Chapter Twenty-Two
Dog Whisperer

I'm walking walking walking walking

Stop

I'm walking walking

Turn

Stop

I see people

"Make sure no one enters"

"Make sure you two stay put"

I watch the door

I make sure no one enters

I'm watching

Watching

I'm watching watching watching--

Movement beside me.

I watch guard fall

Someone has entered-

I raise my hands

I shoot out my shield--

I'm pulled down

I raise my arm to kick but I'm slapped

I'm slapped

"Stop"

the voice is loud

"Stop"

"Skylar stop!"

I push myself up

A boy stands in front of me

"Skylar it's me"

"Skylar!"

I try to grab him

"Its me! Sam!"

Flash

A blinding flash

"Sam," I said. He nodded frantically as I blinked and checked my surroundings.

I was in a grey hallway, guarding a door. To my right I could see another kid from my school laying on the floor.

I raised my eyebrows and bent down on my knee to see him better. He was knocked out unconscious, but looked fine.

"What happened?" I asked Sam, turning to face him.

He shrugged. "I'm not completely sure, but i mean I can only assume they caught you guys and tried taking control."

"Wait," I shook my head, "How'd you get it to stop?"

Sam raised a small tube. "Dog whistle."

I paused. "W- a dog whistle?"

He frowned. "Don't judge me, I carry one everywhere. I panicked and didn't know what to do."

"But I couldn't hear it," I told him.

"Because it's a dog whistle, obviously," He rolled his eyes. "Only dogs can hear it, but I guess the frequency somehow messed with the manipulation chip thing."

I shook my head and muttered, "dog whisperer."

"I'm kidding!" He huffed, "why the hell would a dog whistle do shit? I used this."

Sam held up his phone. "I used the flash."

"The flash?" I questioned.

"Yeah," he nodded. "A flash seems to be effective in the movies and stuff, so I assumed it might work." He grinned smugly. "And I assumed correctly."

"You know," I said, "thank you for finding a way to help me, but for future reference, I don't think your go-to ideas should be based off superhero movies."

He just rolled his eyes. "Have you found Static? That's all I'm really worried about right now."

Panic arose inside me as I remembered what happened to Static. He couldn't have gone far, right? He should be okay.

"How do we find him?" I asked. "Do you think hes hypnotized too?"

"Most likely," Sam answered, shaking his head. "We're losing time. We need to find him se we can continue the plan."

"Okay," I nodded, taking in a breath. "Let's split up, if we find him we'll let each other know. Then we find Slick."

Sam nodded before disappearing around the corner. I took a deep breath, trying to gain back my senses.

I closed my eyes. "You've got this," I muttered, before tightening my fists and dashing down the hall.

It felt like a maze. It felt like a prison. I just kept running by the same boring walls, over and over. I couldn't imagine how someone would willingly come to work in such an office.

I passed doors and doors, but all the rooms seemed empty. As I jogged down the hall, I heard talking, and my footsteps slowly came to a stop as I reached the corner.

"Has anyone unauthorized passes through these halls?"

"No, sir," was answered, in the same haunting robotic voice.

The foot steps continued, and I took a peak around the corner to see a large open area, with one guard walking away, leaving the other teen stationed at the stairs.

Stairs!

I made a quick search, looking for signs of any other guard.

With no one else in sight, i sealed myself from sight and proceeded in the direction of the teen.

I was light with every step in order not to draw any attention. I kept my breathing steady, coming closer to the boy.

I was soon close enough to the boy to grab him and take him down, but my shoe made a sharp squeak as I took a step, and I froze.

He whipped his head in my direction, aiming his gun straight at my chest.

"Who's there?" I called in an artificial tone, his dead eyes passing over me.

I decided to take that moment to blast out my shield, just as he took a shot. The pellet was reflected and hit somewhere behind him.

The boy was knocked over, and slid across the marble, hitting the wall beside the stairs.

I ran for the stairs, trying to get by him, but he managed to grab my ankle and pull me back down.

I let out a grunt as my head hit the stairs. He tried to hit me but I flipped myself over and pushed myself back up.

He went for a punch, but I managed to dodge it. I grabbed his arm and pinned it against the wall, but he lifted his knee to my gut.

I yelped and let him go. Guards must have been programmed to fight like this. If every teen in my school could fight like that then I would be scared.

I didn't have my phone, so I couldn't use a flash. Why would I bring my phone on a mission?

I watched as he reached over to pull the gun. My mind panicked. I couldn't hurt him, he was innocent and not in control of his actions, but I couldn't let him hurt me.

My heart raced as I stared at the gun, he reached for it, but the gun passed right through his fingertips as it came flying at me.

I caught it with my hand. Did I do that? Was it really that easy?

I didn't have time to think, because the boy was already coming at me.

Other guards must have been in their way, and I couldn't fight him forever. I tried searching my surroundings for anything I could use against him.

Then I remembered - I don't keep my phone with me, but I keep my keys in my bra.

Clamped to my keys was that small flashlight thing places give you and you have no use for it so you attack t to your key chain. It wasn't bright, but it was something, right?

With maybe six seconds to spare, I quickly shoved my hand into my bra to pull out my stupid key chain. 

Right before he reached me, i flashed his eyes using the light and he blinked.

Well I mean he was also running, so the determination in his eyes left as he was blinded and, since he was not aware he was in the midst of running, he flopped to the grown.

"Ow!" He winced. Looking up, his eyes widened.

"Gone girl," he said as he stared.

I nodded and gave him a quick but flashy smile. "Yup, greetings, it is I. But you really have to go if you don't want to die."

"W-what?" He shook his head.

I helped pull him to his feet in a rush, giving him a shove in the other direction. "Go, no one wants you to die. Please just go," I ushered him.

He nodded, still confused, and with one last look around he took off.

I ran up the stairs, not knowing how much time I would have to find Static before the others found me.

***

Oh my god two months I don't even know what to say

Okay so basically in two months I have moved BACK to Canada and now I miss all my Egyptian friends and stuff but I literally talk to them everyday and I've been put into this IB program thingy that I had no choice in and i now have to do that thing and it's been havoc.

I'm honestly just catching you up with what I've been doing because I doesn't exactly effect my writing lmao bc I have plenty of free time I'm just a lazy ass.

I have felt so guilty not uploading and I couldn't even think of my book without wincing. I'm sorry!

But I had a lot of pleasure writing this chapter, and I have decided to give myself annoying daily reminders to write so hopefully I'll update more now ahaha

with love
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