Three-day Flight to Freedom

THREE-DAY FLIGHT TO FREEDOM 

by Mariya Koleva 

Copyright 2013 Mariya Koleva. All rights reserved 

ISBN 978-1-3112-6716-0 

Chapter I - This Isn't the End of the World As We Know It 

October 31st, 2134 AD, Earth, City of Revin 

20:45 GMT 

"We're going to die!" Shine wanted to yell like crazy. Her thoughts jumped up and down, left and right in her head just like a hectic ping-pong ball. The ball was hitting the walls of her head so hard that it hurt, yet it bounced off so fast that she couldn't feel it. 

"Come! Don't stand over there. Come, let's go!" Shine saw it was Vanilla yelling from the other end of the room and beckoning her there. There was dense smoke in the bar and Shine almost choked. She was surprised Vanilla's voice reached her in the first place. The blast had deafened her. 

David jumped from behind Vanilla and came to Shine, grabbed her by the elbow and dragged her to the service door. Shine was nearly blind. She was hardly conscious for the smoke, so David continued pulling her by the arm. Soon, they were in the back of a truck that was taking them somewhere. Shine couldn't think clearly, so she just let go. 

** 

Vanilla's Neighborhood 

21:15 GMT 

"Take this one to the left." Vanilla shouted out and the sound was like a thin sharp knife. "You missed it. You idiot, you missed it. She'll be dead by now. All because of you." Vanilla's voice was on the point of breaking. 

"Calm down, will you? If it wasn't for us, she'd be dead anyway." David said and turned to the back. "Shine, are you OK?" 

Shine heard his voice from a distance, it seemed to her. Her head ached and she felt there were cotton pads in her ears, but she knew she was fine. She moved her arms and legs, and apart from some stiffness due to keeping the same position in such narrow space, everything was in order. "Yeah, I'm fine. Where are we? What happened?" 

"OK, take this one now!" Vanilla yelled again. 

The truck driver, for that was not David, swerved in the block just soon enough to avoid hitting the car that was dashing their way. Horns were sounded, but Vanilla didn't seem to care. Her voiced topped everything. 

"The building over there. The black one." She supported her words with pointing gestures. 

Shine touched David's shoulder, "Are we going to Vanilla's place? Are we taking Forest?" 

David turned back and nodded. He looked ahead again. Shine wanted to ask him what had happened, but she lost courage. She sat up and looked out of the windshield. It was very dark, there were no lit lamps and dense smoke was everywhere. Still, it seemed that the city was squirming with motion. There were other cars on the streets, and shapes were moving rapidly around. 

Military Air-Base Bar 

20:15 GMT 

"I'm just saying you have to think this over very well." Vanilla said reproachfully and after a close inspection, having got completely satisfied with the impeccable shine of the glass, she left it aside. Then she took another one. Very slowly.  

Shine got irritated, "You left school!" 

"Yeah, I did. So? Do you really think it is anything to me when you remind me that?" 

"Uh, what? Excuse me, what did you say? I didn't quite get it?" 

Vanilla repeated very slowly.