X-Marks: Stealing Shadows

Tremors

I kept my hands over my eyes.

"It's alright, nothing to be afraid of anymore," a man said from above.

I opened my eyes and let the dim sunlight settle in. A man with auburn hair like my own stood in front of me. Without his mask, he wasn't nearly as freighting.

We were along a dirt path of colorful trees. V33 stood beside me, the anger in her eyes gone. She looked down at her feet and dragged her red soles against the dirt. S51 had his hands in his pockets. He would not look up from his tangled waves. The girl with the book was blushed with tears.

"Come on Tom— be a little bit happy! We saved them!" the captor with the auburn hair said.

"Don't celebrate yet. We haven't even gotten to the tracks, if the trains still there anyway," Tom said.

Tom kept his gun against his chest and looked about in every direction. He was older than the auburn-haired man. It wasn't his forward brow or dark stubble that aged him. He spoke with too much familiarity. He had done this before.

"You worry too much," the auburn-haired man said.

"You better start worrying," Tom said and looked behind, "This place will be infested with Allies, all looking to —,"

Tom wiped his mouth as if his unspoken words had left filth.

"Christ Tom, you're going to scare them!"

"I'm trying to scare you, Sam!" Tom shouted back.

A tremor tickled my muddy feet. Each quake came closer and closer and grew in strength. The leaves of the trees shook as of birds flew from their nest.

Sam tilted his head to the sky.

"You scared now?" Tom said with no emotion.

"Very," Sam whispered.

A mechanical cry bounced through the forest. We stood, fascinated by the enormous steel limbs that cut through the top of the forest.

"This way," Tom said and motioned his gun into the thickest part of the forest.

"But, that's away from the tracks!" Sam said

"Exactly, they'll be expecting us to run for the tracks."

"Are you sure?"

"No, but there's no time for that," Tom said and stepped over a rotten tree.

Sam turned to us, "Let's move," he said.

V33 and S51 were the first to follow. The girl with the book stood behind. She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her nightgown.

"We need to go," I said to her.

She shifted her ankles covered with dried blood.

"Did you get hurt?" I asked and pointed to her feet.

"No," she whispered, the tears in her eyes gathered again.

I put my arms around her shoulder and helped her over jagged logs. The backs of the others were distant but within our reach.

Sam halted at a fork in the trail.

"That way?" he said.

"You got a problem with it?" Tom said and walked towards a path blocked by a fallen tree.

"That will take us back to the center!"

"And a traveler's bunker," Tom turned and puffed out his chest.

"You said —the allies are closing in. There's no way it's clear."

"It's only for a quarter mile, and then we'll be in traveler territory."

"You're crazy," Sam said shook his head.

"Probably," Tom said, "Now keep moving."

The skin of my toes had separated against the slick mud and sharp rocks of the forest floor. I let out a groan.

"We'll be there soon. Don't worry," Sam said and waved his hand down the path.

We followed the captors in a line. Tom was at the front of the line, and Sam was at the back.

"Where you think they come from?" Sam said.

"The kids? Probably from nearby holding camps. Why you know one?" Tom said from the front without looking back.

"This one," Sam said and put his finger above my head, "She has to be a Camp-119 with that rusty hair. One of my own, and we've rescued her!"

"I doubt she's a Camp-119," Tom said.

"Little one, you remember what camp you came from?" Sam asked as we walked.

"Don't make her talk," Tom interrupted, "You should know what it's like in those camps."

Sam looked down at his chest like a boy being scolded by a teacher in front of the class and adjusted his gun closer to his chest.

"We're getting close," Tom whispered.

We cut through the forest. The yellow fog billowed along our path again.

Sam put his shirt above his nose.

"We're here," Tom said, even softer.

Fallen trees lined the trail but not as if they had collapsed as if they had been forced down.

"Tom, we should turn back. Something doesn't feel right," Sam said.

"What is it?" Tom said and finally looked back.

"Listen," Sam said and stopped moving.

Tremors rocked the earth again and not a moment in-between. Whatever was causing them was coming, and fast.

"Quick! Hide them!" Tom said and aimed his gun in every direction.

"Where?" Sam shouted back.

"Anywhere! We haven't got time," Tom said and pointed his gun down the path.

Sam held his hands at his temples.