The Refugees

Chapter 6: Savannah

Edited

He takes another look out before looking at me. His green eyes looking deeply into mine, self-assurance and confidence seeming to ooze out of them, my very opposite.

"Let's go." He whispers softly.

I nod and we run to hide behind the next building, choosing to trust Ash despite the deadly weapon in his hand.

Dad trusted him, I reassure myself.

He wouldn't kill me.

He wouldn't have saved me if he simply wanted to kill me afterwards. He would have left me for dead back at the school.

We're getting closer and closer to the corridor and I have a little flicker of hope as I look ahead.

"Army men will be here soon, we should hurry. We're heading to the Opening."

"Ok, but... There isn't any coverage or shelter in the tunnels. Everything is out in the open. If that's where the enemy is coming from shouldn't we wait?"

"The faster we get in, the less chances we have of getting caught inside."

And with that Ash drags me in, his eyes glued in front of him. He has his gun ready in position to aim in case anything comes in front of him.

"Watch behind, some of them might come from that hole they made in the ceiling." He whispers to me as low as possible, so I do.

We get about halfway into the tunnel until I suddenly hear the echoes of footsteps coming from behind us.

Ash swiftly turns around to aim in the direction I was facing previously.

"Halt!" The voice of a man resonates loudly in tunnel, traveling to my ears like a deafening wakeup call that I feel my heart tremble with fright.

It's dark because of the electrical power shortage but I can make out his shape and the muscle mass in front of me makes me wish I was already dead.

My heart stops.

Is this how I'm going to die?

Ash aims his gun at the man and before he has time to think and shoots him in the leg. The man grunts as he falls to his side clutching his ankle before taking his own gun out. Ash drags me behind him and shoots a second time at another non-vital part of the body. I'm not sure where since my eyesight blurs, but I know he's not dead since the man curses over and over again.

I mildly remember running until my lungs and legs couldn't take it any more. I remember hearing screams and shouts in the background and few other bombs exploding, and shots being fired but not at us.

My senses come back to me when we are barely a block away from the Opening in the Industrial Chamber. The number of soldiers has increased by at least a hundred compared to the other room where we encountered none apart from that one soldier. I'd say this would qualify as a suicide expedition since the number of solders here would make a grown man soil his pants in fear.

Yet here Ash stands, completely void of fear and worry.

I need to breathe, so we stay out of sight near the industrial garbages where all the soiled food gets deposited, a place Ash didn't think they would be looking. Still huffing and puffing, I let my body collapse against the back wall of one of the metal machines.

I close my eyes. I could sleep right now, I'm so tired and worn out already.

How long does this last?