Hugo opens the door and Jedrek practically throws in the boy, making him retch again, right next to Athena's expensive 'comfort' boots. Athena takes a step back and looks disgusted, while the boy just focuses on composing himself and looking up. "Who are you?" the boy asks.
"Who are you?" Donna answers.
"My name is Zac." He slowly reaches inside his coat pocket and hands me a folded up piece of paper. It’s a pass to the spaceship.
"I'm with The Mars Experience. I've been burnt and cut." He rolls up his patterned, black sleeves to reveal terrible, purple, red, brown, scraped, and oozing bruises. Emma hides away in nausea from the sight.
"All right. Take your jacket off. Bree, inside your pack is the medications. Move. Stat."
Athena assists Zac and slowly peels his jacket off, trying not to touch his wounds. I riffle through my backpack to make sure I have everything. Once that's settled, Hugo cauterizes his injuries and bandages his arms. Jedrek and Athena try to keep him still, but he keeps squirming and grunting in pain. Meanwhile, I take care of Apollo so Emma can focus on not looking at Zac's bruises.
Zac has just put his jacket back on when we hear footsteps outside. "Hush, someone's coming," Hugo says, then crawls into a corner for us to follow. Athena rests against the door and tries to listen in on the outside.
"Cops! It's cops!" she panics in a hushed whisper and moves to the crowded corner as well.
"I thought we lost them already!" I whisper-yell as well.
"All right, I'll load my gun, Jedrek get your rock, Emma, get Apollo accounted for and quiet, Athena, listen in on the door," Donna hisses. "We'll need a good distraction..." she mumbles to herself. "Bree, do you trust me?"
"Yeah, I guess..."
"Then go out with your hands behind your head and surrender. We won’t let them take you. Stall them as long as you can so we can make sure they leave safe." She gestures to Emma, Apollo, Hugo, Athena, and Zac. "Go. Jedrek and I will be behind you, alright?" She hugs me in a great bear hug where her arms are completely surrounding me.
I look towards Emma. I can’t just leave her behind and let her die. I can’t leave any of them behind. Hugo’s the one who knows everything, Athena, Zac, Apollo, and Emma won’t be fast enough, and Donna and Jedrek know their way around weapons. I don’t have anything going for me. I’m not even charming like Conner.
Conner. I can’t let the rest of them die like Conner did. Whether I’m expendable or not, my heart races as I crack the wooden door open and move out.
I put my hands up and am suddenly surrounded by five armed cops. One of them messes with her static. "Cole, come to the ladies' restroom on the other side."
She puts her gun back in place and they're all aiming at me.
"Do you really need to call for backup?" I can't think of anything else to say. Using a mocking voice, I tease, "Oh, yeah, scary pre-teen with no gun, weapon, or team. Let's call for backup, guys." Three more cops arrive.
"It is disrespectful to speak to officers like that, son. We could have you arrested."
I need to think fast. I have to trust Donna. I lower my hands and stuff them in my pocket. "Oh, but you won't do that."
Their hands all stiffen on their guns. I dart my hands back to my head. "Son, I'm telling you, get your hands out of your pocket," the same cop warns.
Feeling my hair, I notice that it’s near my shoulders at this point.
"All right, Dad." Out of the corner of my eye, I see the crew climbing out the window. I loosen up and lower my hands. "You guys are so serious all the time." The man signals for me to put my hands back on top of my head, but I pretend I don't see him.
"Be honest, do you think I need a haircut?"
I see Donna and everyone except Apollo, Zac, and Athena run up behind the cops. I need to focus everything on me. Stakes are on. I rub my hands together to warm them up, even though it's really hot. "It's actually pretty funny. Who wants to hear a funny story?"
"No one, son."
"Oh, c’mon, you’re gonna love it." Just like that, Donna comes up from behind them. Everyone armed, they knock out four cops at once by striking them in the head with various objects. Jedrek, a water jug, Emma, Jedrek's rock, Hugo, a metal toilet-paper holster, and Donna, the back of her gun. I can't contain myself. "Yeah!" I shout, then charge at the cop who kept calling me son. I knee him in his genitals and take his gun and badge.
It doesn't take long to realize an obvious flaw in our plan, however. A single heavyweight strike to the head won't keep down an entire trained barricade of officers. Soon enough, they're up. Athena walks in to try to help and it becomes mayhem. Everywhere, people are striking each other. In between the chaos, Donna comes up to me.
"You see that? They have their safeties off. They can shoot at any time without hesitation. Get everyone out of here." She proceeds to walk over to Athena, who is being cuffed. She hits the cop in his eye with her elbow. "Leave. Now."
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