Silver Lillies

chapter 4

Chapter 4.

The scarecrow back tracks and looks at me for a few more minutes, studying me.

He extends a hand and gestures for me to take it. I hesitate, don't trust him. Taking a slight step back. I can't see his face because of his helmet but I can tell that he rolled his eyes as he grabs my hand and runs, yanking my arm to keep up. Over run with shock and fear my legs work automatically, struggling between trying to stop and sprinting so I don't fall. God, keep up. I'll admit, this dude is fast. The hallway flies past in a blur of white walls and steels doors. "W-wait!" He doesn't. Shut up and run. Geez, that voice is nasty. without warning I hear a loud ringing noise in my ears. "Stop!" now I'm starting to get dizzy. The scarecrow stops dead in his tracks as we approach a corner. He pushes me against the wall and holds my hands behind my back. With my face being smothered against the glowing white, I see several other scarecrow jog past. All holding a gun in there arms. The man holding me in place nods to them when the glance over. Told you not to trust him. Once the group is out of sight he releases me and he resumes his mad dash with me in tow. We came to the staircase and tried our best to sprint up without tripping. Is he trying to kill you, or help you? I honestly had no idea. The upstairs hall was coincidently empty. Lucky us. We slowed to a speed walk and walked as casually as possible, looking around every corner and in every room. All the doors were closed so we didn't see much. "Who are yo-"

"Shut up and keep walking" his low voice was muffled by the helmet. Damn he's salty. I kept my head down the rest of the walk to the doors. I don't know how or why, but we managed to slip out the glass doors without being spotted. "This way" I barely heard him as he took a sharp left toward a car park. Mystery salt guy takes out a set of keys.

His hand hesitates as he goes to unlock a deep green truck. I hear the door of the base open behind me. "Hurry up! They're coming!" He unlocks the door before his head snaps up in alarm. "No don-!" he shouts just as I pull the handle.

Before I can react I'm thrown backwards, heat envelopes my face and chest. I feel all the breath leave my lungs as I hit the ground. What just happened? I lay there gasping for air. The only thing that makes sense to me is the heat and the pain. They hear that. Without a doubt. GET UP! I try. I fail. I try again. Come on. Nearly there. I'm up. Stumbling around, I see a scarecrow coming towards me. Unsure of who he was my instincts tell me to fight. I throw several punches only to be blocked each time. "H-hey! I'm trying to help!"

"You just tried to kill me!" I yelled.

"No I didn't! It's part of the bases lockdown, all vehicles are set to self destruct at a trigger, which happened to be pulling the handle!" he had a point. The fact that I couldn't see his eye disturbed me. Why does his eyes matter? I'm not sure but I plan in finding out. "If you want me to trust you, take off the helmet" he sighed.

"After we find somewhere to hide."

There's no point in arguing. I nod in agreement. "Where to?"

Hearing the footsteps of the guards getting closer, We run towards the fence which surrounds the building and is topped with barbed wire. Good crow climbs up and carefully maneuvers over the sharp edges. "Your turn." he says to me from the other side. I clench my jaw as I begin to awkwardly climb. What the hell? come on you're better than this. Show off a bit. Taking a deep breath I jump over the top and land next to goodcrow. "Come on." He briefly says as he grabs hold of my hand and begins to sprint through the forest surrounding us. I chase after him, running at full speed. Looking back quickly I see the scarecrows climb the fence and begin to pursue us. Shit. The forest flies past in a blur of green and brown. That's how I got here, running for my life, with minimal chance I escape.

We come to a clearing and stop to find a sense of direction and catch our breath. "This way!" Good crow speeds off to the left and I follow suit. We soon come to the edge of the city. Perfect, this guy knows what he's doing. Our footsteps echo off the buildings around us. I see a more older fashioned building to my right. Looks like an old library. Maybe we can get these jerks off our tails through there. "Oi! This way!" I shout at goodcrow. He stops, turns, looks and nods.

We work together to push the heavy, wood door open just enough for us to slip through. The ceiling and roof has been mostly destroyed, leaving rubble everywhere. There are about three stories in the large space. Each lined with bookshelves. Many had fallen over or been destroyed. I take the lead and start to stumble up piles of concrete and glass. I pay attention to where I place my feet. Most of the grip on my old boots were well worn, which made it so much more difficult. I check back every now and then to make sure he's keeping up. He's doing better than you.

At one point I see the door being shoved open. Damn. They must've seen us come in. I scramble up the loose pile twice as fast, not caring where I stand, which leads me to fall slightly several times.

I finally made to to the second story. That was easier the expected. Barely. "Do we go higher or go through here?" I call back.

"Through here." I check my surroundings The floor was layered with dust, bookshelves everywhere and pretty dark. As soon as good crow catches up we start to jog our way through the maze of books.

I see a light from a window at the back of the building. By now the scarecrows had caught up with us and were searching everywhere. There were at least ten of them.

"Hey, I have an idea." says a muffled whisper. I turn to see good crow standing next to a bookshelf. About six feet away a scarecrow was looking behind a stack of old books. I watch as good crow pushes on the closest book self causing it to topple down, knocking over the one in front of it. This sets off a domino of selves eventually the scarecrow is crushed beneath one. Good plan. I smile as I push the one closest to me. We sprint to the back wall near the window and push every bookshelf one at a time. When not more shelves are left standing we resume our climb up rubble piles to the third story. This guy doesn't talk much. We'll make him talk later, whether he likes it or not. I chuckle at my pathetic threat. after a lot of grazed knees we finally reach the third and finally floor.

"So what's the plan?" I asked

"We should climb to the roof and scout the city for a better place to take refuge for the night." He suggests.

"Good plan.