The Lesbian Gene (Lesbian, Gay, GirlxGirl)

Chapter 11: Sidetracked

Chapter 11: Sidetracked

The night bore down on us as we traveled from fence to fence. Lifting, heaving; I was passed from person to person, far too many times than I could count.

Even I could feel the fatigue.

Nobody had complained about it though. Not even Neil who would only grumble and survey the houses where we had come from. But I could feel Audra's arms shaking during the last few minutes as she diligently hauled me up. And then Hanz would get me on the other side. Repeat the whole cycle a couple more times.

It could be an hour or two when Neil whistled low for us to stop. Hanz, who was about to climb over yet another wooden fence, dropped back down, gave us a questioning glance.

"The map," Neil said, before anyone could speak. "Can anybody give me the map? Where is it?"

"Deep in the backpack," Hanz replied, sounding like he was seconds from running out of air.

The guilt I'd been trying to suppress all night bled out from my chest, jumping on my throat. They were tired because of me.

"We didn't want it to fall or something." Audra sounded breathless too. "We'd have a hard time getting out of the sewers if we lost it."

Neil gave us a harrumph. "Fine. But how many fences left?"

"Just this." Hanz pointed to ours. "The next one will lead us directly to the main street."

The only street we needed to cross. But the most crucial one nonetheless.

Cutting through the neighborhoods's yards gave us cover and the shadows. The next street would lead us directly to the enemy's womb. Or so it felt like it.

Audra adjusted me on her back. "Anytime you guys are ready," she said.

With the second to the last fence behind us, the four of us inched to the final one and stopped, gave each other knowing looks, prepared for whatever would jump on us.

We were past the guessing game at this point. Hanz looked like he just wanted to get it over with, while the rest of my companions had those sparks in their eyes, as if they were about to go on war.

I sucked in my breath as Hanz finally climbed the fence, then dropped down. This was it.

But like the first ever wall we'd reached in this journey, Hanz didn't give a signal, much less told us if everything was alright from the other side.

A minute passed like that. Silence from his end.

And then two. Three. Five minutes, until Hanz came poking down his head from above, sporting a goofy grin. "It's clear, guys," he said.

"What took you so long?"

Hanz stared at an irritated Neil, per usual, goofy grin not vanishing at all. "Construction," he said. "There are machines and all. I thought I might ride on one first."

"You mean you took those minutes playing?!"

"Hey, I was surveying the area too." Hanz said to his defense. "And besides, the machines are tall enough. I thought climbing it a little might help us."

"So what about the manhole?" Audra asked. We were getting off-topic here.

"Oh, that," Hanz said. "Yeah, we might have a problem."

My eyes widened when Neil pushed Audra away— we almost crashed down— in order to get to the fence. What was he doing? This was not protocol at all. Him climbing the fence after Hanz was completely out of our agreement.