole day without sleep, and your still active?" He whistled. "I wish I had your case." He turned to Luke. "Reminds me, did you get a file on the pranks I asked you?"
"And the architecture?"Jane asked smiling showing her teeth slightly. "It wasn't necessary, but if you could-"
"Yeah,"Luke replied. "I had to put them back so suspicion didn't rise. I'll tell you guys everything back on the train, how about that?"
"Fine by me,"Jane and Max said at the same time.
*****************
"Another famous Dauntless prank is the legendary smoke cannon,"Luke said casually. It was like he memorized every single page of the file. After, he explained it, he pulled out his digital camera and gave him strips of pictures on the page. "Thats the recipe to make the smoke bombs, and you can make a cannon out of anything,"Luke said.
"Just like the time we made the water ones,"Max said. "That was a classic. We should totally try it on Olivia,"he said. "She deserves one straight to the face."
"I doubt smoke would do anything,"Luke said. He raised an eyebrow. "Now if you were to replace the smoke bombs with a stink bomb-now that would be a different story."
"Why try it on Olivia if you can try it on David?"Jane said. Then, she and Max discussed who to try it on, laughing together.
Sarah laughed and listened on the train, passing time quickly. The information Luke got was more interesting than she thought. Luke already had explained to Jane about famous Dauntless architecture, even taking her to the sites in person. She had strips full of pictures. "Remember when we went to the Dauntless Museum a few hours ago?"she asked them.
"That was surprisingly fun and interesting,"Max replied.
"I never knew Dauntless had a museum,"Sarah said before Luke told her that it was a 'generous donation' from Erudite. "Now if it was a weapon exhibit, I would understand. I liked the art portaits they displayed. The abstract, the surreal art, and then realistic. And how can I forget the sculpting exhibit?"
"I was more interested in the building itself,"Jane told her. "You know, architecture is very similar to sculpting." They continued talking about other stuff while in the train.
Sarah understood why she and Jane got along. They both liked art, though different versions of art. "I think you'd be interested in the air conditioner jamming trick,"Luke said. They went back to discussing pranks.
"Thats a good idea. The best part is-they'll never know who caused it!"Max said. Max' stomach began to growl. "I almost forgot how hungry I am. Damn it! I forgot to get revenge on those stupid mutts."
"German Shepherds,"Luke cut in.
"Forget it Max, it was impractical. You would have just alerted them,"Jane said, going back to looking at the pictures.
"Uh-actually,"Sarah said. She dug into her pockets and got out a ziploc bag. "I baked some cookies earlier." She opened them and gave a few to Max.
Max took a bite out of them, with crumbs falling from his mouth. "These are delicious. You're an amazing cook."
Sarah grinned. "Thanks. I was thinking about giving them to Nel last night since his injuries were really serious so he had to stay overnight."
She gave the rest to Luke and Jane. "Max was right. These were amazing,"Luke said. He took a bite carefully so no crumbs would spill on the train seat. Her eyes widened, and she felt her cheeks turning pink.
"Damn right,"Jane said taking another one.
Suddenly, the train came to a stop. "This trip felt faster than the last one,"Jane said yawning and stretching.
"Jane, when your done with those picture, burn them,"Luke said sternly.
"Wha-?"Jane said, slightly confused.
"Thats just evidence that we snuck out and into the headquarters,"Luke replied. "Same with you Max."
"Got it, you already memorized the recipes anyway,"he said. He took a lighter from his pocket and burned it to ashed. Then, he frantically stepped on it to prevent a fire. Jane reluctantly handed the pictures to Max.
"Here,"Sarah said, getting out some more pictures from her pocket.
They spread the ashes everywhere. "They're right, you know. You literally plan every step along the way."
"Thanks,"Luke said. "If thats a good thing."
"Its is,"Sarah replied as they began climbing back to the balcony. They jumped over the railings and hid the bags back under the tiles. "How do we know if the instructors are still there?"she asked.
Luke dug a laser out of his pocket and made a tiny hole. He peeked into it. "They're heading towards a separate room to prepare for the initiation."
"This is our chance,"Jane said. She opened the balcony door, but it was locked. "Guess it was set for curfew. Luke, can you laser it?"
"I can, but the knob will break,"he said.
"I can just shove the door open,"Max offered.
"You'll make too much noise,"Sarah said.
"I know an old trick to get into locked doors. But I'll need a pin. Its the most basic one for pranksters. As you can see, I'm a guy and I don't have any pins on me,"Max said with an obvious tone.
Sarah dug a pin out of her hair, making a loose strand of her hair fall into her face. "Here."
"Thanks,"he said. He took the pin and inserted it into the knob, cranked it to the side, and turned the knob. It still didn't move.
"It's the wrong side Max,"Luke said.
"Oh,"Max replied. They got the door open quietly, and the group waved bye towards each other. Sarah hurried into her room and went under her covers. Then, she woke up when Lyndsay woke up.
"Good morning,"Sarah said with an innocent smile.
"Oh hey,"Lyndsay said, with her hair like a lion's once again. "Good morning. I woke up really early. Its 6 already?"she said. Sarah shrugged and nodded.
"Get up. Let's go visit Nel and get to breakfast,"She said. She tugged at Lyndsay's cover and pulled her hand. "It's not like we have all day." She grinned.
*****
Lyndsay, Nel, and Sarah looked below at their plates. It had bacon, scrambled egg, and plain toast. Sarah gave everything to Nel. "Thanks for visiting. It was boring in there. I was surrounded by a bunch of depressing people telling me how they landed in the infirmary. Of course, I had to act like I cared."
"We were going to visit anyway,"Lyndsay replied. "By the way, where were you yesterday?" She turned her head to Sarah.
"The instructors checked on us since we were close to you, so I made up a fake tale,"Nel chimed in.
"Thanks Nel,"she said with a smile. "I sort of...ran away for a short while,"she said.
Lyndsay almost choked on her orange juice. "R-Ran away?"she asked wiping the liquid above her mouth.
"Yeah. You guys are close to me, so I thought I could tell you,"Sarah said.
"Of course,"Nel said. Lyndsay seemed kind of flattered. "Lucky,"Nel muttered. Sarah told them everything that was outside of the building. She didn't tell them where she went, why she went, or who she went with. She was very keen on avoiding that topic. They were more excited than either Luke, Jane, or Max since the two of them were transfer initiates.
"Now that reminds me, I have to see someone,"she said.
Nel and Lyndsay didn't ask her who.l Lyndsay seemed to learn how to control her mouth and respect people's privacy, which Sarah thanked her for silently. "I need to speak with you,"she whispered to Sebastian, tapping on his sleeve and then quietly walking away, dumping her tray in the process. She was wearing her regular uniform like everyone else.
(Sorry for the long wait! My dad came to visit us so I didn't have time to reply!)