ABANDON

Chapter 20 -- Not Alone

Michael's body was sore and stiff by the time the silence came. His light slowly faded until he was in darkness. He was tired, in both body and mind. But he had been like this before. Whatever was going to happen, he could handle it. He had always done his best, and he always would.

From far away Michael could hear a sound. Very faint and monotone, occasionally his ears would pick up a higher note of something else. But what it was he couldn't tell and it was getting louder.

He surveyed the area looking for a way to get out. He could move in the tight spaces, but he knew Jane couldn't. Michael had to get her out of here, eventually the patches would wear off, and it was better to move her sooner, rather than later. How was he going to get her through the debris without making her worse?

There was something else bothering him. How was he going to get passed those people? Michael became very aware that he had trapped them in this room. The sound was getting louder. Michael moved to stand and Jane grabbed his arm.

"It's better for us to separate. Whatever is out there may never know about you."

Jane slowly shook her head.

"I have to look. The sound..."

A tear fell from Jane's eye.

"Stay here. You can--"

Jane's grip on him tightened.

The sound was in the other room. Michael turned away from Jane ignoring her terrified eyes and removed her hand from his arm. He maneuvered through the debris towards the door. The sound changed, like a machine dropping gears. Michael was about a meter away when the door suddenly disappeared. It was torn from its hinges and thrown back into the bright lights beyond.

Michael was completely exposed. He stood stock still, laughing at his ineptness. Then he took a quick but thorough look at his environment. He could see nothing at first, but he could hear voices shouting. As his eyes adjusted he saw the room cleared from debris, and the women and children were gone. Two heavily armoured figures stood side by side, blocking the open doorway. Both of them had their right hand and forearm enclosed in a compound weapon pointed at Michael's belly and he could tell they were trained.

Michael knew he didn't have time to use his own weapon. He knew what he did right now meant either life or death. His thoughts moved rapidly ,sporadically. The old woman had turned around and shown him her back. The machine he had killed looked human from the front, it was its back that showed the truth. Michael turned around showing them his back.

The sound of the machine stopped.

What were they waiting for? Michael had to do something. He faced them.

The figures removed their helmets. They both had short brown hair. One man's face was badly scarred. The other was younger than the first. Michael could tell they were just as surprised by his presence as he was of theirs.

The scar faced man shouted words Michael didn't understand. Michael took a deep breath and raised his arms, trying to calm the highly tense situation. "You found me."

The older man made a sound like something between gasping and swearing. The younger man said nothing. He was looking behind Michael, and to Michael's horror he moved passed him.

"Wait, I..." But Michael was silenced by the glance the younger man gave him—intense and formidable. Michael put his hands up. "I'm not a threat—I promise." The man continued his hunt and Michael followed, ignoring the shouts from the scar faced man obviously meant for him to stay where he was. But Michael was not going to stay.