The sights, sounds, and smells of the Kemarian village proved quite distinct from any other place I had been before. For one thing, the roads weren't built out of concrete, dirt, or any of the conventional materials used for the task. Instead, enormous rugs were spread across the walkways, large enough to cover dozens of yards each. No ordinary rugs were employed for the purpose either, as each one bore a striking beauty, with vivid colors and intriguing ornamentation.
When I finally convinced my eyes to leave the gorgeous carpets and look around elsewhere, still other sights intrigued me. On one side of the path, lovely almond-eyed women lined a long table and sold flowers to those who passed by. The fragrant blossoms blessed my eyes and nose both as we passed by, and some of them in particular caught my interest, because many varieties appeared there that I had never seen before. However, interesting as the exotic flowers were, Abigail's favorite, pink roses, popped out at me and refused to let my attention wander long from them. Moments like these served as painful reminders of just how much I missed my girlfriend.
I snatched myself out of my thoughts and realized that my companions had stopped at the flower table. I spun around and headed back. As I approached, I saw that Hannah had been persuaded to purchase a flower. She handed some money to the young ladies with a grin, only for them to inform her that they didn't accept Odegoan bucks. Her smile dropped somewhat, until Khemera stepped in, paid for the flower, and told Hannah to keep her money. Her grin returned and increased as she slipped the glittery purple flower into her hair.
As Khemera approached me, I cleared my throat. "So, where're we headed?"
"Somewhere we can find lots of people."
"But I thought we were gonna get gas." I challenged.
"That's the last thing we're gonna do, unless you want to be the one lugging that heavy barrel around our whole time here."
I flinched at the thought. "Yeah...I'd rather not."
"Thought so." the old man replied with a smirk.
At that moment, a stringy-haired teenager raced up to us and shoved a flyer in Khemera's face. "You've gotta get your butt over to the music festival right now! Ontoko's playing!"
Khemera eyed the flyer perplexedly. "Where is this festival being held?"
"The dome in the center of the town, same as always!"
"I'll consider it. Thank you, young man."
Without even acknowledging Khemera's gratitude, the boy raced off and presumably performed the same routine with others.
"Well, now we know where we're going." Khemera stated calmly.
"Why would we go there? I don't know any Ontoko!" I protested.
"Baird, we're looking for people. Music festivals are filled with what?"
"People!" Hannah exclaimed.
I shrugged. "I suppose you have a point."
A five-minute walk took us to the dome the young man had spoken of, where booming music assaulted my ears even before we entered the door. This is certainly not my kind of place. Against my better judgement, I followed my comrades inside and braced myself for tinnitus and a massive headache.
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(Abigail's POV)
My heart raced. Jamente had decided to start rehearsal bright and early at 8 o'clock, and his first order of business had been to have us try our outfits on. So much sooner than I was expecting, Wendy and I had locked ourselves away in the fitting room.
"Feels surreal, doesn't it?" Wendy commented as she tugged her boots and socks off.
I nodded. "It does. I was so sure I was ready for this when I went to bed last night, but now that the moment's come, I'm not feeling the same."
Wendy nodded and padded over to a secret compartment in the wall. "Anxiety's an irrational little bastard." she said as she opened it.
I smirked. "I couldn't have said it better myself."
Piece by piece, my blonde companion clipped, snapped and buckled her armor together onto her body. With the maroon suit of protection fastened around her, she slipped two knives in a double-sheath on one leg, a shiny rapier on the other, and strapped a quiver of arrows onto her back. On her armor, near the small of her back, a small hook projected out to hold her metal bow. Finally, she grabbed a grappling hook and opened it in her hands.
She took a breath and opened the window. Then she smashed the claws of the hook into the wall just below the windowsill. With a mighty kick, she drove it farther into the wood, before she gathered the other end of the rope into her hands. With a sigh, she clambered onto the windowsill and stood up.
Wendy slid the rope through her hands slowly and allowed most of it to dangle below her grasp, until no slack remained between her hands and the hook. She leaned back to test the strength of the claw's grab and nodded as she determined it was good.
"Alright, hold onto my back." my blonde rescuer instructed, and I moved to do as she said.
The moment I'd tightened my grip around Wendy's body, she jumped backward, sliding down the rope and swinging when she reached the end. We crashed into a third-story window, and glass fragments flew everywhere. I leapt off her back as soon as I could and cowered behind her. This is really tense.
The hallway we'd broken into was empty, thankfully. But as soon as I'd realized that fact, an old man casually peeked out of a doorway several yards away. Upon seeing him, Wendy snatched up a piece of shattered glass from the ground and hurled it at him like a shuriken. He gasped just before the sharp edge sliced his throat, but it was too late. He collapsed into a puddle of his own blood.
I gagged at the sight. "What was that for?" I questioned Wendy in distress, "He was just an innocent old man!"
Wendy shook her head. "Simon was the last thing from innocent, trust me. Now c'mon!"
I shrugged and took off running to keep up with my armored rescuer. "Why didn't we just grapple to the ground anyway?"
Wendy rolled her eyes and halted. "The bloody rope was too short, duh! Now be quiet. We don't need anybody overhearing us. Stairs are this way."
With that, she bolted in the direction she'd pointed, and I had no choice but to follow. We skidded around a corner, only to realize that the adjoining hallway was filled with guards running our way. I cowered behind Wendy and watched as she unclipped her bow and fitted an arrow to the string.
Wendy pulled back and shot an arrow over the row of shieldmen who blocked the walkway. It penetrated the skin of a scrawny swordsman upon impact. Then I frowned as the blonde archer clicked a red button on the bow, and a strange green gas floated up from the corpse. Before long, the shieldmen choked on the fumes and dropped dead.
I took a quick step forward. "This is our chance!" I exclaimed, "Let's go for it!"
Wendy stopped me with her hand and shook her head. "No, woman! The gas will kill us just as well! Besides, there're still some dangerous men on the other side of that cloud who know the same bloody thing."
"So, we just wait?"
"Obviously." Wendy replied. Then her eyes widened as a pair of frantic spearmen rushed at us from the hallway we had just left.
She knocked one of the weapons away with her bow before she grabbed one man's head and kneed him in the face. She dodged the remaining man's spear next. Then she flipped him onto his back. His spear clattered to the ground on impact. Lastly, the blonde warrior crunched her foot down onto his neck.
With a huff, she reached down and handed me a spear. "Might come in handy." she commented before casting her gaze on the fading green cloud again.
I felt almost unclean, even touching the gold-plated spear, but I knew better than to object.
When the gas finally cleared, nobody appeared in view. Even the dead shieldmen were no longer there. Not good.
Wendy squinted suspiciously but still motioned for me to follow her. I nervously obeyed. My Danlashian rescuer silently fitted a second arrow to her bowstring and kept her icy blue eyes constantly in motion.
I screamed as a black-cloaked man swooped down from the ceiling and kicked Wendy in the head. Her bow and arrow clattered to the ground as she fell. Before she could unsheathe a knife, the stealthy man had already tased her. I moved my spear to stab him and defend myself.
Instead, I choked.
A hairy arm snaked around my throat, clenched down, and took away my air supply. My vision went black as I lost consciousness and thudded to the ground.
*******************
(Baird's POV)
A couple hours later, the blaring music thundered on, causing my ears to regret being still functional. Perhaps being deaf like dad would have its benefits. Khemera had stalked off from our group to seek recruits, and had insisted that we all just enjoy ourselves. Hannah, ever the musician, was having the time of her life. She apparently was familiar with the group, so she sang along with gusto and danced her heart out, all with an ear-to-ear grin. Keira seemed to be mildly enjoying the show as well, but appeared somewhat less than enthusiastic about it.
As if the ear-splitting music wasn't loud enough, the tumultuous crowd all around the cylindrical, four-story court screamed, clapped, and stomped, all in vigorous approval of the musicians on the centrally-located stage. I rolled my eyes and huffed as yet another over-zealous teenager dove right in front of me to catch a glove thrown by one of the performers. Death, take me away now, please.
As if to answer my silent musings, gunshots resounded on the outskirts of the room. I ducked and glanced around fearfully. On second thought, I wanted to live.
The cheery shouts of the audience quickly morphed into terrified screams as everybody rushed aimlessly to avoid the unseen shooters. No dead bodies appeared as of yet, so I could only wonder if these were merely warning shots. Warning who of what, though?
The music also swiftly died off as most of the musicians dropped their instruments and fled the stage. Only the drummer and lead singer remained. The vocalist's voice quivered in uncertainty and the percussionist's rhythms fell apart as their eyes darted around the court.
Finally, soldiers of the Redistribution Force revealed themselves on the railed walkways encircling the middle court we were in. They peered down at the terrified multitudes tugging at the locked doors and some appeared to chuckle at the sight.
"Curse you, bastards!" I shouted, for no apparent reason. Nobody even heard me, as the surrounding screams were much louder.
Keira unholstered a small gun from her hip, only to tug on the barrel and reveal the fact that her weapon was in fact a collapsible sniper rifle. She peered through the sight and sniped a particularly detestable soldier who was taking aim at a sobbing woman with two babies in her arms.
Hannah and I huddled behind Keira, because I had no weapon, and Hannah had been required to hand in her laser gun at the entrance for obvious security reasons. Just then, Khemera dashed up to us, with a petite redheaded woman taking shelter in his arms.
Khemera stared right into my eyes. "Baird, this is Danielle, and she's joining us. I want you to take her, and get out of here! Run like hell!"
I nodded and reached out my arms to take her. For some reason, I'd expected her weight to be a heavy burden for me, but surprisingly, her petite form was quite light and easy to support.
"Wait a minute!" I shouted at Khemera, "All the doors are locked!"
Keira spun around and shot the knob off one of the doors. "Not anymore!" she retorted before spinning back to aim at another RF soldier.
With that, I ran for the door as if my life depended on it, when as a matter of fact, it essentially did. I glanced back once and saw Dirk Josante leap down from the fourth story, his black cape flowing softly behind him. He landed harmlessly, and Khemera moved to engage him. My anger burned against the armored man, and I seriously contemplated setting Danielle down to give him a piece of my mind. However, I realized Khemera seemed adamant about her safety, and I could very well be vastly underestimating her value to our efforts. With that thought, I doubled my speed and bolted out the door.
********************
A/N: Yikes! Quite suddenly, our entire cast is in danger! First, we've got Baird and company with the Redistribution Force, and then just when it looked like they had a chance of escaping, Wendy and Abigail got caught! And the chapter break too...I wonder who put it in such a suspenseful spot...? 🤔
😆 Anyhow, you only have to wait 'til tomorrow to see how this continues, so just know, it won't be too long a wait or disappointing a continuation. (I hope.) And while we're still here, how about you vote and comment? I'd really appreciate that.
Okay, so, my sleepy mind has run dry of questions. So instead, how about a cute picture of Hannah?
And now for our random question of the day: If you had to take any random fictional character and throw him or her into this book, who would it be?
(After a minute of thinking and dying over this question, I think I might wanna see how Captain America would cope with the weirdness. But pretty much anybody I can think of would be so hilariously out of place. 😂)
Anyway, have a great one, and I'll see you in tomorrow's update. Until then, let's just hope nobody dies! Bye!