Alright, everyone. This is as far as I've got so far. I'll keep working on it, but what with dealing with crazy classes, going to dances, and playing video games, each chapter will come a little slower than you guys might like. I gotta do what I gotta do.
But, hey, at least it's at a point in time when things are getting less depressing. That's always a plus.
"Your coast is getting a little less clear, pussycat," Benny warned quietly.
"Just tell me in as few words as possible exactly what is going on," I hissed back, holding onto an arm of the cross for balance as I started tugging on the restraints that kept Benny held up in place. "And stop calling me pussycat. It's awkward."
"I'm not one for knowing the rankings of soldiers, pussycat," Benny continued, turning his head to glance at me. His face was shallow and pale—sickly. "But one fellow with a goofy hat is talking to another." He glanced back out to the world. "That other fellow just ran off quick as a lick. Pretty sure he saw us, darling."
"I got one arm done. Boone, bring me right."
Boone grunted and shifted right a few steps. I grabbed onto his beret to righten myself before moving onto tugging on Benny's other restraint. "Why do I have to hold you?" Boone grumbled under his breath.
"Because you're taller than Raul," Arcade answered him.
"You're taller than Raul too."
"I held her when she got you down," Arcade pointed out. "Now I'm diligently working on freeing Benny's legs."
"Why are we taking this guy with us?" Boone continued complaining underneath me. "He had absolutely no positive relation to us."
"I'm not going to leave a well-dressed man on a cross to die when we can save him," I muttered. "And besides, maybe he can provide us with some comic relief on our trip to goodness knows where."
"If you want comic relief, you could just dress Raul up like a clown. I'm sure you'd get a kick out of that."
"I'm sure you're speaking from experience, Boone," I chuckled.
"We have trouble, we have trouble!" Benny said suddenly, squirming.
"Hold still, Damnit!" I hissed, willing my fingers to work faster. They fumbled, but managed to free his other arm at the same time that Arcade freed his legs. Benny fell into Raul and Arcade's expecting arms, and I looked over the top of the cross at the so-called 'trouble' that we had.
A decanus was visible behind an approaching wall of prime and recruit legionnaires. I couldn't see anything of his face from as far as I was, and even if I had been closer I wouldn't have been able to see his face, but I knew he was smirking. Probably thinking: Finally, an excuse to slaughter that woman soldier that thinks she's better than me.
Boone dropped me on the ground, and I ran up to Arcade, thrusting a small piece of metal into his hands. "Here!"
He observed the object in his hand, confused. "My scalpel? What am I supposed to do with this?!"
I glanced around him at the nearing soldiers. "Um, defend yourself! Deflect some bullets with it!" I pushed him into the direction that Raul was scuttling off to. "Just run!"
A blast whizzed past my ear, and my stomach immediately tied itself into a knot. I willed my legs to move, move, move!
Benny was even further ahead than Raul, somehow. I was certain he didn't even know where he was going, just running in a general direction that didn't threaten his life nearly as much. According to Raul, the Vertibird was on the other side of the camp—a daring run, but it would be so worth it if we could just reach it!
Ahead, Raul called for Benny to take a right, and the checkered suit obliged. I could hear the clanks of armor other than my own, as if the Legion soldiers were already breathing down my neck. I cursed my lack of agility, and pleaded Atom and Mars and all other gods in the universe to give me the strength to go faster.
There was a flash of red, and I saw Arcade stumble. Using my inertia to urge him back up, we continued on, practically side by side. He was considerably slower, panting heavily and grimacing, and I noticed that the flash of red was a stain appearing on his thigh, seeping through his lab coat. "You've been shot!" I cried in horror.
"The perception is strong with this one," Arcade grunted sarcastically. "I'll be fine… just… that Vertibird better be closer than Raul said it was."
"Wholesomely agreed," I told him in-between heavy breathing. Instead of that strength I asked for, I was getting tired.
"This way, boss!" I heard Raul call, and he ducked into a narrow entryway. Putting an arm around Arcade's shoulders, I pulled us both in after him.
"We should turn back," I suggested, trying to add humor to lift our spirits. Perhaps if our spirits would lift, we could run faster, which was all that I cared about. "I'm sure we could take them, Spartacus style. THIS. IS—"
"—A BAND OF MISFITS," Arcade finished. "Stop talking, just keep going." I obliged, but he was leaning more and more onto me, dragging us both down.
Looking up, I saw the most beautiful sight.
It looked like a bug, arched, ready to attack, with six legs on the ground and wheels for feet. Its wings loomed high over us, the propellers still and covered with rust. The door was open for us, and there wasn't a soul standing around it.
"Raul," I called with a sudden daunting feeling. "You… do know how to fly this thing, right?"
He looked back at me nervously. "No, boss. I only maintain it."
Oh, great… "Well… Boone—"
"Does it look like I know how to fly one of these?" he growled back.
I thought that he very well could have; he was tall, buff, and experienced-looking. With my last hope of getting out of the Legion camp alive, I glanced at Arcade.
"I only know the basics," he told me frankly.
My eyes widened, and I pushed him ahead of me, into the open door of the flying machine. "GET YOUR SWEET, SWEET ASS IN THERE!"
He tensed with confusion. "My… sweet, sweet ass?"
I leapt in after him, and directed everyone else inside. "Go, go, go!" After Benny had scrambled inside, I took one last look at the barrel of a Legion shotgun aiming for my face before pulling the door closed behind me.