The Afterward

Chapter Nine - Lost Soldier

TUNDRA POV.

I don't know what to do. We're still tramping around trying to find a safe place to hide. "We haven't got many weapons. I left all mine behind," says Kitty to me, and I look down at my belt. "Well, I have pepper spray and a taser." she shakes her head. "You mean, a taser that will eventually run out of battery and pepper spray that we could lose."

"That's a nice thought," I said sarcastically, "Continuing on that topic, how about we find someplace to sleep? I'm tired." 

Parth nods along sleepily, obviously spurred on by the thought of finding a cozy, warm place to sleep. We've been walking in circles for a while and now it's probably noon. Yesterday's taken a toll on the group, and the casino's still smoking behind us as we make our way to some safe place that we can stay in, at least until everything dies down.

Soon enough, we get to the wall. It's looming in front of us like a fence we can't climb, and the idea of any armed guards staring back at us in the city isn't comforting. Deciding to rest there for the day, we all lean against anything available and slowly drift off, the buildings around us blocking the sun from blinding us. It's only ten minutes into this sleep that I hear someone shuffling around. 

"Who's there?" I get up with a yawn and wipe the sleep from my eyes. Everything's sort of blurry because I can't be bothered opening my eyes all the way, in fact all I can see is just slits of light and blurry motion. Weird. Nothing's supposed to be moving out here.

I barely leave the ground before I feel something crashing into me. Holy crap-- what?

Someone's tackled me and I finally get to see them; some armored, uniformed soldier is trying to take me down and stun me. Kitty and Parth scramble awake, and Parth takes the liberty of the moment to bolt into a separate alleyway. Me and the soldier are still wrestling for one of the soldier's knives while Kitty also throws herself into the tussle, and then we all hear a loud whirring noise. Then Parth-- while screaming at the top of his lungs-- can be seen running toward us with a chainsaw in hand. "GET AWAY!"

Me and Kitty roll out of the way and the soldier runs straight to Parth, only for him to throw the chainsaw at them. It skitters away, missing the target, and then some sort of electric bolt shoots from the soldier's wrist and sends Parth crashing to the floor.

"PARTH!" Kitty turns to face me. "What now?"

"I'll lead them away. Get him help!" And I rush off, the soldier in hot pursuit.

Then I realize; the soldier wants me, and me alone. Never mind that, I'm not going down without a fight. I can't see anything I can hide behind or under, and I'm running out of energy. the soldier, on the other hand, is keeping their pace. How is that even possible? Then again, the Capitol's guard only consists of the most skilled, smart and strong soldiers, so I don't think running out of breath in chases like this is really an option. I dive for a shadowed area and the soldier, who's looking around in a frenzy, can't see me. They don't turn their head anywhere near where I've hidden.

They press something on the side of their helmet and then they can see me, because they start to run toward me, and I turn away, bracing for anything--

"Oof!" I hear a loud thump and then I open my eyes to see the soldier on the floor, not moving. Standing over them is a woman. A zebra. I don't really know any zebras, but she gestures or me to follow her and I can't help but obey. I mean, anyone would follow this woman if she saved them, right?

"That was a close one," I say as I follow her, "We need to go back. Alert my friends that this guy's out cold." I nod at the soldier. She shakes her head and walks to them, picking them up by the arms and dragging them to a nearby wall. 

"Nope," says the woman, "I'm getting your friends and then we're taking this rookie with us." And she taps on the soldier's helmet. "Check them for any weapons and take them."

"Hey!" I shout as she starts to walk away. Now that I can see her more clearly, she' s got a mohawk-like mane, a squared jaw and a red hoodie on. "Are you a rebel or not?"

She smiles back. "Oh, I'm a rebel all right, Ma'am."

The soldier has a lot of weapons. Throwing stars, that weird taser-like thing on their wrist they used to hurt Parth, and even a hidden sharp disc on their shoulder. We, I'm assuming it's a weapon, but regardless I take it anyway, just to be sure. I'm sure there aren't any weapons inside the armor, because that would be a hassle to take out, right?

Once I'm sure that the weapons are gone and safely tucked in my pockets or belt, I tap on the helmet. The visor that's attached is slightly cracked, but the soldier is still and doesn't move. What did that zebra woman even do to knock someone out like this? Even through a helmet, it would have taken at least a few hits to do that sort of thing. She didn't have any weapons, either.

Meh. That's a problem for later. One thing I notice about the armor is that there are weird black markings on it - like this soldier is special or something. Maybe it's some sort of rank indicator, so having the Capitol themselves sending one of their best soldiers to take me down is really an honor in itself. 

The zebra hasn't come back yet, so I decide to crouch down to the soldier's level and look closely at their helmet. There's two buttons on the sides and I press both. When doing so I hear a faint click, and the helmet comes loose.

Under the helmet's a fox with curled ears and slim features. Not a red one like Foxy, but one of those arctic foxes with their white fur. The soldier's also wearing a blue scarf, but there's not much else to note. 

"Hm." I'd say she'd be fairly pretty if she wasn't trying to kill me. "Tundra!" Kitty and the zebra bound over along with Parth, who's rubbing his head, sort of fazed as if he had no idea what we were doing. "Is this our stalker, huh?" the zebra bends down and taps the soldier on the forehead. "You gonna get up anytime soon, Sleeping Beauty?"

"Hey, we need a ride back to the Base," Parth says, "And we'd appreciate it if we brought her with us," I say quickly, pointing to the soldier. It's not like I want to hurt her or anything, but I want to know who she is and why she was sent after me. Maybe she had another target in mind and just deviated when she saw me, deciding to take the 'kill two birds with one stone' route. The zebra nods and says, "Follow me."

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Okay! Chapter Nine done! Now onto the real pain haha

Fun Fact: I've actually just brainstormed ideas for characters, and made up the story as I went. It's (thankfully) still going. Gee, those improvising classes sure came in handy!

Anyways, have a good day/night and I'll see you all soon!