Somnia (Dream Corp.)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Brandt ran down the stairs in front of Adrien, his ridiculously curly hair bouncing with every step he took, giving Adrien the most urgent need to laugh. It was his nerves, he knew, hanging on thin threads. As much as he wanted to tell himself that he could handle the situation a small part of him, the one that stayed young and afraid for years, was telling him that things were yet to turn to the worse.

They were only coming a few stories down, where ropes awaited them in one of the elevators. That had been their means of quickly going up and down 60 stories. The elevator shafts were on the opposite side of the stairs, and Brandt lunged himself down one of the large openings, missing the final step of the stair. Adrien groped for him, catching a hand-full of his hoodie and pulled him up on his feet.

"That would have been painful." Adrien whistled. Brandt looked at him wide-eyed as if he couldn't believe he was still here and could hear him speak, his hand had somehow found its way on Adrien's forearm and was gripping it tightly.

"Come on." Adrien spoke, shaking his hand off lightly, "near death experiences don't make you special. Get moving."

On the dusty ground between both elevators were stacks of supplies they'd need to climb down the ropes. Adrien bent and picked up two pairs of heavy workman's gloves and threw one at Brandt. Next, he untangled two makeshift harnesses with attached ascenders, that they had found raiding a sports store, and handed one to Brandt as he went to work putting his around his waist.

"So, what's the plan?" Brandt spoke, fiddling with the knot around his waist. His hands shook visibly, despite his experience of flinging himself down dark cement holes. But he lacked the experience of avoiding Agents and electric rifles and that was enough reason to be afraid, Adrien supposed. Brandt had heard enough stories of burning veins and scorched up bodies to know that it was shoot to kill. He looked up at Adrien. "There is a plan, right?"

Adrien exhaled, looking at him. He was about to tell him that no, he had absolutely no plan, but a thought had flown across his mind. His face pulled into an involuntary smile and he took a step back, disappearing into the black abyss bellow. After a few seconds of falling, his feet hit solid ground with a barely audible thud.

Brandt touched down after him with the same gracefulness. His breath was shaking as he tried to detach himself from the rope. "So, is this going to be like last time? We just go around, act like we didn't see them and say oops when they appear in front of us?" When he didn't get a response from Adrien, he looked up with a stupefied look on his face. "Oh, hell no!"

Adrien flailed his arms at him. They were at the lowest level now, where the building's windows were all blown to pieces and where voices carried all the way out to the street. "It's the best I got." He whispered, peaking out the elevator shaft.

The lobby, in its completely destroyed state, was cast in shadows. Every part the last light of day didn't touch was blanketed in the worst kind of darkness. Not too black and yet not light enough to see. Adrian found these kinds of shadows blinding, they messed with the eyes and you always saw things that weren't there. In these moments he found it best to rely on his hearing. He motioned Brandt to follow, and they moved out. The upturned lounge chairs and broken-down chandeliers lying in heaps on the ground were the perfect housing for nesting birds, so Adrien made a note to avoid those areas in the room. They walked beside the walls, only occasionally obstructed by a pile of lamps and pictures discarded by looters, until they reached the glassless windows. Brandt kneeled by a thick fake plant that miraculously stood standing, while Adrien moved closer to the door and leaned against the patch of wall connecting it to the windows.

Across the street was a corner coffee shop. They had looted the place pretty much clean and Adrien knew it inside out. Brandt did too. Silently, they agreed. On three, they ran across the street, jumping over tire rims and newspapers and pretty much anything that could make sound. They headed inside, low like animals, stopping by the left wall windows. From here they had a clear view of the street and the girl that was trying to evade the agents, albeit gracefully failing at it.

From here Adrien had little he could do. He had two options: to signal the girl to come their way, in which case he would be giving away their position; or to cause a distraction for the agents so the girl can safely run away, in which case he would be giving away their position. In this moment, he regretted taking Brandt with him. He was big and in moments very loud, but he was the only one he could trust with his own life.

* * *

B3x had been running from the agents for a while now, she wasn't sure if it was minutes or hours, and she was exhausted. The directions that Agent Elle had given her were leading her to this big building, but she didn't really know what she would find there. All she had was a name: A3x. Given that information, she expected some people to be there, but as far as how many, she didn't have a clue. And now wasn't the time for guessing.

She tried to outrun the agents, she tried to hide, she tried to outsmart them and lose them between the many abandoned cars. She tried about everything, but they weren't budging. They were hard on her tail and they were determined to get her back to Dream Corp. B3x though they would succeed a few times. But it appeared luck was on her side today. It was either that or they wanted to see where she was going.

It occurred to her just now that she might be leading them straight to her refuge.

She turned a hard right and stumbled over some chairs as she entered an abandoned room at the corner of the building. The doors and windows of it where completely shattered. In the moment, B3x was grateful for her shoes, because her torn up feet would not have been able to withstand the broken glass.

She hopped over turned tables and chairs, stepped on dead leaves and plants and exited through the other side of the room. She sprinted in the other direction. The agents would follow, she knew. They would follow her anywhere. If only she knew where she was going.

* * *

Adrien watched as the girl disappeared in the shop opposite the café. Brandt gave him a look of confusion. They kept their heads down as the agents, one by one, passed by almost silently. Adrien counted eight sets of footsteps first, and then peered out. The street was empty. The guys looked at each other.

"I told you!" Brandt tried to shout in whisper. Adrien shook his head at him. "Told you they were looking for us! They probably sent her ahead cause she's a young girl. To draw us out! We should go back. We should tell the--"

"I'm going after her."

Brandt closed his palm around Adrien's forearm as soon as he moved, and yanked him back. Adrien lost his balance and sat on the dusty ground. Tention rose like the puff of dust from Adrien's shuffling, as both of them tried to bit down their anger. Not for the sake of hurting each other but for the sake of alerting anyone they were here.

"I have a feeling about this." Adrien said.

"You always have a feeling." Brandt retorted.

"Not like this." he took a deep breath. "This is like the time you and Art came around."

Brandt fell quiet. He looked down, and Adrien knew that he was thinking of that night. The night Artemis came to Ater and his group, holding little Brandt by the arm, searching for a place to hide. They had been in immediate danger then and if Ater hadn't had that feeling that they were worth saving, they would probably not be alive today. Well, this girl was in an immediate danger now, and he had a feeling she was worth saving too.

"Okay." Brandt said quietly. No questioning in his voice.

They rose from their hiding spot and silently exited the building.