All The Lies We Told Ourselves

5 - The Red Line

Rue

*****

March 1st, Saturday

"It smells like someone died in here." Reid said. The old apartment complex near the market square was empty, and now I knew why. A smell of rotting meat flew about the room.

Our group, made up of five others in addition to me Reid and Amity, quickly looked through the rooms to make sure they were empty. With how old the building was, I wasn't surprised that some of the rooms were almost inaccessible due to fallen debris, detached roof beams and light fixtures. In one of the rooms we had to crouch under a structure that seemed to be the second floor, partially collapsed in.

When the rooms had been checked out, we returned to the lobby, where a door would lead us to the backrooms and from there a staircase down into the basement. In the basement, at the center of the floor would be a red x. That would be our target.

"Austin confirmed that the area has been checked. No guards nearby." Amity said, walking in. "Have the explosives been set in place?"

"Yes." I confirmed and we found our spots behind a supportive concrete wall, the one least likely to collapse with the explosion. Amity had estimated that the sound of the explosion, when blasted from the basement, would reach around 150 feet outside the building, so we had to be quick.

"All set. Detonating in three-"

I ducked behind the wall and covered my ears. Reid and I glanced at each other and it made us laugh. This was something we had waited for all week.

"Two-"

The dust settled and the last moments of complete silence seemed to last forever. My insides felt electrified, like particles moving in boiling water. I glanced out through the dusty window into the afternoon and saw it was still bright outside. A figure walked in the street, around a hundred feet away, and when it was already gone, I noticed its color, solid navy blue inside the outlines.

"One-"

"Wait!" I yelled, reaching out to Amity, but she had pressed the button already. The explosion cut the air, only for a short moment, reaching into each corner and cavity of the room. It shook the walls and sent a pressure wave around it, as if moving the earth out of place and back into place again.

"There's a guard." I said, still disoriented from the blast. Reaching out at the last minute, I hadn't covered my ears. Everyone stood up in a haste, not having planned for something like that. The guards were supposed to have been dealt with.

"Hide somewhere and we meet in the room with the collapsed ceiling later. I'll go into the basement, in case he finds it." I said.

"And if he does?" Reid said.

I didn't know what to say. On our operations, I was always sure. My aim was to have at least two plans, in case the other one failed. But I had not planned for this. If the guard was to find the basement, it would be him or the whole cause. And I was not ready to kill anyone.

"I'll figure it out." I said. Reid looked like he noticed the uncertainty in my voice, but there was no time, so I made it towards the backrooms.

***

I found my way into the basement, which was covered almost completely in smoke. I crouched down to the ground, where it was thinnest, trying to suppress my coughs. I couldn't see the sight left by the explosion but I stuck to the front of the room, to avoid trouble.

Something hot and scalding hit my calf, spreading around a pain that reached the bone. I pointed my flashlight towards it. It was a metal rod sticking out of the ground, heated by the explosion. My leg was red and raw where I had hit it, showing through the newly made hole in my jeans.