Chapter Three

  I wake up, head throbbing. Where am I? I look around, confused. This isn't my room, it's too open. Wait, where is Akemi? Akemi? I can't find her anywhere. Where could they have taken her? What are they doing to her? Oh, God. Akemi!
 I get up, finding only a bed in this room. It's dark, no windows, and only one door. Probably guarded, and they'll have guns. Sighing, I walk around the small room, looking for a weapon of some sort. All I found was a blanket on the bed, everything else was bolted down. Just my luck. Maybe I can make a rope? Strangle someone with it. I was running through all the possible scenarios, though there weren't many, when the door opened.
 I prepared to fight my way out, but stopped when I saw Akemi in the doorway. She walked in, and I  calmed down a little. At least I won't have to hunt her down.
 "Hey, Tess. I know you're confused, a little lost, and I plan on explaining everything soon. But for now, you just need to listen to me. You're safe here. In fact, this is the only place you will be safe. This is an Allies base, but they don't know you're still a rebel here. You have a choice, but you must pick now. Do you want to stay here, where no one is trying to kill you, you're fed, and taken care of? Or would you rather spend the rest of your life, however long it may be, fighting for the rebellion army?"
 I just stare at her. Has she switched sides? Please, God, do not let her join the Allies. Please, please, please! I try my best to wipe all surprise from my face.
 "I'm not switching sides." I snapped, wondering if she's lost her mind. " If that's all, then can I leave peacefully? Or will I have to break some faces first?"
 That earned a look of disapproval from Akemi. Wait, I'm the older one here! I should be the one with the disapproving look!
 "Tess, please. Be patient, and a bit quieter, they're listening to us right now. They know you used to be a soldier, and are willing to kill you if you don't cooperate. I was sent in here because they think they got information from me, and want me to encourage you to talk. I was lying when I fessed up, of course. They're looking for a weapons locker in the middle of nowhere."
 Only, Akemi's mouth didn't move, and the voice was in my head. It was her voice, no doubt about it, but it wasn't spoken out loud.
 Crap. I'm going nuts! Great! This is all probably some hallucination or something.
 "No, you're not insane. Well, you aren't hallucinating. That's just my powers." Her tone was so calm, like 'Yeah, yeah. I have powers. What else is new?'
 "Powers? One? What else is there? Can you fly us out of here or something?" My tone was sarcastic, just a bit more biting than I meant. "Look, sweetheart, I just want to focus on getting out of here. We can worry about my going, or not going, insane later?"
 She smiled, and I knew she was back to normal, for now. We stood up, and walked towards the door. It was unlocked, meaning there were definitely guards on the other side of it. I stepped back, and got ready to kick the door down just for some dramatic effect. Might help us catch them off guard.  
 "On three, I'll take the door down, you run down the hall as fast as you can. About those powers. You can't, like, create a gun, can you?" I was only half joking, a gun would help a lot. She shook her head, and I got ready to move. "One, two," I whispered.
 As I shouted "Three!", I kicked the door off it's hinges, and quickly punched the first guard to come near me. Akemi ran down the hall, and waited for me in a dark corner. I swung a hard left kick at the other guard, and smashed my elbow down on the first one. Can you believe there were only TWO guards? I mean, seriously! I'm a trained soldier, and they put two unarmed guards at my room? I punch the second guard once more, before running to meet Akemi.
 She somehow knows exactly where to go, and I was in no position to ask questions, so I followed her. One hallway after another, some sloping upwards. I realized we had been underground, and that was probably why there hadn't been many guards. I had to pass through multiple hallways to get to the ground floor. The first window I saw, I jumped out.
 Now for the extra fun part. There had to be at least thirty men chasing after me.  I grabbed Akemi's hand, and we ran in a zig zag motion, full speed. We ran towards a forest, right behind a handful of buildings, hoping we could lose them. But I quickly realize that plan isn't going to work, as I see more guards ahead of us. Akemi and I split up, her going left, and I'm headed right. It killed me to let her go, but this was our best chance. I keep running, as the guards split up.
 I see a cluster of buildings not even twenty feet away from me. I sprint towards it, hiding behind one of the ones in the back. I decide to peek in a window, seeing more explosives than I've ever seen in my life. I quickly find my way in the window, hoping no one shoots at me as my back is turned. Thankfully, all the guards were on the other side of the building, looking for me. I hunt down a few sticks of dynamite, and something to light it with. Aha! I pull them out, and stuff them carefully into my shirt. I slip back out of the window, and take the dynamite to a tree at the edge of the forest.
 This will make a nice distraction. I light the fuse, and run like hell.
 "Akemi! Come here!" I shout, no longer worried about being found.
 Just as Akemi, and around ten guards, are about two yards away, the dynamite goes off. I jump, grabbing Akemi's outstretched arm, and roll under some brush. We fall down a hill, landing at the bottom, a good thirty yards away.
 All I said was, "Well, that was fun."
 We check ourselves for any injueries.I had a broken nose, probably a fractured arm, and a busted lip. Akemi had twisted her ankle, was limping, and had a nasty gash in her head. We both were covered in cuts and bruises, looking as if we had been put into a blender.
 We  headed north, walking slowly to the closest town, and hitched a ride back home. It had been two full day by the time we were back, and I was starving. The very first thing I did was wrap up my arm. Then I made dinner.I was starving, and ate a whole rabbit! Then I hunted down Artemio, and was surprised by his reaction.
 I was tackled. Full on, every ounce of his strength, tackled. Then hugged, and not let go for several minutes. In front of half the army, extremely embarrassing, not to mention painful, since he bumped my injured arm.  I kicked him, but not too hard, and told him to let me go. He dragged me to the officers building, and had me report everything to one of the captains.
 When we were released, we all went to my house. I sent Akemi to bed, and Artemio stayed to try and figure it all out, to find some kind of connection. Akemi's powers, my kidnapping, the war. It was all a big mess, but there had to be some connection, somewhere.
 After barely even ten minutes of this, I snapped. "I just got kindapped! Why am  thinking about anything other than celebrating my returned freedom?"
 I got up, and walked into the kitchen. I was planning on calmly making something to eat, maybe get some wine, but did something else instead. I threw pots and pans, knocked down silver ware, and just fell to the ground crying.