Amber Skies: A Post-Apocalyptic Novel (Book 2 of the 2136 Trilogy)

CHAPTER 4 - PART 2

As my legs were about to give out from under me, the soldiers stopped and lowered their weapons. I came to a huffing, screeching halt, nearly knocking my new friend off his feet. He grabbed me before I tumbled face first into the asphalt.

"Whoa!" he shouted. "Steady yourself. Are you alright?"

Those dark brown pits looked down on me with sincerity. They reminded me of my father's eyes.

I pried my gaze free, and picked myself up.

"I'm fine," I said, and then added rather awkwardly, "thanks."

"Don't mention it," he said.

"How much time?" the captain shouted over the waves.

I felt a large droplet smash into my cheek. Moments later, another, then another, and before I knew it, the entire runway was covered in torrential rain. The storm had finally reached us, and was unleashing its full fury upon us. Puddles gathered along the pavement in large groups, funneling away towards the far edges of the runway through drains set on the bottom of the twenty-foot tall floodbanks. I watched as a large wave swept over the nearest one like it was a tiny speck, and filter down. Whatever we were doing, we needed to do it fast. Otherwise, we were going under quick.

Brown-eyes checked his wristband again.

"Four minutes and twenty-eight seconds," he said.

"Have the thrusters started yet?" the captain yelled back.

Another soldier jogged up.

"The engines are heating up now. Thrusters will be hot in three minutes," he said.

"Roger that. Let's move out!"

I looked for Doctor A and found her standing with her hands on her knees, her chest rising and falling rapidly. It made me feel better knowing she wasn't fairing too much better with all of this running. I noticed her heels were missing. Her bare feet were covered in black tar. I looked down at my own and found they weren't any better.

Oh well, I thought. If you're going to play in the dirt, prepare to get dirty.

"Where are we going?" I shouted over the thunder roaring overhead.

Lightning streaked through the sky with violent violet lines, filling the air with positively charged electricity. My feet tingled in the water puddled all along the runway. We were standing on one giant conductor. No wonder they were all running!

He pointed up with his finger.

"I can't see anything," I said.

He grabbed my hand and aimed it to where he was pointing. At first I couldn't see anything through the darkness. Then a bolt of lightning shattered the sky, alighting its purple hue on the glass structure hovering in the air half a mile up. It's curved contour was unmistakable. A Proc ship.

I stood paralyzed at the sight. It had been a dream of mine ever since I was a little girl to be able to go onboard one of the Proc ships. My parents had told me that it was a dream that many had, but few ever got the privilege of going. Only the special few were invited. And even then, it was highly unlikely. They had taught me the benefit of accepting one's fate and finding satisfaction in the life you were given. Hoping for the stars when the stars are far out of reach was a fool's dream. But focusing on what was lying right in front of you was the wise path. They taught me this and I had come to terms with my reality, and the hard truth that the distant blue pyramid was a fantasy outside my grasp.

And yet, standing here so close to it seemed even more a fantasy than a dream. It towered high into the sky, farther than I could have ever imagined. My ears were pounding. I couldn't tell if it was from my heart or the storm. Either way, I was lost in my own wondrous oblivion until lightning struck the floodbank nearby, sending a current of hot electricity towards us. I watched in slow motion as the wave of purple fire sped toward me on the tops of the puddles. Fate will always find you my mother had said. You cannot escape your destiny.

My feet flew up towards the sky and my neck flung backwards an instant before the wave of electricity seared through my feet. I looked up to find, yet again, those dark brown eyes beaming down at me.

"What's your name?" I asked.

I was almost fried to death and I didn't even know his name.

"Rivers," he said. "My name's Riley Rivers."

I stroked his cheek with the back of my hand, not knowing what I was doing.

"Nice to meet you, Riley," I said, still numb from the near death experience.

"Good to meet you too, Willow," he said, that same grin on his face. "Can you walk?"

I nodded.

He lowered me back to my feet gently. I felt like I was soaring in his strong arms. The feeling I had welling within me was foreign. I was afraid of its veracity, and yet, tempted beyond comprehension to embrace it. The moment my feet touched the cold pavement, I found myself longing to be swept back up in his arms. Carry me the rest of the way, Riley. And had I asked, I sure he would have.

"Follow me," he said, and ran off after the other soldiers.

I found myself chasing after a ghost as I ran to keep up, bolts of lightning and roars of thunder playing the music to my soul. When spirit awakens, there is no going back.

I'll follow you anywhere, Riley Rivers I whispered in my heart of hearts. My dark brown-eyed savior.

My head was cloudy the remaining six hundred yards before the haze lifted. Proc 1 stood over me like a monolith of ancient civilization; man's true marvel and mark on the world. We had arrived at the edge of the universe, and it was breathtakingly terrifying.