IT TOOK A moment, a heartbeat, to realize what had happened. As the guard’s head whipped back and his slack body crumpled to the ground, time seemed to stand still. Then all at once it sped up, as if making up for the lost seconds. The second guard glanced at his dead comrade in shock, but his training quickly took over as he turned his firearm on Brant.
Gunfire echoed down the streets like sporadic thunder. I felt sickly vindicated having not wasted any brain cells remembering his name as Brant’s body spasmed when the bullets pierced his flesh. Obviously our outdated armor was nothing compared to their weapons. None of us were safe now.
While he shot, the guard was screaming into his earpiece. He would not be alone for long. In the short instant that his gunfire ceased, his cold blue eyes turned instantly to us. In that instant there was understanding in his eyes and I knew we had made a mistake.
Every other civilian still on the streets had dropped to their knees at the sound of the first shot. Hoods were pushed back from their plain faces and their hands were locked behind their heads. They had been trained to show they were disarmed, to surrender immediately. Only four people still stood on the street and now the guard knew exactly who we were. His gun rose, the barrel pointed at my face, but the shot that rang out didn’t come from him. Maddox had fired, hitting the guard’s left shoulder. Without hesitation, we bolted for the nearest alley. As we dove into the shadows, I caught Maddox’s green jump suit disappearing into another alleyway.
My instinct was to go higher, but the roofs here were sloped too steeply to maneuver. My eyes searched the ground, but the even pavement had no drains. There was nowhere to hide and the darkness was creeping in at an unusually rapid rate. The white linens we had donned to hide would soon make us easy targets. We shed our stolen clothing as we sprinted through alley. I pulled at Mouse, helping her out of disguise before removing my own. Once free of his garb, Triven grabbed Mouse, swinging her up into his arms as he ran. Our eyes met for a second and a horrible flash passed through my mind. I had lived this moment before, but through different eyes. The only difference was that I was no longer the one being carried. This time I was in my parents’ shoes.
I pushed harder, running from my past. Running for their lives as well as our own.
The darkness had swallowed the city whole, almost as if by command. The thought flickered through my mind that maybe that’s exactly what had happened. If they could make the sun so bright here, the usually tarnished skies so blue, then wasn’t it just as possible that they could take that all away? The shields surrounding the city kept us out, but they were also keeping these people in, controlling their lives.
Even in our fear-driven panic, we ran with purpose. Every turn we took kept us on a path toward the northwest corner of the city. We just had to keep moving. The alleys here were cleaner than ours. The pavement was smooth and uncluttered with trash and rubble. The catch was if we could move faster, so could the people chasing us.
I turned a corner three steps ahead of Triven and collided with a wall of human flesh. The world spun as I was knocked to ground, but not before I could pull the knife from my boot. I slashed out as our bodies collided with the cement, but found only air. I thrust again, but a meaty hand closed over my wrist, squeezing so hard I could feel the bones bend, precariously close to snapping.
“Now is that any way to greet a friend?”
I kicked, catching Maddox in the gut and throwing him off of me. I grabbed my newly healed arm as it began throbbing again. It felt as if the wound may have reopened. “No, that’s how I greet everyone I hate.”
Triven pulled back his gun as he recognized our lost teammate. “No time for reunions. We have to move.”
He was right. There were new sounds in the air now. Pounding footsteps could now be heard in the distance. They were accompanied by the strange humming I had heard from the passing vehicles we saw earlier. They were closing in. We launched into motion only to come to a dead stop at the mouth of the next alley.
The once tightly knit city buildings fell away from one another. The alleys we sought for cover were no longer feet away but blocks. A strange plot of green grass and trees had been dropped in the middle of the city and the only way to escape was through the exposed land. The feet were getting closer.
“Move!” I yelled bursting into the open.
The area was oddly maintained and had an intentionally paved path winding its way though the manicured grass. I ignored it and cut straight across the slippery, spongy surface seeking the most direct path I could find.
Thirty feet.
A gun shot.
Twenty-five feet.
A returned gun shot.
Fifteen feet.
I came to a dead halt. Standing in the middle of the alley I was aiming for was a guard, gun raised ready to fire. His finger twitched on the trigger, but I was faster. As I fired, two more shots rang out. I spun just in time to see two other guards fall as Maddox and Triven lowered their guns. As I turned, another two guards appeared in a different alley. Maddox and I fired.
Panic rose in my chest. They had chased us into a trap. We were standing in the center of a hexagon and every way out had soldiers charging towards us. I could hear them. Triven set Mouse down and tried to shield her as his gun jumped from alley to alley. The knife I gave her was clutched in her tiny shaking hand. Even Maddox’s shoulders fell as he comprehended the severity of the situation.
It was over.
I staggered backwards as the realization hit me and faltered. My feet hit something uneven and a glimmer of hope ran through me. I clawed at the ground feeling my nails break as they scraped the metal surface. Joy pulsed through me. It was a grate. There was a chance of escape.
“Help me!” I screamed.
Triven’s hands were instantly next to mine pulling at the metal grate. Maddox fired twice more.
“Hurry it up sweetheart they’re coming faster.” He growled over his shoulder.
With a heave the grate came free, swinging upward. There was no ladder, we would have to jump. I quickly dropped my backpack in to test the depth. It hit ground after only a short fall; it couldn’t be more than ten feet. There were three more shots. Triven held the grate back, staring at me.
“GO!” He screamed.
I shook my head, “I can’t catch Mouse, I can barely use my arm. You have to go first.”
Pain flashed in eyes.
Two more shots.
“I’ll be right behind you.” I touched his face. He cupped his hand over mine and disappeared into the hole. I could hear his feet hit.
“Drop her to me!”
Three more shots.
I grabbed Mouse and kissed her forehead. Taking her by the wrists I lowered her as far as I could before letting go.
“Okay your turn!” Triven shouted up to me, I could just make out his face in the darkness. I raised my head. A sea of silver was descending down the alleys now. Maddox’s gun was firing wildly into the onslaught, but more soldiers just replaced the fallen ones. I heard the click as his clip emptied. I glanced down at my chest. A tiny red light had appeared over my heart. There wasn’t time to save all of us but I could save two of us. They just needed a head start and I could provide them with that. I couldn’t give them much, but I could give them time.
“I’m sorry.” The words were barely a whisper but Triven heard them.
“Prea!” He screamed and I shut the grate.
I rose to face the gun that was pointed straight at my heart as the resounding bang rang out. The guard’s aim was true and he would not miss. I knew I wouldn’t even have time to brace myself and it didn’t matter as long as it saved them. Something large blocked my line of sight and I was flung to the ground. My head smacked against the ground with surprising force. No sooner did I hit the pavement than something pierced the flesh in my lower back. My body began to seize, my limbs flailing uncontrollably as electricity rushed through them. Everything burned even when the convulsions stopp
ed, my limbs refusing to move. Something fell next to me, the sound sickening as hard surface met skull bone. With great effort, I turned my head toward the body next to mine.
Maddox lay facedown on the pavement, his black eyes wild as they turned to me. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead of words a river of blood poured over his white lips. Realization crashed down like lead rain.
He had taken the bullet meant for me.
His hand crept toward me, his fingers reaching out. Blood was pooling beneath him, seeping out and staining the pristine pavement. Something I had never seen passed across his hardened face. Fear.
Ignoring the pain still radiating through my body, I reached out and grabbed his hand. His massive hand shook beneath mine. His mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. The calloused fingers wrapped around mine squeezing so tightly it hurt. I squeezed back, letting him know I was here, that he wasn’t alone. I squeezed until his grip loosened and the life left his black eyes. The man I hated with all my being, had just given his life for mine. I squeezed even after he let go, after there was nothing left but a body. Even when I finally had to turn my eyes away, I didn’t let go of his hand.
The street flooded with spotlights, filling the once blackened night with light. I blinked. A thousand red dots swam around me as the guards put me in their sights. Raising my hands above my head, I held my open palms to oncoming soldiers and for the first time in my life I surrendered. Not to save myself, but to buy Triven and Mouse time.
I pressed my face into the grate beneath me. A perfect face stared back at me from the shadows, horror and pain evident in his eyes. I could see him clearly now in the artificial lights cast down on us. I could even see the cherubic face of the tiny girl clinging to his side.
He began to try and climb up, to push against the grate, but I shook my head. It took all of my effort to speak and not cry.
“Save her.”
At first I didn’t think he heard my words, but after a few excruciatingly long seconds he nodded. Tears marred his perfect eyes before they steeled.
“Survive Prea. I will come back for you. Don’t you dare die on me.” And then he was gone.
A different kind of pain tore through me as the rough hands found me. I realized as they pulled me away from the grate, that they were taking me away from the only two people I ever loved. I steeled myself with that realization.
For them I would find the strength, I would rise above my own fears.
I would survive this new world, and I would find a way back to them.