Sector 4

ONE

ELDON

"Eldon, I-I can hear them," Cara said, her voice barely audible.

I gripped Cara's hand harder, sweat collecting on my brow. We were crouched behind two large garbage barrels, only feet from the Black Militia. Cara and I both knew that if they found us... well, nothing good would happen.

"See anything over there?" One of the soldiers said to his companion.

"Nothing. You?"

"I swear I saw them come in here."

I held my breath, and I could feel Cara do the same. I glanced in between the barrels, seeing the black clad feet and beyond that, a whole lot of garbage. Wild plants and deep green vines crawled over everything, creating an eerie jungle in what used to be some sort of work place.

"Let's move on. Maybe they already left this place," one of the soldiers said, kicking something across the room.

"Not likely," said his partner, "The acid rain has started."

Acid rain. Wonderful. If we somehow managed to get out of this without being caught, we wouldn't be able to leave. Thanks to the floods everything was going to ruin. Scratch that, everything was already ruined. Acid rain was pretty self explanatory: acid plus rain. Not a great combination.

I heard the faint laughter of the two men as they headed further away until everything was still again.

"I think they're gone," Cara whispered.

I held a finger to my lips, waiting. We had to be sure, absolutely sure, that they were gone. We waited for almost a minute more, and still no sound could be heard. I readjusted the pack on my back and poised on my toes.

Once I was sure, I pulled Cara out from behind the barrels and headed along the shadowed wall of the broken down building, keeping my eyes peeled for anyone. We passed a bunch of garbage, some overturned tables, and another large barrel that had once been used to collect water just after the floods took place.

"I think we're almost safe," Cara said, her voice hopeful.

"We can't leave until the rain's done," I reminded her.

"Where are we gonna go then, Eldon?" This time, her voice was mildly annoyed, though I had no idea why.

I pursed my lips and led her into a narrow hallway, the walls crumbling and decorated with overgrowth. It was dark and I slowed my pace, trying not to run into anything.
"...now?"

I froze. The soldiers were just in front of us. I couldn't see them, but from the sound of the voice, they weren't too far away.

"Come on," I yanked Cara back the way we came, probably going faster than I should have. But we had to hurry, the fear of being caught fueled me on.

Out of nowhere, pain shot through my legs and I flew through the air, landing on the ground with a thud, releasing a pained grunt.

"Think you could outsmart us?" A low voice came out of the darkness from right above me.
Cara screamed. I tried to scramble to my feet, but something pressed into the back of my neck. It was cold, and definitely metal. I swallowed. This was not good.

"Cara, run!" I yelled, trying to spin around and get up.

I heard the scramble of feet and a shout from Cara. I kicked out my legs and made contact. The gun pressed against my neck was removed for a moment and I took the chance to fight back. I scrambled to my feet and reached out my fist, trying to find the men.

Then a light clicked on, right in my face.

"Don't move."

The light moved to reveal Cara, held against the other guard by a long hunting knife at her neck. Her eyes pleaded with me, but she didn't scream. And for that, I was proud of her.

"Go willingly, or your girlfriend will pay."

I raised my hands, taking a step away from the soldier I was nearest. "Okay, just... don't hurt her."

A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you for checking out our new collab story! If you are familiar with our other works, you know that this account is dedicated to collaboration stories! This particular story is written by Ithildae and Evara. Each author writes for one POV or "point of view" but together it is a full fledged novel :) Enjoy! And please be sure to let us know what you think!

This chapter was written by: Ithildae

*Photo listed is of Eldon*