2634: Dalmore

Chapter 20

My heart begins to throb and my lips quiver in panic. I shove the radio into my pocket as I charge into the crowd. My body slams into a woman who begins to grasp my hands, muttering things about a wall. Her eyes speak with a coldness. The woman is frail and she almost reminds me of an older Zion. I had failed Zion. I blink again trying to remove the thought, the chattering  rings against my ears and I loosen the grasp of the woman. I move through the hostages and I’m on my toes to spot a transport. There were several Jets and Bikes but most were AIC’s, they could easily track me. My eyes settle slowly on a relic from before the war. My eyes adjust, it is a rusted Jeep. I gaze around for any other transportation but there are none. This is my best shot. I begin to run as the stench of blood and sweat disappears, I move closer to the Jeep. I can hear a clamour behind me. People shouting my name, begging for help but I ignore it. I have to ignore it.

I leap into the Jeep and look at the controls. Where is the auto control? I scan around for  a big red button and a realization hits me. Vehicles were controlled with a different system back then. I stare at the steering wheel and my eyes peer down to the accelerator. I gulp and I look back at the crowd. I twist the keys and the jeep instantly powers up. The lights begin to flicker as the hostages gaze at it, blinking emotionless.
“Ok. I can do this,” I reassure myself
“Adria what the hell are you doing?” Alec shouts behind me, Benji woofs behind him.
I turn around to see a running Kyle heading towards me, “Adria you can’t leave, the hostages!”
I shake my head, “The hostages can live without me right now”
I place my hands on the wheel and step on the accelerator. Instantly a song starts playing on the radio.
Redan road, that’s my street
They laugh and scream and they leap
Into the star system
Damn it, I'm done
Turned into the good guy
Dump that crap in the jeep
I try adjusting the dial on the dashboard to turn it off. Unfortunately the jeep has other ideas and decides to keep on playing.
Once more into the fray, once more into the fray!
I'ma do the right thing though, take the shock anyway
Knees dug deep into the pavement
I leap into the jeep
What I want right now is to leap out of this jeep. At this point I’m banging on the dashboard to shut up but of course it doesn't stop. 
This is what the devil plays before he goes to sleep
Leap above the street and splatter on the concrete,
I leap into the jeep
With a sick freak! who gives head in a jeep!
Hot whips somethin cold on my feet
Thuggin' till the day i die
You must think that i’m bleeding

I leap into the jeep

The dam comes into view and I turn off the car but the damn radio keeps on playing the song. I look further ahead but I can't see Soren nor Feyer. Blood rushes to my face, what if I’m too late.
Once more into the fray, once more into the fray!
I'ma do the right thing though, take the shock anyway
Knees dug deep into the pavement
I leap into the jeep
Angered, I grab my knife out and stab the car stereo to death. Finally the song stops just as the sun dies down, I climb out of the jeep. Making sure I don't leap out, in case the song decides to micacuolisy start playing.  I take my gun out of the dashboard and hide it in my inner pocket. Just in case. I can hear the water flowing, smashing against the rocks about one kilometer away. I jog towards the sound trying my best to avoid any unnecessary attention. My eyes scan the sandy desert and the water droplets overflowing onto the dam. Where is he? I can feel my heart beating quicker as I try to spot Soren.
“Turn around, Merrick”
When I turn around, there's a gun aimed directly at my face. I lock my gaze on Feyrer. His face is dug with many scars bleeding onto his chin. His hair is loosely covered by a hood. I search the area for Soren, but he is nowhere to be seen. My heart is pounding against the inside of my chest. I’m too late.
“Don’t worry Merrick. Your friend’s safe. I’ll have to deal with you first,” He grins, his yellowed teeth showing
My heart beats slower, “Let him go. He’s useless.”
“Merrick. I'm not a moron. He grins coldly, "Besides, murdering two of you would help me disseminate hope to the rest of The AIC."
“I wouldn’t trust Jaxon to do your dirty work. After all, he’s dead”
His eyes darken for a moment but he smiles once more, “He wanted to spare you. Poor Jaxon. He told me you could have been my greatest weapon. Pity. Now move to the dam. So I can kill you already!” He swishes the rifle around in his hands.
We both begin moving towards the dam, with me surrendering my hands up. I can feel the heat on my face as my body swoons with sweat. "No funny business," Feyrer says as I turn around, his blade nonchalantly dangling from his pocket.
As we get closer to the dam, my legs start to shake as we climb higher and higher up the hill. I grin as I stare at the rock next to me. I grab Angrove’s gun from my inside pocket and sprint for the enormous rock. Feyrer immediately takes shelter, I start shooting and miss his head by inches. I was running out of energy and felt an ache in my abdomen. I re-aim the gun at Feyrer, but he strangely kneels down and begins reaching into his pocket. After a little pause, I notice he is holding an oval object in his hand. It's a grenade! As it explodes a metre away from me, I duck to the side. Just missing me. I bump into a figure.
“Ria!”
I turn around, ready to shoot the gun. My gun points in the middle of the figure.
“Soren!” I exclaim with relief, dropping the gun.
He grins and starts to reach into his jacket. Soren was kneeling a few inches away from me and even though Feyrer was escaping, my heart begins to slow down.
“How did you get out?!” I ask.
“Feyrer may be the head of The AIC but I know how to easily get out of a loosely tied knot,” He says.
I smile at him as my eyes scan for the blondie. Zion. I shake my head before remembering what happened. I begin to look for Feyrer. Soren stares at me for a moment with a gun in his hand. His eyebrows are furrowed like he could rip Feyrers throat any day now. I look back, Feyrer is standing behind me. Soren suddenly raises his gun and prepares to fire at Feyrer. I load the extra bullets into my gun and check if it is ready to fire. My hands grip the gun tightly, preparing to shoot The AIC’s leader right in the head for sure this time. He has, however, left. I'm terrified since there's a killer on the loose, but then I notice a dent in the flames caused by the explosion. I chuckle as I observe a shadow fleeing the scene and away from the flames. I start firing right away, but the pistol produces a clicking noise. I smash the rifle down on the ground and re-aim. Damn it, I ran out of bullets. “Crap. I’m out of bullets. I’m chasing him,” I say about to run. I grab the knife in my pocket.
Soren pulls me down, his hand grasping my wrists and warns, “Ria. You have no weapon. I’ll chase him. You stay here and get back up”
“I do,” I lift up my knife.
“That’s not going to help us. Go get back up,”
Sorens eyes interlock with mine for a moment as he loads his gun. Soren races after Feyrer and is quickly consumed by the flames.  Back up? I didn’t bring back up? Is he serious? We could easily take down Feyrer together, I think to myself. I close my eyes for a moment as I hear Soren sprint off into the distance. The heat prickles my skin as I plunge into the flames, yet I keep moving ahead. As the smoke starts to crawl up my nostrils, I have an impulse to stop and rest amid the flames, but I ignore it.
I make it out of the flames and notice two figures at the dam's edge. Feyrer was on the verge of collapsing, yet he appears to be talking. Sorens gun is held beside him. Feyrer grins at me with his hand raised, I jog closer to both of them. Soren raises his gun, instantly as he spots me. I try to mouth something but he doesn’t see this. I notice Feyrer's hood is gone, and Soren is covered in scorch marks, yet his gun is aimed squarely at Feyrer's chest.
“Feyrer. Surrender. We have a sniper about 3 km out. We can easily shoot you down this dam,” I lie.
He begins to laugh, blood spews out from his mouth, “Snipers? Really Adria! You're a bad liar just like your parents! But if you want to. Go ahead, shoot. I'll really enjoy when the bullet goes through your friends chest”
With the mention of my parents, my heart drops, but I attempt to stand up straight. I direct my gaze at Soren, but he does not reciprocate it. Feyrer is his main focus. Soren's gun is still aimed at Feyrer's chest, but it is trembling and about to fall out of his grip.
“Soren shoot him!” I beg, knowing he couldn’t do it. There’s an unevenness to my voice.
Soren doesn’t shoot instead he stares at Feyrer and Feyrer grins manipulatively, “Are you seriously going to shoot Soren? Are you going to follow Adria? How do you know the rebellion isn’t going to fail like last time? This time with a sixteen year old girl as its leader”
“Shut up!” Soren roars
“Soren, give me your gun. I’ll kill him,” I say, I know I can kill him this time.
As he adjusts the gun, Soren turns around and looks at me. I'm tempted to say something since his eyes are filled with anguish, but I keep my lips shut. Soren's attention returns to Feyrer. Before I'm aware of it. Feyrer snatches Soren and leaps into the dam. I grab Soren's hand as swiftly as I can. Feyrer still has a firm grip on soren . He's attempting to shake Feyrer free, but the man has an iron grip. My hand tightens as I try to climb higher, but my arm begins to ache. I glance down at the dam and see the never-ending hole as the weight becomes too great to bear. My heart starts to beat faster as my hand loosens. I'm sick and nauseous. How high have we climbed? As my hand sweats, Soren raises his eyes to mine. His face is flushed with sweat, and his gaze is on the verge of tearing with the pressure.
“I won’t let go,” I reassure.
“Let me go,” Soren says as he looks down at Feyrer and looks back up, smiling at me.
As he continues to utter something I don't understand, I try to climb upwards, but Soren's grip on my finger loosens. He hangs on by a finger, he trys to let go of me but I use my other hand to intervene his fall. Feyrer is laughing. As Soren's hand starts to loosen, a tear drops from his eye. He grabs the knife with his spare fingers and cuts my hand. Upon the shock I let him go. Soren and Feyrer start diving headfirst into the dam. I can't hear Soren when he yells something. I stand there watching them plummet 30 feet. Their bodies flutter in the air like feathers. As I cry out Soren's name, my throat starts to hurt. I watch Soren's body vanish into the pit of darkness, I can feel the hot water trinkle down my face. Feyrer had won in his own way. I was responsible for another death. The bloodied knife sits at the edge of the dam. There is one thing left to do.