Jackie took the lead as we headed back towards the stairs. We had decided it was best to put Jax in between us and let me cover the back. The lights flickered in the hallway and the two guards lay only partially hidden by the shadows. I looked towards Jax hoping he had not found the guards but instead almost ran into him as he stopped. His eyes were transfixed on the crumpled lifeless figures. I stepped to his side hoping to block his vision while placing my arm around his back and gently pulling him forward. Jackie waited at the stairs, his gun in a low but ready position. When we reached him, he looked over his shoulder at Jax, pausing for a moment before looking towards me. He asked, “Are you ready?” I nodded despite my concern for Jax’s current condition and uncertainty of what lay ahead. 

I placed a hand on Jax’s shoulder and said, “I need you to stay between us.” Jax looked at me  and then at Jackie. I could tell Jax was confused as he squinted his eyes at Jackie. 

Jackie tilted his head to the side, smiled and winked at Jax and said, “my name is Jackie, I am a friend.” Jax looked back at me and I nodded in agreement. 

We began our descent down the stairs and it was clear that Jax was having some problems as he gripped the stair railing. Jax’s pace had slowed and I was getting worried about Sina and Fuchsia. How long could they evade Creso’s men? 

All of a sudden Jax came to a stop and grabbed his chest and let out a pained sound. He sat down heavily on the step clutching his chest, he sounded like he was hyperventilating. I was a couple of steps behind Jax and Jackie was closer. Jackie turned around quickly and squatted in front of Jax. The gun was in his left hand, pointed up and away from Jax at about shoulder height.  With his right hand he reached forward and said “hey, are you ok?” 

I was a step away when I saw Jax’s arm go out towards Jackie. Jackie leapt to the right side and grabbed the railing to stop himself from falling down the stairs. Jax continued to travel forward and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt just before he went down the steps. I yanked him back and we both fell onto the steps behind me. His body was covered in sweat and he fought to get out of my grasp. I reached my left arm across his body and grabbed his flailing right wrist. I spun him around and he fell to his knees in front of me. Jax looked at me like he didn’t know who I was. He was terrified. I had seen him like this before, when he had a large amount of Blue Cryo in his system and was hallucinating. But how and why did he take it?

The whites of his eyes were red and he was sickly pale. I placed my right hand on his face and said, “Jax, it's me Bren.” I looked into his eyes hoping that he would recognize me. He tried to pull away and I grabbed his upper arm. I felt sick as I said, “please snap out of it Jax!” His eyes now on the floor as he continued to pull away. 

I didn’t know what to do. Jackie was silently standing behind Jax and stared at me. I shook my head at him. What the hell was I supposed to do? I looked back at Jax and released his wrist and placed my other hand on his other upper arm and said, “Please Jax! I love you!”

Jax lifted his head and looked at me. He reached a hand slowly towards my face and said “Bren.” The edges of his fingers had just made contact with my face and something happened. I looked up to see Jackie holding two hypodermic needles at his side. I looked back at Jax and his arms had dropped. His eyes were wells of tears, a few escaping as he mouthed something I couldn’t quite hear. He fell forward and I caught him in my arms. I looked up at Jackie again and screamed, “what the hell did you do to him?”

 He threw the needles to the side and held his hands up in the air and said, “calm down, it's just a sedative! Fuchsia gave me a couple before we parted. She said I might need them.” 

I turned Jax in my arms so I could see his face. His breathing had slowed and his face looked calm. I pushed his hair out of his face, it was stiff and stained with his blood. I swallowed hard, thinking about what he must have been through. I looked up at Jackie and said,  “he had just recognized me, if you had just waited a couple more seconds. He would have…” 

Jackie cut me off and said, “he would have likely had another hallucination and gotten us all killed. You know this was our only option. Pick him up and let's go!”

I ground my teeth together, irritated that he was right. I would never have been able to do that to Jax. That is why Fuchsia gave him the needles. I shifted Jax in my arms and stood up. It was disturbing how much weight he had lost since the last time I had seen him. I needed to be able to still have one hand free for my gun so I decided to put him over my shoulders.  

Jackie placed a hand on my shoulder and then said “listen I know this is hard. If anything happened to my girlfriend, I would be losing my shit! But we have to keep moving!”

I nodded.

We were able to move quicker with me carrying Jax. When we got to the third floor we could hear lots of noise. Jackie laughed and said, “it sounds like Fuchsia and Sina are keeping them busy.”

Jackie looked out the window at the stairs. I could tell he was thinking the same thing I was. How were we going to be able to do this with Jax?

I looked out the window and didn’t see anyone. Was it possible that Creso’s men had all been pulled into the hospital to help.  

I looked back at Jackie, he was furiously typing messages into his phone while chewing his bottom lip. My guess is he was texting Lyra.

He stopped and looked at me and said, “Lyra is going to meet me at the treeline and I am going to pass Jax off to her.” 

“What?” I said frustratedly.

I didn’t like the idea of separating from him again, but I also understood this might be our only option.

“How are we going to get him down there?” I asked.

 Jackie smiled and looked at the window. 

I looked at him like he was crazy and said, “we are on the third floor. How can you safely get him down there?”

Jackie said, “you will just have to trust me. We don’t have any other option right now and luckily Jax will heal if injured.” 

I sighed. This kid! It may be true Jax will heal from the injuries but what about him. A jump like that is extremely risky, especially while carrying Jax. He needs to be able to make it to the treeline and back to me. 

His phone buzzed again and he squeezed his phone.  “Listen, I promise I will get him to Lyra and she will keep him safe.”

I eased Jax off my shoulder and sat down on the step. I ran a hand along the side of his face, I had so many things to say to him. I couldn’t help but be afraid that we wouldn’t see each other again. I looked up at Jackie. He had somehow worked the entire window loose without making a sound.

I stood back up with Jax in my arms and said, “how are you going to carry him?”

He looked out the window and quickly climbed into the windowsill. Then he motioned for me to hand Jax over as he said, “on my back, I think it will minimize the impact felt by both of us when we hit.” 

I helped him get Jax adjusted. 

Jackie said, “you are going to have to tape his arms together because I won’t be able to hold them.” I nodded and reached into his jacket for the tape. His phone buzzed again as I finished up. He looked at his phone and said, “she is ready for us. I will be back quickly.” 

Before I could respond he dropped from the window. I felt like I was going to vomit, everything happened so quickly. I heard a loud sound as a dust cloud obstructed my vision of  where they had just landed.