Enhancement

- - 23 - -

Suddenly, a hand claps onto my shoulder. I whip my body towards my attacker, smacking the arm off of me in one instinctive motion. Panting heavily, I exhale in relief when I realize who it is.

Stephen, looking rugged and ash-covered, helps me to my feet. I can tell he's been crying, too. "C'mon, we gotta go." I want to hug him so tightly, but his voice is dire. I wipe away my tears.

Without questioning him, I grab my gun off of the ledge and bolt across the roof after him. We hurry into the open Screener elevator, pushing the holographic button to send us to the bottom floor. The doors shut smoothly, unaffected by the chaos.

I exhale deeply, pushing flyaway hairs out of my eyes as the elevator drops to the ground floor. I hand Stephen my gun, leaning my head back against the wall. "Can you reload this?" I ask him.

I watch him loosely as he opens a slot in the bottom of the gun. I hand him a cartridge from my pocket, and he clicks it in. The elevator doors slide open again, and my gun is back in my hands, ready to be fired.

Stephen and I jog across the lobby and peer out the glass exit doors. A massive Screener vehicle rolls by with some Screeners on foot. There's no way to tell if they're the real Screeners or not. "Stephen, where are we going?" I ask, scanning the roads again.

"I don't know," Stephen says, "I didn't think that far ahead yet."

It takes a few seconds for his message to click in my brain. "What? Far ahead?" I finally say, "Did you abandon your--"

"Yeah, but we gotta go, Holland, seriously. Before they catch us. Before any of them catch us."

"Alright, then follow me," I say after a moment, opening the door. "I think I know where to go."

Stephen and I rush out the door, and we make it past three buildings before we spot another set of Screener trucks. This time, they don't pass the street; they visibly slam on their brakes. Six doors swing open on either side of the street, releasing parasitic Screeners.

I don't even bother count how many Screeners trail us. I already know that this is not going to end well. All I have time to do is grab Stephen's arm and pull us into the nearest alleyway before bullets hit the stone, inches above our heads.

-- -- -- -- --

well, at least the next chapter will have a lot of action. please vote if you enjoyed this chapter; it's one of my absolute favorite pieces.

Question: Pick a number: 1, 2, 3, or 4.

Follow-up Question: Choose a phrase: another test, another fight, or another relapse.

On a different (and slightly happier) note, thanks to jamietastic , I was nominated for a "20 Facts About Me" challenge going around Wattpad. So here are my 20 facts that you may enjoy reading about me, @scifiwriter :

(Facts as of 2015, not present day!)

1.) My name is Kelly, NOT Kelli, Kellie, Kelley, Keli, Kellee, and most certainly not Keleigh.

2.) I have an identical twin sister ( jamietastic )

3.) I am an excellent braider.

4.) I can't whistle.

5.) I am the president of the Reading Olympics club at my school. And yes, we read competitively and we buy team t-shirts. This year, our team name is based off of the tributes from THG!

6.) I (finally) have an iPod 5.

7.) I wear glasses, but I only wear them when I need to see far because I hate wearing them :D

8.) I never wear make-up.

9.) I joined Wattpad on March 21, 2014

10.) My main characters are always dirty blondes because I have dirty blonde hair. It helps me envision their perspective a lot better.

11.) I only like 1st person writing/reading.

12.) I can sing the alphabet backwards.

13.) I play volleyball and have been on my school's varsity team since freshman year. I'm also the setter and sometimes an outside hitter. I'm too modest for anyone to say I'm good, but I know I'm good, so take that, society.

14.) My v-ball jersey number is 8 because it was the last small jersey left, but I tell people I picked 8 because an 8 on its side is an infinity symbol, and I'll always love volleyball :)

15.) My favorite TV show are probably Law and Order SVU, Criminal Minds, or Chicago PD and Teen Wolf! In essence, I know how to commit murder >:)

16.) I love math and science.

18.) I usually post chapter updates from my iPod.

19.) I read every comment I get and visit the profiles of all of my voters/reading list adders, aka I'm watching you!

20.) I've had some of my scifi short stories published in the teen section of my town's newspaper.

21.) I exceeded the 20 facts limit because I skipped number 17 :) Haha, I bet you didn't notice.

I nominate kaijuviper , unearthling , imploding-hearts and utopianism !