EMBLEM

VIII: The Maze

"Emilia, darling, please stop crying..." Eden lamented, her face twisted with pain due to not being able to do anything.

"I-I'm sorry..." Emi hiccuped, trying her best to calm down, "I just feel so...helpless..."

"Goddamn it!"
Kalmin hissed before effortlessly snapping the metal handcuffs in two and fumbling his way toward Emi.
Without a word, he grabbed her with gentle hands and pulled her into a hug, where in shock, her crying momentarily stopped.

"You're going to be okay..." He vowed, face buried into her shoulder, "I promise you...all of us are..."

Emi's lip quivered for a second, then her silent tears returned as she rested her head against him.

It was hard to watch.
Xander wasn't used to seeing any of these guys look so defeated. Each of them had sworn on impossible things in an attempt to ease the gnawing anxiety, but all six of them knew those promises were nothing more than fragile hopes.
Without the frequencies, they couldn't depend on their switches to keep them safe.

Bliss was the only one who looked normal. The same blank expression as always while she sat silently in the corner, watching the vivid emotions with only a spectator's eye.
As if these weren't her friends, as if she, too, wasn't in their situation.

All too suddenly, the van slammed its breaks, almost knocking each teen into the nearest wall. Kalmin still held onto Emi tightly, who was shaking in his arms, both of them staring at the doors.

Xander didn't even have to be in their position to know how fast their hearts were beating against each other. His was just the same, and surely, all the others too.

The doors pulled open to reveal several men with large, automatic guns, each aimed straight into the van.

"Alright, everybody out, one by one." The closest man ordered, gesturing with the end of his weapon casually, "Any funny business, and these men won't hesitate. Come on, we haven't got all day!"

Those strangers didn't even feel human to Xander, more like robotic clones, designed to follow whatever orders they were given. Each of them looked exactly the same. Same armoured clothing, same helmet concealing their identities entirely, same gun they were oh so used to pointing at near defenceless and frightened children.
Surely, they couldn't have been human to act such a way.

Bliss clambered out first, to which Xander followed and then Wilbur after him. Each of them struggling onto their feet thanks to the cold handcuffs digging into their wrists.
Kalmin helped Eden up before taking Emi by her shoulder and hand, carefully guiding her onto the grey gravel pathway below.

One of the men slammed the van doors shut, banging on them twice, indicating the driver could leave.
Then, he turned to Kalmin, glancing down at his hands, each with half a handcuff and its chain dangling from his wrists.

"What's this?"
He demanded, tapping the broken metal with the end of his gun. Luckily, Kalmin wasn't fazed.
If that man had pointed that thing anywhere in Xander's direction, he wasn't sure how he'd react. Most likely with extreme panic.

"She's hurt." Kalmin explained, "I was just helping her. She can't walk very well, so I-"

"You think this is a joke, do you?"
Growled the man, before heartlessly punching the side of Kalmin's face full force, enough to almost knock the boy over. Thankfully, he only stumbled.
Emi gasped and trembled, but Kalmin simply stood up straight again, staring the man dead on.
The tension was high, it felt as though Kalmin were about to murder all the robots right there. However, he wasn't stupid. Especially not with half an army's worth of guns pointed his way.
"...I apologise...it won't happen again..."