Chapter 84: Escape

I lowered my head, scared he’d recognize me, and pretended to tie the laces on my boot.

"Yeah," I said. "You can go rest. It’s about time, buddy."

The guard laughed and clapped me on the back. "Now that’s good news. I’m dying for a beer and a bed. See you tomorrow."

He walked off, leaving me alone in the hallway outside the apartment where Ethan was being held. It was one of many.

Nobody else was around for the moment, but I knew more guards could show up any second, or the security cameras could spot me. I had to move fast and get out of there. Through our mental link, Ethan showed me which apartment he was in.

He opened the door and found me waiting in the hallway.

"We have to move," he said. "They’ll realize something’s wrong soon. I know where we need to go."

Ethan took the lead. He’d used his mind powers to read a few of the guards, and he’d learned two important things: where our personal belongings were kept, and a way out.

He also turned us invisible, which cut down a lot on the odds of getting caught.

’I can’t believe you’re here,’ Ethan said in my head. ’How is this even possible?’

I didn’t want to tell him I was on a special mission in Canada. I just said I’d been captured in the forests near the border, unfortunately.

’You were hiding from the invasion too? Same here,’ he said.

’I thought you went to see your family?’

That was what he’d told me when we ran from the academy. Tom had said the same thing, and I believed Tom, but Ethan was starting to make me doubt.

’My family isn’t even in the States,’ Ethan let out an awkward laugh. ’I only said that because I didn’t want to admit I was hiding out of fear of the invasion. I figured you and Tom would think I was a coward.’

Knowing Ethan’s personality, I was inclined to believe him. But he was still hiding his power level. He wasn’t someone studying to become a hunter, using the academy as a way to progress and get stronger.

He was already strong. Maybe he’d infiltrated the academy somehow? There was no way for me to know. I decided not to ask and focus on escaping. Once we got out, then I could talk to him without standing on the edge of a cliff.

’That’s the room where our stuff is,’ Ethan said, pointing at a metal door at the end of a hallway. ’Let’s go in, grab it, and get the hell out.’

The second we opened the door, which luckily wasn’t locked, an alarm went off and red lights started flashing everywhere.

"Damn it, we have to go. Now," I said.

Things had just gotten a lot worse. Until then we’d only been guessing, but now there was no doubt. Every guard in the place knew someone was where they shouldn’t be.

The room was full of drawers, like the ones the police use to file case records.

Every folder had a name on it, arranged in alphabetical order. Ethan looked for his, and I looked for mine. I didn’t go to the V’s, since the name on my fake ID wasn’t Vincent.

I found the folder with all my belongings, which was just my phone and my personal documents.

Ethan snatched the ID out of my hand.

"A fake Canadian ID? What kind of mess did you get yourself into, huh?" He handed it back right away. "Tell me about it after we’re out of here. Come on."

We left the room and plunged back into a maze of hallways. Ethan knew the way, so I just followed.

Up to that point, no guards had caught up to us, but that changed. A shout came from behind.

"Freeze!"

I glanced back over my shoulder. There were at least 10 guards on our tail. All of them were hunters, just weaker ones.

One of them grabbed his radio.

"They’re heading for the parking lot. Seal the exits."

We were outrunning them. We burst through a door into the parking lot, where trucks were parked in rows.

"Now what? What do we do?" Ethan said.

He looked rattled. The exits were completely sealed, and soon all those guards would catch up, not to mention the stronger hunters inside that underground complex.

"We hide in one of the trucks," I told him.

"They’re gonna search every truck, obviously." Ethan paced back and forth.

"I’m hiding us inside my pocket dimension. Relax. Come with me."

I took charge. Ethan was too freaked out to think straight. I opened the first truck I found. Inside were a bunch of empty boxes.

It must have been a supply truck that had delivered to the complex and hadn’t gone back out with the empties yet. At least that was my guess, since the boxes were food packaging.

I shut the door behind us and we went all the way to the back, ducking behind some of the boxes.

"Okay, and now?" Ethan asked.

I touched his shoulder, and we were both pulled into my pocket dimension.

We left that ugly place and landed beside a cabin with a beautiful lake out front. Birds sang in the distance, and the sound of the vegetation swaying in the wind brought an instant peace.

God, I missed this place.

Ethan sighed, but he still wasn’t convinced we’d gotten away. He was a lot calmer than before, though.

"Never thought I’d miss this little private world of yours, bro," Ethan said, flopping down on the grass. "Hope nobody finds us here."

While he lay there, I watched what was happening outside the pocket dimension.

"Search every truck. They couldn’t have gotten through the sealed doors. They have to be hiding in one of them."

The guards opened the trucks one by one, ours included. They went through everything, every empty box, letting nothing slip by, and still, of course, nobody found us.

Ethan only fully relaxed once he saw that.

"They really didn’t find us. Holy crap, that was close."

We stayed inside our pocket dimension for about 3 days. Luckily, I’d brought plenty of supplies for the two of us, and since I was basically breeding fish in the lake, we could catch our own food.

Ethan and I sat on the wooden deck next to the cabin, each with a fishing rod pointed in a different direction.

Bob was bouncing around the lake and the cabin like he was playing a game.

"I could live here forever," Ethan told me. He reached down for a beer and took a long swig. "Way calmer and safer than the real world with this whole invasion going on."

He was right. But our time inside the pocket dimension was limited. I had a mission to finish, one that didn’t need his help.

I told him a few things. Ethan was a friend, and I wanted to trust him, secrets and all.

He opened up too, about why he’d infiltrated the academy.

"I was looking for information on my dad. He studied at that academy a long time ago." Ethan sighed. "He disappeared a few years back. I figured I could learn more about him there, but I ran out of time before I found anything useful. I thought it’d be in the restricted section of the library, but it wasn’t."

Ethan’s mom, his sister and his brother had all left the States and moved to an island in the middle of the ocean. That alone was strange. Were they scared? Running from something?

And his dad had vanished without a trace years ago, which tormented Ethan day and night. He’d do anything to find him. I had no doubt about that.

"I’ll help you find your dad, but only when I have some free time," I said, reaching down for a beer of my own. "How about coming with me to the new continent? Maybe it’ll help you clear your head. You’re strong enough to go, anyway."

Ethan nodded.

"Yeah, that could be a good idea. I’ll try to find Tom and help him get stronger so he can come with us."

"Good. Good. I’ll meet up with you guys once I’m done with what I’m doing."

Ethan was staring at the bottom of the beer bottle in his hand. "Want me to help? You know you can count on me."

"I don’t want to drag you into this mess. Hope you understand."

"No problem, bro." Ethan raised his beer for a toast. "We do what we have to do, and we meet up after. No dying, deal?"

"Deal."

A few days later, the truck we were in finally drove out of that place. We were free!

We opened the back doors and jumped out while it was still moving. I looked around, seeing Vancouver in person for the first time.

"From what I hear, some flights are running again," Ethan said. "I’m going to catch one and get out of here."

I shook his hand.

"Take care of yourself."

"You too."

Our friendship had grown stronger after going through that nightmare in the fight club together.

I needed to leave Vancouver as soon as possible to get back to the mission I’d come here for.

I charged my phone at a coffee shop, and when I saw the date, my stomach dropped.

I should have reached my target’s mansion days ago...

How the hell was I going to infiltrate it now?