Ever Hayes - Redemption

The person was wearing a hoodie and jeans, clearly not standard Qi Jia attire. American? “What do we do?”

“Don’t frickin’ move,” Blake whispered back.

The person passed almost directly beneath us, almost certainly gaining the attention of Eddie, Flynn, and Ava in the process. Blake slowly tiptoed down the steps as the person moved away from us. As he or she turned left around the corner, Blake picked up his pace—a little too quickly. He stepped on a loose board that snapped, and there was a large crash as he fell through to the platform below it and then through that platform as well. I jumped up and watched the corner where the person had disappeared a minute earlier. Sure enough, he or she came back, looking for the source of the sound. Blake was lying in the open, and a dust cloud had risen where he’d fallen through the boards. I could see he was okay, but I also knew the person had seen him too. In a second, he or she was gone.

I took off in pursuit. By the time I reached the bottom and scampered around the corner, the person was long gone. But I’d also seen Flynn chasing the individual, and she was hurrying back toward me now. She ran up to me, breathing heavily.

“She went into Pirates.”

“Seriously? You know it was a she?” I thought so. “Did you get a look at her face?”

“Yes.” Flynn nodded.

“American?”

“Don’t know for certain, but I think so. White face, dark hair.”

“Did you see anyone else? Any signs of anyone else?”

“No.” Flynn shook her head. “But she can’t be alone.”

Blake had joined us now. “American?”

“Yep. We think.” It was my turn to nod. “She went into Pirates.”

“Small world.” Blake smiled and elbowed me.

I got it, idiot. I can play this game too . “No, Pirates.”

“I know. I was—”

“I know what you were doing. You’re hilarious.” I elbowed him back. It was weird to be here and not hear that song though . “Guess Ava was right.”

“I was right?” Ava walked up behind us with Eddie, who was still carrying Danny.

“Seems that way,” I replied. “Flynn followed her to Pirates of the Caribbean.”

“Yeah,” Ava nodded. “She ran right past us after she looped around the building. Think she was trying to throw you guys off.”

“Do you know if she was American?” Eddie asked us. “We couldn’t tell.”

“Yes,” Blake answered, and Flynn and I laughed.

“What?” Eddie turned to us.

“Nothing.” You had to be there.

We slowly made our way back through Adventureland towards the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. When we were close enough to see the entrance we stepped inside an old BBQ place to lay Danny down.

If there was more than one person inside the Pirates of the Caribbean building, they were probably watching for us. They could be armed and extremely jumpy, given they also probably hadn’t seen humans—especially Americans—around here in a while. We couldn’t take any chances.

We also knew—if they were Americans—and if they were from the bunker, we had to get in there too. We had to let Hawaii know missiles were coming before it was too late. We had to let them know Baker was forcing Keena to drop the Shield. As darkness fell on Southern California, we knew we didn’t have much time.

I watched Flynn slink up to the front door of the ride. She motioned at me to follow her, but as I started to move toward her she suddenly waved for me to stop. I froze and watched her as she looked above her head. Flynn pointed directly above her with one finger and then tapped her eye. A camera? I made a picture-taking motion back to her, and she nodded. They had to already know we were here. Confirming my suspicion, I suddenly saw three red dots appear on Flynn’s chest. “No!” I screamed and ran across the courtyard toward her. “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot! We’re Americans…don’t shoot!”

I stepped in front of Flynn, and the three red dots were now front and center on my chest. I waved my arms as I continued to plead to whoever it was that had us in their sights. “We’re not here to hurt you. We’re from Hawaii. We’re just trying to get a message to them. The enemy has the bunker in Colorado. We need to get that message to Hawaii. Please…”

There was no response. I had no way of knowing if my message had made it through. The red dots remained on my chest. Please, please, please . “Look, I understand if you don’t believe me, but you have a red phone in that bunker. Call the governor of Hawaii and ask him if he knows Captain Danny Miner. Please.”

More silence followed, and the red dots didn’t move. Finally a voice spoke from a speaker directly above our heads. “How many of you are there?”

“Six.” My voice cracked. “Sorry, six,” I repeated louder.

“All Americans?” the voice replied.

I thought about saying yes, but I knew I had to be honest. “No, we have an African major with us.”

“Prisoner?”

“No, sir.”

“Names?”

“Our names?” I asked.

“No, the names of the chipmunks.”

Chip and Dale? Or Alvin, Simon, and Theodore? “Sorry,” I yelled back, dismissing the sarcastic reply on my mind. “I’m Hayley, this is Flynn, and we have Blake, Ava, Danny, and Eddie.”

“Don’t move,” the voice said sternly.

Don’t worry.

Ten minutes passed, and the voice hadn’t yet returned. What could be taking so long? Another ten minutes passed, and there was still nothing. Suddenly a female voice next to me spoke up. “Follow me.” I jumped. It was the girl from before, but this time she had a rifle. She was a little shorter than me—five-six or five-seven—with long, curly dark hair, and I detected a slight accent. UK or Australian? I asked for her name and age—I was guessing fifteen or sixteen—but she wouldn’t tell me.

Flynn and I followed her into the darkness. I was aware of several other people moving in behind us. We were escorted through several hallways to a staircase leading down into a basement below the ride. As Flynn and I stepped through the doorway, floodlights came on and we squinted against their glare, struggling to see. Eventually, we could make out the silhouettes of twenty or so armed men and women, all with their guns pointed at us. A voice spoke from behind the spotlight directly in our face. It was the male from the loudspeaker outside.

“We have confirmed your story.”

“You called Hawaii?”

“We did.”

“And?”

“They are thrilled you are alive, but they don’t know of an Eddie. I’m afraid you will have to make a choice. We can let you in without him, or you must all stay out.”

“You don’t understand—”

“Perhaps it is you that does not understand.” The man cut me off. “This is not up for debate. You are guests here, if indeed you choose to be—but your African friend is not. He is not welcome.”

I bit my lower lip and shook my head. “Can I discuss this with my brother?”

“If you must.”

“I must,” I answered, with perhaps a little too much sarcasm.

“You have one hour.”

“Maybe,” I muttered. That was up to Keena.

Flynn and I were escorted back to the front door. As we walked across the courtyard back toward Blake and the others, there were no red dots on us this time. Danny wasn’t going to be alert enough to answer the question—I knew that. I was going back to ask Eddie. This was all going to be up to Eddie.

Blake was squatting beside Danny when Flynn and I rejoined them. Blake quickly jumped up and gave me a hug. “Are you okay?”