Children's Games: A Story of Modern Punishment

Chapter 30 - Emilia

~Emilia~

Jonny had both hands on the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white. She held onto the hem of his shirt as the truck knocked them around. She was too unstable to move and put her seatbelt on. They were spending too much time with at least one wheel off the ground, and the ice-cold air coursing past them mimicked terror.

She was back in Fimiston. The train that allowed her escape shook, glass shards flying through the air. Matthew and Florence flew through the air at the same moment that the chips in their arms exploded, green poison infecting their blood. Luckily, Jonny's face was only paler than normal, but the lack of fear on his face meant that he was still alive.

Fimiston was reduced to nothingness, nuclear weapons imploding then exploding. Home wasn't quite there yet, emerging from the smoke unscathed. But there was still too much light engulfing the city for being in the middle of the night. One look at the people around her, serious and calm yet alert and manic... it made her forget her fears.

There were two other people in the front seat of the truck, all crammed onto the bench and pushing against each other. The truck lurched again as they swerved onto an asphalt road, flooring it like there was no tomorrow.

It seemed like it had only been minutes by the time they were close enough to the SunTrust building to see that it was dark and quiet, safe from the missiles. Two more hits had shaken the city, collapsing buildings nearby.

"It looks like they've hit the airport!" Jonny yelled. "When we get there..."

His tone was calm, but his eyes looked scattered, cutting him off from explaining more. Emilia kept her eyes locked forward, trying not to let his nervousness distract her.

When they swerved to a skidding stop in front of the building, they realised that most of the people were already out of the building and piling into similar military trucks. They were dragging bags or lugging children over their shoulders, loading their most prized possessions into the trucks. There was no noise except for the confused distressed calls of children while their ears popped through the smoke in the air, brought on by the faint sounds of buildings collapsing somewhere in the distance. A plane sped through the city a few streets over, causing everyone to freeze as a new fire was ignited nearby.

"Go, go go!!!"

They jumped out of the truck, darting in every direction to help pile their things into the truck and getting everyone moving to make their way to the bunkers. Emilia spotted Elliot unloading some heavy-duty equipment.

"Elliot!"

He looked around frantically until his eyes locked in on her jogging towards him. His auburn hair looked brown in the ill-lit area, but his red facial hair was as vibrant as ever to match the fright in his eyes. In that moment he looked like he did when they were first reunited; he was about to embrace her, beyond entranced to see her.

Then Jonny was storming past her, getting to Elliot first and pulling him away from the equipment that she quickly saw was heavy duty missiles. Elliot stumbled to the ground, steam coming out of his ears as he glared at the captain.

"Don't be fucking stupid!" Jonny yelled while the ground shook beneath them as another building was hit. The silent air was filled with screams once more and one of the trucks took off at high speeds. "Nuclear ones will be next," Jonny yelled, pulling Elliot up off the ground and grabbing his head to force him to look him in the eye. "Our only chance is to get undercover you fuckin' twat!"

Elliot nodded, realising his mistake but anger remained burning behind his eyes. Emilia glanced again at the missiles, strapped with a million warning signs in several different languages. Jonny was right, they would be no match against a nuclear weapon, counterproductive.