I'm Not Dead

[ C H . 1 9 ]

Shoutout to @MapleLeafx for making this amazing trailer for I'm Not Dead! I'd be lying if I said I haven't watched it a dozen times today. Lol. 

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The echo of boots running down the halls and stairs was more ominous than any death bell.

We could also hear triggers click into place as the approaching soldiers prepared for battle. We were exposed and only armed with the walkie I had ripped from the unconscious soldier. If Linda had been briefed on our importance to the CDC, then I had no doubt the other soldiers had been as well.

"Run!" Mom yelled; her voice scarcely audible over the wailing siren as she grabbed Mateo's hand and pulled him forward.

Breaking our huddle, we scattered across the width of the hallway as we ran behind my mom in pursuit of wherever she was leading us. The gunshot had jolted Alice awake and she gripped Lorenzo's neck in confusion as he fell into stride with her. Behind them, Evie took the middle as Eleanor and I ran in the far back. It looked like Mom was leading us towards the laundry room.

"I can't believe you did that Rocco!" Eleanor scolded, smacking my shoulder.

"I didn't mean to! I was trying to disarm him; I didn't plan on the gun going off!" I snapped back, almost losing my footing as we turned around the bend of another connecting hallway.

"You never plan on anything going wrong, that's why things always go wrong around you!"

Looking back over her shoulder, Evie glared at us. "Now isn't the time to argue guys!"

Opening my mouth, I started to fire back some weak-willed insult, but before any words came out bullets zipped past us, cutting the three of us off from the others as we ducked. Based on the poor aim of the bullets though, it looked like they were trying to break us apart, not shoot us. It was probably to buy themselves time, so they could catch up to us. We still had the advantage.

"Keep running! Don't let them separate us from mom!" I yelled, pulling the girls to their feet and pushing them ahead of me.

If anyone should be at risk of getting caught, it was me.

I wouldn't let them have my family.

It's what Gabe would want me to do.

Until that moment came though, I ran closely behind the girls, as my lingering grogginess morphed into adrenaline. The soldiers were close, but we still had time to outmaneuver them. They may have outnumbered us, but we have an advantage over them—we were valuable. The odds of them killing us was easily overshadowed by them wanting to catch us unharmed. 

They won't hurt us.

Or so I thought, until I heard the walkie in my hand crackle with a bone-chilling order.

"Shoot Nora Maneli, not the kids, she's too big of a risk."

Gasping, I felt my legs ache with gut-wrenching anxiety as we entered the narrow hallway that led into the laundry room. Pushing frantically past my sisters and Lorenzo, I managed to catch up to my mom. "Mom, stay near me!" I yelled, practically throwing myself around her as I shielded her frame with my own. 

The soldiers weren't in the hallway yet, but when they were, I wanted to assure they wouldn't attempt to shoot her. If they wanted her, they'd have to kill me first. Something I highly doubted they were going to do. I don't know what terrified me more, the thought of my mom dying or one of my siblings.

"I'm fine Rocco! Protect Lorenzo or your sisters!" She insisted stubbornly, keeping Mateo close to her as we all shuffled down the hall.

"No! I need to protect you!" I shot back. I could see the white swinging doors of the laundry room in sight, we were close. Whatever the brilliant plan of escape was, it was beyond those doors. It took us only a few more seconds to cross the open space between us and the doors.