The Shearing

Fourteen

Even in the dark, I can feel eyes on me.

The screeching sound of the carriage doors floods the station, blaring over the people's screams and tempting me to bolt back to the train despite the difficulty of the situation. Farhan and Rafe has a tight grip on my hands, and my bandaged wrist responds in pulsing pain. We blindly cruise forward to keep a distance from the panicked crowd. We barely have a clue to where we're really heading but resorted that aimlessly moving forward would be our best interest rather than staying put and risk getting caught up in a stampede. The thought of stray bullet terrifies me, but I push the thought aside. 

No matter how much I want to board the train, I know deep within that this is the only choice we have if we want to remain safe. Rafe leads the way as we stride aimlessly in the darkness, then we suddenly crash to what seem to be metal railings, halting us abruptly. The sound of metal hitting another metal in loud successive clang follows, until it gradually fades and drowns in the background noise. Rafe curses under his breath and slams the metal railing.

"My pistol!" he yells.

"What happened?" Farhan says.

"I lost my dang pistol!" Rafe exclaims in annoyance as he tightens his grip on my wrist.

It's not like the situation calls for a gun anyway. The whole place is shrouded in darkness. Blindly firing out a gun would be pointless and futile. We're not going to hit an overlooker by randomly shooting at nothing; we're only going to waste bullets on shadows, or, worse, on innocent lives in the frenzied crowd.

"There's no time for that. We have to get out of here!" Farhan hollers, barely audible with all the screaming going on around, then she tugs me westward, and I end up pulling Rafe.

Just before we could cruise any farther, lights start to flicker back to life. One by one, the hanging light bulbs start to illuminate the place in a blinding flash, shedding light upon the chaos on the station platform. People are scattered all throughout, running, screaming, bickering, while some are scurrying back to hide in dim corners. The station is huge, stretching far at either sides to accommodate all the carriages of the long suspension train. The concrete support pillars that line up on the platform softly glow in blue, then all of them suddenly flash pictures of people whom I'm unfamiliar with, like a projector of some sorts.

There are people laid on the ground, hands shackled by glowing wires, and their bodies restless from fidgeting as though they're convulsing from electrocution, then groups of men in full body suits of glossy black march up on the station platform; the glossiness of their suit catches flecks of light, giving it a sticky appearance. My muscles tense at the sight of fancy guns clasped upon their hands, and their faces are hidden behind night vision gears rigged up upon their heads like strange helmets.

Loud statics fill the air, coming from hidden speakers that seem to surround the area from above, then an electronic voice booms through out the place. "This is Site B check point. All Morales are not allowed to proceed past this station."

I gaze at Farhan as all the colors on my face ebb. Farhan flashes back the same horrified expression. With the train deliberately halted and people amass trapped in the station, there is no doubt the leaders from Site C will be able to collect all Morale individuals that have attempted to run away.

Men clad in black suits march in the station platform, firing shots from the strange guns clasped upon their gloved hands. More individuals fall on the platform, convulsing uncontrollably with their bodies and arms tied in glowing wires. The crowd has managed to find an exit stairway ahead but is now forming a bottleneck, for it is also where the guys in black suits are emerging. The men are effectively blocking all attempts of escape, using their fancy weapons to scare the people back. It's difficult to tell if they're outnumbered, as some of the men are already mixed up in the crowd, and I have no idea as to how they can tell if a particular person is marked by the Site C because there are no visible marks on those that have already fallen on the ground.