Retrospect

Thirty-four

   The officers, dressed in all black, were scouring the entire building. One of them threw a man down to the ground and began searching him. The music from the aquarium still thumped the room, blaring over everything the chaos that had broken out and the strobe lights flashed, disorienting me as I cut through the forest of people.

   "This way," Malachi signaled, moving swiftly around the perimeter of the crowd. Murl followed him and I followed Murl, keeping an eye on Miles who was hauling a now unconscious Ana.

   The officers were too busy to notice us slipping out, right from their grasp and Malachi led us to the main entrance of the aquarium. He paused then and held a hand out so we'd stop too. "Not yet," he warned.

   Shouts exploded from the crowd and I turned my head to see that one of the officers had saw and recognized us. A bullet whizzed by my ear and Malachi yelled. "Now!"

   I almost pushed Murl over to avoid the shots that were now firing off rapidly and we all ducked low, letting the river of civilians carry us along and out the entrance. Problem was, four officers were already waiting outside with guns aimed at us. Electricity buzzed from one of the weapons, causing me to draw back and accidentally bump into a woman who fell, tripping another woman.

   Murl took out a white sphere and pressed a button on it, causing orange lights to start blinking around it. He hurled it at the officers ahead of us, sailing over the innocent, Sera Section party-goers' heads. The bomb detonated with a loud crack as soon as it hit the ground, sending the four officers flying back into the air, and they each hit the street with a grunt. I was pretty sure I heard a pop from one of the officer's legs.

   The crowd of people outside of the aquarium parted, staring down at the officers curiously.

   "Go! Go!" Murl shouted, directing all of us in the direction of a man across the street, among the shadows of an alley. Reeves.

   I raced towards him without hesitation, thanking myself that I had cut the dress fabric and that I'd secretly worn my pants. I felt the cold wind whipped my hair and smacking my face once again, the smooth, Sera street underneath my shoeless feet. I never took my eyes off Reeves. Until a man with a black ponytail stepped in my path, grabbed my arm and spun me around, locking his arm tightly around my neck.

   "Finally! Finally her days of running are over!" Alvin's voice boomed in my ears as he brought me closer to him, constricting the air from reaching my lungs, "Rich was right. The reward for you, little girl, is too great to pass up." I reached into my bag. "Soon I'll have everything I've ever wanted!" My fingers closed around my pocket knife. "And you, Cory..." he lowered his voice, "you'll be with your parents. Dead."

   I stabbed his arm swiftly with my pocket knife and he scowled, releasing my neck which gave me the perfect opportunity to run. However, Alvin was quick to recover because he grabbed my hair and yanked me back to him. It felt like sharp needles sticking my scalp as he yanked me and I shut my eyes, tears springing to my eyes. "No running, Cory," he told me.

   I looked to where Reeves was and saw that Miles had made it over safely with Ana, and so had Malachi and Murl. Miles was watching me, wide-eyed as I was thrown to the ground. All of them were anxious to do something, but they saw the number of officers surrounding me now and knew they'd probably get themselves killed trying to help me.

   Glancing up at Miles, I saw him tell something to Murl and Reeves, then hand off the responsibility of holding Ana to Murl.

   "Face forward!" Alvin spat, stepping on and crushing my leg. I listened, wincing as gloved hands began strapping something cool around my neck.