Dreamcatcher

Chapter 2: Thunderbird

I nearly ceased to draw breath at that moment. As I sat there on my knees, I stared at Rayn's lifeless body lying on the cold hard ground. The jubilance of her life energy no longer shown in her unmoving gaze. Shock pulsed through my body; it felt as if someone had reached into my chest and ripped out my beating heart. My eyes were wide with horror and every second seemed like an eternity as the king once again cocked the weapon and moved the barrel to face my forehead. This is it. I've lost everything I've ever cared about. End it. End it so I don't have to live in this relentless hell any longer.

The way the king stared at me was without mercy. We were nothing in his eyes. Rayn and I were only dirt beneath his feet. I wondered how someone could be so heartless to murder an innocent girl in cold blood. I had spent my whole life fighting for the Gemini and this is how they would repay my service, with a bullet to the skull.

"The Gemini will guide you in the afterlife," his hollow words sounded.

I looked up at him, my eyes blurry with tears, "Fuck the Gemini."

I closed my eyes and waited for death's cold embrace but it never came.

I heard a sound like something whizzing quickly through the air followed by a heavy thud on the concrete floor next to me. My eyes flew open and I suddenly found my hands free from Steve's grasp. Without hesitation I leapt to my feet and dove behind one of the metal supports because I had just realized what was happening. I looked back at where I had just been to see Jale's corpse on the ground, his head in a pool of blood. The king and Steve had darted for the steel door on the other side of the room. The king cowered behind Steve's large frame and reached for the handle of the door, yanking it open. Rapid bursts of red energy started pelting them and soon Steve had fallen as well but the king had already escaped through the exit. I briefly glanced around my cover and saw the oppressors. They wore pure black strike gear and were equipped with energy firearms far more advanced looking than any I had ever seen. Their faces were obscured by black protective masks with glowing yellow eyes and they were quickly nearing where I hid.

The closest exit was a window on the opposite side of the room. Without thinking I took off towards the window. Energy shots flew past nearly striking me several times. I raised my arms over my face and threw myself through the window as it's glass pane shattered around me. Wincing in pain from the glass slicing my skin, I barely had a chance to recover and stand again before I heard them shout behind me, "He went out the window! Tell the others to flank around the west side!"

They were going to come at me from either direction of the street so I had only one option. Across the crumbling roadway was a door into the next building. I shot off towards it running faster than what seemed humanly possible to me. The adrenaline was flowing through me as I slammed the entirety of my weight into the door which in turn broke wide open. I crashed onto the concrete floor, the door underneath me. Quickly I recovered and continued my flight.

I had never been inside but I knew that this building was an uncompleted skyscraper which the project had been cancelled for. It had been here for years and had been built back when some company thought that they could turn this section of Titan into a real society, little did they know how ruthless the slums could be.

The structure was nearly void of all function but there was one thing I knew would help me; a working transporter. Often times construction workers would install transporters inside the building first so that they could move back and forth to the project site quickly. I guess they figured it wasn't worth coming back for once they abandoned the project. Now if I can just find it... I scanned the room as I darted between the metal supports but I saw no sign of the transporter.

Suddenly the strike team bolted through the doorway and several members burst through the adjacent windows sending glass flying everywhere. I ducked behind a metal container that lay near me. "Stop or we will be forced to neautralize you!" As I peered around the corner of the box I discerned that the one shouting at me was the commander. Unlike the others his face was visible. He had military styled, light colored hair and was clean shaven. He was young for a commander, seemingly only several years older than myself but a deep scar could be seen on the side of his neck. For the moment they all stood stationary, weapons at the ready. "Come out with your hands raised and you'll be allowed to live."