Sparks

Chapter Nineteen - The Medic

Someone's watching me.

I lower my bow and scan my surroundings. Snow and trees. That's it. No sounds except the wind.

But my gut tells me otherwise. I know what it's like to be stalked by animals. It happens pretty often. The thing is...I've been in this tree for hours. Even though it's dark I haven't seen a single animal. Animals can hide well, but...people can hide better. Imperials can be invisible in daylight. I remember an ISB agent coming out of the shadows to arrest someone. Darkness would be child's play.

Maybe it's paranoia. Maybe it's not. I don't want to find out.

My best chance is staying in the tree, still and silent. If there is someone out here I bet that they're waiting for me to make the first move. If I don't then they'll have to make one, right? Then the odds will be in my favor.

I hold my arrow in the bow and wait.

~<-*->~

Erica hopped off the transport and shivered. Raydonia was colder than she expected it to be. Sabine came off behind her, and before they could tip the pilot he gunned the engine and sped off in a hurry. Earlier that day, Hera received a transmission from one of the Fulcrum agents in Raydonia. It was about the need for a medical professional. Some of the rebels there who were giving aid weren't even trained, and the few doctors were too busy to train them.

Erica was asked to go for her medical knowledge and Sabine was going because she was able to decode the location coordinates. The reason why the location was encrypted was so that the Empire wouldn't be able to find out where it was and shut it down. The ride there had been quiet; they both couldn't trust easily.

As they walked towards the makeshift rebel hospital, a poster on the wall caught Erica's gaze. It was a wanted poster. She almost kept walking until her eyes landed on the picture.

It was a blurry image of a teenage girl looking over her shoulder. It didn't help that the image was gray and dark, so there was no one recognizable in the image. Sabine squinted at the small print. "She broke into an Imperial server, stole classified documents, and evaded arrest. Impressive. But no name, no age, and no other information besides a poor image and charges."

So that's how she's evaded arrest. "She doesn't have an ID."

"No identification for a minor can only mean one thing," Sabine sighed, a look of sympathy on her face. "She's an orphan."

They walked away, and Erica looked back, burning the poor image into her memory.

~<-*->~

Crunch.

Whipping around, I fire my arrow into a nearby tree. Nothing. The sound from the snow came from about 3 meters behind me.

I move over to the tree and carefully pull out the arrow. As I put it back into my sheath, my eyes move along the ground. A chill runs up my spine. From where the sound was are a broken branch and a trail of footprints leading away from it.

I'm dead. I'm so dead.

Without thinking I've rearmed my bow and positioned myself to run. Run into the city, because my sanctuary will become my grave if I stay here. They're in the tree above me, and I don't know what kind of weapon they have or how deadly it is.

I eye the fence in front of me, a short distance away squished between two brick buildings. My place is far away from here. And I'm not going back. Not until I'm safe and sound.

I sprint for the fence running in a zigzag pattern so I'm a hard target to hit. After I've scrambled up and down the fence and my feet hit the concrete, the only thing that hits me is realization.