Generation Infinosil

Chapter Thirty Four

Chapter thirty four

2041

It took a while to find a way down from the roof, a challenge worsened by the darkness of the night that enveloped them. Eventually Paul and Jamie found a rusty, metal staircase that descended the majority of the way down to the floor- presumably an old fire escape route.

Surprisingly, there were very few men from the rejuvenation wandering around the premises when they reached the ground. They were hard to spot in their all black attire, but Paul and Jamie were equally hard to spot, as they hunched in the shadows cast by the enormous laboratory building. They were lucky in the sense that there was a wooded area mere meters away from their location, an ideal place to hide, but it would be difficult to maneuver around amongst the branches without being heard.

There had to be some kind of distraction if they hoped to make it to the woods safely. Paul and Jamie were very cautious of the men surrounding the building, they focused on them and only them. In silence they waited- hoping for something to happen, anything to happen. The expanse of field between the men and the escapees was vast, but they were fully aware that these specially-trained men would be armed with guns, and fully capable of using them across large distances.

After a while, Jamie lost concentration. He transferred his energy to focusing on other things, sounds in the distance like the chirping of birds and the wind through the nearby trees. Amongst these sounds he picked up something else, a rustle that didn't quite match the rest of the sounds he had been tuning in on. He convinced himself that he was simply being overly-anxious, telling himself he was tired because of the trauma he had experienced recently.

He was wrong.

He should have trusted his instincts.

Suddenly Paul was jerked back when a large hand grabbed his shoulder. Panic shot through Jamie's veins and Paul seemed too stunned to defend himself. In fact, he didn't look as if defending himself was even crossing his mind.

Finally, Paul acted, but not in the way that Jamie had expected him to. "Oh, Will, I'm so glad you made it out too. Where are the others? Did you see anyone else?" Paul whispered. Jamie soon recognised the man as one of the rebels that broke into the lab building with Paul.

"I came across some of the other's, but it looks like I wasn't the first to find them. They're all..." Will hesitated.

"Dead?" Paul asked, but it was obvious that he already knew the answer.

Tensing his strong jaw, Will nodded just enough for it to be visible. "What are you doing here anyway? It's not safe, any of the rejuvenation could have found you here."

"We were planning on getting under the shelter of the trees, but we need some kind of distraction," Paul explained, "any ideas?"

"Not any sensible ones."

Jamie zoned out at some point during their discussion, he just wanted all this to be over, he just wanted to see his parents again. When he tuned back in to the conversation, neither of the adults appeared to have improved their plan.

"We need to come up with something, and fast, every second we waste-"

BANG!

Will didn't manage to finish his sentence. Once Jamie managed to regain control of his senses, he heard and saw Paul fist fighting with a figure whom Jamie didn't recognise, he was too slender and too pale to be Will. Jamie glanced towards the ground where a dark object lay, realising it was a gun, Jamie grabbed it and threw it into the trees. He didn't want it to get into the wrong hands.

By the time he had turned around, the figure who was fighting with Paul was already on the ground and presumably unconscious- apparently not quite as well trained as the others of his kind. Paul twirled around and intensively checked Jamie for any injuries- it seemed that he had forgotten the infinosil which had seemed to work on healing his previous bullet wound. Paul's next instinct was looking for Will. "Will? Will? Where are you buddy?"

The only response was a slight grunt coming from deep within the shadows of the building. "Oh no," Paul thought, "not Will, no, not Will, please not Will." It seemed that Paul's wishes weren't answered, he felt around in the shadows and found Will slouching against the wall. Pulling him away from the darkest parts of the shadows, it was soon obvious what the 'bang' was. Blood was oozing from a gaping hole in his stomach, blood almost as dark as Will's own ebony-coloured skin.

"Will, everything's gonna be okay, alright? We just need to get to the woods before they find us here and we'll find something to patch this up with, okay?" Paul assured Will, while putting pressure on the wound.

"I can distract them." Jamie suggested, his advantage of apparent self-healing abilities only just dawning on him. "They can't hurt me, I'll heal."

"As much as I admire your bravery Jamie, we can't be sure why you healed and if the same would happen again. Besides, you won't be able to make it to the trees with us, they'll just follow you."

"He's right." Will explained, surprisingly unaffected by Jamie claiming to have healing powers. Jamie guessed it was the least of his worries right now.

"But you need help Will, and we're running out of time, it's a miracle they haven't found us alr-"

"Go without me," Will interrupted Jamie, "I'll just slow you down."

"Don't be stupid, we're not leaving you here." Paul insisted.

"Paul, please." Will pleaded, looking into Paul's eyes and begging him to understand.

Paul did understand. Will's wife had died in a fire two years after their first and only child was born. His child, Demi, was his world. Demi was one of the children who were taken, Will now knew Demi to be dead. Will didn't think he had anything else to live for.

"I need to be with my family."

"But..."

"Jamie needs you, you're all he's got, keep him safe. Keep him safe like I couldn't keep my precious Demi safe."

Without giving Paul enough time to weigh up the options, Will stepped out of the shadows and into the view of the armed men, exposing himself to their wrath. Paul knew that any attempt at saving Will now would be futile, and deep down he knew that Will needed this, this was what he wanted.

He ushered Jamie under the shelter of the trees, just as the deafening sound of gunfire sliced through the night, followed by the thud of Will's heavy body falling to the ground.

Neither Paul nor Jamie looked back.