Flooding Aldham (A Dystopian Short Story)

Chapter 8

My fists pummeled the door when it wouldn't budge.

"Cat, open this door! Please, it's Robyn! Cat!"

Tendrils of destruction wavered against the dark clouds. An explosion of gunshots resounded through the air, followed by horrendous screaming. An ear-piercing shriek rung in my head. My eyes widened in terror.

"Cat! Cat!" I burst into the alleyway. I couldn't lose her again.

"Don't move." His voice was so monotonous; I didn't recognize him. Catherine cowered in the corner of the alleyway. Her face was stained with dirt and tears.

I raised my gun to the two already pointed at my face.

"Vesta, Hestia, it's Robyn. Let her go." Their unblinking faces showed no sign of recognition.

"Oh, they can't hear anything." A pair of cold, cyanic eyes appeared behind me.

"What are you doing?" I returned Ebony's icy stare.

"There is a serum in the food served at Ashfort."

I mocked myself. To think that it was an antidote.

"As long as I live, I can navigate through their thoughts, manipulate their actions. They are the puppets and I pull their strings."

"What about the virus?" She laughed spitefully.

"Children will believe anything they're told!" I raised the gun to her. The anger radiating in my eyes.

"Let. Her. Go." I ordered through clenched teeth. A cruel smile pulled at her mouth.

"You underestimate me. Why don't I demonstrate exactly what I'm capable of?"

Cat screamed, covering her ears. A deafening crack split through the air as Hestia crumbled to the ground. Her fall exposed Vesta, his eyes still clouded in a hypnotic trance, his gun hovering over her limp body.

"Hestia!" Without lowering my gun, I crept towards her. Her breath was ragged, her mouth trembled as she grasped onto what remaining life was left in her body. Her hand clasped over her stomach, covering the wound as scarlet blood seeped into her clothes, staining her skin.

A white flash drew my attention to the pocketknife concealed in her hand. Hidden from Ebony's view she pressed it into my hand with a stiff nod. With her last dying wish in my hands she exhaled her final breath. Her eyes faded, locked onto the grey sky. The cold blade pressed against my hip, under the waist band of my pants. I turned around with a defiant glare.

"Why are you doing this?"