Chapter 12: Chapter Eleven

Swords tend to do more damage than people describe. I don’t know about you but when I think of a sword fight, I just think of swift striking and strong blocking. It takes a visual to appreciate how badly a sword can fuck you up. A long scar, running from his forehead to his chin, in a dead-straight line. Whoever struck Ark had precision. It makes me think, they weren’t trying to kill him, that accuracy had to come with a high level of control. It’s like his face had been split in half, three stitches held his skin together. Forehead, nose, chin, his face may have unfolded had they fallen out. Void black irises and pale skin, he was good looking yet ghostly; attractive yet slightly unnerving. I wasn’t scared of him, though, he’d saved us too many times. You’re not one to judge off looks, probably why you ended up with me haha. Hey! Don’t talk like that, you’re pretty. Agree to disagree? For now.

”Why were you fighting the person who did that to you?” Crystal asked, invasively.

“He strayed.” Ark averted his gaze.

“From wha…” She was about to ask another invasive question before Aleena clapped her hand over Crystal’s mouth.

“Someone’s watching.” Aleena said plainly, looking over my shoulder towards the exit. Spinning around, I caught a glimpse, an image just clear enough to notice. Without words, we took off. As I felt the wind in my hair, I began to wonder who this person could’ve been, not just the person I found myself catching up to, but the person who managed to slice Ark’s face like thin-cut cheese. Who were they to him? Why’d he find himself fighting them? What does “He strayed” mean? I’m not sure, these questions were for later, I should’ve been focused on the creeper Jack now had his hands firmly wrapped around the neck of.

“Who duh fuck are you!?” Jack began interrogating her. It quickly became clear this wasn’t his first time doing this sort of thing. A little scary, but it’s what might’ve worked. Before he asked any further questions, her cheeks clenched and a faint pop could be heard from inside her mouth. Bleeding down her lips, white foam dripped from her chin to the tar road beneath. Jack’s hands loosened as he jolted back in shock.

“It’s cyanide.” I blurted out through exhausted panting.

“There’s nothing we can do.” Aleena said, defeated, calmly placing her hand on Jack’s shoulder.. Still gasping through the adrenaline, he stood in silence and watched as the girl on the floor took her last breaths before her body fell limp. Ark stepped forward and put his hand on the girl’s neck before pushing her hair to the side, revealing a faded tattoo.

”She was with the Alliance.” Aleena said.

”That tattoo is faint either, she’s been a member for a while.” I added.

”You think they onto us?” Jack questioned sternly. They must’ve heard about our accidental infiltration into their tunnel system because now we had a bounty on us. I can guarantee they offered protection and immunity in exchange for us; dead or alive. Regardless, we kept moving, thinking it better to make progress than to sit and wait in fear. Although we had no clue as to where we were. In our confusion, green smoke came into view as the building in front peeled away.

“Hey! Not here to cause trouble are we?” Another Green Flare guard questioning our morals, although this one was a lot nicer.

“No, of course not.” I responded calmly. Her face shifted, a shadow of concern covered it.

”Shit, you lot alright?” She almost reminded me of Yevonne in that moment. Yeah, I can see that. Cautious but motherly.

“Yes, we’re fine. Thanks.” Aleena interrupted, her impatience bleeding through.

”We really need to get to the far East side of the city.” She continued. The guard's face shifted again. Fear seemed to contort her expression.

”It’s uh, that way.” Hesitating, she pointed without breaking the piercing eye contact she held with Aleena.

“You’d better leave now.” The guard said forcefully.

“Can we at least have some water?” Jack desperately asked.

“No, now get outta here.”

“Please!?” For once, Crystal’s yelling was warranted.

“No! Leave!” She screamed back. With nothing more than a sigh, we turned and left. Whilst Jack was thinking of his thirst and Crystal was sulking, this interaction sounded alarm bells in the rest of us. Why was this guard terrified of the East? And why’d she seem so eager to make us leave? All questions I had at the time. Well? Why was she? Let me tell my damn story. Agh, fine I guess I’ll wait.

Monstrous engine red-lining filled the silent streets and a ghastly red glow illuminated the night, swiftly interrupting our pondering.

”Fuck!” Scattering, we all bolted for cover. The night made it hard to see, we just had to pray they didn’t spot us. As the armoured van came to a screeching stop and angry footsteps overlapped, I peered around the corner of the letterbox I was scrunched behind. In front of me, the scene was aggressive, guns raised and the guard was heavily outnumbered. Something you’d see in a movie, the red and green flares merging as they dissipated into the air while the image below being illuminated in a neon shine by their opposing shades. Green versus red, good versus bad.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Hey, come on now. We aren’t here for any blood, lower your weapon.” An arrogantly calm voice projected from under his helmet. I’d assume the leader.

”You ruthless fucks only ever want blood!” She snapped back. After a deep sigh, the man slowly removed his helmet and signalled for his men to lower their guns. Distrusting, the guard’s weapon remained raised and aimed between the eyes of the leader.

“Damn it lady, look around you! These men are waiting for you to attack, let me talk without a barrel in my face.” This was the nicest I’d ever heard an Alliance higher up talk to anybody outside the organisation.

“Not like you guys give that option to the innocents you kill.” The guard replied before flicking the safety switch and disengaging.

“What do you want? It’s been a long night.” She continued.

“We just want to find the group of kids that managed to both infiltrate and escape our tunnel system. It was my job to look after it and usually it’s guarded by a loner but they got past it somehow.”

”You had a loner guarding your facility? How’d they manage to get in?” She asked.

”Well, when we got to the entrance, we found it sliced to pieces with its head completely detached from what was left of its body. Only someone with incredible skills could do something like this. We think they have one or more protectors with them.” Protectors? It’s not often they merge with roamers like us. While Aleena isn’t a protector anymore, it’s likely they’re looking for us.

“What makes you think they’ve got more than one with them?” The guard questioned.

“The Alliance had an altercation with them a day or two back. When we got to the scene, both our armoured trucks had been completely destroyed. Nothing but tires and scraps were left behind. Not to mention the blood splattered all over the street was the only remains of our men. We think they have an explosive device that allows them to control where the projectile goes and decide when it explodes. This is a stretch but we also have reason to believe they can decide how destructive the explosion is.” He was explaining more than I thought he would’ve, he was scared. Fear had to be the only explanation for why he chose to hand out this much information, he needed to know where we were and fast.

“I’m guessing you're about to ask me if I’ve seen them?” Sarcasm flooded her tone.

”When an explosion of the same level as what hit our trucks hits a horde, it's not going to leave anything but a pool of flesh behind. So far, we’ve spotted three of these flesh pits. We found one not far away from here, at the junkyard a few blocks back, around the corner and down the street we recovered the body of one of our spies who had bitten her last resort pill. I figured they came out of the… I figured they were in the junkyard for whatever reason, a horde attacked them but the protector eliminated it, and they saw our spy before chasing her down and forcing her into suicide. If they’re that close, it’d only make sense for them to come here.”

”What an interesting story…” Still behind the letterbox, every ounce of my body shook with terror as she spoke. What were we gonna do if she revealed us? Would they even attack us knowing we have two protectors with us? As these questions crossed my mind, my eyes locked with the guard’s and her face softened.

“…but I haven’t seen them. I heard the explosion, they didn’t come here, though.” Her eyes shifted back to the men in front of her. Relieved, I scanned around and saw Aleena and Ark hiding around the corner of the block. As to what they were saying, I had no idea but they nodded affirmatively at each other before turning their gaze back to the scene. I did the same.

All was quiet for a moment while the leader thought about his next actions.

”If I find out you’re lying to me, misleading us in any way, I will come back and I won’t be this friendly.” Soft but firm, his tone was quiet yet somehow aggressive.

“I have a feeling this group you speak of is going to love me.” Her face grew arrogant, this over-confidence forced horror into the eyes of the leader. Before the fear-filled eyes vanished behind his stone faced helmet, he signalled for his men to disengage and leave with no altercation. No blood was shed, however I had a feeling we were now being hunted more than ever. They were scared and their desperation led to constant paranoia weighing on the minds of everyone involved.

Once again, tires screeched as rubber tires burnt under the engine’s redline and the glow of red smoke became distant like fleeting memories.

“I know you bastards didn’t go far. Get out here, now!” The guard’s voice commanded. Cautiously, we rose from our cover and slowly snuck toward her.

”Thank you.” I said before she could talk, sincerity covering my words.

”Once I figured out you weren’t with the Alliance, defending you was my best choice.” The way she described the situation made it sound transactional, as if we were now obligated to protect her and the green flare. That wasn’t my main concern, though. What did she mean “with the Alliance”?

“You thought we were with them?” Aleena asked, enraged.

”The East is where the most violent section of the organisation resides. Think about this from my perspective for a moment. Five beat up, semi-intimidating people with an arsenal hanging from each of them approach a Green Flare and tell me they’re from the East. What am I supposed to tell you? Come on in?”

”Semi-intimidating? Do we look like criminals to you?” Jack pushed forward before Crystal forcefully pulled his arm back.

”Even if you don’t look like criminals, the guns were enough for me to be a little frightened.” Her tone became firm again.

”And why didn’t you seem scared when the real Alliance showed up?” Crystal confidently questioned.

”They were in uniform, they may have killed me but it’s unlikely they slaughtered everyone in the bunker.”

“Wha…” I was interrupted

“Look, if you’re going East, take this. You’ll need it. The Alliance isn’t the only danger over there, the hordes are… different.” The guard hesitated before tossing me a small box. I tried to remove the ribbon holding the lid on.

”Do not open that!” She screamed, taking an instinctive step back.

”The fuck?” Jack was just as confused as the rest of us.

”You were gonna kill us all! Look, if the hordes get too big and your weapons aren’t enough, take the ribbon off and throw it. Don’t ask questions, just do it.” She panted.

“Well what is it?” Crystal absently asked

”What did I just say?” Piercing Crystal’s eyes, the guard glared through her with frustration in her gaze. A defeated sigh from Crystal broke the tension before the guard began to speak again.

”That’s enough now, you’d better go before you attract more trouble here.” Her eyes browsed the street and sky before looking back at us.

“Thank you for this, we won’t forget it.” Ark chimed in and handed the guard a blue flare before affirmatively nodding.

“How many of those things do you have?” Crystal curiously, yet sarcastically, asked as we turned and started making our way East again.

“Do you ever stop talking?” Aleena fired back before Ark could get a word in. I couldn’t help but chuckle a little. Sounds like you were getting your spark back. What happened?