Vash kept his eyes peeled as he drove his truck down the highway. Well, what was left of the highway. He'd already dodged three trees and God knows how many potholes. Alice , his close friend since childhood, sat in the passenger seat. Her hands gripped the armrest.
"How could they lie to us?" She asked slamming her fist onto the dashboard. "After all we've done for them, all we've sacrificed?"
"I don't know Alice," Vash responded not taking his eyes off the horizon. "But I do know we need to get out of here."
"What could we possibly be doing out here?" She replied giving him a puzzled look.
"What we did wasn't exactly legal." Vash said.
"Legal?!" Alice yelled, "Are you kidding me? The U.S. Government lied to four hundred thousand people, and you're worrying about legalities?"
"We broke into a secure government facility, and are running from the secret police! I have no doubt in my mind that they have a massive force searching for us and have put a considerable bounty on our heads!" Vash argued. "Excuse me for desperately wanting that bounty to never be collected!"
Alice didn't respond. Vash looked over at her and she had a determined look on her face. She always had been stubborn. He remembered the time she nearly got killed by a train because she refused to pass up a silly dare. She refused to talk to him for a week because he yanked her off the tracks seconds before the train hit her. She claims she didn't complete the dare, but never would tell him what it was.
They sat in silence for what felt like ten minutes when she finally spoke again.
"We need to tell someone about this." She said quietly.
Vash slammed on the brakes. That was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard come out of her mouth.
"Who on earth are we going to tell? The government is corrupt, we have no family or friends, we can't go to the police, sixty percent of the world's population is dead or insane. Please, do tell me." Vash scoffed.
"Vash." Alice said.
"What? Are we going to try to tell the U.N.? Did you forget they were all robots?"
"Vash, drive." Alice said. Her eyes were locked in fear on something in the distance.
Vash tried to look for what she was staring at.
"What are you-"
Then he saw it. Just out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of light reflecting off of something. He locked his eyes on the source. There, sitting in a tree, was a lone sniper. He was dressed in a military issue camo uniform. He never would have noticed him if they hadn't stopped. The sniper reached onto the barrel of the gun and flipped a switch. Instantly a red dot appeared on the seat direct next to his head.
"Drive!" Alice screamed.
Vash floored the accelerator. There was a loud bang and the windshield shattered. The bullet grazed his cheek leaving behind an intense flare of pain. Almost as if on cue, a black armored car slammed into the side of the truck and sent them spinning out of control. The car veered off onto the side of the road and barrel rolled.
When Vash's ears had finally stopped ringing, he looked around. The car was upside down. He looked to his right. Alice was okay. He nearly smiled before remembering what had happened. Suddenly, the door was ripped off the truck, and he was yanked out. The hand holding him had a black glove. He couldn't see anything else about the person. He was thrown aside and the person went back and got Alice. His ribs burned with pain. They must've been broken in the wreck. He was yanked up onto his knees. Looking around, he realized the situation was much worse than he had thought. Dozens of people surrounded them, each with a rifle trained on them. All the soldiers were dressed in full black uniforms and masks. Not a single one of them moved. They didn't even bother to hold them. No reason to. There was no way they could escape, so he did the only sensible thing he could think of. He threw his hands in the air in surrender. Alice looked at him like he was nuts, but they both knew he wasn't the crazy one.
After about five minutes of waiting, two of the uniformed soldiers parted, and a man dressed in pure white, from his helmet to his boots, stepped into the circle. This man gave off a strong feeling that he was the one in charge. Not a single soldier would look at him.
"You two have stirred up quite a bit of trouble down at the Academy. Second year cadets, top of your class, perfect candidates. And you, you must be Alice." He said as he walked over to the place where Alice kneeled and lifted her face to look her in the eyes. "You have such a pretty face. It'll be a shame when I break it."
Vash saw the wild look in Alice's eyes that he'd seen a thousand times before. The look that she was going to do something really, really stupid.
She gave the man a hard glare before spitting straight into his eyes.
"That's what I think of your stupid Academy." She said with a grin.
The man's eyes burned with anger.
"I'll teach you to show some respect to your superiors!" He yelled.
He pulled his hand back.
"No!" Vash screamed and lunged forward, but he was too late. The man planted a hard punch in the side of her head. Vash tackled the man, and quickly landed three punches. Vash felt a pair of strong hands on his shoulders and he was thrown onto his back. He was quickly pinned on his stomach with his hands behind his back. The man stood, rubbing his face where Vash had punched him. He began walking towards him.
"Don't touch her!" Vash yelled.
As soon as he spoke, the man stopped dead in his tracks.
"Oh, didn't like that did you?" The man asked with a grin. He turned and punched her again.
"You son of a..." Before Vash could finish one of the soldiers kicked him hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Vash was forced to lay on the ground, pinned by two soldiers, and watch as the man threw punch after punch at Alice.
"I'll kill you!" Vash screamed when he had finally caught his breath.
The man stopped.
"You'll kill me will you? Let him go! Nobody touches him!" He yelled. The two guards stood. This was his chance. He kicked one of the guards in the knee and pushed himself to his feet. The second guard rushed at him. Vash sidestepped him, throwing his foot out to trip him. He ripped the guards pistol out of its holster as he fell. Vash whipped around pointing the gun in the direction of the leader, but the man elbowed him in the nose and shoved him to the ground before he could do anything. He felt his nose break under the blow. The man then stomped on the hand that held the stolen pistol, breaking that as well. Vash screamed in pain and dropped the gun. The man grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanked him to his knees.
"Are you going to kill me now?!" The man screamed, his face only inches from Vash's.
Vash threw his head forward and felt it impact with the leader's. The man stumbled backward. Vash picked up the gun his one remaining hand.
"Are you going to kill me?" The man asked staring him in the eyes. "Well?"
Vash's pulled the hammer back on the pistol.
"Kill me!" The man screamed.
A shot rang out across the group, and Alice screamed. Vash felt a sharp pain in his chest, and looked down. Blood was beginning to soak his shirt. He dropped to the ground, and Alice rushed to his side.
"Vash?" She said. "Vash look at me. You're going to be ok. Vash stay with me."
He began seeing black spots. The blood felt warm against his chest. He could feel himself losing consciousness.
"Vash." Alice said. "Vash!"
Vash tried to respond, but couldn't. He couldn't move. The last thing he saw was Alice being thrown to the ground. He had tried. He hopped she knew that. He had tried. Vash's last thought before he blacked out, was hoping Alice would make it out of this alive.
***
