Escape From Thera: Chapter 9

I take back what I said about getting the hang of this. Not being able to see my feet on stairs in the dark was hell.

Trey must have thought so too because I just barely heard him swearing under his breath as we walked. Once or twice me or Trey slipped and almost fell but Alice somehow managed to keep us standing. Thank God for Alice. Here she was saving my but again. It only took a minute of slow careful walking but we finally got to the bottom.

I almost cried in joy.

Solid ground. Real solid ground without strings attached felt amazing. Once me and Trey finished our religious experience we surveyed the area. The doors where traffic would have gone in and out of were blown wide open and instead there were guards at both sides. They were sitting in chairs or on crates. They had drinks, some small rations to chew on and looked like they were playing cards.

I could see way more lights set up behind them but from here these four were all that were there. Since the guards up above were probably back or on their way back, attacking these guys was not a good strategy. So instead stealth was once again the name of the game.

Alice took the lead again and we started moving. They were focused on a card game so when we slowed past them I was sure that they didn’t notice us. That was when someone’s foot hit a bottle. I wasn’t sure if it was mine, Trey’s or even Alice’s. Regardless the bottle clinked into the darkness spinning away.

My heart stopped. The guards at the doors looked up. At least one of them did. The other one ignored us focused on his hand. I swear he stared right at us but he didn’t say anything. Finally, he settled back into his folding chair and then swore at his partner about the cards played.

I didn’t let out my breath until after we passed them. But it was stranger still on the inside. There were guys, girls, and even some young kids just around. Talking, eating, playing, or just screwing around. It was like a small society in there. It was loud too, talking, shouting and laughing. A lot of the people here were armed to some degree. Hand guns to full on rifles.

I looked around as Alice kept pulling us along. I doubted she or Trey wanted to linger any longer than they had to in this place. I couldn’t blame them but it was still weird.

We managed to circle around people by while avoiding the big open space of the center. There were lights gathered in the middle but nothing more than that. I honestly wondered why when I felt Alice squeeze my wrist. Glancing in her direction she pulled my hand up and I looked at where we were now pointing.

The place where the trains were parked on the tracks. There wasn’t anything weird over there. In fact, it was almost entirely empty. No guards or anything. I frowned unsure of what was going on. I didn’t understand her hesitation. With a slight tug, she started walking again.

We took slow steps forward and we kept our eyes peeled as always. The stairs this time around weren’t the death sentence that they were the first time but it was still impossibly dark. This time we got lucky and were able to hold the railings.

The platform at the bottom was empty and the tracks likewise were empty. There were a few train cars still hanging around on the fringes. Alice pulled both of us toward the edge of the platform and we crouched down before sliding off it and crunched in the gravel.

Alice let go of our hands and it was shocking to see my body again. Gasping for breath I rested my face in my hands for a moment and just relished seeing my hands again. I turned toward my masked friend and then Trey, who was equally disoriented.

“Alright, where’s the train car?” I asked turning toward him.

He held up a hand and turned around, pointing toward a two level car in the distance. It hung around by itself away from the majority of the platforms. One of the doors that would have opened to a train was blown off but had been barred over with boards.

“That’s the one. There’s going to be guards at this one. It’s kinda shit duty to be forced to guard us mutants.”

“Shouldn’t there be more?” I asked raising my eyebrow.

“Only newbies still try to be defiant and attack. That gets beat out of you early on.”

I nodded as I looked over the edge of the platform. I could see exactly where he was indicating. There were four chairs but only one guy sitting in front of the train car with a rifle across his laps. Wouldn’t be surprised if there were more than four guys here. We’d have to deal with them before even locating Seth or anyone else.

“I don’t think stealth is going to work this time. At least not as well as before.” Tossing my bow to my other hand I glanced at my thigh and countered the arrows I had at my disposal. There were twelve left. I swear I had more but twelve was all I was counting.

“We got this far. What do you suggest?”

“That I sit here and start firing arrows. I don’t miss that often. You guys turn invisible, find Seth and teleport. Then I’ll need a hand escaping after that.”

Alice was already shaking her head when I looked at her, “Too dangerous.”

“It’s not my best plan,” I signed back at her smiling and then spoke as I signed. “Or even a remotely good one to be honest. But this situation isn’t exactly the best position or with the most options.”

I frowned and shrugged. She glared and shook her head hard. “No.”

“Look, I know. Trust me I know. It’s a risk. But it’s a risk we have to take right now.”

She shook her head but it wasn’t as vigorous. Her eyes went down and I saw the fear there for the barest of a second. I walked over to her and hugged. I whispered to her and said, “Don’t worry. We’ll make it out of here one way or another.”

She nodded as she hugged back but it was tighter as if taking my word and making it into a promise. We separated and she turned toward Trey as did I. He frowned as he looked at us but focused on me. “You’re sure you’re okay with risking this much for us?”

“I’ve committed this hard. Might as well go the distance. Just don’t leave me behind alright?”

He smirked and nodded. “Course not. Or else we’d have to break back in to rescue you and after doing all this that would be redundant.”

I couldn’t help but giggle and nod at him. Raising my bow, I drew an arrow and glanced at them. “Alright. You guys ready?”

I heard two metal clinks and smiled again. I glanced over my shoulder and they were gone. But I could still sense Alice. Nodding I felt my fingers shake slightly and I knew my heart was a drum in my chest. It was hard to breathe as I thought about what I was about to do here. Getting shot was not something to rule out.

Crouch walking, I drew the arrow and let the magnets take control for the moment and then stood. Pointing at a sitting guard I aimed at his head. Though realistically speaking I lowered my aim slightly.  Hitting him in the head wasn’t gonna happen. I felt the amount of metal on the guy though. It made my fingers vibrate.

I could use that.

I felt the gun in his hand, the watch on his wrist, and other metal pieces on his person and smiled. They were all now magnetized at my bidding. They were all similar poles and my arrow tip was now the opposite. This was going to be an interesting experiment to say the least.

Letting out my breath I fired and it did some very special magic. It was aiming at the guard and then slowly lowered in the air. I watched it turn and I knew what it was now. I had unconsciously done this earlier and now I knew the gimmick.

It slammed into the guys chest knocking him out of his chair, off the platform and onto the railing. Letting myself have a moment, I climbed onto the platform. I glanced around me for more guards, then started forward.

I heard someone saying something, mumbling about a noise. They were coming out the door that Trey had pointed out and I got another arrow ready. I didn’t have time to set up my magnetism thing like before so instead I just magnetized the tip of the arrow. It vibrated in my hand as I put it in place.

I saw the barest hint of a gun as a guy came out of the door. He started to make a sound when I drew the arrow back and fired. I watched it fly but instead of going at him it arched to the right and slammed into the wall of the train. What the hell?

I shook my head quickly and prepared another arrow. Dropping to my knee I fired it but the guy was already backing into the car. My arrow managed to hit him in the arm before he disappeared from sight.

Swearing to myself I heard shouting back toward the staircase. Things were getting dangerous now. Running away from the car I ran across the platform and dove to a pillar, hiding behind it. Come on guys, I really hope you find this guy fast.

I heard them coming down the stairs now and I couldn’t guess how many were there. If I was feeling the number of guns probably five if not six. Ten arrows left. This was really bad odds for me. Taking a deep breath, I drew another arrow and knocked it. I didn’t bother trying to do more magnetism tricks. Just pure aim.

They were coming closer but at a slower rate, the metal was spreading out from the stairs. Some were near where I had been hiding before. Some were going toward the train car and the last was just standing around.

I glanced from the side of the pillar and saw one of the guys coming my way. He wasn’t wearing much in the way of body armor. In fact, most of them just had regular jackets and jeans on. Some had helmets but most didn’t. They all had the big guns though.

Taking a slow breath, I crouched low and stepped out of the path. I fired and the arrow slammed into his stomach. He let out a cry of pain but he wasn’t getting up after that. Now I just had to deal with the rest of the fallout. Ducking behind the pillar again I heard the gunfire erupt chipping away on either side of my pillar.

Shutting my eyes, I tried to breathe but my heartbeat hammered in my ears. Ceremic exploded on either side of me and I knew going for another shot was not happening. I bit my lip and flexed my free hand onto my power. Going down low I let the magnetism expand around me. I caught a few bullets on either side of me but most just shot past.

I reached up and took off my hat. My hair fell out and I took a deep breath. Taking my hat, I threw it out to my right and then ducked to my left. My hat got utterly destroyed by the bullets but I aimed my bow and fired quickly. I managed to at least take down one of them with the shot before fucking off back into cover.

I heard the clinking of metal against the ground and my eyes went huge. Glancing at the ground I saw the tiny oval rolling toward me and my mind almost blanked. Raising my hand, I grabbed it with my powers and flung it back the way it came but not fast enough. The explosion sent me flying forward, broke out huge chunks of concrete from the pillar, and I heard shouts and screams from the soldiers.

That was the second grenade I had thrown back in one day. I’ll check that for a platinum star later.

Rolling across the ground I slipped off the platform and landed flat on my back. Groaning in pain I coughed reaching around for my bearings. My ears were ringing, my head was hurting and I couldn’t see straight. Who the hell just throws a grenade like that. For fucks sake these guys need home training.

Rolling onto my side and coughing I used the platforms base to sit up. Keeping my back pressed against it I held the bow tightly and got another arrow ready to go.

“Find them! It’s probably another mutant!

“Secure the other freaks!”

“I hate dealing with these fucking things.”

At least I was a freak by their standards. Still if they were going to be able to hold down the train car then that would-be trouble for Trey and Alice. Gotta keep the distraction going. Limping forward I started running again and raised the bow. “Hey! Fuck faces! Down here!”

Despite shouting I could barely hear my voice over the numbness in my ears. Still that got their attention alright. Adrenaline as my fuel I sprinted away ignoring the following gunshots.

I did manage to dive away behind another pillar platform combination. Keeping my head down I shut my eyes and grabbed another arrow putting two arrows on the bow. Standing up slowly I aimed the arrows and fired at one of the guards that was coming toward me.

Both arrows hit him in the chest and he went down with a grunt. I got another arrow out and fired it, taking down a second. Gunfire exploded after that and I was forced to go back down. Ducking as low as I could I turned around pulling out another arrow. Where the heck was more metal when I needed it.

“Spread out! Surround him!”

Shit. Crawling forward a bit I started to look up when I saw someone. I fired at him but missed. He however heard the arrow and backed off. From down here I was easily going to get surrounded and turned into swiss cheese.

I had to get out of here fast. Standing up I started running again. Before I got even halfway to the next pillar more gunfire came and of the many bullets one hit me in the leg. The pain was like a shot of fire in my thigh. I fell to the ground rolling into the platform base. Grunting I tried to pick up my leg but it hurt so much I almost rattled off every profane word I knew.

Putting my back to the wall I coughed and raised the arrow as I tried to push myself away. I was out of sight for the time being but I had to do something quick or I was going to get shot again. This time with better aim.

I heard boot steps coming and I had an arrow ready but I wasn’t going to have enough time to draw another arrow. “Come on Alice.” I sucked in a breath, stood and fired it. I watch this one fly wide, miss the target and just draw more attention brought toward me.

“He’s over here!”

“I’m a girl!” I shouted back almost on instinct. If I was gonna die I might as well, make them get it right.

Before anyone could shoot me for being a shit I heard whistling. The ground rocked as an explosion blew past me and I actually shrieked. I ducked down, covering my head as debris rained down. Another whistle and more explosions echoed around me. I was really hoping that was Trey because otherwise this was a fucked-up way to die.

Something popped beside me and I assumed my ears had finally tapped out. I turned toward the noise and suddenly Alice was there along with a new guy I didn’t recognize. He had dark hair, a long pale face. He was scarily skinny, barely looking ready to stand. His shirt and pants hung off him like they were two sizes too big. His face was blank as he looked at me and grabbed me by the shoulder.

Alice went to my other side and then shit got weird. One second I was in the train station with the ceiling caving down on me and next I was outside on the steps of the building by the station. It was like I blacked out for a second. I tried to remember what happened in that gap but it just gave me a headache.

“What in the?”

Alice hugged me tightly and I felt her shaking. I hugged her back still very very confused but this was the best hug I’d ever had. Pulling back, and I didn’t want her to, she looked at me and took note of my leg. Pointing at it she looked at me and signed, “Can you walk?”

Shaking my head, I groaned. The ground continued to rumble underneath us and I shuddered at what was going on down there. I looked at who must have been Seth but he popped out of existence again. The sun was starting to peek out in the sky turning it orange.

Alice took one of my arms. Sliding it over her shoulders she helped to lift me up. I sucked in a breath but nodded as she helped me. Together we walked up the steps and I was just shaking my head. “Fucking magnetism, explosions, invisibility, and now teleporting. I almost miss normal.”

Alice shook her head as she walked me toward the alleyway and we stopped. Leaning against the wall I glanced at her. She kneeled down in front of me staring at my leg. She dragged her hands down my thigh and to my calf. I couldn’t help the blush on my face then and then grunted.

“Yeah. Right there. How bad is it?”

I looked down at her and she shook her head. Touching the wound, she touched the front of my leg and then the back of my leg as well. Instead of glancing at me she went to my quiver and slid one of the last arrows out. My eyes went wide and part of me knew where she was going and  I didn’t want to go through that.

“Hold on there Alice.” She slowed and glanced at me. “Let me check first alright?”

“Why?” she signed. I rubbed my hands together slowly. Grunting and leaning back to the wall I let the magnetism power up. Biting my lip hard I slid my hand over the wound. I didn’t feel anything and let out a sigh of relief.

“No metal. Clean wound.”

“Okay,” She nodded and handed the arrow back to me.

Putting it in my quiver I held my hand out to her. She took my hand and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and we started walking again. I didn’t know where we were going but it looked somewhat familiar. The remains of the transit line were above us. Some of them had collapsed, train tracks and bridges just dumped into the middle of the street.

There was a huge crater in the ground but nothing inside it. The shops were even more broken down than before. Some of the buildings were entirely caved in and just reduced to rubble. What the hell happened on this side of the city?

We kept walking and I glanced back at Alice. “Where are we going?”

She pointed ahead of us toward an exposed wall. There were the outlines of what had been letters and a weird octagon thing. We walked into the building and saw that the wall had once had ATMs and burned out money on the ground. “All the money in the world huh?”

No response from my silent companion. I sometimes expected her to just suddenly speak despite all the time we’d spent together. Just throw me off my game. We walked inside and went toward a corner pocket of the bank. Sitting on a chair I gasped at the change in leg angle. Resting my hands on the arms of the chair I glanced at her.

Her eyes flicked to me every once in a while, before glancing outside again. I finally noticed that she was missing her machete. Something had happened there too. The best laid plans fall apart and ours wasn’t even good. I grunted light and then things popped. I blinked and suddenly I was looking at Trey and Seth. Both looked drained and Trey had blood on his side. But he was laughing still.

He held one hand against his side but he was still laughing, “Wow that was fun. Finally got to stick it to Duncan even if I didn’t actually see him.”

“What about the other mutants?” I asked and Seth glanced at me.

“What about them? We escaped. If they were going to escape they would have acted when we did. If they didn’t then that’s on them.”

“Wow. That’s pretty cold.”

“That’s how Seth is.” Trey said and sat at the seat beside me. He groaned leaning back and pulling his shirt upward showing the bleeding wound on his side. “And this is going to hurt.” He said softly pressing both hands to his hip. A soft whistle came and then through gritted teeth Trey screamed.

My eyes went wide and I flinched at the sound. His face was very red and his head dipped forward as he panted. Grunting he leaned his head back panting hoarsely. The wound was raw and seared red entirely. He noticed me looking at me and did a shakey thumbs up.

“Is he okay?” I asked.

“As okay as someone like him can be.” Seth said walking back toward the street. Alice looked toward him but then went back to looking outside. The sun was fully up now. Things were normally quiet around here during the day.

“How’d you guys meet?” I asked looking at him and then glancing at Trey.

He blinked surprised but said. “I met Seth closer to the beginning of all of this. It was me, him and some others. We worked together for a long time. It was good. Good times don’t last forever. Ran into Duncan. Not everyone survived. We met Alice in Duncan’s fight club. And you can guess the rest.”

I nodded and stared at Alice’s back. She stood tall and strong. She was hiding a lot under that mask. “Did you know Alice before?” I lamely motioned toward my mouth area.

“She always wore the bandana since I’ve known her. But the scars, that was Duncan. She was the same as now though. Kinda like a big sister. She looked out for me and Seth back then. We were all we had then.”

“What happened to make Duncan do that to her?”

He stared at her and was silent for a long time. She glanced at him and after a long silence she nodded, “He ordered her to kill me. We had a fight, she won and she was supposed to kill me. She didn’t do it. Refused to. So, he made an example out of her. An example for us all.”

I grit my teeth looking at Alice but she wasn’t facing me. I ground my fingers into my hand. It was in the past but that didn’t make me any less mad. The machines around us rattled for a second and I calmed down. “What happened after that?”

 I tried my best to look after her. Stand with her. Most people avoided her but she got hurt because of me. I couldn’t abandon her. Seth too but he’s Seth. Never know what Seth’s really feeling.”

“I heard that.” He said glancing back at us.

“Good. You’re an enigma!”

Seth turned away from him immediately and went back to looking outside. “Alice escaped about two months ago. Been living out here. We got lucky running back into her again. And you.”

I smiled and rubbed my leg. It was aching again and Alice caught me doing that because she came over. Walking past the chair I glanced over my shoulder and for the first time noticed that our bags were here. When she got them I don’t know but I wasn’t complaining. She came back with a cloth.

She took the cloth and raised my pants leg exposing the still bleeding bullet wound. She crouched and wrapped it around the wound tightly. I winced groaning softly but appreciated the effort. I put both hands on the arms of the chair and pushed myself to stand and limped over to the exposed wall.

“So you guys got any plans?” I asked and Trey shook his head.

“We’re just glad to have freedom again. We’re gonna do whatever at this point.”

“Then do whatever with us. Better success together than on our own.”

Trey laughed and glanced at Seth. “Can’t say I’m against the idea. Would be nice to have someone else to watch my back. What about you Seth?”

“I’m open to the idea.” Was all he said, his arms still folded.

Alice nodded, “Why break up a good thing?”

I smiled. “Then it’s settled. Let’s figure out our next move.”