"What are you waiting for, an invitation? We need to stop this before more people die!" I exclaim, then shrink back as if it might keep my words from reaching the Keepers. It must work because none come or even look this way. Although their faces are covered by masks I can hear them laughing. My rage will not be smothered. I will not stop until we have vanquished every last one of those horrible murders.
"We need to get to the armory, in it is a black box. I might be able to destroy the helicopters and give us a chance!" she whispers again when out of nowhere a bullet zooms through the log we had taken shelter behind and makes it explode in a shower of splinters. Simultaneously we all stand and run for the armoury. I wish it didn't happen but it did. Others joined us, hoping we would get somewhere safe. We lived but I can't say the same about those foolish enough to follow us. They fell unknowingly protecting us. We retrieve a small black box and run back to the clearing with the helicopters. We jump over fallen bodys. The Keepers are too busy with real resistance, people with guns and slingshots and fireworks to even notice us. I help a group of teens facing a Keeper by knocking the Keeper out with a large rock. Now they take his weapon and turn it on another Keeper while one kid tries on the costume. The white suit smeared with red blood.
Coral gets to the edge of the clearing. She motions us over. She is sweating, not from exercise though. Tears run down her cheeks. Faith drops from a nearby tree to join us. How am I not surprised? She is a survivor. There is blood all over her shirt and mouth, a lot of blood, and something tells me it's not hers. My best guess would be that she was biting the Keepers. She does have abnormally sharp teeth. I happen to know that from experience.
"I have to do this one alone, it has to be me, and if I don't make it back, you guys are my favorite people. If I die, let me be remembered." Coral sniffles, then she wipes her nose on her sleeve and sprints in the clearing. I try to run after her but fall over a fallen trunk, and I watch helplessly as she makes it to the spot under the helicopters. She pushes the box into the ground, hits a few buttons, pulls a lever, and then she runs for her life.
Next to me, on the ground, a Keeper is unconscious and his radio crackles to life.
"Red Alert! Repeat, Red Alert! Shoot that girl! She is trying to set off an electromagnetic bomb!" cries a voice over the radio. I yelp. They are after her.
"CORAL! GET OUT OF THERE!" I scream running into the clearing. I'm just breaking through the trees when Coral screams, her face twisted in pain and she crumples to the ground.
"NO!" I cried and run to Coral. I am less than a meter away from her when a rippling field like a heat wave rises from the box. The two helicopters try to fly away but get sucked into the rippling waves and slam into the ground and each other, exploding in an explosion of fire and scorching heat. I am thrown back, flailing. Coral is thrown back too and I hit a tree. Coral is thrown past me. Everything is quiet and blurry. I stumble forward and I find Coral. My hearing begins to return, but seems to go in and out of focus, as well as my vision. It sounds like it's buzzing and I try to shoo away a bug that isn't there. Disoriented I fall next to Coral. Her breathing is ragged. The next hour goes by in a flash. With the helicopters defeated we slowly began to conquer the Keepers until we had defeated them all. Medics rushed around. They took Coral away, but there was nothing they could do but make her comfortable. In the hospital I read to her. She didn't speak until the last few minutes.
"Make it for us, for me. Don't waste this, don't. I love you, you were, the only sister I ever had. If you ever face the royals, knock em out for me. Just know that I ,love, you,but, you, need to know," Her voice trails off and her eyes cloud up. I bow my head as the heart monitor beeps slower and slower. I say nothing, bu hold her hand as she slowly slips away, I hold her tight as if it might save her, but nothing can help her now.
"Block 6, your mother,"she whispers with urgency and exhales a final time. I close my eyes as my body is racked with sobs. I clasp her hand. Her grip on my hand weakens until it slips onto the bed. She looks into my eyes, and then past, and she is gone.
YOU ARE READING
An Inch Of Infinity (Short Version)
AksiIn the near future the entire world is conquered by a group of people known as Royalties, or the Royals for short. They declared war on the planet. If you were not with them, you were against them. by the end of the 21st century the world was utter...
