Terranovus

Kali raised the manhole and peered above ground.

“All clear,” she said and looked down at me. “You ready?” she asked.

I nodded and took a deep breath. I was ready.

It was quiet above ground. Too quiet. As we climbed out of the manhole and passed a fallen building, I watched a family sit in silence on the side of the road, wordlessly processing their shock and heartbreak. It was the Army, I wanted to tell them, it was the Army who did this. The little girl looked at me as we passed, and in her eyes, I saw mine. Petrified, scared and unprepared for the unknown. But I will save you, I promised as we walked out of sight.

Kali said the soldiers were last spotted east so we followed her lead and kept our wits about. Some buildings groaned, their structures unsafe and threatening an imminent collapse. We kept clear of those, and soon we arrived at the soldiers’ location. They were standing near a ruined tram stop so we ducked down low behind a wall and listened. They were talking tactics and ways to search the sewage system. By the sounds of it, they didn’t know where the safe bunkers were ... yet.

I glanced at Tommy, Jack and Simon, and saw they were all holding guns. It looked as though it wasn’t just Jack who spent ten Telacoins. I suddenly wished I was back in the Army’s armoury room. Another semi-automatic rifle would have been great for this situation.

Kali pointed at the two side streets up ahead and motioned for me to go around and make myself visible to the soldiers from there. I gulped and nodded, the realisation of the task beginning to kick in. I slowly crawled away and turned to find Tommy at my heels, I saw Simon and Jack about to follow too but Kali snapped her fingers and motioned Simon and Jack to stay. The plan would only work if we split up and distracted them from all sides. I gave the two boys a thumbs up and they nodded back anxiously.

Tommy and I made our way around the block and once there, we peered around the corner and watched the soldiers confer with Kali, Jack and Simon only a few yards away. Simon looked petrified, but at the sight of us he smiled and tapped Jack on the shoulder and pointed. Kali looked too and she nodded. It was time. I gulped and took a step forward. There was no turning back now.

“Oi!” I cried and the soldiers spun round surprised. “Looking for me?” I said. Immediately their looks of surprise turned to looks of realisation. It was too late though. I had already started running with Tommy by my side. Heavy footsteps clunked against the asphalt as they chased us until Jack’s voice echoed across the clearing.

“Go pick on someone your own size!” he yelled and he fired his tiny gun. Considering his small gun had only dented Old Nick’s buttocks, I knew the small gun’s bullets couldn’t kill, nevermind pierce skin ... but the soldiers didn’t. I glanced behind my shoulder and laughed at the sight of the soldiers ducking for cover. Soon though the soldiers whipped out their assault rifles and fired back. Tommy aimed his gun and fired at the soldiers too. The soldiers then turned their attention back to us.

“Run!” screamed Tommy and I followed his orders. The soldiers called for backup and their feet pounded against the asphalt once again. My heart pounded through my chest but I reminded myself I was doing this for the resistance and forced more speed into my legs.

“Left!” cried Tommy and I followed him into a half-collapsed building. We ran across the foyer and towards a door with a plaque on it that read “Emergency Staircase”. We raced through and shut the door just as soldiers reached the entrance.

“Where did they go?” yelled one of them.

“Search everywhere!” another commanded.

I glanced at the stairs and looked up and down.

“You pick,” I told Tommy.

“Up,” he replied and led the way. We ran up and up and up, flight after flight, completely breathless until we hit level eight and halted in our tracks. The roof was gone, the staircase gone with it. Blown away by a missile. A metre jump away was the rest of the floor, an open plan office. Tommy and I turned to each other speechless and gasped as the ground floor fire escape door banged open.

“This way!” a soldier cried.

“Jump,” said Tommy and he grasped my hand. Together we leapt over the gap and landed on the other side. The ground shook dangerously and sunk a little but thankfully held. We ran forward and looked around the office for somewhere to hide but it was only filled with half turned desks and smashed laptops and screens. Tommy and I glanced at each other worried. There was nowhere left to run.

“You need to hide,” said Tommy, “behind those filing cabinets, and here, take this.” He placed the knife he had used cut my tracker out into my hand. I glanced behind at the filing cabinets laid piled together.

“What about you?” I asked.

“I’ll hide behind one of those desks,” he replied and he pulled my chin up and kissed me gently on the lips. “I love you,” he said.

We heard voices coming up the stairs.

“Quick,” said Tommy and he pushed me towards the cabinets. I ducked down behind them and found I was able to peer through a gap.

Tommy ducked down behind a desk and seconds later a handful of soldiers jumped over the staircase and onto our level. I ducked down further and placed my head between my knees. Oh gosh, I should have never listened to Kali!

“Split up! They have to be here somewhere,” said one of the soldiers. I peered through the gap and saw the soldiers advancing. What were we going to do? Five of them and two of us? We had no chance.

I looked away, out of the window behind me, and felt my hope tumbling to the ground. The Sectors were a mess, not one skyscraper stood tall and untouched. They all laid broken and in ruins, lying against each other, just like the one we were in.

And suddenly, an idea hit me. A stupid, reckless and possibly dangerous idea. But an idea.

I turned back to the soldiers and saw they had already cleared half of the floor and was perilously close to Tommy’s hiding place. One of my friends already died today, I wasn’t going to let another.

“Oi!” I called out and stood to my feet. Every soldier jumped and spun around. They fumbled for their weapons. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I grinned and waved a USB I found on the floor seconds earlier. The soldiers hesitated, so I continued, “you see this USB? It contains a copy of your boss’s files and emails. Shoot me and I throw it out of the window where the resistance is waiting for it. You’ll have noticed the communication towers are working despite the Army’s belief. Shoot me and the entire world will find out what you and your boss has been up to.”

The soldiers looked worried and glanced at each other concerned. They didn’t have a protocol for situations like this. I saw Tommy poking his head out from behind his desk, looking at me as though I was crazy. I waved the USB again and took a step backwards towards the open window. The soldiers panicked and took a step forward.

“Tabitha McKinnley,” one of the soldiers spoke, “you are under arrest for-”

“Like hell I am,” I laughed and took another step back into the open air. The soldiers shouted as my stomach flipped and my body fell. Air rushed past me and my hair whipped forward until I tensed and I landed in a crouch on a half-collapsed tower, lying horizontally only two metres under the window I had jumped out off.

Immediately, I leapt to my feet and started running across the intact collapsed building. I heard the soldiers behind me shout and leap from the open window too, but I didn’t care. I had accomplished my mission. Tommy was no longer in danger. I forced more speed into my legs and dangerously navigated across the building, leaping over glassless windows and balancing on thin beams. Gunshots sounded and I desperately ran faster. My heart pounded so hard in my chest I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

Finally, I reached the end of the top half of the snapped tower and leaned down and crawled underneath a collapsed beam and started my journey down to the ground. It was a maze of concrete and steel ruins. I shimmied my way through gaps and bent my body under and over broken shards of steel. As the rubble became denser, I found myself testing the grip of my shoes on slanted plates of concrete, and carefully slide myself down. The degree of each slanted plate decreased the further I declined and I jumped at the sound of a soldier a few metres above radioing for backup. The concrete plate I was on shuddered, and it dropped so it was almost vertical. I screamed and felt my body fall.

I frantically flayed my arms and dug my nails into the concrete plate but found I was hopelessly falling too fast. Then just as my feet tipped over the edge of the concrete plate, I swung forward and wrapped my fingers around a metal bar just above me. My shoulder hissed in agony and I felt the stitches from my bullet wound begin to rip apart.

Grimacing, I swung my body forward and landed on a steel pillar a few feet below me. I glanced down at my shoulder and saw my wound bleeding again. Oh great, just what I needed.

“I think I still see her,” shouted a voice above me and I saw a flashlight shining in the distance above.

Moving forward, I realised I was near the bottom already, so I climbed down another metal beam and landed on the ground. I crawled out of the building between two slabs of concrete and heard glass crunch beneath my feet. I was in an open square, I realised, of what looked like the remains of this district’s markets. To the left was some squashed stalls, beneath them a man’s legs protruded. A dead man, without a doubt.

I jogged across the square and looked up at the tower I had jumped out of. Tommy stood at the edge of the window and I froze as he hysterically waved his arms at me. He was motioning a cross and frantically pointing at the street ahead of me. I looked and gasped as a line of twenty soldiers blocked the entrance. They stood at attention with their guns poised and aimed at me. The soldier in the middle smirked. He was the one who had caught me back at the Army base.

Damn it!

I turned to run but he fired and I immediately felt a sharp pain on the back of my thigh. I glanced down and saw a silver dart with a bright purple feather sticking out of my pants.

Immediately, I yanked it out but trembled as my legs grew weak. No, no, please no. I forced my legs forward but my limbs twitched and I tripped over my feet. The concrete scratched the palms of my hands and I felt a fogginess creep over my mind. Tears stream down my cheeks and I looked up and blinked them away to watch Tommy. He looked sad and disappointed.

I fought back the growing darkness threatening to pull me under and mouthed, I’m sorry.

He turned away and my heart broke in half. I was, I thought. I was truly sorry.

And with that, I gave in and let the darkness take over.