Series Wednesday: Timetopia page 7

                “How are we going to make this fire?”  Rev asks me as she is looking at the screens. “You would need a controlled fire. The room your mother is in would be the hardest room to get out of if the front rooms are on fire.” Alexis explains as she points at the screens. I get up off the floor and pace back and forth. I look at the screens and it looks like they are on the same system as the wellness center. “What if we don’t need a huge fire just to make the system think there is a big fire?” Both of them look at me very confused. “How would we do that?” Alexis asks. I jump to the screens and start typing in the emergency codes. I’m sending a burst of electricity which shorts out the circuit board in the first hallway which makes it catch fire. Then I tell the system the whole building is on fire. The alarms start blaring and red lights are flashing from the ceiling.  “How long do we have?” Rev asks. “Not long we have to make it to my mom’s room now.”  I tell Rev she makes her way to the door. “You’re going to need a key card to open the door. I know these hallways backward and forward. I can help.” Alexis seems so hopeful. “Well then stop talking and help us. Let’s go!” Rev says as she opens the door. Rev goes first Alexis follows and points the way. Everyone is running from the building. The wellness checkers making sure every person is safe. We run down the hall and Rev Point at the room Alexis uses her keycard to open the door. I rush in the room, I see her cuffed to the wall. My mom’s hair is wet but not the rest of her body is dry. I see a bench and a bucket next to her. She looks like she is sleeping, her face is very pale. “Mom wake up.” I’m trying to pull her metal cuffs. I’m not sure what to do. “How do I get her down?” I scream at Rev and Alexis.  “I’m not sure. The managers are the only ones with the cards and well the five. The five are the only ones who don’t need keycards for the cuffs.” I pace back and forth, “Ava think of something fast! We are running out of time.” I don’t know what to do. “Ava prick your finger.” My mom whispers, she is awake. “What?” I get as close to her as I can. “Put your blood on the cuffs control panel.” I don’t have time to ask questions so I grab the knife out of Rev’s hand and cut my finger. I put my blood on the control panel. All the cuffs unlock and mom drops on to the floor. I scoop her into my arms.

                “We need to go!” Rev says. “How did you do that?” Alexis face is in shock.  The alarms are getting louder. We start to run out. “STOP!” I hear someone yell behind us. “It’s a manager run!” Alexis yells.  We are almost to the open room where everyone else is running out. “I said Stop.” we here the manager yell. My mom isn’t moving as fast she seems weak. “GUN!” Rev yells, all of us stop running to look back. What is a gun? Everyone looks back and I see a metal handle in the manager’s hand. Out of the metal handle came aloud pop noise. Then another and another. Alexis dropped, she had a whole through her head. I don’t understand what happened. Rev runs toward the manager and takes him down to the floor. I turn back to my mom and she is on the floor. She is bleeding out of her stomach. This isn’t good, she is losing a lot of blood. “Mom. Come on you have to get up.” I’m trying to pick her up. “Ava you should have never came for me. You need to go on with Rev.” my mom isn’t getting up. “Mom I can’t run. They will just track me. There is no point, I will not leave you here like this.”  I’m not going to give up I’m trying to drag her out. “Ava you have no barcode.” I stop dragging her. “Yes I know mom I fell out of a tree fell on that branch and it cut my barcode and when I healed you couldn’t see it. I know mom.” This is nothing I haven’t heard before. “We lied to you. You have no tracker. We cut you to hide that you didn’t have a barcode.” I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Why don’t I have a tracker all babies have trackers. My mom is starting to fall asleep. “Mom! Please open your eyes!” she doesn’t want to open her eyes. “MOM!” I scream.  All I want is her to get up. “We have to go.” Rev says as she tries to pull me. “Rev what is happening? Why won’t she get up?” People are screaming around me. “We can’t do this right now. I’m sorry.” Rev says as she lifts me away from my mom and throws me over her shoulder. I don’t want to let go of her. I start trying to push off Rev. I look back at my mom and she is gone, she is no longer there. “Rev STOP she is gone! Where did they take her?” Rev stops and looks back. “We need to run. Trust me listen to me run to the van and don’t look back. GO!” Rev sounds scared. She puts me down and I start running. I hear the pop noise again. I make it to the van, Rev hops into the drivers seat and we take off. I don’t want to go, I just want my mom. How could I have made it this far and not save her? Who took her?