90 DEADLY DAYS (WEEKLY UPDATES RETURNING THIS DECEMBER)

Chapter 13.5

Just another chapter I shortened because it was too long...

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Chapter 13.5

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I'm shaken awake by two small hands. "It's time to go!" Jamie looms in front of me.

I sit up slowly and wipe dream sand out of the corners of my eyes. The hair on my arm stands straight, still spiked from last night's terror. In the blurry haze of sleep I dreamt my tracker turned a bright yellow and split the main artery in my wrist. I bled out slowly, alone in the woods.

My stomach constricts with terror.

What if that actually happens?

None of us have any food so we start out on empty stomachs. I'm used to it now. I've gone without food for almost a week. Having 'dinner' last night was rare. I savored it as best as I could.

Deeper in the maze of city walls we run into more refugees. Like us, they are solemn and hurried. The Graduates only spare enough time to toss Jamie venomous looks. I want to tell them she isn't one of the murderers, that she's a Privilege, but I remain quiet.

The turf fades from soft grass to sharp gravel that pokes through the worn moccasins I salvaged from a discarded pile of old crates. As we near the opening of the ruins where civilization meets jungle, the 'city' looks more like an actual city. Here it seems that the walls and fortresses were skipped by whatever demolished the other parts of the city maze.

There are two houses painted a fading pink. We walk down a main street with empty businesses lined up on the sides. An auto shop. A grocery store. On the side of the road lies a strange, clunky car--an outdated version of Helion transport automobiles. This one has no wings or solar lights. And it still runs on oil, not cleyo.

It may be a hundred years old?

Fifty?

We pass it before I get an accurate guess.

The peaceful, calm silence everyone lapsed into ends as a howl ricochets through the streets. My lungs jolt and Kerry rapidly turns us back around. He and I lift Jamie up and do our best to run with her in tow. My eyes cloud with feverish panic.

"It's them," Jamie whispers, flicking her eyes to her arm.

Butcher.

Stampeding Graduates in the street adjacent to ours race away. The ones on ours do the same, some leaping into the open stores to hide. I choke on dust kicked up by running feet and push my body forward.

"They must have known people would come this way!" Jamie rasps. "They were planning a massacre!"

My insides melt along with my waning strength. Kerry forces our way through the thickening crowds scrambling to get away as he tries to head back the way we came. I can barely keep up. My lungs knot as I realize without a certain someone, we would be going so much faster.

We are edging towards the back of the stampede where Raider's ride on the panicked mob's heels. Glistening metal rods fly up and over. One of the rods stabs into the back of the boy in front of us, slicing open a main artery. I know it from the way a waterfall of red immediately spurts up to the skies.

He lurches forward, falling onto the gravel, becoming a mat for screaming Graduates to run over.

Because of her we might be next, I think, glancing at Jamie. It's a terrible thing to think. But I can't shut up logic.

"Kerry," I scream over the noise. "If we split up we can meet back at the wall."

"No, Phoenix." He replies with intensity. "We stay together."