My heart is pumping and I feel like my feet are racing faster than my mind when it’s usually the opposite. Axios is in front of me, his strong build racing around corners until we get to one at the end of a long ‘hall’. All I can think about is how I nearly killed the person who murdered my whole family and my boyfriend at the time, and how Axios stopped me from doing so. He comes to an abrupt stop and peeks around the corner. Before I can ask him what’s there, he puts his back to the wall facing us and slides down to the floor, motioning for me to do the same. I press my back against the wall, regulating my breathing. Axios does the same. It is quiet for a moment before Axios speaks up.
“What is it?” I ask, trying not to breathe too loudly or in his face.
“It’s…” He’s still gasping for air too. “Not important. We need to get out of here.” Axios averts his gaze from mine. He focuses on something imaginary plastered on the sewer walls.
“You acted like it was important.”
“Well, it’s not.” He snaps. He looks at me like he wants to apologize, but when his lips part it’s anything but that. “Cut the attitude and let’s go.”
Attitude?
He slides into the water and goes slow, trying not to make a lot of sound as he glides to the other walkway. When he’s not looking, I lean my head around the corner to peek. I just want to know what he was startled by. Then I see her, sitting in a cell of wooden planks up against a hole in the wall, two guards watching her every move. She looks around, her blonde hair bouncing with her green eyes until they meet my own. I give her a thumbs up, even though I don’t know if I can convince Axios to do it. We have to rescue her.
“Why didn’t you tell me it was Celeste?” I say a bit too loudly. My voice bounces off the walls and he turns around once he get’s up on the other side. His dark eyes burn a hole into my skull. He presses his lips together for a moment, undoubtedly trying to control his fiery temper. Axios exhales slowly, his eyes don’t meet my own.
“Why didn’t you listen to me and trust that it was nothing?” He spouts rage from his lips. Now he looks at me, and the familiar eyes I know make a home for a glare.
“It obviously wasn’t! I’m not stupid.” Then, more quietly,”Sometimes I question whether you agree with me on that.” I know he heard me because he closes his eyes and cocks his head to the left and at the floor, something he always does when he’s embarrassed, angry, or feeling guilty. I just don’t always know which one it is. Axios turns so his side faces me. It’s like he can’t stand to look at my face anymore.
“We don’t have time to save her.” He finally says, looking back up to me. I can tell that he’s feeling guilty about it through his eyes, but he doesn’t seem to want to try at all.
“We have to at least attempt. It’s Celeste, not some person we picked up off the street!” Anger bubbles up in my stomach and I clench my fists. I can feel my cheeks getting hot. I can’t believe this right now! “What’s gotten into you? I expect you, of all people, to understand!”
“What’s gotten into me? You’re the one who wants to go on a suicide mission to save some girl you don’t even like! You want to risk your life for someone who doesn’t even care about you but you have a person right in front of you begging you to save your own life.” He shakes his head but he doesn’t let go of his eye contact. “You can’t always be a hero. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.”
“This is so selfish, Axios.” I lower myself into the water and wade my way through. With every step buries another slice of guilt into my stomach. I hesitantly take Axios’s hand and climb up. For a second, we stand there with each other, just looking into each other’s eyes, like we’re communicating through our minds. I want to tell him how bad I feel about doing this. I want to try and convince him to go back. But I want to survive. A slight smirk plays on his lips. He knows. Usually I would be comfortable with him knowing my thoughts, but this time I don’t feel like I’m okay with this. After that, he’s more serious.
“If you see a ladder,” he whispers as we start walking again. “and I’m not around, don’t wait for me. I’ll find it sooner or ladder.”
“You’re so lame.” I tell him. He laughs.
He walks a little bit in front of me, his shoulders swaying from side to side, almost like he’s trying to seem cool. I chuckle a little bit and he turns around and walks backwards. “Hmm?”
I just shake my head. We walk in silence for a minute and I can’t help but think about Celeste. We left her with people we didn’t know. People with weapons and intel and - if they see her scar - even more knowledge. They’ll know just how to torture her. They’ll get whatever information they want. They won’t need her after a while. Eventually…
“Axios, it’s eating me alive,” I spit it out quickly like food that was way too hot, on the verge of tears. He turns around and then he sighs. He approaches me like a mother would her crying child, but I can’t help but feel like when he stands close to me and I feel so small it also feels romantic. It’s the first time we’ve ever been so close to being just two people and not a whole group. It makes me nervous but excited at the same time and the guilt is crunching my thoughts from the inside out. I try to control myself but I still end up screaming, “we have to turn around, we can’t just leave her!”
“We left Bry too, are you going to complain about that?” Axios retorts, his tongue like a whip. Suddenly, less romantic. He shifts in his spot and his gaze lands on all the bare walls he can see, but he won’t look at me. I can’t tell if he regrets what he said or if he doesn’t know what to say next. All I want is him to show some remorse. He sighs. “They’re… They’re not dead yet. I’d appreciate it if you stop acting like that, okay?” When his eyes meet mine, I know he feels it. I nod. He’s so much more brave than I am. When we find a ladder, I suggest that I go first.
“No way.” He starts climbing up the ladder. “You don’t have powers. It’s only logical that I go first because I can fend off anyone who’s outside.”
Axios can manipulate heat. Candles, computers, even people. Make him angry and he can start a fire. Make him furious and he can freeze you to death as slowly and painfully or as quickly and peacefully as he pleases. Fire gives him energy and the the more heat he draws the more he can conduct. I’ve always seen it as a really cool power and a huge advantage in a fight, but he only sees himself as a monster. I can feel the air gradually being replaced with suspense as each of our footsteps echo throughout the sewer. He slightly lifts the top off the manhole so he can peek around.
“See anything?” I ask.
“Even if I did, it’s freezing.” He replies. He lifts the manhole cover with a grunt and puts it to the side, pulling himself out and then turning around for me. I lift my hands up, letting myself fall backwards a little bit. He catches my wrists and I almost panic. What if he realizes there is no scar? When he lifts me out, we both have the same reaction.
“Oh my God.”
The street is completely normal, like no evidence of war has ever been seen. A completely intact hospital is to our left, tall, wide, and proud, a huge red cross on the side. I can’t help but imagine that through one of those many windows, a baby’s wrist is being burned. A perfectly fine brick school to our right, kids laughing and playing like they have nothing to worry about. One little boy stops and stares at us, then all the rest of them turn around and do the same.
“Put the top back on!” Axios says quickly before I can sort through my mind what’s going on. The hole is already covered when I bend down to fix it. Axios grabs my arm and lifts me back up, then whispers in my ear from behind me, “This place is absolutely insane. Are you seeing what I’m seeing, or is this a dream?”
I can’t even respond. I can feel my eyes trying to illuminate the street. They flicker in the air in front of me and one kid screams, so I turn around and close my eyes. He tries to comfort me and wraps his arms around my shoulders, pulling me to his chest. I should be happy - we found the one place on Earth that’s still okay - but instead I’m terrified. It’s too good, too perfect, too intact. It can’t be real. Suddenly, a really loud honk that almost sounds like a duck comes from my right and I jump up to look. A car?
The person inside of the car glances at our feet. Before I know it, the man jumps out of his car and is shaking both of our hands. “Welcome, I’m the mayor of this beautiful town.” He gestures to the city then looks back at us. “Where are you two from? I noticed you crawled out of the sewer like rats… Though I know well enough that you two must be good people. Don’t you go provin’ me wrong, either!” He says almost too cheerily, wiggling a thick finger in Axios’s face. Axios looks at him with a, ‘What the hell?’ expression on his face. Something about this plump old man and his wiry grey hair seems eerie.
Axios wraps his arm around me protectively, going from my shoulder and his hand wrapping around my waist. I’m so glad to have a friend like him. I turn my head to Axios and he looks down at me. “Why was West camping underground if they had something like this right above their heads?” He shrugs.
“No offense, but you both look absolutely horrible.” The mayor says, scrunching his nose up and opening his door for us. “I’ll give you a home and buy you some clothes. Now, I’ll ask you again: Where you from?”
“Have you seen the conditions out there?” Axios arches one eyebrow, the one with the scar going through it. The mayor has an eerie smile, a smile that doesn’t reflect in his eyes.
“What conditions?”
“Don’t you see the wall of rubble lining around your perfect little city?” Axios raises his voice and steps away from me, crossing his arms. “People are dying out there, toxic waste is still bare on the streets! A baby will fall into it and come back out mutated to shi-”
“Watch your language!” The mayor scolds. A frown plays on his face. The look seems sincere in his posture and eyes. “Surely you haven’t lost your good manners because of some trash on the streets. Get in, please, let me help. I think you’ll find a good home in our quaint city.” Then, the frown disappears. A smile plasters on his face.
When I look at Axios he shakes his head, but I feel like this is our last chance at survival. We’re two people, alone and now barefooted because we’ve worn out our shoes. One of us doesn’t even have any way to defend herself. So, going against Axios’s wishes, I step inside the car and wait for him to follow. He groans and get’s in on the other side and slams the door. He won’t look at me. Again.
The mayor get’s into the driver’s seat and slides a silver key into a lock beside the car’s wheel. He turns it and the car roars to life. He plays with some of the switches in between the driver’s seat and the one next to it, I don’t know what it’s called, and I look out the window so I don’t get too confused. We pass five, ten, twenty houses and they just keep rolling on - all of them with electricity and running water I assume. My stomach starts to feel queasy after a few minutes. “Where are we going?” I ask.
“First, the mall.” He replies, looking straight at me in a small rectangular mirror hanging from the ceiling near the window in the front where he looks out to see where he’s going. Randomly, he stops in the middle of the road. I look out the window on my side and then I open the door, locking eyes with a small building in front of us. “Wait - what are you doing?”
“Getting out..?” I say.
“That’s not the mall, get back in! Quickly, close the door. You’re going to get us killed or worse, wreck my car.” He laughs but neither Axios nor myself find his joke funny. We’ve seen and felt the aftermath of too many deaths to find anything along the lines of it remotely humorous. He clears his throat and continues, “Neither of you have seatbelts on. Haven’t you ever been in a car before?”
“No.” Axios says gruffly. There is an awkward silence lingering in the air. I put my elbow on the armrest of the car and lean my chin on it. The window rolls down and I screams, jumping to the side and falling back.
“WHY DID THAT MOVE? WHAT JUST HAPPENED? WHAT?” The mayor is laughing but Axios and I are terrified. His sarcasm isn’t appreciated by me.
“You hit the button that moves the window down.” He says like it’s obvious.
“Why would you ever have something like that?” Axios asks. “A car like this with so much protection and you just take it all down?”
“What? No, it just feels nice when you’re moving and it’s hot outside. You two are so serious.” He gives a wave of his chubby hand and starts driving again. When we arrive at the mall he declares, “Now, time to get you two cleaned up.”
“We don’t have any money.” Axios reminds him.
“I’ll pay for everything,” the mayor suggests. “I have you covered.”
“I’d much rather go with her alone.” Axios says sternly.
“I’d much rather shower,” Not like anyone cares about my opinion.
“Understandable.” The mayor starts the car again. “Roll that window up, it’s way too chilly for that.” And we drive again.