2050: The Beginning of the End

Chapter 27: Jason

It feels as though we've gone stumbling through the whole city, though I know that can't be right. The sky is turning gray, dawn light making it easier for us to see our surroundings.

We're all exhausted by this point, and I can tell we're nowhere near the edge of London. At some point, Rose slipped off my back. She's now walking next to me, both of us tripping over our own feet as we fight to stay awake. Brynn is shuffling along a few steps in front of us, feet barely leaving the ground when she takes a step. Shemik, too, looks ready to fall asleep on her feet. The end of her injured finger is an awful shade of purple, and her face is slightly swollen where Dimitri punched her.

We're walking down a sidewalk when Brynn's computer dies, and I can't bring myself to feel annoyed or disappointed by that. I'm tired, and right now that's the only thing I feel.

Shemik says something to Brynn, their words running together as I try to focus on what they're saying.

"I'm sorry." Brynn is replying, lower lip trembling in a way that says she's a few seconds away from crying, "I forgot about that. Dad had the charger. It was in one of our suitcases and I knew ... I knew I should have asked him for it. I can't believe this. I c-can't believe he's-"

She can't fight her tears anymore, beginning to cry in the middle of the sidewalk as the rain drenches us all.

Shemik wraps an arm around Brynn's shoulders, looking down at the younger girl.

"It's fine."

I wonder how she can say that. Those soldiers took my sister, we might as well be lost in the middle of the city, and somehow Shemik can say it's fine.

I wish it was.

Brynn draws her sleeve across her cheek, clearly trying to put on a brave face again. I can tell it's not working; she looks small and lost, sort of how I should probably be feeling right now.

I look around, spotting the buildings around us. I'm not in the mood for sleeping out here if we can avoid it. We've all dealt with enough in the last day without running into more Inhumanes in the street. The buildings on this side of the street seem dark and empty, but one across from us has a small flicker of light in the window. The name out front is hard for me to read, the paint peeling and some of the letters completely missing from the old wooden sign.

Brynn and Shemik follow my gaze. Shemik is the first to move, making to cross the sidewalk and approach the building, but Brynn catches her wrist.

"I should take care of that finger first. It looks awful." Brynn speaks softly, sounding nervous.

I watch her curiously as she looks down at Shemik's right hand, concentrating on the index finger for a moment. Brynn lets go of Shemik's wrist as she keeps the finger still with one hand and moves her other one so she can grip the tip of the finger. I watch as, in one quick movement, Brynn moves the fingertip to the side, snapping it back into line with the rest of the finger with a painful-sounding crack. I have a feeling if that ever happened to me, I would scream, but Shemik doesn't even flinch.

Brynn takes off her backpack, searching through it until she finds a small roll of reflective silver tape. She wraps part of it around Shemik's index finger, then winds it around the middle finger, taping the two together in a matter of seconds.

"Dad taught me how to do that, but I've never actually had to before." Brynn still looks as though she could cry at any second, but at the same time she looks pretty proud of herself as she puts away the tape.

We don't waste time in moving across the street, Brynn now following Rose and I. Shemik is first to the rundown building, trying the door and seeming slightly taken aback to find that it isn't locked at this time in the morning.