Our World Of Stars And Fireflies

Chapter 5- Brotherhood

Everybody stood quietly. Thomas stood, mouth open, wide eyed, staring at Karlson. Charlie's heart beat wildly in his chest. He couldn't...he wouldn't...

Thomas had been Charlie's best friend for years. When his Dad had died, Charlie had been there for Thomas. When Charlie was having a rough patch with school, Thomas had been there to help him. There may have been lots of arguing about how to do maths but Thomas had usually won those fights. Charlie couldn't just pull a trigger to end all of that. He couldn't. A gun had ruined his life once before and Charlie had promised himself to never let anyone hurt the people he love again. Charlie had promised to Thomas no harm would ever come to him as long as he lived. Now Karlson was telling him he had to pull the trigger. He wouldn't. Charlie lowered his gun.

"No." Karlson smirked.

"I will not kill a fellow soldier." Charlie glared at Karlson defiantely. His hands trembled, sweating onto the now warm metal of the gun. He would not use it. To prove his point he threw the weapon down. Karlson stood silently.

"You... are all so pathetic. What, you're too good to kill someone?" There was a short pause. Charlie stepped forward, putting himself just behind Sadie and Thomas.

"I am not going to let you kill my brother."

"Then you stand in my way, in America's way." With an unprofound speed Karlson whipped a pistol from a holster, hidden behind him.

BANG!

Thomas slammed his eyes shut and waited for the pain, but it never came. He opened his eyes and looked at Charlie. There was blood staining his chest. Thomas shook in pain. His heart ripped.

"Tom?" Charlie's eyes filled with tears as he stumbled. Thomas caught him and gently lowered him to the ground.

"Charlie...Charlie. Charlie!" Thomas pressed his hand against the bullet hole in Charlie's chest to try and reduce the amount of blood Charlie was losing. Charlie grabbed his wrist, his breathing was laboured and uneven, he was gasping for air and his face was screwed up with pain.

"You see, Thomas. If you had just done what you were told, if you had just left her alone, everything would be alright." Thomas shook with sadness. He wouldn't lose Charlie. Charlie would not die for him. Karlson would not win, no matter what he said. Thomas felt Charlie squeeze his wrist, pressing something into his palm. Looking down he saw Charlie with a pained smile.

"Tom. Go." He opened his hand to reveal what he was holding.

Karlson was tired of this pity party. He turned to one of the soldiers.

"Kill him and bring her back to the lab." The soldier saluted. They were both about to turn away, when they heard a quiet sound of metal hitting the ground in front of them. They looked down.

"GRENADE!"

As the men scrabbled away the grenade blew up. Sadie, Thomas and Charlie had hauled themselves behind a few vehicles to hide from the blast. All three of them got up and ran for the vacant bikes.Charlie staggered forwards in pain, clutching at various vehicles to steady himself. At that moment, he looked at Thomas and Sadie. He knew what Thomas had been asking. Several times he had been debriefed about the importance of this girl. Something about her was a massive threat to Karlson, something she knew had made him nearly insane. 

Breathing lightly, he decided what he needed to do. 

Sadie and Thomas saddled themselves on two vehicles and revved the engines. Charlie stood firing at the soldiers manning the towers. He paused only to throw Thomas a pistol and handed Sadie a knife, pausing briefly before going back to gunning with a pistol he had picked from one of the bike bags. Thomas yelled at Charlie, begging him to get on the bike. Charlie grabbed Thomas.