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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The leaves rustled overheard, while twigs snapped beneath twelve pairs of austere boots intermittently, as a company of Shielders trudged through the dense summer forest, a place beyond their comfort.
"There's nothing in this area, Chief." Mel, a Shielder of the same year as Nova's, pointed her automatic firearm to the bushes towards the left, and returned towards the front.
"I hate green." Blaine spoke to himself, muttering under his breath disgustedly.
"We have to find him at any cost." Floyd spoke, adjusting the travel bag more firmly on his back. "Or the Mayor will have my head."
Nova rolled up the sleeves of her jacket, the uniform of the Shielders, and frowned up at the glaring sun, wiping sweat from her face, while Floyd's troubled gaze found hers. It was no more a simple search mission, on which they'd set three days ago, traveling the sprawling, dense forests on foot and no back up, far and farther away from their city; crossing rivers and even the mountain she had only ever seen in the setting horizon.
"Heath could not have gone farther from here." Max, an astonishing resemblance of Mel in appearance, mused.
"He could not have had any reason to leave the city alone; so why did he?" Blaine asked no one in particular, while he suffered from his distaste of all shades of green.
Why did he indeed... Nova looked away from the group, stretching her arms as chain marks on her wrists grabbed her sight like a reminder. An unsightly, bluish, conflicting reminder of the day she had ventured into the wilds' city.
"Release me!" Nova yelled, tugging at the rusty chains bounding her wrists to the grimy wall, and prisoning her in a tiny, stinking cell with no space to stand.
She screamed, "I am not a spy; I came in peace." but not a single wild responded or even considered her plea to be the truth. She did not blame them, for how could they trust her when citizens betrayed them decades ago. And she was a citizen.
She traced the bruises, less dark now than they were four days earlier on receiving; and pulled her jacket sleeve down to cover them. From her eye's corner, she caught a moving flash of a blurry black figure, and snapped her head in the direction, while clutching the hilt of the automatic firearm, hanging from her shoulder.
"We have him; we lured the brat out of the steel! He's in the west, going to the hill."
A wild panted, bending on his knees to catch his breath, interrupting the man who'd chased Nova in his beastly form from interrogating her further. The man spared her a last look and hastened out, ordering the wilds stationed outside to keep a watch on Nova till he returned.
