Star-Crossed

Chapter 17

*sorry I haven't uploaded in an eternity..... but here ya go.

 Several weeks passed, when we learned all things the Acclimates were to be taught. We learned how to wield a blade, how to fight different styles, how to exploit an enemies weakness, how to shoot, and all other things you can think of that a good soldier/spy would know. On the day of the execution, I had gone to sleep for a bit before the deed was done.

 I awoke nestled softly in my bed, but I wasn't alone. Thought the others all had gone, Ivan remained, sittting on a chaise flipping through the worn pages of his little book. He hadn't noticed I was awake, so I watched him for a few moments. He looked peaceful, his black eyes soft like twilight, and his white hair falling gently over one eye.

    Eventually, he looked up, and smiled at me. " The slumbering beauty awakens," he chuckles softly. "Are you ready to go to the gates?"

   I cringe a little, " Not really, but let's get this over with..' I stand carefully, still a bit unsteady, but notice the cuts on my hands have faded to barely visible white lines forming the stars Cilla carved into my skin. I walk across the room to the mirror, and realize that no matter how disheveled, how upset and nearly broken, I still look perfect, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

   Ivan clears his throat, bringing me back to reality, and I smile weakly. He passes me his leather jacket, which I slide on, grateful for the warmth. Walking out the door, we move silently down the corridor, unspeaking. I'm silent due to my thoughts overwhelming me, he is filled with mixed emotions over going to see his sister be executed.

   We exit the Training Hall, escorted by guards to the gates. Everyone is present, and all look grim. Jan stands at a podium, and taps a microphone.

   "We all know why we are here today, so I will waste no time reiterating what has occurred. Cilla is to be put to death, for attempted murder, inhumane behavior, and sociopath tendencies. A firing squad will put 5 bullets in her, bullets made to exterminate Acclimates efficiently. She will die quickly, then be incinerated a few blocks down."

   We all nod stoically, and Jan sighs, while the usually sweet and peaceful Fela has a murderous smirk across her face as she proclaims, "Bring out the accused."

   Three guards drag a writhing Cilla out of a steel door. She is restrained by a steel collar around her neck, with a guard holing onto the pole extending from it, and shackles on her hands and feet. She snarls, a terrible beauty, even in madness.

   The guard attached the collar to a bracket in the wall, and clips off the pole as her shackles bind to the wall. Now motionless, all she does is lift her chin high and smile. "What? Amazed by the power I have comrades?"

    She laughs, and we all recoil. Ivan shakes his head, and grasps both my hand and Ava's, more for comfort than support. "Cilla.....I never should have let them do this to you, they knew you were too young."

   She smirks, "Oh big brother, this is what I want! The power, the beauty, and the madness. I want this, the  terror, and spilled blood flowing around my fingertips. I want to be feared. You would't understand, you are too gentle, too kind. You let love blind your true power. You will be nothing without fear on your side.''

   Jan growls, "Enough",then the guards, apparently as sickened by her as we are, slap a piece of cloth around her mouth, eliminating her power to do anything but scream and glare at us.

   I look up at Ivan, and notice he is emotionless, save a single tear trailing down his cheek.  Sage appears from the crowd handing Ivan a flask, from which he drinks deeply from. Leo slinks behind Sage, staring daggers at me, but with a mixture of sorrow and rage.

    Ava lets out a choking sob, unable to handle such a waste of humanity, and curls up into Sage, silent sobs shaking her body. The twins are crouched in front of me, huddled wide-eyed together, unspeaking.

     As the firing squad readies their weapons,Orion, who seems to have appeared from nowhere, hands her a sweet, and she smiles through her tears.

   Jan gives a enigmatic wave of his hand, and the weapons are raised to the squads shoulders, and cocked. Then Jan reads off of a paper he holds. "Cilla Vaskov, you are sentenced to death. You have been issued your rights, but refused any and/or all of them. You are to die today, your remains incinerated, and returned to your home City. As the City's sun clock reads dusk, the squad will fire."

   We all look up at the sunclock, and watch the second until her impending death tick away. Just as the sun slips fully beyond the horizon, I shut my eyes, and  tightly squeeze Ivan's hand. Five shots ring out, resounding in the underground, and I open my eyes to see Cilla hanging limply in her restraints, black blood staining her torso.

     We all release a collective sigh, as though most of our worries had vanished. The twins begin to whisper, nothing secretive, just small comforts to soothe the others nerves.

   Her lifeless body is shifted onto a cart, and glides away slowly, farther away form the City, and we all follow it in a procession. We near the incinerator, and the cart slides to a stop, under a hole in the ground that allows sunlight to filter through, and smoke to escape into the world above after being filtered. We all turn away from her body, and huddle like lost chicks, unsure to be elated or appalled at her death. No one speaks, words cannot penetrate the thick emotions hovering in the air.

   Then, we hear a gasp, and a dull thud. I whip around to see a guard, slumped to the ground with his own blade buried deep into his throat. A flash of white darts past, and we hear the laughter that we all dreaded  bubbling from a ledge in the hole. Basking in the sunlight, sits Cilla, smiling.

   "Thought it would be that easy, hmmm?" Cilla cocks her head, placing her chin in her hands innocently. "Well friends, I'll be seeing you around!"

    By this time, the guards have recovered from the initial shock and begin firing at her. All begin to panic, Ivan frozen in shock, Ava and Sage screaming, Leo cursing in disbelief, and Orion yelling at her in a language I cannot comprehend. Jan and Fela begin shouting orders, telling the guards to eliminate the threat NOW.

      A shot grazes her side, and her eyes widen as she hisses in pain. I notice something different about her eyes, thay have no color anymore, but are the same white as her hair. Bleeding, she lunges up, and flips gracefully into another passage attached to the hole, disappearing from sight.

   We all begin to run back to the City, the only sanctuary we know. The steel doors slam shut behind us, sealing us in, but we continue running, fleeing not just Cilla, but the terror and uncertainty she has infected us with. If weapons made to destroy fail, then how will we put this madness to an end? Will it ever end?