NightTide: The Girl With Red Eyes

We left the armory, Jessica wasn’t happy. “This is bad, let’s see Eight transport choppers, they can carry fifty people each easily, that means they have at the very least four hundred personnel.” That sounds bad. “Red how many bullets do you have in that rifle?”

I didn’t know. “Let me check.” I pulled out the magazine, four shots. I had three extras mags as well. “I have sixteen bullets all together.”

She was thinking. “Conserve your ammo, if you don’t need to shoot, don’t; we want to save at least one bullet for that bastard.” She mumbled this under her breath. “Fucker shooting my sister like that.” She’s angry. “How’s your chest doing Red?”

I pressed where he shot me, it hurt. “Bruised, I’ll be fine though.”

She seemed happy about that. “Alright let’s go. Keep your head down.” I followed her.

I didn’t know where we were going. “Where are we going Jessica?”

She glanced back at me when she said. “We’re heading going to find Keith and Elizabeth.” I didn’t complain.

We ran quickly across buildings, we didn’t run into anyone surprisingly. We eventually made our way to the rooms Elizabeth and Keith stay at, I guess it’s called the soldiers quarters.

We ran in and I heard whipping noise fly in my ear, then someone screamed. “Shit! I almost shot you two!?” It was Elizabeth. “Red! Are you okay!?”

That was a bullet? “Uh, I think… Did you just shoot next to my head?” She didn’t answer.

Jessica sounded irritated. “Elizabeth! Where’s Keith!?”

Elizabeth sounded confused. “I don’t know. I heard the alarms go off and figured it was a drill. Then gunfire started, I just woke up.” Elizabeth was okay, I felt relieved for some reason.

Jessica sounded like she was getting worried. “Okay, we’ll probably see him then. We need to get the AA guns raised, I don’t know why they aren’t up yet. You two follow me!” AA guns? We followed her, we were heading to the airfield.

We got shot at on the way there, it was some of the pathfinder’s soldiers, I recognized their armor; I used to wear it… They weren’t going to touch Jessica, me and Elizabeth had to run in a zig zag pattern while she was waiting for us behind cover. It was stressful. It was as-if the guys shooting at us were having a laugh.

We finally got over there and Jessica was trying to not laugh. It made me angry. “We almost died and your laughing over here!”

She snickered. “I don’t know, you two were dodging them well enough. I just found your expressions hilarious.”

Elizabeth made a huffing noise, I think she was insulted.

Jessica got serious again… “Alright, I’m going to open the hatch to the controls I just need you two to guard the doorway while I turn on the guns.” Easy enough I guess.

She opened the hatch and we all climbed inside we were supposed to make sure no one else came through. We stood there for a while I didn’t like how quiet it was.

I looked at Elizabeth. “Are you okay with staying here for a second, I want to see what’s going on?”

She nodded. “Alright, hurry back though.” I nodded back.

I walked around this area. It was a strange hallway. I passed by rooms that had terminals.

I eventually heard a pounding noise and a screaming Jessica. “Dammit, why won’t they go up!?”

I ran over to her. “What’s wrong?”

She looked at me. “I told you to guard the door!”

I replied to her. “Elizabeth said she could handle it.”

She grumbled. “Whatever, I think the guns are jammed help me find what’s causing it.” She wanted me to look around.

I looked around the place, she checked around that room I check another. I went from room to room, in one of the rooms I heard a clicking noise. I checked around it but I couldn’t find anything. I pressed my head up against the wall and heard it louder, it was coming from a room close to this one. I checked all the rooms in the area and found what it was. I found a loose panel and pulled it off, the panel was surprisingly large it was a little taller than me and about four times as wide. I saw a bunch of gears in there and a piece of metal jammed in it. I tried pulling it out, it wouldn’t budge. I looked around the room for anything I could tie to it and try to pull that way… I found a chain, it was one of those chains with a hook on it. I tied it around the metal and linked the chain to itself, it shouldn’t fall off.

I went to pull on the chain, nothing. I tried again and my hands slipped, I couldn’t get a good grip. I decided to wrap the chain around my right arm. It was nice and tight I had a grip now, I put all my weight into it and pulled. I could feel the metal coming lose. I tried pulling harder and it slipped a little more out, then I felt it pull me… It was pulling me towards the gears, the metal was knocked lose enough for the gears to eat it and it was pulling on the chain. I couldn’t get it off my wrist. I was trying to fight it but it tightened around my arm, it hurt.

I screamed, it hurt so much. “HELP! I CAN’T GET IT OFF!” I Heard footsteps, I didn’t know how long it would take them to get here. It started pulling harder and it hurt more, I lost my footing and it dragged me towards it. I felt the gears grab my hand, I screamed out in pain. I could feel the bones in my hand crunching, it started moving up my arm when I felt someone grab my waist.

It was Elizabeth, she got her before Jessica. “Shit shit shit! Red pull now!” I was standing up now and we both tried pulling my hand out, it kept pulling me in though. It had crawled part of the way up my arm and I was screaming the whole time, it hurt so much. “Red! I’m so sorry!”

She let go of my waist and grabbed my arm, she had a knife in her hand. “What are you doing!?”

She looked scared. “I have to cut it off, it’s going to pull you in!”

What! No, she didn’t need to do that! “Help me pull my arm out! We don’t need to cut it off!” She didn’t listen to me, she started cutting just before my elbow. It hurt more than the gears, I was screaming again! Jessica bounded the corner and she saw what was happening. She ended up helping Elizabeth… I was crying, they got to the bone and the knife wouldn’t cut anymore.

Jessica took her fist and slammed it on the cut, I felt the bone break. I started to lose feeling everywhere, they pulled me free from the gears and I blacked out… I woke up later, I felt weak and sick.

Elizabeth was looking down at me and Jessica was panicking. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck! The guns are up now but Red just lost her fucking hand!”

Elizabeth smiled at me. “You’ll be okay Red. Don’t worry you’re fine.” Was she trying to reassure me, I don’t know if she succeeded or not I didn’t feel much of anything right now.

Jessica walked over. She lifted my arm, they used my coat to stop the bleeding… I liked that coat. “Red, can you hear me?”

Yes, I could. “I can, I can hear you.”

Elizabeth looked at Jessica. “We need to get her out of here. She’s getting pale.”

Jessica sounded frustrated. “Dammit I know! What can we do though it’s a warzone up there and we can’t carry here around during this!?”

Elizabeth stood up. “You maybe not, I can though. Remember I can blend in with the shadows?”

Jessica looked at her sternly. “You can do that to other people as well?”

Elizabeth seemed proud. “I can do me and one other person. Trust me, we’ll be fine.”

Jessica kicked the ground. “Fine, try to find where the injured are being put and take her there. I’m going to try and find Keith.”

Elizabeth put her hand on Jessica’s shoulder. “Don’t do anything stupid, she needs you far more then she needs me.” Jessica nodded.

Elizabeth picked me up, she was carrying me like someone carries a bride. “It’ll be okay Red, I’ll protect you.” Did she think I was scared, I guess I should’ve been but I wasn’t? I just felt weak.

She went up the hatch and I noticed that we had a dark hue around us… There was no one outside of it, she peaked around the corner. I saw three of the Pathfinders soldiers, one of them was Owen… Elizabeth stuck to the shadow of the building and creeped along it, I guess this black hue meant they couldn’t see us. She kept creeping along I felt like I was going to pass out but I fought it. Elizabeth accidentally bumped a rock, they looked in our direction but didn’t see us. Then Owen pulled something out of his bag, it was a pair of goggles.

He put them on and looked around. “There! Against the building grab em!” Elizabeth started running.

They were chasing after us, I guess what happened when we first met came back to bite us both. She was running, we made our way from the airfield and close to the armory when I heard a gunshot, Elizabeth dropped me and fell.

They shot her leg. “AH FUCK! MY LEG!”

She tried getting up but fell down again. I was struggling to stay awake. I saw her face, she looked scared… Owen and his two partners were on us now.

He kicked her to the side and walked up to me. “Red… What happen to you?”

I raised up my hand. “S-some g-gears… T-they were j-jammed.”

He sighed. “Taking risks, even now… I know you don’t want to come back with us, but I think it’s best for you… You won’t survive in this world on your own.”

He walked over to Elizabeth and dragged her over to me. “Let me go you son of bitch!”

He seemed disappointed. “She tried to kill you… Why are you working with her now?”

Elizabeth tried punching him, he was a little weaker then Keith so it didn’t do much. “I love her! Let me go!”

Owen glared at her. “You love those you try to kill!?” He tossed her to the ground. I crawled over to Elizabeth, Owen didn’t try to stop me. “So, you do love her then… That’s disappointing Red… Hey, tie the one with brown hair up, Red’s no going to be able to go anywhere. She’s about to go into shock. So, you don’t need to tie her up.” The other two walked over to Elizabeth and tied her hands behind her back, once they did that one of them picked me up. They moved us up against a wall.

They had me leaning on Elizabeth, it was getting hard to breath. “Red, Stay with me! Come-on Red, don’t pass out!”

Owen was talking on the radio. “Hey, we got two prisoners over here. What do you want me to do with them?”

I heard a voice come through the other side. “What’s their status?”

He replied. “One is missing a hand, likely to go into shock any minute. The other’s been shot in the leg.”

The voice came back over. “Eliminate the one missing the hand, we can make use of the one with the leg injury.”

Elizabeth started screaming. “DON’T YOU DARE YOU SON OF A BITCH! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”

Owen walked over to us. “You don’t have a choice, you little shit.” Owen walked over to me, he pulled out his pistol and put it to my head. “I’m sorry Red, when I saw you here I was hoping we could save you… I guess it’s too late now.” His hand was shaking, he didn’t want to pull the trigger... Then his hand stopped shaking, he whispered into my ear. “Don’t move.” He backed up and shot me three times in the chest, it hurt. The vest took the blows though. I couldn’t breathe, I didn’t move, I let my head slump down.

I heard Elizabeth scream. “NOOO!!!!!” She must have thought I was dead… She started crying, I listened to her cry; it hurt…

Owen sounded frustrated. “Son of a! FUCCK! I can’t do this! Untie her! Let her mourn her friend!” the other two didn’t argue. They untied Elizabeth, she crawled over to me, she put her hands on my shoulders and slowly laid me down.

She was leaning over me crying, she took off my vest and put her hands on my face. “I’m sorry! I couldn’t protect you!” She had tears streaming down her face… I didn’t know what to do, if I let her know I was fine the other two would probably shoot me, and if I didn’t do anything they were going to take her away. She leaned down and kissed me…

I don’t know what happen, when she did that it felt like everything stopped. Like before when she was going to stab me… She had her gun holstered, they didn’t take it from her… Maybe if I could grab it, I tried reaching it with my left hand. I didn’t get it at first but I eventually did, I unclipped it and pull it out. I aimed it at the first person, when I pulled the trigger I watched the bullet slowly move through the air, I aimed at the second and pulled the trigger again… Then I aimed at Owen, I didn’t want to do it; but I had to. I shot him. Everything started speeding up again and all three of them hit the ground, I was gasping for air and Elizabeth pulled away, frozen in shock.

She stared at me for a few seconds. “R-Red, you’re okay… and you were able to do it again!? Oh, thank god!” She squeezed me tightly, it hurt now I had four bruises on my chest and a bleeding hand.

I smiled at Elizabeth, “Can… can you grab Owens radio.” She nodded and limped over to grab it. She brought it back to me and sat me up.

I heard a conversation going on. “Hey uh, we got a girl with white hair. She’s looking around for something, what do you want us to do?”

Another voice replied. “Apprehend her if you can, if she puts up a fight drop her.” They were going after Jessica.

I tried to change my voice. “Where are you at, we can provide reinforcements?”

That guy replied. “Oh, uh. I think were inside they’re warehouses. It said B-3 on the building.”

I replied. “Roger, on our way. Try not to engage until we get there.”

He replied. “Will do.” They bought it.

I looked at Elizabeth. “We have to go help Jessica”

She seemed concerned. “But Red, how are we supposed to do that, we're both hurt.”

I didn’t care, if anyone was going to die it was going to be me. I’m useless. they’re not; I won’t’ drag them down with me. If I can save a life in exchange for mine, I would be okay with it.