The Light when all is Dark

Chapter 2

Ever since the soldier died, I had been living in a cave. There was nowhere else where I wouldn't get tracked down, and we all know how it would turn out if I was tracked. I didn't want to give anyone else a shorter life than they deserved. That man deserved better.

Over the years, I had found out the name of this organization; Valhalla. The afterlife in which heroes would go in Norse Mythology. Not that I saw them as heroes, though. They were all the worst of villains. The few that had hope of being a good person were too afraid to show it. Or at least that's what I thought.

One day, I stumbled upon the group. They were carrying a girl, about 16. My age. I could tell from what she was wearing that she was a Valhalla member.

There was one man who was the clear ring leader. He spoke firmly and everyone followed his orders. The first thing I heard him say was "take the girl to the center." That's when I realized; she was tied up. I got my gun out immediately, and aimed it at the ring-leader. "I must say, Emma, you got us good this time," the leader said. "I thought you were actually loyal. Now, imagine the look on my face when I saw...." He paused, grabbing something from his bag. A 24th century camera. completely outdated. It showed her plotting with another to escape. I recognized the other instantly. It was the man whom had saved my life.

After the footage was over, the leader sentenced Emma to death. A man in an energy-repelling force field appeared with a laser-sword. The thing could easily deflect my bullets. However, unlike the 'light sabers' in the really old Star Wars films (that had gone from being a fantasy into a real-life crisis over the centuries), the swords couldn't send the bullets back. And also, the force didn't exist, so it was much harder to block the bullets.

The man raised his blade. I couldn't just watch the man murder her. I pointed my gun at the executioner. "This is what you get, you traitor," the leader said. The executioner was about to kill the girl. Without thinking, I shot the man. I jumped down and picked up the laser-sword, and used it to free Emma. It happened so fast that I didn't hear anything except the leader screaming orders, while Emma and I ran away. We eventually lost them. Then, I realized that Emma probably didn't even know me.

"Thanks," she said. "I really thought I was gonna die there."
"No problem," I replied. "I'm Edward, by the way."
"I'm Emma."

She didn't seem curious about anything about me, just relieved that she had lived through the execution. I couldn't blame her, anyone would be too relieved to say anything if they lived past their death sentence.

"Why did you save me?" she asked.
"Your colleague did the same for me," I replied. "I'm sorry about what happened to him."

She stayed silent for a while, and I straight away knew they were more than just colleagues, or friends. I decided not to remind her of what happened.

After a bit, we arrived at my cave. I offered Emma a seat, and I sat down next to her.

"So how did they find out about you?" I asked.
"I honestly don't know," she replied.
"What about the leader? Who was he?"
"I don't know much about him, only his name and his motives," she said. "His name is Viktor, and he wants to rule the world."
"Normal psychotic dream," I replied.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang outside. We immediately hid behind the couch. A few men walked in, wearing similar clothing to the executioner. Each wore a serious expression, as if cracking up would cost them their lives. It probably would, judging on the  little I knew about Viktor. Anyway, I wasn't going to let any of them get to me or Emma. I don't know, but over the few minutes we had spent together I developed some kind of connection to her, that prevented me from being able to leave her. I don't know, maybe it was the love on first sight horse shit that I never believed in. Maybe.

Anyways, they didn't find either of us. After a bit, they gave up on trying to find us. I found this amusing, because we were literally behind a couch made from the 21st century, which was extremely old, by the way. There was nothing preventing the highly advanced x-ray tech from seeing us.

I turned over, and that was when I realized my mistake.

My head peered a bit over the couch in my attempt to check on Emma, and that caused the couch to move. The one poor guy that heard it turned around. He looked straight into my eyes with his laser-glasses, and put his hand to the side of it. I closed my eyes, ready to be disintegrated.

Instead, there was a noise of gunfire, and then the guy dropped to the ground. Next to me was Emma, with a gun that had just been fired. She had killed the man whom was about to kill me. I was quite surprised, seeing as I had only saved her life for revenge on Valhalla, not specifically to save her.

"You okay?" she asked, with a look of concern on her face.
"Yeah," I replied. "Why would you do that for me though?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe just because you saved mine?" She made it sound like I was a complete idiot. I decided not to tell her my real motives behind saving her life.

"We have to move out, now," Emma said while half carrying, half dragging me out of the cave. She was right; Valhalla knew about this place now, and we couldn't risk them coming back. However, what stopped them from leaving cameras outside, or waiting outside? Maybe, just maybe, they would be dumb for once?

Of course, we had no luck. We met with a few members of the group, and Emma used her cyclops-glasses to kill them all, and we both rushed out to some place safe. Only then did I start to feel attracted to the woman. She had saved my life not only once, but twice, now. And she actually looked beautiful, with her dark brown eyes and blonde hair. She was about my height. But I could tell immediately, she was more fit than me. I couldn't last sprinting an hour straight, and for a while, I was afraid she'd ditched me. But she always came back for me in the end, which made me question; did she feel the same way for me?

"This place should be safe," she said before I could think it through.
"Yeah, okay," I responded. I decided to drop the possibility; both our survivals right now was more important than if she had feelings for me or not.

At least, if she did, I would be safe with her. In her comfort and warmth, with her protection. Maybe I'd even learn a thing or two from her. We could plot to destroy Valhalla together. Or not. All I knew then is that I had to live in Emma's shadows, or I'd never live to see the light of day. I just hoped she wouldn't have a problem with that, other than the obvious 'stalker' issue. Although that would hardly matter now that we were living, scavenging, hunting and dining together. We were only separated in our sleep, where I slept near the trees, and she slept more out in the open.

Amazing.