No Time To Bleed

“I doubt they’d put microphones in here. Hearing people take leaks and dumps isn’t the best thing in the world.” Cece finished picking at the lock and turned to us.

I was leaned against a clear white sink.

“So, what’s up?” Alex asked. “What’s going on?”

“Brett Wiggins told me he’d kill all of us.” I didn’t want to mince any words.

“Who’s Brett Wiggi-“

Cece held her hand out and looked to me. “Wait. Who? You said Brett Wiggins?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“When?”

“When we came here and they cleansed us. He said if I told anyone here or tried to talk to you guys about anything else or even tried to do anything out of the blue, he’d kill us. He knows my father.”

Cece shook her head. “No fucking way. How is he ever here? He’s not usually like this!”

“Wow! Wait! What are you two talking about? Who is this Brett guy?” Alex snapped.

Cece ran her hands through her hair and looked to him. “Brett Wiggins is a CEO of Lexicon. He practically runs all the torturing that goes on in the company. He works through keeping secrets. He killed my brother.”

Shivers went up and down my spine.

“You had a brother?” Alex’s eyes mashed together.

Cece rolled her eyes and leaned back into the pale green stall. “They killed him. The only reason I knew was when I got out of that damn place and found my file. I had an entire family once.”

Silence washed over us and we all just stood there for a while. All three of us were alone with this giant secret and no way to release it.

“We need to stop isolating each other.” It was Alex who spoke first, voice calm and solid. “We can’t go on like this or they’re going to wipe us out before we wipe them out.”

“But, how in the world do we do that?” Cece asked. “I’ve been trying to for years and it’s impossible! Lexicon is bullet proof.”

He looked at her curtly. “Then, you’ve given up? Where the hell did your fire go?”

That got Cece silent. She almost looked hurt.

Alex turned to me next. “What about you?”

This was almost like a reality check.

Where had it all gone?

“I’m tired.” Was all I could say. “Really tired.”

“Weren’t you the one that talked about us getting lazy when we tried to take a break?”

“That was different.”

“How?”

I swallowed, looking to the both of them. “Eli’s dead now. William’s dead. Everyone’s dead. What’s the point in fighting anymore?”

“Oh come on, Jasmine. I know you’re not like that.” He came before me “I know you’re not.”

I shrugged unwillingly “Then, what am I like? Tell me.”

“You’re crazy and you’re warm. You’re like fire and every single time you put your mind to something you do it. You’re the girl I can go to when I need someone to depend on despite anything else.”

My heart must have melted right then and there because I swore I felt my insides get all soggy.

“You got that?”

I smiled and nodded. “Yeah.”

He turned around now. “And Cece? Why aren’t you fighting?”

“I don’t know.”

“Cece, you freaking broke into top secret banks and museums and all these other impossible places. You’re telling me you can’t do this?”

She sighed. “No. I’m not. I just don’t want any of us to go down like Shatoya. It hurt like hell to just see her shot and dragged away. I can’t take anymore.”

“Then, you won’t. We’ll fight our way out of here like hell and you know what I’ll promise?”

A sense of mischief crossed her gaze. “What?”

“When it’s all over, you’ll get to take Brett out personally. You’ll get the guy who killed your brother.”

She bit her lip and cracked a smile. “Well,...that does sound pretty damn good.”

“See! We can do this! Are we gonna do this?”

It was weird to see Alex hyping us up for once and we all joined in.

“Yeah. We’re in.”

“Let’s kick some ass.”

We all let our little smiles loose, knowing we’d eventually have to kill.

We were going to take down Lexicon and survive.

“Alright. We’ll do this then.” Cece smiled. “I’ll start doing some hard core research then. I’ll let you guys know what I find.”

She unlocked her contraption from the bathroom door’s lock and stepped out.

I prepared to follow her, but his voice stopped me.

“Jasmine…”

I hated how his voice stopped me.

I turned my head. “Yeah?”

“I’ll keep you alive. I promise.”

But, that wouldn’t matter if something happened to him.

So, I gave my warmest smile to him. “Just keep yourself safe. Worry about you first and I’ll worry about me too.”

He nodded. “I’ll try.”

So, we walked out together, our hearts in sync for once.
Things felt good, for now at least.