Knowing Anonymous

Riot Gear

  Dylan tied a yellow bandana around his face.
"Do you think these would be a good idea?" I asked holding up 2 pairs of goggles.
He looked at me mildly baffled.
"Tear gas." I said.
"..Huh." He reached to grab a pair. "Do you have any that look like frogs?"
"Yes, actually." I grinned, "But I think those are a little too conspicuous." I slipped my pair into my pocket and put on a black bandana. I had butterflies in my stomach, but I wasn't really scared—more like excited.

We waited until 10:00 PM, I figured if I was Anonymous and felt like going to another rally after all that happened, I'd at least wait until after dark. Though I did realize that it was possible Anonymous would just look like a normal guy, or guys. The protestors hadn't reached my street yet, and Dylan and I stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the crowds of- no one.
Luckily, the national guard had apparently focused their attention elsewhere. We walked down towards main street for a half hour, I was starting to regret not buying a car, no cabs were available after curfew. That probably wouldn't help with the inconspicuous thing though.
I could finally hear chaos in the distance. We'd arrived. When we reached an intersection, I realized the groups were split, who knows what side our guy could be on.
I looked at Dylan, he must've been thinking the same, because he suggested we split up. "I'll call you if anything happens, meet you back here in an hour?" I nodded.
"It's like we're real reporters." He said with a twinkle in his eyes before he went left, and I turned right.

  It wasn't past me that I'd probably get arrested, or worse. But I needed to really know what happened after curfew.
I neared the crowd, I was surprised to see they were peaceful. No broken glass or fires yet. I glanced around, the national guard didn't seem to be here, I didn't even see a policeman. As I neared them, I saw many of them were just sitting in place.
As I walked up to join them, I saw the streets become illuminated with red and blue, and I hear sirens approaching. The protestors started murmuring, I saw a few teenagers shift in front of the older people in the crowd, like they were human shields. It doesn't seem like they have anything to worry about, I thought, the crowd was entirely peaceful.

"DISPERSE NOW!" I jumped at the loud megaphone voice and turned around to see a line of police officers, or really more like a small army, because there were rows of them.
Before I could really consider dispersing, I heard several large BANGS followed by screams. Gunshots were fired at the ground an at windows, shattering glass and bouncing off into the crowd. I looked at the lines of police in horror, as they began to approach me and the group of protestors-though I glanced behind, and the group had definitely dispersed, some of them must have hidden inside shops or just gotten a head start on running.
I really was regretting not dispersing sooner. I RAN as fast as I could away from the gunshots, some of the bullets on the ground were huge, larger than an egg. Rubber bullets, I realized, relieved. But then I also noticed as I was running what looked like normal bullet shells, I decided I definitely did not want to risk that being true.
I ran to what I thought was a safe distance, but suddenly people were running towards me. One girl almost ran into me, her eyes were red and watery.
"Are they tear gassing?!" I yelled out to anyone, but people just kept rushing past.
We were trapped on both sides and they were closing in.
I kept running towards the police teargassing, figuring it was better than bullets, and also there was an intersection right behind them, if I could get past. But some cops must've been hiding in the chaos, or maybe tear gas just travels far, because as I got closer, something smokey reached my eyes.
  My eyes felt like they were on fire, or like I'd eaten jalepenos through the wrong hole in my face, I couldn't see. I tried to stand straight and not overly panic as people-cops or protestors-knocked past me in every direction. I tried to call out to someone, anyone, but my words were caught in my throat, I could hardly breathe.
  Something firmly grabbed my wrist, I tried to wiggle out, but they didn't let go. I looked towards it but couldn't bring myself to open my eyes because they stung.
"Let GO!" I couldn't yell as loudly as I wanted to but I tried, I doubted anyone could hear me though-it was chaos. "Seriously, GET OFF!!" I pulled back, convinced a cop must have me, and any moment now I would be shot in the head or beat with a billy club.
  I tried kicked at where I thought they must be as hard as I could, and I hit something- a leg.
A deep voice whispered in my ear "There's no time for that right now, I'm helping you Tara." Before I could react to this person I couldn't see, my body was lifted off of the ground and I was thrown over the stranger's shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
WHAT THE FUCK, I screamed, or I felt like I was screaming but talking was kind of difficult, so I mostly just thought it very hard at my kidnapper. I tried to wriggle away for a second before going limp and realizing this was probably better than being gunned down. And also, my eyes felt like they were fizzy, and not in a fun way.

 
I'm not sure if you can feel the difference between 2 feet and 12 feet off of the ground without sight, but I felt like I was flying high. Since my kidnapper, or savior, had picked me up and started running the air already seemed clearer and the voices grew distant- we were getting further an further away from the chaos.
  When it seemed like there was no one right next to me, the guy plopped me down on the ground a little to quickly.
  "OUch!" I yelped.
  "My bad." The voice touched my face and I winced. "Open your eyes."
I tried, it stung, and something cool was poured into them. I sighed, relief. Sort of. He pulled away and left me with a water bottle.
I looked up through blurry eyes at the guy. I was right, he must've been 7 feet tall. Suddenly he reached towards the ground and threw something towards the crowd of police, it popped and erupted all over them in some sort of vapor cloud. He made his way back over towards me, and I realized he was dressed like many of the cops-in full on black riot gear, with his face covered in what looked like a motorcycle helmet.
I squinted at him with not-so-perfect vision, "Do I know you?" He walked up to me and knelt down so that we were eye level.
I'm not great at reading expressions through masks, but I'm pretty sure this guy was grinning.
"Not really, Tara. But I know you."