Persona (16 page)

She’s exhausted physically and mentally.

There is a banging sound outside her door, and Moira opens her eyes in alarm. The banging turns into a shuffling and then something hits the door with a shake. What ever it was that hit the door, slides down to the floor and is pushed aside. Hands can be heard hitting the door, and there is a weak voice on the other side. Moira doesn’t know what’s going on, but assumes whoever is coming in is going to hurt her. She has the feeling she’s going to die soon, and instead of being sad, she’s relieved. She’s just glad for the pain to be over, and when the door is pushing open, she thinks about seeing her mother again.

The door opens fully, and the hall on the other side is also in the dark, so Moira can’t see who is coming in. Pushing herself back into the bed, she whimpers. The shape at the door turns into two, and they pause just inside.

“Moira? Is that you?” A girl’s voice asks, as she turns on the flashlight in her hand.

A blinding light is shone on her face, and Moira turns her head away with a cry for her stinging eyes. She hears the girl gasp, and light is reversed.

In front of her in the doorway is Raven and Liam.

***

Moira is frozen in shock, and can’t believe her eyes for a moment. She doesn’t understand how they can be here, or if they are even real. She has the sick thought, that maybe she is already dying and is hallucinating rescue. Whimpering she pulls at the restraints and tries to get to them before they disappear.

Raven with a look of distress, runs to Moira’s bedside and takes her in her arms for a hug. She holds her too tight, and Moira lets out a cry of pain. Raven tries to pull away, but Moira doesn’t let her, she just leans into her tighter. Over Raven’s shoulder she sees Liam still in the doorway. His eyes never left her since coming in, and his face shows an emotion that Moira can’t read. His eyes get glassy and then his face hardens. With jerky movements, he slowly makes his way to her. He stops at the bed, and as she leans back from Raven, he touches her cheek lightly. Closing her eyes, she tries not to flinch away. Her body has gone numb, and his touch is a welcome one.

“What did those bastards do to you Mo.” He whispers.

Moira is crying harder now, and can’t even form the words to describe the things that were done to her. Shaking his head, he reaches for the shackle that is holding her bruised and bleeding wrist. As he grabs it, his persona comes out, and with sharpened nails he tears the chains in two. Raven reaches for her hands, as they are freed, and she just holds her as Liam unlocks her from the rest.

“I’m so glad we found you. It’s going to alright now, we’ll get you out.” Raven say.

“Are you alright to move? We should go before anyone notice we broke in.” Liam says as he comes back over to the front of the bed.

Raven and Liam are both staring at her, waiting for her to respond. Moira feels like her brain is muddled and can’t quite catch up to anything. She nods her head before they think something is wrong with her.

“I, I think I can move. It’s been a while.” She chokes out with a raspy voice. Her jaw feels swollen and it’s hard to move it much.

With Raven’s help, Moira sits all the way up. Now sitting the pain in her abdomen is so severe, she just wants to lie back down. She touches the spot where her gown is drenched in blood, and is surprised when she sees how mangled her wrist looks, and then sees her missing nail. She starts shaking, and feels like she’s going to be sick. It all feels like too much. Liam leans in close to her then, and puts his arm around her. She sighs and fits herself into his side. With help, she swings her legs around, so they are hanging over the side of the bed. Right away, her feet begin to tingle as if waking up and she wiggles them. With a deep breath, she scoots to the edge of the bed and places her bare feet on the cold stone floor.

Moira pushes herself to her feet, and is steady for one whole minute before her legs give out. Liam grabs onto her before she falls to the ground, and she’s holding him and crying in earnest now.

“Shhh” He whispers into her ear. “Hey now, no tears, it’s going to be all right. I won’t let them hurt you anymore.” Moira can hear Raven crying on the other side of her, and she wonders if she looks as bad as she feels.

“Listen to me Mo. Can you use your Persona? It’ll make you feel better.”

Sniffling she says, “I can’t, I was drugged with something that stops it.”

“Serious? They can do that now?” Raven asks in a high pitched voice.

Moira only nods, and huddles closer to Liam for warmth. She can’t stop shaking now, and her head is more than muddled its making her spin like a top.

Noticing her shivering in the gown, he looks up at Rave and says, “Rave, find her something to change into, she can’t go outside like this.”

Ravens eyes get wide, and she even blushes, embarrassed she didn’t think of that. She turns in the room, before rushing out into the hall.

“Liam, why are you guys here?” She gets out as a whisper.

He stares at her like she’s an idiot for a second, before his face lightens.

“How could I not come for you Moira? If I’d know who you were from the beginning I would have never let you get taken. I’m sorrier than you’ll ever know.”

She doesn’t have time to try to figure out what he means, because Raven comes back into the room with a stack of blue scrubs. Liam straitens her up in his arms and helps her back over to the bed. When she’s secure enough, he goes to the door and stares out like he’s keeping watch. With shaking fingers Raven helps Moira remove the blood covered gown. It’s a slow process, since Moira can barely move without flinching with pain. Once undressed, Raven stares at her bruised and bleeding body and can’t help crying for her.

“Moira, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault, I’m a horrible friend.”

“It’s not your fault. They would have got me eventually. This isn’t my first rodeo.”

Raven starts like she’s going to say something else, when she gets a better look at Moira’s bleeding abdomen. Moira follows her gaze, and feels sick at what she sees. Right above her bikini line area is an incision mark about four inches long. She touches the stiches sticking out, and it oozes blood. Her head feels all light all of a sudden, and she feels like she might pass out. Her vision goes in and out, as she starts to fall forward, but Raven grabs onto her.

“Easy there, lady. Don’t you pass out on me yet, you hear. Let’s get you dressed, yeah?”

Moira holds her for dear life and tries to ignore her body’s protest of giving up. The girls set to work to dress Moira, and they try their best to hurry. Liam is still in the doorway, but keeps shifting his feet back and forth. His shoulders are tense, whether to look at Moira or anticipating company. Finally, Moira is fully dressed in the scrub shirt and pants, they are a little baggy but better than nothing. She doesn’t have shoes in the room, but Raven managed to find some slipper socks for her.

As Raven slips the sock on for her, Moira asks, “How did you guys know I was here?”

She pauses for a heartbeat before answering, “Your dad came to us, the night you went missing.”

“Came to us?” Moira’s not hundred percent sure she’s referring to Liam.

“The local pack.”

“The what?” Moira asks in surprise.

“He had help though. I went to him right after you were taken from the school. I showed him where to get the help we needed.” Liam answers from the doorway.

Moira turns to him, and he’s watching her reaction. She doesn’t know how to react though. Why would Liam go to her father, and what is a pack? She looks to Raven for the last question, and the other girl flinches under the scrutiny, as if she knows what Moira is thinking. Raven gets saved from having to answer, when someone runs into the room. Instinctively, Liam crouches slightly and bares his now visible teeth and claws. The intruder squeaks and comes to a stop.

“It’s me, and we have more company coming fast. It’s time to go.” Daisy says as she quickly makes her way back out the door.

Nodding, Liam turns and goes over to Moira fast and helps her off the bed. Raven joins them, and takes hold of Moira’s other side. With small cries of pain slipping from Moira’s lips, they make their way out of the room.

Chapter Ten

The first thing Moira see’s, as they walk out of the room, is a prone form on the ground. He must have been the one that got thrown into the door before, and her stomach rolls at the thought of who it could have been. This leaves her fast though, he could have also been one that hurt her, and she thinks he deserves it. The corridor is as dark as her room, but Daisy easily leads them down the narrow walkway. From behind, Moira can see her nails are pointed and her hair flows in golden waves.

“I was just up on level two, and two guards were called down here. If we’re lucky, the stairwell will still be clear.” Daisy calls over her shoulder.

Liam’s grip on her tightens as Moira struggles to stay upright. Every movement causes pain to go up her spine and into her skull. Her vision comes and goes, she’s barely hanging on when they come to a stop at an open door at the end of the hall. Daisy steps inside first, and then comes back out and waves them forward.

“Any movement on one?” Asks Liam as they get through the threshold and start for the stairs going up.

“As far as I know Ray is still at the stairs door, but I haven’t heard anything aside from my level.”

“How much time do you think we have before the rest of the base is alerted?” Raven asks from behind me.

As we go to go up the stairs, Liam notices they are too narrow for the three of them. Him being the stronger one, takes hold of Moira, and Raven calling on her persona takes the back. Moira just gets a glimpse of Ravens locks going midnight black before she disappears from her view.

“If we’re lucky, we can possibly make it outside before that.” Liam grunts.

Moira has to concentrate to just lift her legs up the stairs and she can’t hold back the cries of pain that she makes. Liam tries to take all her weight so she has to do less, but they continues up the last few steps as quick as they can. As they come to a landing, they have two choices to either go up more stairs or go through the door that is there. They can hear footsteps on the other side of the door, and Moira realizes this is level two where the soldiers Daisy talked about.

Daisy pauses at the door listening, and motions for the others to start up the stairs and Raven goes up first. Moira is grateful for the brief pause, leans against the railing. She gazes up at the next flight of stairs with exhaustion. Liam notices her hesitation, so he just sweeps her into him arms. She allows him to finally take all her weight and goes limp against him while closing her eyes. She feels the slight shifting as they go up the stairs and hears the moment Daisy is following behind them. That’s when the door below them opens, and men come pouring out of it.

With a yell of alarm Daisy pushes at Liam to hurry up the steps, and Moira opens her eyes with fright. There are three men below them holding guns, they yell for them to stop or they’ll shoot. Daisy turns in mid step, and kicks out at the closest man. He stumbles back from the hit to his chest, and smacks into the guy behind him. They fall onto the steps below, and the guy left standing points his gun at Daisy. Moira can only watch as she spins around to hurry up the stairs behind them, when she hears the gun fire once.

Daisy stumbles then with a scream.

The group pauses briefly, and then Raven yells for Daisy and gets around Liam to go help her fallen friend. The man with the gun is raising it to Raven now, but before he can fire it Raven leaps over the steps and throws herself at him. Her hands are outstretched with her nails barred, and she digs them into his chest as they collide. The man didn’t even have time to use his weapon, and it’s fallen to the ground with them useless. Raven jumps off him with a cry, and kicks him in the face before she turns to the others.

“Thanks Rave, but I’m alright.” Daisy calls out, but that’s a lie. They can all see the blood blooming through her shirt at her shoulder.

When Raven gets ahold of Daisy and they start up the stairs again, Liam continues going up. His grip on Moira tightens and she can feel the sweat seeping through the shirt covering his shoulders. She knows it’s not from exertion, but from the impossible situation they’re in. Moira can’t help but to feel guilty for Daisy getting shot, if it wasn’t for her they wouldn’t be here. She can’t understand why they would risk themselves for her, when she lied to them all. She feels her head getting lighter now, and doesn’t know how long she can stay awake. The pain in her body is slipping away and all she can feel is numb in her bones.

As they near the door at the top level, it starts to open and they all freeze. Liam turns to the side, as if shielding Moira from whatever is about to come through. Raven swears from below, and Moira opens her eyes to see the fallen guards trying to get back up. When the door near them fully opens, Ray sticks his head out and they all sigh in relief.

“You guys better hurry, those guys are behind you have guns you know.” Ray says with a slight smile.

He steps aside as they all rush out of the dark stairwell, and into a dimly lit corridor. There are emergency light fixtures blinking up and down the hall, casting everything in a reddish glow.

“Yeah, thanks captain obvious, we didn’t know that.” Raven says, as she and Daisy stumble through the door.

He takes one look at the bleeding Daisy and pushes Raven aside. He lifts Daisy up with ease, and both girls protest.

“I’m not an invalid, I can walk.” Daisy says.

He just shushes her and gets a better grip on her in his arms. Daisy relaxes against him though and Raven just shakes her head at them. Liam is motioning them to shut the door, and Moira can hear the men getting closer on the stairs. As Raven pulls it shut, Liam get to the door with Moira. Turning sideways, he frees his hand that’s under her legs and grabs the door handle. It’s one of those brass L shaped handles, so when he twists it at an unnatural angle, Moira knows the men on the other side won’t be able to open it. Just as he lets go of it, the men bang into and start yelling through the door.