Running With the Wave

Chapter 8

This chapter is dedicated to LittleLou who is another great writer and is writing and amazing story called Change is Piece. It deserves more attention and I found it inspiring! Please look at it!

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Hunter:

Shaken I stare at the woman's blank eyes, willing them back to life. But no one can raise the dead. I had just seen an example of the cruelty of men. This woman had been shot while escaping the prision. Shot by a Keeper. Oh god, I don't want to be a Keeper! After awhile I get up, knowing that Sebastion and Railt will be worried by now and come looking for me soon. I stare down at the hollow body and let out my breath. I can't leave it out in the open. It doesn't seem right. After some consideration I shake the gun powder out of my bullets in a circle on the ground. Grabbing a lighter from my belt, I light the gun powder and cover my ears running as far away as I can, dragging the woman's dead body behind me. When the explosion is over, I go back to the hole and gently lay the body of the woman in it.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, "I'm sorry that we've done this to you.

Then I shove the dirt back over her and walk away, purposely not looking back.

"Bro, where were you?" Railts asks anxiously as I walk towards them.

His face is stuffed with peanuts and his bag full, so I'm guessing he wasn't as worried as he's pretending. That could be a good thing or a bad thing. I decide to think the best of him and go with it being a good thing, even if it's not true.

"What took so long, Hunter?" Sebastion asks with more sincerity.

"I couldn't find whatever was there for a while," I lie easily, "Turns out it was just a wounded deer. I shot it but decided to leave the meat for the animals. We have enough food already."

Railt buys it immediately but Sebastion isn't as sure. He knows that I never let food go. I smile at him and his face softens, smiling back.

"Well, I guess we better go back to the City then," Sebastion announces and we start to walk back towards the wall.

I want to run back, feel the freedom again for the last time in what's going to be a while, but that will just make Sebastion more suspicious. Reaching the wall I immediately begin scaling it. I drop down on the other side, catch Railt again, then together we walk home.

What a liar I'm becoming.

Era:

I kiss Moa and Keara goodbye while they're sleeping. Tears roll down my cheeks. Why do I have to do this? Why do I have to leave them? I've thought about bringing them with me, but I can't be selfish. As much as it doesn't seem so, they're safer here than outside. I can't believe I'm even trying this. So many people have died trying this exact same thing. It's stupid.

Then again, I'm going to die anyways if I don't, so what do I have to lose?

I pick up the bag with the food and water I stole from the kitchen. It's not much, but hopefully it's enough to last until I find more Outside. To be honest, I don't know what I'm going to do once I'm Outside, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. For now I just focus on escaping. I take a knife and chop off my brown hair, staring regretfully as it falls to the floor. I know that it's what must happen. I look like a boy with my mud streaked body and now short cut hair unless someone looks really closely and knows what to look for.

"I love you," I breath, looking back at my sleeping friends.

In one swift motion I lift my bag over my shoulder and climb into the air vent for the last time. I crawl quickly and silently through the system until I'm at the Ward. The only room with a exit door that's close enough to maybe make it out alive. Feeling sick, I drop down silently and try not to think about how all these women are either terribly sick or could go into labour at any moment. This is where my mother died. A Keeper sleeps in a chair by another door. I know how to get to the exit, but it's very well guarded. Maybe not as well guarded as the others, but still guarded enough to prove a problem. I creep towards the sleeping Keeper and grap his pistol from his belt. He wakes up, but I knock him out cold with the barrel of the gun before he can send off a warning. I scurry through the door and make my way towards the exit, hiding behind lips in the walls when I hear someone coming to avoid being seen. Finally I see the exit, guarded by thirteen Keepers. Only seven of the thirteen are actually paying attention to anything but once I start shooting I know that they'll snap into reality. I breathe deeply, hiding behind a corner only a meter or two away from Outside. I have absolutely no idea how to shoot a gun except to pull the trigger.

"Good time to learn," I mutter, then pop out and start shooting wildly, my sack now attatched to a rope thrown around my waist and used as a belt.

"Hey!" one of them yelps in surprise before I shoot him.

"Escapee! Escapee!" the remaining ten Keepers shriek, aiming their guns.

I shoot wildly, sprinting towards the door as more and more Keepers start piling in, trying to stop me. A bullet catches me in the arm and I scream in pain but don't stop shooting. Don't stop running. I shoot behind me then push through the door, adrenaline pushing me to run faster than I normally could. They stop after ten mnutes of chasing, but it feels like ten hours. I keep running, shooting behind me, even when I know they're gone. After another twenty minutes I stop, panting, and take in my surroundings, checking that my bag is still tied to my waist. I'm in a meadow. My arm throbs from where a bullet grazed it, I'm exhausted, I barely have enough food, enough water. I'm in alot of danger, still not completely free.

But at least I'm alive.