Run

Crushed

Crushed

I tried to remember the route back to where Brooklyn lay.

“He’s dead! The wolf is dead!” I yelled again and again, causing people to come out of their houses and follow me. Soon, I had gathered a huge crowd, all asking curious questions. I told them to just keep running with me and you’ll see.

A few streets down, Caroline ran out with the rest of the family and joined me at the front.

“Is he dead? Have you avenged Annabelle and your parents?” said Martha.

“Yes, he is dead, but Brooklyn is hurt, I have a serum to help him. This crowd will help me, they can come to where Brooklyn is and see the damage that Upgraded animals can cause. Maybe then the LUI will see,” I said as I carried on running to where Brooklyn lay.

Finally, I entered the street where Brooklyn was. He was breathing I could see, but it was sharp and quick. I turned and stopped to face the crowd, noticing some were wearing LUI uniform.

“Look! Look what happens when tests on Upgraded animals go wrong! Look here at my boyfriend Brooklyn! His sister died today because of an Upgraded animal, my parents died at the mercy of an Upgraded animal,” I yelled at the crowd.

One of my father’s colleagues stepped forward.

“It was only one,” he said, quietly, shifting on his feet.

“It only takes one! It only takes one bug to kill thousands of plants!” I shouted back.

He stepped back.

I heard Brooklyn cough and all my attention turned to him. I rushed over and shakily grabbed the serum from my bag.

“Brooklyn? Brooklyn?” I whispered, placing a hand on his forehead and brushing his hair away from his clammy skin. He didn’t speak, just nodded. I ripped open his shirt and gasped at the horrible puncture marks in his chest.

I poured the serum in each cut and watched in astonishment as the cuts began to heal. I smiled and then turned to Caroline and the others who were watching nervously from the edge of the crowd.

“He’s okay, he’s fine,” I laughed.

“Bryony? Bryony?” croaked Brooklyn, tugging on my arm.

I eased him up and laughed as he wrapped his arms around me as if he was clinging on for his life. That same colleague, who had stepped forward, came forward again.

“He is alive, he is well,” he said, turning to face everybody.

“This serum,” I said holding up the vial, “It is the only thing that can cure wounds from Upgraded animals, Brooklyn here was on the verge of death and this saved him. Now, the head of LUI is dead and you have nobody to lead you, leave the LUI everybody, don’t let anymore deaths take place.”

“Can’t we just use the serum – make more of it,” yelled a voice from the crowd.

“I have no recipe and also we don’t have the serum anymore,” I grinned as I crushed the vial in my hand. The crowd protested and people jumped up in rage. It looked like a raging sea of people.