X-Marks: Stealing Shadows

Smoke and Masks

"What is this stuff?" V33 said and panted from my side.

Her image was hazy. The room was thick with a yellow fog that funneled toward the ceiling. It invaded every part of my body on my way out of bed. I clutched the sheet to steady my head.

"Valencia! She'll know what to do," V33 said and crawled to the floor where the fog was thinner.

I crawled beside V33 and out the door.

"Valencia's probably at the monitor's station," I said.

On our stomachs and out the door, the smoke lingered above our backs, and mangled uniforms blocked our way.

"Where is everyone?" I asked V33.

V33 pointed forward, "Maybe they know?"

A pair of black boots marched through the blanket of smoke. With each step, they gained speed until their leather soles met at our noses.

V33 placed a finger to her lips and flattened herself to the ground — I did the same as a mechanical rasp filled the air.

From the fog above, like the hand of God, V33 was lifted by the back of her shirt. Another hand lifted me by the collar and ripped strands of my hair along the way.

His powerful arms held me against his chest. My wide eyes reflected in his dark mirrored mask. The long mouth of the mask rested above my head like a straws end waiting to sip.

Behind, V33 battered her captor though it did nothing to stop him.

"I told you there were more!" his mechanical voice said.

"Just hope we can get them to the tracks on time," my captor said and set me back on the ground.

I did not flee, although everything in me was telling me to. A hand on my back led me forward. V33 was in front of me. Her temper contained in her fists.

The further we walked the thinner the fog became and the more our captors took shape. Each piece of their ragged clothes attached to the backs of their bodies. From their face down to their chest and shins— to their guns.

V33 looked back at her captor with a calculating glare. I swayed my head to her at a deathly pace. She was no match. Not this time.

When we reached the end of the hall, another masked man waited against a wall with two other children. The first was a girl. Her plump legs were barely covered be her night gown, and a book was in her hands. It was the girl from the library. The one who always left the crumbs.

S51 also leaned against the wall. His arms were folded across his night clothes and his black hair curled around his eyes. It made it hard to tell if he was just as frightened as the rest of us.

I bit my tongue. It had to be him.

"Sure these are the last of em'?" the masked man against the wall shouted.

"Positive! Checked every room, only found these two," my captor said pointed above V33 and me.

"We can't keep this place secure much longer," the man against the wall said and opened a door behind him, "Get them to the train tracks!"

With that, my captor raised my hand and set them over my eyes.

"Keep your eyes closed and quiet until we say it's safe, okay?"

I shook my head and closed my eyes. The way he spoke reminded me of how Valencia spoke about Cohen. I wondered where she was, but only half of me cared.

A small hand rested on my shoulders, and another forced my hand onto a person in front of me. I opened my eyes to see V33's hand on my shoulder.

"Take small steps and remember," my captor said and put my hand back over my eyes, "Keep your eyes and mouths shut."

The shuffle of feet sent me into motion. I took the smallest steps forward onto the wet grass. We were outside. I tripped over what felt like rocks. The temptation to open my eyes grew with every stumble.

The crisp smell of charred wood caused a stirred me. Its pungent sweetness danced bitterly on the back of my tongue and twisted my core. It was too strong, too unfamiliar to keep my eyes closed any longer. I parted my fingers. Wide enough to see but not enough to look open.

A blackened red soaked the grass at my feet. It hadn't rained. Not at all.

This was blood.

"Watch yourself!" one of the captors said as I stumbled forward.

The space between my fingers locked as tears gathered at the bottom of my nose and settled in the bow of my lips. I sunk into the spongy ground with each step. It made the tears gather and swell more to know what was really there.

I should have listened.

"You can move your hands, it's okay," the captor spoke again.