Escaping the End

Chapter 27

The branches moved seamlessly out of the way as Fionn pushed on them. He followed Kotone as she led the way back towards the Governor but he found it an increasingly difficult task for him. He didn't care for anyone other than Klara and Kotone, Mila was already gone so his fondness for her was useless in almost every way. It seemed pointless to him to risk his life for Brant and Gabriel. He could somewhat understand Ashton, he was just a kid but the other two could care for themselves. Heck, even Kotone could take care of herself and she wasn't much more than five foot two.

He could feel the heat of anger creeping up his neck onto his cheeks and he stopped to give himself a second to cool off. He realised then that he was getting angry a lot recently and it was impeding his better judgment. He let out a quick breath and picked his foot up to move forward when Kotone popped up out of nowhere.

"You are one slow person, do you just gain that trait because of all the surgeries you used to do?" Kotone inquired.

Trying his best to hide his irritation at her sudden appearance and her stupid question, "Of course not," he said through gritted teeth, "I just needed a second to cool off okay?"

Kotone leaned in, causing Fionn to become even more agitated, "You are pretty easily angered, you know that? I wonder why that is," she stated before flipping herself back around, "Come on, were you always like this?"

Fionn shook his head even though Kotone couldn't see it, "No. I used to be as relaxed as Gabriel. I guess this has just got me all stressed," he responded.

Kotone nodded and then continued on in silence, not even the animals made any noise. Fionn took this as a sign that they were close to any swat teams that still lingered in the area. The loud voices that filled the air only further confirmed his suspicion and both him and Kotone hit the ground as quietly as possible before continuing forward.

"Governor Sir, we need more reinforcements." a tall woman said.

"Why are you reporting, where in the area section leader? Hmm? And why on earth do you need more of my troops. There are only seven of those fools now," the Governor's static voice said through the computer they were using for communication.

The woman froze, clearly unwilling to share the information, "The area section leader has been killed by our first escapee. We were unable to capture any of the group and many of our troops were taken out in the stand off. Though we were also able to take out the-"

The Governor cut her off with his yelling, "She was taken out? She was taken out! Good job to you useless morons! Go on, who? Who were you able to take out."

The woman straightened again, "Mila Pasternak. Their leader, though we have lost track of any of the others."

There was a moment of silence before the Governor roared with hideous cackling. The very sound made sivers run up and down Fionn's and Kotone's spines and they looked at eachother. Fionn grabbed a gun he had taken off of Mila and handed it to Kotone, then he nodded. She nodded back and carefully raised herself up to look at the woman. Fionn did the same and noticed how few people were actually left. Two men carried supply boxes while the woman talked to the Governor. There was another woman holding the computer while a man messed with wires in order to keep the signal. He was sure they may be more that were resting out of sight, but he wasted no time giving Kotone a nudge and let loose the first shot.

The woman talking with the Governor went down almost immediately while the two helping her jumped up to defend themselves. They were far too slow however and Kotone let loose two more shots and they fell. By this point, everyone else in the makeshift camp raced out with guns and knives drawn. Kotone and Fionn moved back down so they were out of sight and listened carefully for the others to let their guard down again. In the meantime, the only sound was of the computer still trying to let the Governor speak.

Kotone carefully sat back up and let more bullets fly, knocking more people down. Not everyone died immediately, but Kotone's aim was spot on leaving no room for mercy. Before long every person in sight was down for the count and the two stood up and moved into the camp. Fionn made a beeline towards the crates and opened them up with force hoping there would be something useful inside. However, all he found were cameras and what seemed to be laser pointers.

He left the box and went back to Kotone's side as she messed with the computer and all the wires, "The Governor seems to have stopped the video chat thingy, guess we should hurry. Man this is so outdated, why would the Governor even bother? The same with those heat detectors, so much more technology has come out!" she muttered in frustration.

Fionn looked at the wires and computer thinking Kotone was just throwing a fit, but he realised he no idea how these particular brands worked, "Your right, these must be over fifty years at least! I have never seen anything like this in the hospital..." he trailed off.

He walked over and began to help Kotone as best he could and they managed to get it to find a signal, "Why is there WIFI all the way out here?" Kotone asked herself.

"I don't know, but maybe we can figure out why," Fionn said as he began to type away on the computer, "I don't know much about computers, but I might be able to look into some of the programs installed on here."

After a few minutes of searching, Fionn finally found a program he could open. What he saw surprised him, not all of the land was being monitored. He doubled checked just to be sure and then looked to Kotone who was grumbling to herself.

"Kotone, I know why he is so adamant to get us now. He has eighty percent of the land under surveillance, the rest is all uncharted territory."

Kotone's face lit up, "Then those people I helped escape, they must be safe now! It's been so long, about where does it cut off?" she exclaimed.

Fionn winced, "Well, we can't be sure. There is no way for them to have known this, you didn't and you were worthy for a while. However, it seems that the tip of Wyoming on is all free. There is also a small part of Canada and Alaska, as well as some of Mexico," he explained cautiously.

Kotone's eyes dulled for a second, but quickly lit up again as she shook her head, "They must be safe, if you knew them you would say the same. And we all decided to meet in Idaho, so..."

With that she bolted towards the bushes they had come from and turned around to beckon Fionn to follow. He gave her a small smile and shrugged to himself before following her into the undergrowth once again.