The End of us

Finding Me

CHAPTER 9

          "All civilians. Return to your homes. This is just a military exercise. You will be taken to safety."
          "Oh my god… Why is this happening!!!"
          "Scar shhhh. Keep quiet! They'll hear you." I held her in my arms as she shivers in terror. "I'm scared too, but we have to stay hidden." I comfort her as the tears run down her cheeks falling into my chest. "Look." I lift her chin up and look into her haunted eyes. "We're gonna make it."
           She sniffles as I wipe the tears from her soft cheeks, while I pull her closer to me behind the short wall separating us between the blinding light of the police's search lights. "Banner. Check over there by the garden." One officer calls out. "I'm on it." The officer by that name steps out from the beams heading in our direction, flashing the greens and down the floor. "Scar." I whisper clutching her red hair in my fingertips and holding her waist. "If he finds us out, I want you to get as far away as possible."
          "Wh- What are you gonna do?" She sounds from my chest as the clank of the cop's belt grows.
          "What I must… Whatever I must do to keep you alive. I can't lose you." Her sweet scent fills my nose as she grabs me tighter, letting out small sniffles. My body shivers as I plan out my distraction, searching for any objects to benefit us. The light pierces  through the night air as the beem passes around the corner when the top of the flashlight and pistol comes into sight. My heart stops and I clutch my fist and grit my teeth in preparation. "Got'em!" The pistol and light freeze in place at the call out from one of the officers, and disappear followed by the sound heavy boots stomping away. "Holy shit." I gasp out letting my hands fall back to my sides, and Scar's jaw falls as she relaxes her shoulders. "Oh my God! Can you believe that?" She puffs out between her breaths. "No, but who did they catch?" We both freeze and peek around the wall, peering through the fluent greens, and we spot the cops surrounding a small shed-like room that looked like it was meant to store tools for the a.c. units. I count four cops standing in a half circle around this shed pointing their pistols and lights as one shouts. "Come out now! You will be moved to an nearby emergency center for your safety."
           "No! Leave me alone!" a voice originating from behind the brownish door calls out, as the cop strikes the door with his rattling kick, sending a loud thud into our ears. He rears back for another, and then another. Each kick bends the threshold back from his force. "Stay away!" The voice thrashed back at the cops. The door burst open with a jolting pop as the two cops rush in, followed by the shouting of both parties. They emerge from the shed, pulling a woman from her hiding place as she thrashes on the ground kicking and screaming. "Let me go! Let me go!" She pleaded with the officers pulling her from the shed. "Will someone shut her up already!" Another cop with a distinct middle eastern accent, along with the others that I had heard speak. "Ah I love this shit!" The cop holding her reaches for his gun in his belt holster, and cocks it. "Are you a Christian?" He questions swinging the pistol left to right almost hypnotically as the other men leaned in for her answer. " Wha- what?" She stuttered, dumbfounded by his question "Why! Just let me go. Please!" She cried, letting out sobs. "Answer my fucking question!" Fed up with impatience, the cop lodges the barrel to her forehead, as the others lean in mumbling. "Look I'm gonna ask this one more time. What is your religion!"
          "Ok please! Don't hurt me!" The woman wipes the tears from her face and whispers too low for Scar and I to hear.
          The officer with the firearm rears back and spins to the others smirking as he twirls his gun around. "You guys heard that? She didn't say what I think she said did she?" The others grunt back and bellow at his taunting. "I think she did!" He steps back over to the woman drowning in fear and bends over her. "Wrong answer!" He spreads a wave of her blood onto the  ground with the crack of his pistol as her lifeless body lays limp. Scar's knees buckle as she falls onto me, sobbing, her face nudged into my chest as I hold her: shocked at what we had just witnessed. We sat there speechless and horrified as the men spat on the woman's corpse. Each of them takes a glance at her as they disappear back into the stairway. "Shit! What just happened…" I gasped, panting for air because I was holding my breath. Scar stopped moving and her clutch around me weakened. Her violent shivers rattle my bones as she cries into my shoulder. "H-" I struggle to make words pass through my tightened throat. "What do I say… I couldn't possibly say anything to cheer her up." I think to myself as I fix her pony tail. "Scar we gotta get outta here."