Breaking Barriers

While The World Burned

Koshi Doxter:

After the initial euphoria of winning at Boston wore off, reality sank in harder than a stone. Outside of Boston, innocent creatures were still at the mercy of a madman, people were still being killed in droves for being of "inadequate descent"and bombs still fell all around us. They seemed to get closer and closer each night.

Tonight, the bombs shook dust from our ceiling, letting it fall like the snow of destruction onto our heads, and sent thick gray plumes of smoke into the air, obscuring our vision and turning day into night.

"Everyone, to the basement!" The Captain roared over the ear-splitting bangs of the bombs dropping and the blaring squeals of the air-raid sirens.

"But-" Mr Alex hollered, trying to make himself heard over the noises of a bombing. Noises that we'd all grown used to.

"There's a higher chance we'll be blown to smithereens than seen!" The Captain roared back, and no one argued. The pounding of our feet against stairwell after stairwell nearly drowned out the sound of the air raid, and once we got to the ground floor, I felt a pant of longing. If only I could open that door, step outside, and breathe in the fresh air that I craved, just one breath. But that was wishful thinking. If I or anyone else put a toe out of this place, we were likely end up A. Riddled by the bullets of the Purenkorps or B. Blown to pieces by a German bomb, so down into the basement I went.

The basement was damp and cold with mold creeping down the walls and it seemed to be quaking with fear like we were even though the sounds of the bombing seemed muffled and there wasn't a single crack in the walls.

It was so cold in fact, that some of us had already begun to shiver, and the Captain had taken his shirt off and draped it over Kwazii's shoulders

"Captain, " Kwazii sighed, shimmying out of the shirt that was way too large for him, "Don't give me your shirt, matey."

"You need it more than I do." The Captain replied, calm-eyed and patient-voiced. We had been sitting in there for hours, and the cold was starting to get to us. My paws felt like blocks of ice and my legs were stiff as the spine of a hardcover book. Even after the thuds and bangs from above stopped, we didn't dare go back upstairs for fear of being seen by the people the Puricians sent to clear up all the rubble, so we stayed frozen in place until we heard the thudding of two pairs of footsteps on the stairs. The Captain sprang to his feet far too nimbly for a man of his size, and began herding everyone towards the darkest corner of the basement.

The footsteps seemed to be getting closer and closer until they were only shadows in the distance. My heart practically stopped. This was it. The Puricians we're going to send us all to our deaths. I'll never see my family again.

"Barney!" The taller figure shined a beam of light towards us, "Don't try and hide from me, little brother! You're far too big to fit in that corner!"

"Bianca!" The Captain laughed in relief and immediately stood up and went to meet his twin sister. Mr. Sheprook wasn't that far behind her, already donning his security uniform.

"We've gotta get you all upstairs, now! The boss'll be coming in any moment."
He whispered as we all began to follow him upstairs, sighing in relief that we still had an office to stay in.

"Actually," Bianca looked shrewd, "The Purenkorps are gone, and there's a garden in the back of this that's out of view of the main road, are you thinking what In thinking?" Mr Sheprook looked thoughtful.

"They haven't seen the light in ages, and we'll watch for anyone passing by who might see, let's do it!" Instead of taking a dark hallway to Bianca's office like we did before, this time, we took another long hallway, but at the end of this one was a glass door that lead outside.

The second Bianca opened the door, I felt happier than I've been in months. The wind rolled past my head and tickled my ears, and the fresh air was like breathing in pure heaven. The fences around the little garden were high, but I felt freer than I've ever been. Lush green vines dotted with blossoming pink flowers covered the walls, and plants of all different shapes, colors, and sizes bloomed wherever you looked. I looked over the fence, grinning like a madwoman, only to have by heart drop into my shoes.

The sky was an ashy gray, and off in the distance, beyond the minefield of rubble were buildings. Buildings with jagged bomb scars and charred windows, and I immediately looked away. This war had already cost us and many others our homes, our lives, and our freedoms. I had a feeling this was only the beginning.