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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 the 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.
The rousing dawn shaded the trees a gentle golden; glowing rays beaming through canopy of virescent leaves overhead. Nova traversed a path where none lay, as she stepped over sleeping roots, ducking under branches, and around bushes taller than her frame. Gazing up at the tall clustering trees, she felt fearless and free even beneath their shadows.
The greenery under her feet and surrounding her, was the same as she viewed far in the horizon from the city, but she never valued it quite as much as she was beginning to now.
For the first time in her life, she questioned the purpose of the steely cities in which citizens like herself trapped themselves. Because what lay beyond their cities' shrouded in glinting grey, the stale vibe and dreadful loneliness, was a beauty of life unparalleled, and forgotten by the citizens.
The vibrancy of each petal in bloom formed a vision more breathtaking than the images she had seen in books. Eager to remember the feel of lush grass massaging the soles of her feet, Nova slipped off her ankle boots and hooked them on her belt. Her ears imitated Floyd's chiding at her actions as these, but she was beyond the point of being bothered.
She strolled almost aimlessly in awe of nature's comforting silence—such a stark contrast to the silence associated with loneliness in their city. Each leaf dancing in the morning breeze, stroking her braided hair, swaying to the chirping of birds and the waking buzz of insects—and the growling of a creature growing closer.
She glued her back to a tree's trunk, her fingertips digging deeply into the bark, as Nova quietened herself, not caring about the thorns pricking her palms. She fixed her stare on the rustling bushes; although her anxiety blazed, it did with a blend of curiosity.
The hair on the base of her neck stiffened to attention, as the rustling of the bushes was replaced by a warning growl. She needed no other sign, as she sprinted barefeet deep in the forest, glancing back at a flurry of giant dark fur which pounced towards her.
Her heart pounded harder and louder than the paws of the creature hauntingly hot on her trail. She ran, staring behind her, the colours and shapes of the trees merging into one, only shaded by the shadowy creature. Twisting around the clustering trees, her hair getting caught into the leafy branches.
The lush grassy carpet under her feet hardened to pebbles, as the silent leaves drowned into the roaring rush of the cool stream kissing the rocks protruding and embedded at its sides, almost as if seeking to soften the sharp edges.
She turned away from her path and towards the vibrant meadows alongside the river, while the birds gliding across the golden lit sky of the early hours chirped a symphony; harmonious but not calming as it would have been if the beast was not chasing her.
Nova slipped on a wet patch, scraping her palms across the grassy land, scrambling back, as the creature emerged from the cover of bushes, growling threateningly, and landing a few feet away from her.
She shuffled backwards, but the giant feline creature still stalked her, baring its sharp teeth menacingly, resting its furry paw near her barefoot, as its claw grazed her toe. It glared at Nova with eyes the colour of the darkest black, stretching its neck forward.
A fallen branch to the side caught her sight, as she tried dragging her hand across the coarse yet comforting texture of the ground, but it snarled in warning. It crouched and pounced upon her; a shriek bubbled from her throat, as the creature's hooked claws and teeth retracted inside its skin, its spine elongating and limbs lengthening, while the bones in his fierce feline face restructured into a human's.
Nova blinked, and in a blink, replacing the ferocious beast was a young man with rough dark hair crouching over her, holding a dagger to her neck. His eyes darker than his fur had been, pierced into Nova's with the same hatred he held when he brandished the knife at her in underground clinic at the Shielders' facility.
