The Sleeper Cells: A Terrorism Story

Chapter 23: On The Dark Edge

The glow in the darkness ahead of us is drawing us in like a bug catcher. I look at Kennedy. Her gorgeous ocean eyes look right back. Without saying a word, she tells me she's ready. She tells me she knows what's ahead without ever opening her mouth. She pats me on the shoulder, encouraging me to keep helping Kris.

It's what we have been fighting for. It's what we all knew we needed to get to. The border is finally here. The ground we ran over, the rivers we swam through, the houses we scavenged through, it all came down to this. The final stretch of land was finally here. We all knew there was a border. We all knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel. But we didn't know what the border was. We set our eyes on what we could, without having all the answers. Are we even ready? Was it worth it?

Mika walks ahead of everyone with a crouched walk. Kris' shoulder and leg look bad. The shirt is tightly holding his shoulder wound together. But, his leg keeps bleeding. How much blood can his leg pump out?

Mika nods her head and comes back to us. "It's a war. A total war." She looks down at Kris' leg. "I don't know if we're ready."

"We're ready," Owen says.

Kris nods, "we will survive." My uncle nods to a large crevice in the ground. It looks like a rocket launcher missed and hit the ground at some point. "This can be my spot. I'll stay here. You all use your guns against them. Be smart. Do what you've done all along."

"Kris, no. We're not leaving you in some hole in the ground. They'll kill you!" Kennedy tells him.

"We don't have a choice. We all have guns. I'll defend myself. You're all going to have to fight through the battle line."

Oh, no. This is it. We're going to have to actually have a battle with the sleepers...and do it without Kris' help. Owen and I lower Kris into the small bunker. Mika throws him a gun.

"Try to stay together. It's dark," Kris tells us.

Owen shakes his head in disbelief. "Here we go."

Mika leans down and kisses Kris' forehead, then teams up with the rest of us.

We stick together and move as a group towards the border line. The sound of guns getting louder. The Vista military is fighting them from the other side. We're going to be fighting them from behind, in the weak underbelly. We see two sleepers running together through the woods. We all aim our guns, ready to shoot. Mika and Owen both shoot at the sleepers. They fall and tumble over themselves to the ground.

"Closer," Mika says.

We inch closer to the battle, stepping over the dead sleepers.

"Oh, no. Get behind the trees!" Kennedy whispers. I notice a sleeper running towards us, but maybe he didn't notice us. We all run and stand behind different trees. Mika peeks around her tree trunk to see what the sleeper is doing. The sleeper shoots at her, bullets lining the tree next to her head. She drops to the ground and pivots back behind the tree. Owen pops from behind his tree, killing the sleeper.

I notice the whites of Mika's eyes looking at me in fear. "Vince!" she yells.

I look behind me to see a sleeper running at me, reloading his gun. I shoot at him, not knowing if I hit him. The sleeper keeps running as fast as he can. I barrel roll behind the tree, trying to hide in the darkness. I shoot at the sleeper, killing him.

Bullets hit the tree trunk I'm standing at, and I drop to my knees. I look to Mika and Owen. They're running in the other direction, shooting at different sleepers. I turn to shoot at the sleeper behind me, but he's already dead. Kennedy's at my side, holding her gun out. "Let's go!" she yells.

We crouch and run closer to the border. I see a sleeper coming from our side. "3 o'clock!" I shout. Kennedy turns to shoot him. But, it's more than one sleeper. It's more than she can handle.

"Run!" she yells. Still shooting at the sleepers. She throws herself behind a tree, away from me. I see another sleeper running my way. I have no choice but to leave Kennedy behind and follow her orders: run. I run as fast as I can to the largest tree I can find.

At the tree, I don't know if I should climb it or to keep running. I'm alone, and I've lost my sense of direction. At this point, I don't know where the border is. I see the sleeper following me. He shoots at me but misses because he's too far away in the dark. I wait a few seconds and shoot in his direction. I shoot my gun, hoping he's dead. With the distracting gun battles in the background, I don't know if he's dead or not. It's so loud.

My gun clicks. It's empty. It's out of bullets. I have to climb the tree now or go grab a gun. From the corner of my eye, I notice a sleeper at my side, popping from behind my tree. I elbow him in the face, knocking a tooth loose. His blood already on my elbow. I grab his gun and shove it downward. He fires it towards the ground, flashing bright lights in our eyes. I punch his neck into the tree and knee him in the stomach. I can't kill him in hand-to-hand combat, so I push him down and run.

In the dark, it's terribly hard to see sleepers because of their black combat suits. You can only notice them when they're moving. I notice someone in different clothing running towards me. It might be Owen... I'm not sure.

The man is closer. It's someone in a shiny, new Vista uniform.

The man points his gun at me, "state your identity!"

"Survivor. I'm not one of them!" I scream, just spitting out the quickest remark I can think of.

Another Vista soldier runs up. The two together reach their hands out to me, "this way!"

They lead me and guard me through an opening in the battle, shooting at sleepers as we go. They take me into Vista territory, filled with people in Vista uniforms. They take me to a running helicopter.

"It's another one! Take them to the outside!" the Vista soldier screams to his pilot friend. I see Kennedy being helped to the helicopter with me. The Vista overpowered the sleepers.

"Wait! My uncle! He's still out there!" I try to yell over the sound of the helicopter. Then, I notice my uncle being helped through the field by another Vista soldier.

Another soldier grabs my uncle and helps him into the helicopter. The blades flaring in a circle above our heads. It's loud with repeated booms every time the blades rotate. Owen and Mika are sitting inside. They throw me a headset. We buckle ourselves in as the helicopter rises into the air. We're finally in our ride out of the sleeper zone. In our ride to safety.