"One, two, three-"

Zenon launched me up, his hands on the soles of my shoes, and I gripped the sides of the panel to help hoist myself up, and onto the cold roof of the elevator.

"You got it?" Zenon asked.

"Yep." I got up from lying on my stomach and searched the surroundings. We were quite a ways underground. Light from the surface of the Asylum spilled down the shaft, creating a white beam of dim light, just enough to illuminate the unconscious guards that lay at my feet. It would only be a matter of time before more showed up. Luckily, I had the real gun strapped around my shoulder and waist and the tranquilizer over top of it so that would be the first thing I grabbed.

Two sets of ladders lined the concrete elevator shaft, which explained how the guards even got down in the first place. There was just enough distance between the wall in the elevator so you couldn't get crushed if you were climbing down.

A pair of hands reached up onto the elevator's roof. It was Erin. I grabbed her wrists and pulled her up. She crawled forward, crouching down and feeling her ankle.

"Is it okay?" I asked her.

"Surprisingly," she replied. Only a faint white scar existed in place of the bulletwound, at least from what I could see where her pant leg ended.

"Focus, April!" Another pair of hands gripped the escape hatch. This time it was Shane. I helped him up, and while I helped the next person up, he went to go conversation with Erin. Three people later, Zenon, Terri and Adelyn were the only people left in the elevator. Guards still hadn't come.

"You've got to leave the girl down here," Zenon told Terri, who was still holding Adelyn.

"No way," Terri said. "She's my sister."

"Zenon, please. I can lift her up," I said. I craned my neck to peer over the panel and extended an arm.

"Fine."

Terri held Adelyn up, and I grabbed her under her arms, lifting her up and onto the elevator roof. Her steady breaths merged with the collection of other breaths from the unconscious guards.

"We're good," I said. After pulling Terri up, Zenon was the only one left in the box. He stood silent staring at me, probably wondering what to do. He walked over to the side of the elevator which surprised me, and kicked the wall with his foot. The wall wasn't very stable, and shook. He kicked again, making a crack noise. One last time, and the top half of the wall actually separated from the box, smacking into the ladder beside it.

"Woah," I said. "How'd you know you could do that?"

"It was always unstable," Zenon replied. "It's been making me nervous since we came here." He pushed all his weight onto the broken wall, and made enough space for him to crawl out onto the ladder, leaving the broken elevator behind. His head emerged from the side and he crawled onto the roof.

As soon as he did, the elevator shook. It made a noise that shouldn't have been made, and started to go downward slowly. Luckily, Zenon wasn't on the ladder anymore. The broken wall scraped along the ladder as it descended to the cells. Before we could reach the bottom, I yelled out, "Grab the ladder!" and my hands found a rung. I hoisted myself up, wishing I wasn't so afraid of heights. I kept my eyes forward rather than down to avoid trembling.

Soon the elevator would emerge at the bottom of the shaft filled with only unconscious people. What a wonderful find for any guards that find another way to get down there.

"Is everyone up?" I asked.

"Yes," Zenon replied. I was thankful that Erin and Shane had been healed, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to climb up.

"Wait," I said. "How's Adelyn?"

"I've got her," Zenon said. I mustered up the courage to glance downward, seeing Zenon with Adelyn perched on his shoulders, her upper body slouched over his head. He kept one arm around her legs and the other on the ladder.

I started my journey toward the surface, one rung after the other. The light became brighter and brighter, until I found the pavement with my fingers. When I looked up, all I could see were feet and angry faces. Guards. But they wouldn't shoot. I knew that for a fact, because all of us 'undamaged ones' were too precious, and we'd fall to our deaths. That just left a little more freedom for us to shoot, but if I got up onto the surface fully, the guards would have no reason not to shoot us.

I struggled with only one hand to remove the tranquilizer from my back, and shot as many guards as I could around me. It was much harder to do since I didn't have much space or time to aim. I saw Zenon had surfaced as well, but he was a little busy to help.

Erin and Shane came up, their guns rested on the pavement. They fired at the guards.

"What's going on, here?" Leanne came rushing to the scene, but backed up abruptly when she saw the guns. Jamison was following behind her, then came in front, closer to the elevator shaft.

"Zenon? April? What're you doing?" He eyed Zenon, who was struggling to keep Adelyn on his back. I worried he'd drop her, but I knew I could trust him not to.

"President! What're we supposed to do?" a guard yelled, taking cover by dropping to the ground. A dart buried itself in his neck, but Leanne replied anyway to the remaining guards.

"Get them in the cells! Somehow! Just make sure they don't fall... Jamison, you can help."

"Sure," Jamison said. As he stepped out of the way of Leanne, I got a clear shot. I aimed at her with my tranquilizer and shot.

"Jamison-" she yelped. Leanne brought her hand up to her collarbone, where a dart was planted just above. She fell to her knees, then to her side. Jamison stopped what he was doing and rushed over, nudging her unconscious body.

"Now," I whispered, firing one last dart at the remaining guard. I watched to make sure everyone got up safely, and then bolted. I crawled up onto the pavement, racing over to the visible exit to the Asylum.

No...

I skidded to a stop, then pulled the real gun over my shoulder. I swung it around, aiming it at Zenon's dad.

"April?" he said. Jamison backed away from Leanne. "Is that a tranquilizer?" His eyes skittered to the barrel, where it was just plain black without a silver strip to indicate that it was a tranquilizer.

"You want to find out?" I said.

"What're you doing, April?" I heard Zenon approach me and felt a touch on my shoulder.

"Something we need to do if we're going to escape."

"What do you want?" Jamison asked. He kept his voice firm, but his hands were shaking slightly.

"Can you operate a helicopter?" I asked.

"Well, I don't-"

"Can you?" I pressed the gun a little further.

"Yes, yes. I can. Why?"

"Bring us to New York."

"Why would you want to go there?" he asked, backing up a little.

"Does it matter? If you don't agree, you're going to end up with lead in your head."

Jamison looked down at Leanne, then at my gun, and then into my eyes. "How do you know I won't call in the guards?"

"Previously mentioned punishments apply." I tried to keep myself confident, hoping he didn't see that the gun was shaking.

"So you'll kill me?"

"Yeah."

He took a deep breath, then stood up straight, raking a hand through this dark hair. "Fine. But you must promise not to injure me or Leanne or my son..."

"I won't injure anyone that follows through," I said. "Especially not your son. Take us out now, quickly." I had to fight the urge to say 'please'.

"You're going to be killed in New York," Jamison said.

"How?" Zenon interjected.

"It's crazy over there! Hasn't someone told you about it?" Jamison said.

"Yeah, yeah. Just take us," Zenon said.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Jamison started to walk toward the Asylum door. He pressed his hand against the scanner, and waited for the nine digits to show up. He pressed a sequence and the door made a compressing sound, then opened. The fluorescent lights gave the hallway a purple tinge.

I waited for a voice to speak, but realized Leanne was unconscious and unable to let us out.

"How do we get out?" I said after a few seconds of silence.

Jamison pushed against the door at the end of the hall, the big dark one that led to Hinterland. The door didn't budge.

"We need someone to give us access from the control centre," he said, giving up on the door. He eyed a red button beside the door encased in glass.

"Get us out," I said, holding the gun up.

Jamison shook his head. "I can't."

"What's that button do?" I pointed to the red one.

"Emergencies only."

"But what does it do?"

"It... it opens the doors... but we can't..."

Zenon ran up to the button and pushed it. Immediately, a wailing noise rang out. The door creaked open, revealing Hinterland. Dust blew in from outside and into the hallway. I looked behind me as dozens of people rushed to the doors.

"What's wrong?" "What's going on?" A bunch of questions rose from the crowd.

"Nothing!" Jamison yelled. "Return to your work!" His voice was nearly inaudible over the chatter. A few people attempted to push through us, but I held up the gun and the people backed up and fell silent.

"Shut up!" Zenon yelled.

"Please, just return to your work. Just a drill!" Jamison pushed the alarm button again, but it didn't silence it. Nobody left yet. They were still and silent now, but were still curious.

"The alarm system is faulty," Jamison said. "I repeat, return to your work of concequences will be dealt.

One by one, people fled. The door still remained open. One of the prisoners ran ahead and collapsed in the dust, running her hands through it like it was water or something helpful. She was the crazy woman I saw before I was tranquilized who reminded me of the man I killed.

"We're free," she said. "Then I will get back to my family." The woman kept clawing at the ground until she exposed a chunk of brick. Rubble from a fallen building. She tossed it aside and kept on digging.

Zenon watched her unemotionally, then said, "what's your name?"

The woman whirled around. "Liss... Lissan... Andra... Issan..." She paused for a moment, looking up into the grey sky like there was an answer in the clouds. "Not sure. Was taken away."

"Taken away..." Zenon furrowed his brow.

"You going in the helicopter or what?" Jamison said. He pointed to the large machine, which was still and waiting to be used.

"Yes," Zenon said. "Bring us. Come on, Lissa." He beckoned the woman, who scampered over to Zenon in an almost dog-like manner.

"What did you call me?" she asked.

"Lissa. Is that your name?"

"No... no, it's longer than that. I think..."

"Lissanne?"

"No."

"How about Lissandra?" The woman-maybe Lissandra-stayed silent for a few seconds before replying. "Maybe, but I said before, it was taken."

"How so?"

Lissandra cocked her head. "I just forgot. The bad people took it." I immediately knew she was talking about the people that lived and worked in the Asylum. Leanne and Jamison, maybe. The guards, too.

"Are we going home?" she asked.

Zenon shrugged. "If home is the city."

"Yes, yes. Big tower. Square centre. Lots of green around," said Lissandra. I looked forward at the helicopter, wondering how the city would look and if she'd recognize it as home. I even wondered if I would recognize it as home... And, now that I thought of it, what was my home? I was nearly executed in New York, attacked in Hinterland and thrown into a cell in the Asylum. Maybe I didn't have a home anymore.