Bulletproof

Chapter 7

Chapter 7-Ember

I could see the black hole behind the rocks.  At first it looked like another rock, maybe slate, but I knew better.  The rocks here were sedimentary or just sand.  I brush aside the rubble and Sonia does the same.  A cool breeze floats to us, smelling of dust, mold and maybe… metal?

Suddenly, I hear footsteps.  Sonia’s head whips around while I usher her into the tunnel.  Now was not the time to think of consequences.

A small, damp, dark hole descends downwards as far as I can strain my eyes to see.  It is clear that a climb down it would take hours, maybe even a day or so at most.  The climb looks tough and the walls are angles sharply.  There appear to be few places to even hold on to.

We skid down to the first major drop.

Immediately, there is a dive of about twenty feet.  My face screws up in concentration.  I motion Sonia down the friendliest looking part of the slope and she starts down.  Never have I been the best climber, I have a knack for grabbing the wrong places at the wrong time.  Sonia isn’t much better.

I am so afraid.  My heart pumps faster than a cheetah and my hands begin to shake violently.  That makes it harder to grab onto edges.

Sonia even looks afraid.

That is how I know of the true danger, and it’s not the climb.

I can hear the scraping of many boots above me.  My heart plummets as I grab a rock and send it careening into darkness.  A series of loud banging and scraping follows.  Sonia’s head snaps over to the noise, and she looks down curiously.

Then, the worst happens.

The boots stop.

And we are dead for sure.

-?-

The regiment stops along a tall ridge where the two girls disappeared.  We will have them now.

At first, they seemed like they were just peasant survivors of the late apocalypse.  We thought they would go down easily, but as I expected, the nature of the human will exceeds ours.  The animalistic will to live ingrained deep inside their skin, and it is a virtue not to be of… Animal origin.

The genetically enhanced warriors examine the walls.  With hawk-like vision and a mental heat map there is no way we will miss them.  The heat map needs some fine tuning; it is still in its prototype phase.  It offers a hazy trail of color that show where living organisms have walked.

With me I have brought fifteen seasoned warriors.  They are some of the newest prototypes that are available, but I am still better.  I come with an extra… surprise.

Back to business.

We will not let them get away this time.

Though, something I had not expected was Oceanus, though they had killed him as well as many others, Oceanus was the best.  I personally appointed him as head of the raiding party that chased the girls miles and miles across what used to be called the Great Plains.

It bothered me.

A younger warrior trots up the hill to greet me.  He bears a long scrape down his arm that has turned rusty red.  No doubt the work of the girls.  He bows and says something I will not forgive him for.

“Sir, they got away.”

He stands in front of me, switching onto his left foot… then his right… then his left for several minutes as I wait for the right moment.  Fear stains his eyes and then unexpectedly, I lash out, and he falls to the ground.  The soldiers that are currently off duty turn to look at the scene but nervously glance at something else, pretending to not have seen.

I will not let them get away.  Ever.

-Ember-

The cave is silent.  A bead of sweat trickles down from my forehead and into my eye.  I am so tense, that I cannot even blink to get rid of the irritated feeling.  The rock walls are rough on my fingers and it almost brings tears to my eyes as a sharp stone grinds into my palm.  The wound on my neck seems to have healed enough to not re-open, but it stings like fury.

I look over at Sonia.  I notice that she has been looking at me, hanging from one arm.  She blinks and turns away from me.  I sense that she is about to do something we may regret.

The next few moments seem to stop time.

Sonia lets go of the wall.

I want to scream her name, but I can’t.  Instead, I look at my hair, a strand of the darkest bronze floats freely in the stale air.  I can see a split end, and it irks me.  I wish I could reach up and fix it.  Sonia drops like a brick, noiselessly.  I have no idea what she is thinking.

So I let go too.

I’m coming Sonia.

***

I remember the butterfly.  I remember how graceful it had been and how beautiful and evil.  I also remember how I tear off its wings, and watching it turn to sand in my fists.  Though, it came back to life.  I then remember the blonde Dutch boy from my dreams.  He scares me too.

Dode mensen zijn niet goed voor alles, onthoud dat.

Dode mensen zijn niet goed voor alles indeed.

***

There comes a time in the world where you just have to act, even though it hurts too much to do so.

I open my eyes.

My body aches in every way possible.

I am blinded by the twinkling grey rocks that seem to be everywhere.  Mossy stone cushions my head and arm, which I am surprised to find bruised and bloody but not broken.  Tall rock pillars, the connection of stalagmites and stalactites (I can’t remember which is which) stand as close as two inches and as far as five feet from each other.

The light sandstone walls arch beautifully towards the ceiling and join in a happy reunion.  It is bright in here, and I find it to be the work of thousands of glow worms hanging from the roof-like structure above me.  I wish I could reach out and touch one, but they are too far away, and I am too comfortable in the watery bed I find myself in.

I cannot remember much from after I landed.  I remember striking turbulent water and it carrying me downriver.  I lost consciousness at something that sounded like a dying lion.

The glow worm light is reflected upon the now peaceful stream.  It lights up the room and makes it look like I am outside somewhere.  That raises the question, where am I?

Not quite ready to get up, I relax a bit in the water.  My brain is still foggy.  I know I need to wait to wake up.  And besides, the water is warm, and I feel like I am in bathwater.  I take a deep breath and ease my upper self into the stream.  I can’t help a small sigh of pleasure as I feel my toes sink into soft, cool sand.

I bet Sonia would like it here.

Sonia!

I jolt up as I remember my best friend.

I think of how I would have reacted if she were here.  Woops, I guess I got so caught up in myself that I forgot that your life matters too.  Ha.  Ha.

I mentally yell at myself for being so stupid.  She could be dying, and here I am bathing in a stream.  Whoop-di-do.

I hope she is ok.