I kept shuddering backward until I hit the wall behind me, my knees gave out and I collapsed to the ground. I kept shaking my head, "No, no, no…. No!"
Maka perched herself up on one of her elbows, clutching the crisp wound. Blood seeped out of her clothes, through her fingertips, she brushed her hair back out of her eyes, leaving little red trails in her blonde strands. "I-I thought you died… I convinced myself that you were dead," the girl sobbed, "But here you are, alive, and… about to kill me."
"No!" I practically howled, slamming my fists on the ground, "I can't!"
"Just get it over with…" I could hear the gong ring outside, wanting me to confirm my latest kill.
"I'm not going to let you die," the sheath of my knuckles were breaking open from my constant pounding on the linoleum floor, my fresh blood combining with the stains of past victims. I remembered the room had an automatic gas chamber, that went off after five minutes if they felt the executioner was in danger. I heard a second signal play outside, it was as loud as my heartbeat was. There was a small door, that led to a flight tunnel, which I had only been trained to use in cases of emergencies. I could leave Maka here and let her suffocate to death, I could kill her and just resume my now normal life, or I could escape with her. I would become part of the manhunt, I would be one of the outbreaks.
"Soul, please." she groaned, I watched vital fluids trickle out of her mouth, down onto her chin then dripping on the ground like raindrops. Now, I couldn't waste time. I used all my strength to pull myself together, bringing myself to her, picking her up like she was a child. I brought us to the escape door, kicking it in with all my built-up anger, watching the wooden gate fly forward off the hinges, hitting the ground with a large thud. An ear-piercing alarm followed by, letting others in the building that I had used the door. I ran us out of the kill room, then into the darkness of the tunnel. The tunnel eventually turned into the channel of sewage, with an extremely narrow path on the side, leaving no safe way for me to carry Maka along. If I could get her to walk, or at least limp by…
I set her down once I saw the light that glimpsed through the manholes and drains of the street. "Maka," I scoped out her wound, and I hated to admit how good I got her, and if she wasn't nursed up soon, she would bleed out, "Can you walk?"
Shrugging, she looked at me helplessly, "Yeah, I'll be fine." I took her hand as we carefully dashed through the sewer. Eventually, there would be a ladder that took us to the edge of town. I figured we could climb up and out, and run.
"Hey! You! Stop there!" a harsh voice yelled from behind us. Maka screamed, picking up her running pace. Blinding flashlights trailing us, I knew that guards were following our every move.
"Fuck!" my flesh crawled with despair. We reached a point where the tunnel split off into three directions. Trying to visualize the city in my head, I pulled us down the path on the right. The smell of excrement was mixing with the smell of poisonous gas. They're going to smother us down here…
Surprisingly, Maka pushed me aside, and started sprinting past me. I felt like she knew where she was going, so I trailed behind her. We reached another fork in the tunnel, this time we went the left path.
"Give it up, now!" a guard yelped, their voice suppressed by a gas mask. I felt my lungs getting hefty from the smoke. My irrational decision of fleeing was becoming fatal.
"I can hardly breathe," her strained voice called out. Suddenly, by a sign of God or something, I could see a mine approaching. There was grim light from outside, and when we reached it we realized there was a body of water below us, a drain from the sewer supply. I looked down, the fall was about a hundred feet to the grimy water.
"Jump!" I peeked behind me, my eyes meeting with blazing light from the guards. I wrapped my hand around Maka's lower back, thrusting us out in a dangerous fall below.
My body felt crippled once I hit the water, I had forgot to hold my breath when I jumped, so I struggled to the surface for air. My head nudged out of the water, and I coughed out the dirty water, and wiped my dreary eyes. I looked around hastily, trying to find my fugitive. When she didn't surface, I submerged myself again, opening my eyes. The water was cloudy, but I could make out her figure. I grabbed onto her, and pulled her up.
"Maka!" I swung her over my back, swimming underneath the mine we jumped off of. I could hear angry voices from above, and the shimmer of lights on the water, trying to spot us out. Treading my legs gently to stay afloat and not startle waves, I pat her back gently.
"I-I'm okay," she managed to answer after spitting out a mouthful of water. I breathed a temporary sigh of relief, hugging her tight to me.
"We can talk later," I said sternly, "but now we need to focus on getting the fuck out of here." She nodded, letting go of me. We paddled carefully to shore, helping each other up on the swamp-like ground. We both were soaked with soiled water and Maka's blood. She was bleeding fast, and needed help. I pushed her down to sit, while I tore an arm off of my suit. Turning her to her side, her laceration was through her rib cage and to her belly button. I tied a tourniquet-like fixture to her side, pressing my hands down on it. She let out a sharp cry of pain at my touch, so I put my other hand over her mouth, "I know it hurts, but we will take care of it later, okay?"
"Okay…" her voice quivered. We got back up and started racing through the swamp in a jagged pattern. The swamp was full of obstructions - broken trees, poison ivy, but I managed to help her around all of those things. The whistle from Death City rung out, indicating there was an escape from the containment center. We kept running away from the sound for what felt like days. Eventually, the sound ceased.
After traveling a bit further, there was a small shack-like structure that looked abandoned. Approaching it cautiously, and watching behind us for officers who could have caught up to us, we entered it. Inside the cabin was a cot on the floor, a table with only three legs, a pile of burnt firewood with a kettle resting on top of it. Instantly, Maka fell onto the cot, weeping in pain.
"It's okay, it's okay." I lied. I knelt down next to her, "Let me look at your injury." Nodding, she turned on her side again. I pulled the blood-soaked bandage off of it and tossed it aside. It was deep, and needed to be closed. Now.
"I'll be okay, Soul, I promise. It's just sore, that's all." I ignored her. I took the garment I used to bandage it up, and began pulling at the frayed material until it unweaved into string. Near the fire were a pile of pine needles. I picked one up, it was dry, and it was sharp. Tying the string onto the needle, I took a deep breath.
"Close your eyes." I instructed. My shaking hands met with the wound I created, grabbing the skin to pull it together again. Maka's breathing was heavy, but not as heavy as mine. I quickly stabbed the needle through the two pieces of skin, watching them bind together. She let out a loud screech of shock and agony. Almost stabbing myself in the hand, I kept up my process; pinch, push, pull, repeat. After a few excruciating minutes, I had managed makeshift stitches. I tied the string off as many times as it would let me, and looked at my work.
"A-are you done?"
"Yeah. It's not the best, but at least it stopped the bleeding," you could see the sewn up skin through the tear in her clothes that the sword made, "Dammit, I can't believe I did that to you. I'm so sorry."
"You're not the one who owes me an apology, Soul. I'm going to be okay. I'm more worried about you…" she sat up, her distressed gaze looking right through me.
"I'll be okay, we'll be okay," I quickly corrected myself, "I think you should just rest for a bit, then we can continue traveling."
"If you say so…" laying down and curling up into a ball, Maka drifted off to sleep. She must have been so exhausted from the course of events that just occurred.