Why Are You My Remedy? [Book 1]

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A/N: Before we get started, let's wish @Jasmine-fortune a happy birthday! These two chapters were posted as her special birthday request! I hope you enjoy/enjoyed your day Jasmine, and I hope everyone enjoys these next two chapters as well!

I'm burning.

The cord is chafing my legs into a fiery mass so painful that I'm surprised there's no smoke. I bite back the pain because I have no choice. The mass hysteria of the building bulldozing my senses, raining down danger all around us. Luka is shouting to me from below, telling me to jump, promising me he'll catch me. I'm too ashamed to admit I'm afraid of the fall.

I never have a chance to make my own mistakes.

Soldiers are already pouring into what used to be my room, shouting and confused, probably shocked to find Agreste in such a feeble position. It was really too easy to overpower him. It worries me.

It makes me think we did something wrong.

A few soldiers pop their heads out of the shattered window and I'm frantic to shimmy down the rope but they're already moving to unlatch the anchor. I prepare myself for the nauseating sensation of free fall only to realize they're not trying to drop me.

They're trying to reel me back inside.

Agreste must be telling them what to do.

I glance down at Luka below me and finally give in to his calls. I squeeze my eyes shut and let go.

I fall right into his open arms.

We collapse onto the ground, but the breath is knocked out of us for only a moment. Luka grabs my hand and then we're running.

There's nothing but empty, barren space stretching out ahead of us. Broken asphalt, uneven pavement, dirt roads, naked trees, dying plants, a yellowed city abandoned to the elements drowning in dead leaves that crunch under our feet.

The civilian compounds are short and squat, grouped together in no particular order, and Luka makes sure to stay as far away from them as possible. The loudspeakers are already working against us. The sound of a young, smoothly mechanical female voice drowns out the sirens.

"Curfew is now in effect. Everyone return to their homes immediately. There are rebels on the loose. They are armed and ready to fire. Curfew is now in effect. Everyone return to their homes immediately. There are rebels on the loose. They are armed and ready to-"

My sides are cramping, my skin is tight, my throat is dry, desperate for water. I don't know how far we've run. All I know is the sound of boots pounding the pavement, the screech of tires peeling out of underground storage units, alarms wailing in our wake.

I look back to see people screaming and running for shelter, ducking away from the soldiers rushing through their homes, pounding down doors to see if we've found refuge somewhere inside.

Luka pulls me away from the civilization and heads toward the abandoned streets of an earlier decade: old shops and restaurants, narrow side streets and abandoned playgrounds.

The unregulated land of our past lives has been strictly off limits. It's forbidden territory. Everything closed down. Everything broken, rusted shut, lifeless. No one is allowed to trespass here. Not even soldiers.

And we're charging through these streets, trying to stay out of sight.

The sun is slipping through the sky and tripping toward the edge of the earth. Night will be coming quickly, and I have no idea where we are. I never expected so much to happen so quickly and I never expected it all to happen on the same day. I just have to hope to survive but I haven't have the faintest idea where we might be headed.