Boondocks

Chapter 43: Hell fire

FERN

Gunfire sounded in the distance, forcing my legs faster than they could go. I stumbled over roots, and tripped in holes. Tree limbs reached out to slap me backward, tearing my clothes and scratching my skin.

"Stop being bunny rabbit," Sergio grumbled, continuing on in Russian when his English got no response.

He hadn't tried to force me to stay, but he'd outright refused to let me go alone. His brother, Victor, and his cousin, Anton, stayed behind with the ship and it's cargo. His nephews had apparently already chosen to join Tex, a fact Sergio had reminded me of several times since we left the ship. It was my fault if they got killed because I showed up to distract them. Not everyone is meant to fight in every battle. Some people have to stay behind. And many other things that I ignored with an equal intensity.

Maybe not everyone was meant to fight, but I knew I was. I could feel it, all the moments of my life coming to an end. Every cataclysmic event had been shaping me, strengthening me, for this one. I was meant to follow. I was meant to help. If I didn't go, they'd fail. It was ridiculous, thinking I could be of any more use than an army of monstrous men, but I believed it. Sergio was wrong.

When the trees gave way to dead earth, I paused. Savannah was a stain in the distance, piled high with mounds upon mounds of garbage. Even the moon didn't want to look at it. It kept hiding behind the clouds, blocking its view, ashamed of what had become of its neighbor. In the distance, smoke gave crisp lines to spot lights, and rapid gunfire flashed from shadowed towers.

They were surrounded.

I sprinted forward, but only made it a few feet before Sergio snatched me back by the collar of my jacket. "See? Is good thing I come with you. Is stupid to rush in. Always better to go unnoticed." He pulled me with him as he skirted the clearing, keeping the trees beside us until we were closer to the buildings.

I followed, though I didn't want to. He was moving too slow, though I knew he wasn't. Rushing in wouldn't do anybody any good. It wouldn't help Tex, and as the shots rang up, that's all I wanted to do. Anger took a backseat, carefully filed away until he was somewhere safe and whole and ready to be beaten for his sins against me. Right then, all I could think about was how each shot might be the one that stole him. The one that shattered my existence into a million pieces and left me wholly done. Fully broken. Unable to even be the ghost I'd been before I met him.

We cut between buildings, up a large hill, then back to the trees that surrounded the prison.

Sergio brought us to a stop beside a massive oak and let me go. "Here you will a clear view. Climb up, shoot arrows, win-win, everybody is happy."

"What about you?" I was already climbing. Not because I planned to stay in the tree, but because I needed to see what was happening beyond the massive buildings and know that all wasn't already lost. I needed to see Tex and know that he was still alive.

Sergio snorted. "Old, fat men do not climb trees. I will guard the ground, catch you if you fall out."

I made it halfway before I could see over the surrounding building and into the circle of dirt inside. My heart plummeted into my stomach. Officials formed a wall. Shields and helmets and vests and all the things Tex and his men didn't have. They were armed to the teeth, organized and prepared.

None of Tex's men were visible, and the wall of hazmats seemed focused on the towers. Where was he? In a tower? Somewhere else?

"What do you see?" Sergio called.

"I think they took the towers. There's an army of Officials, but they aren't moving. I don't think they can. They've got them cornered."

"Then they are ducks sitting! Shoot, Djetka! Now is the time!" He continued in Russian, scolding encouragement that made me hurry to loose my arrows. He wasn't Daddy, but he may as well have been. I heard Daddy, driving me onward, urging me to take the shot, then the next, then again, like he had so many times in the before. Only, this wasn't the before. It wasn't even the after. It was the future being determined. It was history being made. It was a moment in time so important I could feel its significance in the air.