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“Now, now, let’s not get overworked,” Dr. Smith noticed Isabelle’s face and the anger that appeared.  “If you just told us what we wanted to know we would leave your husband alone.” 

“Doctor,” Trish spoke up from the corner but he waved her off.  It was a good thing that Dr. Smith was an egocentric asshole or he might have stopped to listen to Trish.  Isabelle knew the other woman could tell the drug they had injected her with was wearing off. 

“I’ve told you several times I do not know what it is you want.”  Isabelle’s voice was forceful.  She needed only a few more seconds before she could break out of her binds and make her move.  Another scream of pain from Brian made her jump and look towards the man she loved in the other room. 

Dr. Smith moved closer to her, his face was now in hers.  “What you see in the other room won’t stop unless you talk, or allow us to probe your mind.”  The smirk on the man’s face made Isabelle want to gag.  Instead she slammed her face forward knocking her head against the doctor’s.  He stumbled backwards holding his nose that was likely broken from the impact.  He was waving his other hand at Trish, the other cleaner in the room, to get Isabelle under control.   Isabelle was ready for her.

Trish grabbed hold of Isabelle from behind wrapping her arms around Isabelle holding her tightly to the chair.   Using the strength she could muster, Isabelle pushed herself into a standing position.  She couldn’t move well with her legs tied together so she pushed as hard as she could hoping that the wall was close enough to slam Trish into it.  

Isabelle felt Trish let go of her seconds before the chair slammed back onto the floor.  The impact of the hit jolted her.  She felt Trish grab a hold of her again and laugh in her ear.   Isabelle attempted to throw her head backwards to knock it into the other woman’s face but it was to no avail.  Trish moved enough to the side that Isabelle’s head simply slammed backwards against nothing. 

“You forget…” Trish started to speak but Isabelle managed to stand again, this time throwing herself forward.  Trish was lifted into the air for a brief second before Isabelle slammed her chair back down.  She heard the chair crack and a slight sound of discomfort escape Trish’s lips.  Trish let go of Isabelle from the impact. 

Isabelle stood again and slammed the chair down again.  This time, without Trish’s weight the chair broke and Isabelle was able to maneuver her arms free of the chair.  Isabelle turned to face Trish, never turn your back on an enemy was drilled into her during Cleaner training.   She turned just as Trish started to charge her.  Waiting until the right time, Isabelle stood until Trish was close then jumped swinging her arms under her legs.  As her arms came in front of her she hit Trish’s chin knocking her back again. 

Now that Isabelle’s hands were in front of her she felt more confident in being able to escape.   Quickly leaning down, Isabelle had to untie her feet; she needed to be able to move around the room easily.  It wouldn’t be much longer until Dr. Smith would start to come after her with another dose of the serum to render her unable to fight back.  

 She almost had the binds off when she felt herself fly backwards, Trish had slammed into her.   The woman grabbed Isabelle’s hair and pulled her to her feet smashing her fist into Isabelle’s abdomen.   The hits kept coming and they hurt enough that Isabelle knew the serum hadn’t completely worn off yet. 

Another scream of pain came through the speakers in the room spurring Isabelle to take her hands and throw them against Trish’s side.  The impact moved Trish enough away from her that Isabelle was able to pull one of her legs out of the loosened binds.  She used her foot to push the other woman away towards the wall.  

Trish reached behind her and drew out a knife charging her target again.  Now able to move freely Isabelle quickly side stepped the other woman and turned quickly to face the next assault.  Her eyes flicked to the door and noticed that no one else was coming into the room, those torturing Brian must not know anything was going on either as they were still calmly picking up torture devices to use on the man who looked like he had passed out from the pain.  

A cry of frustration pulled Isabelle’s attention back to the other Cleaner in the room.  Isabelle smirked as she realized that Trish was letting her anger and hatred towards Isabelle overcome her.  When Trish charged at her again she grabbed the other woman’s wrist that had the knife and wrenched it from her hand and easily plunged it into Trish’s back as her own forced hurtled her past Isabelle.   With the knife still in her hand, Isabelle approached the other woman who looked like an animal about to be slaughtered.     Even without a weapon and fear coming over her, Trish was a Cleaner and Isabelle knew she wasn’t done fighting. 

Trish swung around throwing her leg out attempting to kick Isabelle’s hand holding the knife away but Isabelle grabbed hold of her ankle and gouged the other woman’s leg with the knife.    She drove the knife in further with her hand, giving it a twist.   Trish collapsed to the ground in pain.  Isabelle pulled the other woman up by her head and twisted until the other woman went limp in her arms.   She dropped the lifeless body and pulled the knife from Trish’s leg.  She turned towards Dr. Smith but she found the door to the room open, he had left while she had been busy with Trish. 

Isabelle’s eyes flew to the other room where Brian was, Dr. Smith must have informed them that she was loose as Brian was laying strapped to the table with no one around.  Quickly she ran out the door and into the other room to be at Brian’s side.

“Brian,” She whispered wanting to touch him but unsure if her touch would cause him more pain.   “Brian,” she said a little louder this time.  His eyelids fluttered but he did not open them or respond.  “I’m sorry,” She apologized as she put the knife through her belt and started to undo the straps that held him down.  

As she worked she continually looked towards the door expecting someone, anyone, to come into the room to try and stop her.  It wasn’t until she reached the hallway again that she noticed a red light blinking indicating a reason to evacuate the building.  Isabelle knew that many thought she was a force to be reckoned with but she could hardly be the reason for a building wide evacuation.   Carrying Brian carefully she slowly made her way through the halls glancing through any doors she was able to push open looking for Megan.  

Moving through the building was slow but her adrenaline kept her moving forward.   The reason for the evacuation was still not clear to her but if she was not running into anybody in the halls there had to be a valid reason the building was empty as she had never known this building to be so vacant. 

“Isabelle,” a voice called out sending chills down her spine.  She turned down the hallway that she heard the voice come from and glared at Kevin.   “I’ve been looking for you two; we need to get out of here.”  He shouted jogging towards them.

“Get away,” Isabelle started to back away from the direction Kevin was coming from but dragging Brian with her slowed her down and Kevin easily caught up.  

Moving so she had a free hand she pulled the knife out of her belt and held it threateningly at Kevin.   Kevin stopped moving and held his hands up in surrender.   “Isabelle,” he spoke softly. 

“Get away.”  Her voice was firm but she did not yell.

“There is a bomb set to go off in under two minutes,” Kevin stated moving to take some of Brian’s weight from her.

Isabelle moved quickly backwards taking Brian with her.  She slashed the knife towards Kevin. “Leave us.”

“You know you will never get Brian and yourself out of here in less than two minutes without some help.” Kevin moved again taking Brian from her arms and lifting him like a sleeping child into his own. 

“I can’t trust you,” Isabelle held the knife point in Kevin’s back.  

“You will have to for now.” Kevin said and started running back the way he came.  

Isabelle stood glaring after the man before she started to run after him.   Thoughts flew through her mind as she continued scouring doors looking for Megan.  Why was Kevin, a traitor, the man who turned her in to The Company, helping her now?  What game was he playing at?

“What are you doing?” Kevin shouted back to her as she opened yet another door.

“I can’t leave Megan behind!” She shouted at him and moved to open the next door.

“She’s not here,” Kevin muttered in apparent frustration.   “She never was.” He added.

Isabelle took a look at the door in front of her.  Could she trust Kevin enough not to look for her friend? 

“C’mon, we don’t have time,” Kevin shouted and started jogging towards the exit still carrying Brian. 

Isabelle sighed and knew if she was going to protect Brian, her husband, her love, she had to leave now or she would be taken with the building.    She sighed some when she saw Kevin and Brian exit the building.  She was inches from the door herself when another voice caught her attention.

“You can never really get away,” the voice told her.  She looked around and saw Dr. Smith crumpled in a corner near the door.  She looked down and saw a blood smear in the hallway that ended with him.  He was injured and was dragging himself towards the door to freedom.  His energy failing, he couldn’t make it the final feet out the door, though even if he did it was likely he’d still be killed in the blast.   “Do you think The Company will just give up on you?”

She didn’t bother answering him; she ran out of the building looking around for Brian and Kevin.  She felt the heat of the blast behind her as Kevin pulled up in a car alongside her. She climbed into the backseat where Brian lay still unconscious.  She gingerly placed his hand over top hers, careful not to disturb his fingers.   She moved his hand towards her lips, “I love you,” she whispered before kissing his hand.  

She glanced at Kevin who drove on in silence; she would ask him questions later, whose side was he really on? She watched the moving scenery in silence and she knew the Doctor’s words were true.  The Company would never stop looking for her.  She was a liability.  She knew something they did not want public, they would never stop hunting her.   She felt Brian’s fingers twitch very slightly, she glanced over and saw that his eyes were open a slit and he was looking at her.  She smiled at him wishing she could have kept him safe.  She knew then that it was time to stop running and hiding.  It was time for her to stand her ground and take the fight to them.