Every muscle in Annabelle's body went rigid as quiet footsteps and voices echoed throughout the large storage unit. Her hand still on the unmarked steel box that held a month's worth of food felt unnaturally cold and her mind raced with all the possible outcomes of this situation. It landed on only one: I am going to die, I am going to die, I am going to die, she thought, images of her being caught reverberating throughout her skull blocking out all other rational thoughts. Jarring herself away from them she refocused her mind. As the footsteps grew louder and more clear, she peered through the gaps in the shelves and saw two men dressed in full circle regalia. Her heart rate spiked violently and she quickly ducked out of sight. Oh God, she internally groaned. These were not just typical watchmen that monitored the provisions department, they were specially trained sentries deployed by the circle in order to investigate crimes using government-provided microglasses. A flutter of panic moved in her stomach but she fought it back.
Silently raising herself up she looked through the shelves again so she could get a better view of their faces, she had never seen anyone from outside zone 5 in real life before. Walking side by side, faces bent towards each other they were in deep conversation, speaking too quietly for her to make out the words. To her surprise, both were young, very young, probably no older than her brother was. Had been. A familiar rush of grief, guilt, and sadness washed over her so suddenly that her knees nearly buckled underneath her. She couldn't let herself get distracted by thoughts of __, pushing tears back, she turned her attention back on the guards. Though she couldn't make out all the details she could tell that they were both clean-shaven and had dark hair. But, where one boy's features were harsh and chiseled under the ugly fluorescent lights the other's were delicate and rounded as if he had never lost the childhood softness from his face.
Just as she was about the turn away, to try and escape, one of the patrol guards, probably a decent rank judging by the way he carried himself (the lowest ranks always seemed to slump and drag themselves along when they were patrolling the streets) stormed out moving swiftly towards the two boys, who had stopped not ten feet away from her on the other side of the shelf still turned towards each other. Now that she could see them better she could tell that the boy with the softer face actually had soft brown hair while the more angular boy's hair was nearly black. She held her breath, desperately hoping that she could stay still enough and quiet enough to avoid being noticed. It was one thing to be seen by a patrol guard who might lazily chase you down the isles, it was entirely different to be caught by circle sentries who went through vigorous training for four years at the academy, or at least that's what her brother had told her.
Upon reaching them the provisions guard looked furious. His face reddened as he shouted at them "Where have you two been!? I have been waiting for two hours and my whole team is ready to start the investigation." He must have been the head of the provisions department she figured.
Breaking apart, the boy with the soft features showed no emotions but simply stared at him, his face blank, the other one, however, broke out in a devilish grin, and laughed, actually laughed that the head of zone five's provisions department. Annabelle unconsciously shrank back a little, worried by his blatant disrespect. "Now Davis," the boy with the more angular face chided, they clearly knew each other, "we tried to come earlier but no one was at the gate to let us in. Instead of wasting our time like your team seems to have done, we thought we'd get acquainted with some of our surroundings." His voice was like water she thought, slipping smoothly over every word, pulling you down with it.
Davis seemed to tremble a little and then slumped down as if someone had cut a pair of puppet strings that had been holding him up. His voice stronger than anticipated when he next spoke, though much more subdued than before, "Ah, right. Come with me please and we will start the investigation." The boys smirked at each other and proceeded to follow Davis.
Annabelle felt a fraction of her tension release itself when they left, only to come back even stronger than before when she realized they were about to turn the corner towards her. She desperately wished her brother were here, she was too afraid, too stupid. She had never been brave enough to do this job when he was alive and now no one was there to help her.
She was frozen again, fear curling around, up her spine, and choking her. But then she saw her hand on the provision box and remembered why she was there: for her mother, for her little sister. Ellery, who was always giggling an covered in dirt, who still climbed into bed with her when she had nightmares, who Annabelle would do anything to protect, especially with __ gone. Annabelle suddenly, and without thinking snatched the box up and sprinted towards the door she'd come from just as the black-haired boy turned the corner.
Annabelle slipped out the small side door and fell back against the wall to catch her breath. Her blond hair had spilled out of its hood during her sprint and its soft curls ticked against her shoulders. Her mind was racing. What if someone figured out a box was missing, usually all they could do was file a report but now that the microglasses were here, probably less than fifty feet away from her she could easily be caught and imprisoned. Who would take care of her family if she was gone too? She curled herself around the box, sitting against the bland concrete building that held all of zone five's food stores, still breathing hard.
The door she had just dashed out of quietly swung open and Annabelle stopped moving, stopped breathing, stopped thinking. The boy with the black hair stepped out slowly, casually. Annabelle froze. She wanted to scream, or run away, or lash out at him but all she could do was stare up at him, past him, not daring to look directly into his eyes.
He leaned back, put his hands in his pockets, slowly looking around. Annabelle thought she might burst into flames. He finally sighed, then slowly said "who are you?". Annabelle said nothing. He asked again. She finally looked directly at him and nearly whispered, "Anna," not wanting him to know her full name. His eyes were shockingly green and he was staring at her with such intensity that she thought she might fall over if she wasn't already on the ground. She spoke again and with a little more power this time, "what are you going to do with me?" the boy broke eye contact. His expression changed, suddenly going from neutral and curious to closed off, his eyes hard. Annabelle started trembling, fearing that he wasn't even going to let her live through a trial. Even though everyone was always found guilty, she at least wanted a chance to say good-bye to her family. Before her thoughts could get any further he muttered a hard "run." She stared up at him incredulously, could she have heard right? He said it louder and harsher this time: "run." She quickly stood up, ignoring her shaking hands, and began to move away from him.
As soon as she brushed past him she stopped, turning quickly she looked back and asked "who are you?" mirroring his own first question to her, her blue eyes flashing in a rare moment of boldness. As he turned towards her a small patch of sunlight appeared from behind the clouds, lighting up his face in what looked almost like a remorseful grin. He turned back towards the door, and as Annabelle started away from the building once more she thought she heard him say "Will" just as she ran out of earshot.
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