End of the Suburbs

Chpt 19: Escape the Plaza

I break away from the hand's grasp on my shirt.
I take a step forward while swinging the dagger at the person.
He steps back then immediately tries to reach out.
I grab his hand and thrust my dagger for his abdomen.
He catches my hand then I realize,
it's V.
That would make for an interesting fight but it's not necessary.
We're on the same side.
I loosen my grip.
So does he.
"Sage is in trouble"I say.
"They drugged us and-"
I stop mid sentence.
Liz walks out from the back room.
Rage washes over me.
I charge her.
She tries to run but I'm faster.
I pin her against the wall and raise my dagger to her face.
I feel a hand on my arm.
It's V again.
"What are you doing?" he clamors
He snatches my arm away swiftly.
We lock in on each other.
In this moment the possibility of the fight happening doesn't seem so unnecessary.
"They drugged us. I have to find Sage." I say.
"Sage is safe."V says.
He gestures to the couch where I see Sage asleep
"Liz is helping us."he adds
He goes on to say, "Liz warned me. I was able to get Sage out. You and Casper were gone when I got there."
I let Liz go and apologize.
She's understanding.
I was only defending what I care about.
Liz explains how V came to see her and she told him everything.
Texas may seem like the perfect town.
In reality it's a trap.
Mayor Hardin made a deal with the Buzzards.
Buzzards are what the Skulkers think they are.
Twice as bad.
Twice as dangerous.
They ride motorcycles and stay mostly in the south.
They're the reason Texas built the wall. Infected weren't a problem, the Buzzards were.
According to the stories they take people they find outside of cities and bring them back to their land.
If you're strong enough they put you to work farming and doing manual labor.
If you're not they eat you.
Hardin captures scavengers or fighters who enter his city.
He trades them to the Buzzards in exchange for protection of his city.
Liz's job is to act normal and allow people to let their guard down.
"So you've let all these people get taken, what makes us different?" I ask
She doesn't respond.
I can tell she's flustered by the question.
There's a sound outside the door of a door slamming.
"We have to leave."she says
"We?" I ask skeptically.
"I can't stay here"she pleads.
"If they find out I helped you they-"
"That's not our problem." I interrupt.
I walk over towards the door.
"I know how to contact the reaper."she blurts out.
V slides in to block my path.
He's not angry.
His eyes are begging me to hear her out even though his mouth can't express the words.
I stop and turn.
"Fine. How do we get out of here?" I ask.
Despite whether or not she's trustworthy Liz's knowledge is useful.
First we have to get Sage awake.
I carry her over to the kitchen.
I grab one of the small rags hanging on the counter.
I turn on the sink soaking the rag then wring it out just enough that its not dripping.
I gently press it on Sage's face.
She sits up with a gasp.
"Hey." I say.
She smiles
Liz gathers a bag.
The next step is getting out of the building.
V opens the door carefully to check to see if it's clear.
He doesn't see anyone.
We head down the hall.
We can't use the elevator.
Liz gives us directions to the stairs.
The four of us head downstairs as fast and quietly as possible.
We get to the first floor.
The stairs are near the back door.
The bikes are parked near the front.
The only person in the front room is the man from the front desk.
Liz walks up to distract him.
V walks up.
It's clear he's surprised to see V.
"Is everything okay in your room?" the man asks nervously.
Without saying a word V reaches up and grabs his collar.
He pulls his head down slamming into the desk and knocking him unconscious.
It's early morning now.
The sun is barely on the horizon.
We can get out if we move out in the the shadows.
We get to the bikes and hop on.
V rides with Liz.
We take the back road towards the tunnel.
Liz says it's how the Reaper gets in.
We're outside now.
I whistle and listen.
A second later there's a howl.
It's coming from one of the buildings near the entrance.
"You have to go without me.I'll catch up." I say.
I can tell Sage is about to argue but hears the howl and just nods.
She understands.
I can't leave without Casper.
I hand her the twisted dagger and we go our separate ways.
I go towards the howling.
Archers are posted up top.
I realize that if Sage and V are going to make it out I have to take them out.
I climb the wall.
I'm quiet.
I manage to sneak up on one of them.
When he sees me it's too late.
I grab his ankles and pull him down.
I take his bow and quiver then toss him over the edge.
His fall alerts the other archers.
The one ahead of me aims his arrow and fires.
I catch the arrow when it comes.
I load my bow with the same arrow and send it right back at him.
Direct hit.
The other archers load their bows and fire.
The first one misses.
I fire an arrow back.
It hits him.
I dodge the second, barely maintaining my balance on the wall as I run towards him.
He reaches to reload but I'm there already.
I grab his elbow.
He tries to push back but I punch him knocking him off the wall.
Another arrow flies past my head from behind.
I turn and there's 3 more archers.
As they're reloading I load my bow fast and release.
The four of us fire at the same time.
I hit one and spin catching one of the arrows and dodging the other two
I immediately load and release firing and hitting one.
The last one is out of arrows.
I'm not.
I load my bow and release.
He tries to catch it but it scratches his hand before piercing his chest and he falls from the wall.
I whistle.
Casper howls in the building.
I rush towards him.
I look below and guards are starting to climb the wall.
I run further down.
There's a gap between the wall and the building.
It's about a 20 foot gap from the wall to the building.
I race down the wall as quickly and carefully.
I build up enough speed then jump.
I crash through the window.
I brush off the broken glass.
The room is closed in.
I open the door and step into the hall.
I whistle.
Left.
I run down the empty corridor.
I pass a flight of stairs.
The doors open and guards start to pour in.
I have to find another way down.
I keep running.
I make it to the end of the hall.
I'm trapped.
I turn to open one of the doors.
It's locked.
I try another.
Locked.
I go back to the door on the end of the hall and kick it open.
The room is full of supplies and weapons.
I barricades the door with one of the shelves and start to look around.
I grab one of the swords and break the back window.
I look down.
It's a long drop.
***Crash***
They break through the barricade with no trouble.
Men holding clubs and blades storm the room.
I can either jump or fight.
I jump.
I make sure to toss the sword down first before hopping out.
I hit the ground and roll.
I look up and see four of them peering over the edge.
One of them backs up. He's about to jump too.
I dive for the sword.
Just as he jumps out I angle the blade up impaling his body.
I turn away so the blood doesn't splatter in my face.
I rip the blade out and whistle again.
Casper howls.
He's close.
I rush into the building.
The guards are stomping down the steps
I go towards the howling, through the door.
I slam it behind myself.
I find Casper in the front room that we entered through.
He's inside a small cage.
I undo the latch and he jumps out.
He's happy to see me, rubbing his body against my legs and yipping with joy.
We have to move.
I'm in the main building that's the entrance to the entire city.
A swarm of men coming from both sides.
I rush through the gap between the two fences.
Casper follows by my side.
I'm not sure where it leads but I run full speed.
I hear a spear land in the ground just behind me.
I can't slow down.
I get to the part of the fence where I can see the car parked outside.
In order to get to it I'd have to climb.
The top of the fence is bedecked with barbed wire.
Dangerous to climb.
I signal Casper to climb.
I crouch down.
He gets a running start then leaps to my back.
I use all the strength I can summon in my legs to vault him up and over the fence.
He lands with a thud.
He gets up and shakes.
He's okay.
I get ready to climb the fence but before I can one of them tackles me.
I throw back my elbow directly into his nose.
He lets me go.
I scramble to get to my feet but another of the guards runs up and dive on top of me.
Two more are right behind him.
One reaches and snatches the sword.
The other helps him get me to my feet.
I have 2 guards holding my arms while the third carries my sword.
The one with the bloody nose drags on behind us.
The others in the distance see that I'm subdued and turn around.
They think their 4 friends can handle me on their own.
They're wrong 😈
I drop my weight.
When they try to lift me I jump up and pull them both into the ground.
The third guard swings the sword.
I duck and it hits the fence.
Casper dives at the fence scaring him sending him stumbling backwards.
I grab his hand that's wrapped around the hilt.
With my other hand I punch him hard in the face, knocking him off his feet.
I take the sword.
The last one with a nose bleed stands back.
I square off with him.
He takes off running in the opposite direction.
More guards are coming.
I start to scale the second fence.
I reach the top and kick off, diving over the outer fence.
It snags my shirt as I pass over.
I'm going head first over the fence and tuck just before I land.
Besides the scratches on my stomach and chest I think I'm alright.
I rush over to the car.
From what I can tell they haven't touched anything inside yet.
Casper and I get inside.
I put in reverse and speed off heading back towards the entrance.
The main guard dive out of the way as I speed off down the road out of Texas.