Steel Ethereal

Ch. 1 Settlement

Rob

It's three A.M.

Something has woken me up, roused me from the deepest pits of sleep. Though it was a hearty home cooked meal that has put me to sleep, I still jolt upright at the sound that's woken me. Though I'm awake, my eyes are nearly glued shut and I groan as I sit up.

It's a sound I can't quite comprehend as I'm still pulling myself up from the warm honey of sleep. Another second and I realize they're small pops from the outside.

Immediately my mind drifts to the question as to why there are fireworks popping now. The settlement I live in wouldn't allow such things in the dead of night. Besides, fireworks were reserved for festival times.

But these aren't fireworks. There's no sizzling to be heard before the bang that rocked our homes. The pops are many at a time and spastic. They seem to come from deeper within the settlement.

It's gunfire.

Realizing that the cause of the sound is much too close for comfort I roll myself off my bed and clench at the blanket that fell with me.

What do I do now? There are screams along with the gunfire and the pops are getting much closer. I feel exposed.

My mind comes too and it snaps in my head to keep as low as possible. I need to back away and get to the hallway for safety. With luck, a stray bullet wouldn't come through my window, come through a weak exposed part of my room wall and strike me.

I reach the doorway to my bedroom. It's pitch black but in my adrenaline infused mind, I know the layout of my own home. Sharp prods stab at my feet, nails that stand up through the carpet. But I just bite my lip hard to keep myself from gasping at the pain.

I'm half way down the hall to my guardian's room when I crash into a solid figure in the dark. At once, I feel like shouting out. Before I do, a tough, callused hand slaps to my mouth keeping me silent. The body attached to the hand pushes me up against the wall to keep me from struggling.

"Shh, keep it down Robby." My guardian, Gina whispers gently. She moves her hand away gently. Despite being a bit bigger than her at seventeen, she was still strong enough to subdue me.

The palpitation in my chest remains as I'm still feeling very afraid of what's going on. It's more the not knowing of what was going on and being unable to see that gets me.

I can vaguely make her shadow out in the dark. There's light coming from somewhere in the house. Maybe down the hall from the kitchen or a street light outside.

The bursts of gunfire are either coming closer or the fear in me is polluting my mind, making me assume the worst.

Gina hunches over in the hall as light bathes the wall opposite from the living room window. The blinds are shut but still cracked open, making patterned bars on the wall, still showing our shadows as we silently creep through. Were we to be trapped in the house, not knowing the danger that remained outside?

Gina breaks the silence of the house, nearly frightening me to my death, "Fifteen minutes ago the warning sirens went off. It went off for several seconds then cut off. The rest of the power in the town followed. We're under attack."

She pauses, waititng to see if I'll give any input. I feel I have no place in stating anything, so I keep silent.

"Some of the light came back on... But it'll make it riskier to escape without being seen. We need to leave through the back door, cut through the fences. Anything to stay hidden..." Gina nudges the shoes I left on the floor. Something would surely have risen her temper before. "Come one Rob, be quick." I could see Gina a bit better now. She was still in a night shirt and pajama pants, not her usual guard armor. She still had her black pistol with her finger hovering off the trigger.