Infinity's Row - Interlude

Chapter 8

Gentry informs me of all that transpired. What I had seen in the sky while falling unconscious had apparently been Archer’s plane, so he was able to make his escape. Several of the other invaders were apprehended and are slated to stand trial. In the meantime, it had taken quite intensive operations to treat my gunshot wounds as well as a cracked rib. The doctors had stated that my survival was a miracle. 

Gentry’s wound, fortunately, was far less of a problem. Within a few short days, she was well on her way to recovery.

I take longer to get back into my top shape, but by the end of nien day’s passing, I find myself out of the hospital and in a shooting range.

After passing through the entrance, I survey the building’s interior. Individual shooting ranges are glued together, visible only through a transparent wall. On the left I see two men shooting rifles, and on the right is a girl firing her handgun.

I stop when I’m ten feet away from her. She fires the handgun solely with her left hand, each bullet coming in half-second intervals. Underneath her clear shooting goggles, her eyes slide towards me for a brief moment. She fights down a smile as she finishes emptying out her chamber.

When there are no more bullets to fire, Gentry sets the gun down and slides her shooting goggles off. “It’s nice to see that you’re out of the hospital.”

“Like it’s been so long since you’ve seen me.”

“That’s true.”

She turns and faces me fully. She wears a pink, long-sleeved shirt as well as light blue shorts. Her hair, instead of falling straight down her back, has been divided into two pigtails that begin at the top of her head and reach her shoulders. Normally, it makes one look like a little girl. But somehow, it actually makes her appear stronger, and more like Gentry.

“Wow, today’s a really good day,” she says. “You’re out, I’m officially un-grounded--”

“You were grounded?”

“You know when I shot that one guy’s balls off?”

“Ah.”

“Yeah. They’re happy that I helped save the day and everything, but they said that that really wasn’t classy on my part.”

“They’re right.”

Gentry chuckles and skips past me. ‘I guess they’re some of the only parents that ground you for saving their lives. But hey, like I said, I’m not grounded anymore, so now I can officially leave the city and find the Row--”

“Hold on.” I turn around to face her. “You’re leaving the city?”

She nods avidly. “I may have been grounded, but I also finally proved to them that I can handle myself. So now I’m going to find the Row so I can join them again.” 

But she’d said that she had joined Runite’s Row for the purpose of proving herself to her mother and father.

I knit my eyebrows. “You still feel a need to be in the Row?”

“Why are you asking me that? Do you not want me to leave or something?”

In the name of N’al Ren, that girl was blunt. “No, leaving the city is your choice,” I say honestly. “I’m merely curious, for you joined the Row on the basis that you would prove yourself, correct? That has already been achieved.”

“Well yeah, but. . .” Gentry’s smile falls, and her eyes suddenly look as though she’s aged ten years. “That’s not why anymore. You see, on that night--when everyone was taken hostage--I was in for a rude awakening. Being in the Row? It’s dangerous. I mean, I’ve always known that you risk your life and everything, obviously--but when that Archer guy shot you, I realized what while in the Row, the people that I love? They could get hurt. Badly. I’m sure a lot of the Row members know that, and you knew that when your sister was killed, but I didn’t until that night. At first I seriously considered not joining the Row, so that I could protect the people I love, but I was wrong. That’s exactly why I have to.”
I consider her words. She’s becoming wiser.