Entries for Write To Rank 2023 Contest by @Action
! NOVA : A Story In Snippets !
In a dystopian world where most lives are confined into walled steel cities, Nova - the daughter of the 13th City's renowned pharmacist, joins the Society of the Shield...
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Nova glanced around the small guards' room as she carefully entered the set of triple conjoined keys into the lock of the iron door before her, and twisted it twice to the right and once to the left, and punched the passcode on the adjacent keypad.
The concealed door leading out into the fields beyond the steel city, beeped loudly, and flashed red. She bit her nail, her fear increasing manifold with her rampant thoughts.
Her eyes flickered from the keypad to the door, waiting for it to open before anyone, more specifically her father discovered that she stole his identity card, door's key and passcode known only to the senior Shielders or the elite members of their thirteenth city.
The patrolling sirens wailed from distance, as her anxiety rocketed to breathless height. Escaping the facility was the least of her worry, in contrast to her leaving in search of the wilds, and risking her father's anger. Was it truly worth it?
She shuffled her foot inside her boot for her sole to rest more securely in it. She was still unsure of her reason for venturing out all alone, when the wilds were certain to seek their own fuming deliverance of justice upon her. Not that they would be unjustified in seeking so.
The thought of discarding her action as impulsive and foolish, and returning to the facility appealed to her more than ever before, as the light above the door kept flashing indecisively.
After a few more beeps, the obnoxious sound ceased into oblivion, and the metal door groaned open, breaking free from the rusty bonds. She breathed, preparing herself, knowing the door would shut in ten seconds of her pulling the keys from the lock.
Flexing her fingers, she allowed her impulses to take over her logical mind which still resounded the beeping in sync with the pounding beats of her anxious heart, creating a frightening melody to her personal little rebellion. She snatched the keys from the lock, dashing out through the parting of the iron door, and managed to slide out onto the grass before it thudded shut and the manual lock resumed its locked position to avoid conveying her whereabouts.
She huffed, a laugh bubbling out, her first in as far back as she could remember. She got up to her feet, turning to face the field in which her copter crashed during the first test of Shielders' training; six months earlier. The only time she had permission to be out here, if she did not count her trespassing the wilds' city to steal their gates' passcodes.
Uncertainty fluttered in her stomach and settled heavily; if she was to be doomed to a greet of hostility or awarded welcome by the wilds, Nova could not ascertain. Perhaps she did not want to. Shaking her head, she made her way towards the dense forest that lay afront her, between their steel city with its skyscraping towers casting shadows over the field and the wilds' home.
