SONDER (IV): tmr thomas

007: I should shoot my shot

Michelle 7

What a shucking idiot.

"Dawn!" Leo shouts. She runs after Dawn, who has already managed to round the corner. I'm not sure what possess me, but I decide to follow after them.

"Beetle blades!" I hear Sheil shout out behind me.

I keep running, though my eyes find the walls. Shuck, he's right. Every couple feet, there is one of those shuck bugs keeping an eye on us. We should've stayed in the vents.

"Dawn!" Leo shouts up ahead, "stop."

The girl doesn't listen, rounding another corner. I keep moving, trying to catch up to her. Eventually, Jay is able to pass me. He sprints past Leo too, disappearing after Dawn.

I round the corner, finally seeing Jay grab Dawn. He lifts her up into the air, and though she kicks and screams he doesn't let go.

"There are cameras," he counters, trying to hold her still. "We're already busted."

She stops fighting, and he puts her down. "Shuck."

"What are we going to do?" Leo is panting heavily. She looks down one end of the corridor, then at the other. "We are nowhere near the hangar, right?"

Lott nods, pointing in the direction we came from. We just sprinted in the wrong direction for shuck's sake. Man, I totally want to hit Dawn. I won't, mostly for Leo's sake, but damn. I've never met someone who gets on my nerves like she does.

"What's the plan?" Sheil asks. He looks from Lott, to Leo, to Jay. "You're the guy in charge! Think of something!"

"I can't with these shucking sirens!" He counters. "It's too loud."

I can hear footsteps down the corridor.

"Shuck," I begin to run away, Lott already beside me. We've come to a fork in the hallway. From each of the three sides, two guards approach us. Not outnumbered, but outgunned.

"What do we do?" Sheil hisses.

"I'm thinking," Jay insists.

There isn't really much time for thinking.

"Put your hands on your heads!" A guard to our left shouts. "Down on the ground."

"Jay!" Sheil shouts.

The woman fires a shot. It hits the wall, sending shockwaves through the concrete. It cracks, spray us with dust.

My knees hit the ground, my hands on my head. No way am I fighting a weapon that can smash concrete like it's no shucking deal. I've tried to smash wood before, and so I know how hard that is. Shuck.

"Now!" The woman shouts.

"Stuck," Jay finally gets on his knees. Eventually we are all on the ground.

"Who are you working for?" The woman belts out.

None us answer, glancing between each other.

"You," Jay speaks for the group. He looks around between us, looking for someone else. His eyes widen, and he gets down.

"They aren't WICKED," Leo whispers from the centre of the group, the sound travelling around us. "It's somebody else."