Shun

Although Alice was leaving the topic alone, I knew she was trying to see if I really was okay. I might have looked it on the outside, but I felt nowhere near okay on the inside. Seeing my old home, the place I grew up in, gone and leveled to the ground was more shock than I had braced myself for.

But it only fueled my loathing towards the Officials all the more. The images of my flattened home brought along the chilling memory of the nightmare I had in the City before we left on our trip through the Wastelands. I shivered when I remembered the buildings and houses left as nothing more than smoldering ash, and the crows flying around overhead. Seeing it for real wasn't as bad as my nightmare, but it was a close second.

The darkening clouds above us were bringing the storm they head closer and closer to us. I knew we would be caught out in the rain when it hit, but that was a good thing. It would give us a chance to have the dirt washed away. A bright bolt of lightning cut the sky in have, and was shortly followed by a low rumble of thunder. I saw Murucho gulp.

The short blonde said, "Do you guys think we should be walking through here during the storm?" In this wide open area, it probably wasn't the safest place in the world, with the lightning and all. Dan held his hand out like he was presenting the Wastelands to Murucho. "Where should we take shelter. The only places are the City, or the mountain, both of which, are the same distance from us."

The wind suddenly picked up, throwing ash up with in like miniature tornadoes. I lifted my arm up to shield my eyes and face from the ash. This wasn't just a run-of-the-mill storm. No, this one felt like it was bringing something along with it. A warning of something bad, perhaps?

There was no telling. Marquis turned his back to the wind, facing us, and yelled, "We need to hurry up and get to the mountain as fast as we can before this storm gets any worse!" With the wind it would be difficult to run as it pushed back in order to keep us from our goal.

The darkening sky and lightning weren't helping us out that much either. We pressed on though, not wanting to give up when we were so close. The excitement we felt when we finally reached the foot of the mountain was indescribable. All the pain and suffering we went through, and now it would slowly start to come to an end as we made our way to the other side.

The little celebration we were having was cut short. Coming from the City, was a small army of Officials marching towards us. Their numbers drastically toppled ours, and being caught by them would be a worst case scenario. Val shouted at us, "Start making your way up!"

We ran into the forest that grew on the mountain. Thanks to the dark sky, we couldn't see everything in front of us, and I constantly was running into tree limbs and roots. I saw that I wasn't the only one stumbling around. While running, we ran into something. A wall that had stopped us cold.

In front of us was an old chain link fence that had apparently survived all these years. It stretched what seemed like down the entire mountain. While we tried to hunt for a way under or through the fence, I looked down at the foot of the mountain and saw the Officials were getting near.

Murucho grabbed onto the fence and shouted, "Climb!" All of us started to try and climb the fence, but the rain had started and made the rusty metal difficult to get a grip on, along with our panic. There was no way we would be able to get over the fence before the Officials reached us.

The rain came down in sheets, even breaking through the treetops above us. Below, the Officials started their ascent of the mountain. I saw the rifles they always carried around. The same kind that had almost killed me three times.

Trapped and unarmed, we would be able to do nothing but stand there and take whatever the Officials dealt out. I could hear them now. They would say how we had given them so much trouble, and now we were at their mercy by being trapped against a fence. What irony.

We survived snowstorms and deserts and everything else in between. Now, we were done in by this. They emerged from the trees we just ran through, and looked surprised to see us standing there. The confused looks on their faces vanished when they saw we were back against the fence and trapped.

Now, they wore smiles and grins. I felt Alice get closer to me for safety. There wasn't much I could do for her now, but I would try my best. One of the Officials stepped forward, and I felt the hairs on the nape of my neck stand on end. It was the same psychotic guy who had almost killed me more times than I felt like counting.

He wore a grin and said, "Now isn't this a lovely site." He was pacing back and forth, eyeing each of us like a predator eyes its prey. And that was just how I felt. I highly doubted that I would get lucky and live this time. The odds were against us.

An Official behind the one pacing said, "Nero, hurry. Xavier wanted us to get this over with and return back to the City." At least now I knew this sadistic person's name. And a fitting one at that. Nero turned around and snapped at the Official, "I will take however long I want to, Yuri. They're trapped, so I have all the time in the world."

His eyes scanned each one of us, and they stopped on Alice. A sly grin crossed his face, and before I could react, he snatched her from behind me. "Hey! Let her go!" I yelled. Nero held her wrists tightly, and she kept trying to slid from his hold, but he didn't even seem to notice she was struggling.

He looked at her, still smiling that smile that made me want to slap it off his face. "Now, aren't you a pretty one? I've never noticed it till now." Alice's struggle against him was starting to stop as she grew tired. I wanted to run over there and make him suffer.

Not only for what he was doing to Alice, but to everything he had done to all of us. But I knew the moment I made a move for him, one of the Officials behind him would shoot me dead. That was just what Nero wanted. "Please, let her go," I begged as I started to feel helpless to do anything.

Behind me, I heard Dan shout, "Didn't you hear him? Let her go! You've already got us where you want us, so don't make it worse than it has to be." Nero acted like he didn't hear either of us. He kept his evil grin and face towards Alice when he said, "You and your friends have caused us a lot of trouble, little girl. You know that, don't you?"

He tapped his fingers along her cheek, making her try to jerk away even more. He was playing with me. He wanted me to lose it and go at him so I could be shot. How low and cowardly was somebody who used emotions as a weapon?

I felt useless. No matter what I did, I wouldn't be able to help her. Nero continued to gaze down at her. He said calmly, "This is no fun anymore." I thought for a split second he was going to throw her back to us, but I realized I was wrong when he snapped his fingers and the Official, Yuri, stepped out of the group, rifle in hand.

My eyes widened and I shouted, "No! Don't!" I started to run towards them, but was stopped by Dan and Val. Dan said to me, "You go over there, you'd be doing what they want you to. Besides, they're going to kill us all anyway. So what's it matter." What did it matter?

I didn't want to watch Alice be shot to death before my eyes. That's what mattered. I didn't try and run over there anymore, but Dan and Val continued to hold me back just in case. Yuri started to lift the rifle, and Alice shut her eyes tightly.

I didn't want to watch, so I turned my head to the side and stared at the ground. I heard a body hit the ground, but no gunshot. When I glanced up, I saw Yuri laying on the ground, a handmade arrow sticking out through his chest and shoulders. Everyone looked around for the source of the arrow that killed Yuri.

Nero growled and yelled, "Who's there!" Another arrow shot and hit his hand, making him release Alice. She ran back over to us and wrapped her arms around me. As much as I wanted to, I didn't hug her back. Instead, I made her get behind me for protection.

If they tried to get her again, I wasn't going to allow it. I should have never allowed it in the first place. Nero clutched his hand, a faint line of blood coming from where the arrow hit him. It mixed with the blood of Yuri on the ground, which had begun to dilute from the pelting rain.

"Find whoever shot that damn thing!" he shouted. His Officials began to look around. I started to look around as well. Next to me, I heard Marquis whisper, "No way. Look up there." I followed his eyes and saw Brunswick was perched up in a tree branch.

He had a handmade bow and arrow that I had seen him shoot in the water to kill and catch fish with. He shot several more, dropping Officials left and right. Nero, still holding his injured hand, commanded, "Fall back! Fall back!" His Officials started running from the scene, leaving behind their fallen comrades.

Once they were all gone, Brunswick dropped down from the tree he was in. He began to retrieve the arrows he shot, and put them back in their quiver. Marquis told him, "Thank God you showed up when you did, Brunswick." I was grateful as well.

If he hadn't shot Yuri or at Nero, Alice might have been killed. I turned around to make sure she was okay. She nodded and said, "Yeah. I-I'm fine. A l-little shaken up." I wrapped my arms around her, as if to make sure that she really was there.

Brunswick took back his last arrow and said, "I'm not the only one who showed up." All of us stared at him, unsure to what he was talking about. He waved his hand for us to follow him, and we did. As we returned to the foot of the mountain, we saw people standing around.

They were standing around in the ran, some of them drinking it as it fell from the sky. It was the people we lost in the desert. Not all of them, but a good many. I noticed there wasn't very many elderly people in the crowd. That wasn't surprising.

They wouldn't have lasted very long in that heat. Overall, there had to be two-thirds of the people we lost in the desert. Brunswick said, "They were walking towards the old lake when I saw them. They apparently found your signal that you left behind."

I saw Dan searching the crowd, but I knew he wouldn't find what he was looking for because I had already searched for the blue-haired girl. She wasn't anywhere among the people. He walked up to a woman from the lake and asked, "Have you seen Runo?"

I walked closer to them. The woman's face grew grim as she said, "She was with us while we were in the desert. But we were ambushed by the Officials. We thought at first that they lived out in the desert, but when they pulled out their guns, we realized they didn't. They started to attack us, but when they saw the girl, two of them took her away while the rest stayed behind and attacked us. I don't know what they did with her after that."

Dan's face looked expressionless when he thanked the woman for her time. He started to walk back over to us, leaving our newly reunited refugees behind. "Those Officials…..They have Runo." Julie covered her mouth with her hand to hide the shock that was on her face.

Alice just stared at Dan as if he were speaking in another language. "Are you serious?" Murucho asked. Dan nodded and clenched his hands into fists. "Yeah. And I want to find them and make them pay for anything they may have done to her." Brunswick didn't look impressed with Dan's decision.

"And what do you plan on doing?" he asked. Dan looked at the tall bearded man and told him, "I'll go in the City and take it from there." Brunswick had to bend over to meet Dan's gaze. He said sternly, "And the moment you step foot in there, you're dead. I hope you know that."

Dan narrowed his eyes and nodded. "I do know that, and I don't care. I'm tired of running and taking all the crap they're giving us. I want it to end. One way or another," the brunette said harshly. "I do too." We turned and saw Val had his hand raised as he stepped forward.

He added, "I'm getting tired of this as well." Marquis joined in, "Me too. After what just happened back there in the forest, I want some payback." Several more people added in their voices, each one of them tired of being beneath the Officials' iron fist. Dan looked around at the group of people that had collected around him.

He said, "Well, it's settled. If you want to go to the City and give the Officials what they deserve, then we'll go." There had to be no more than fifteen people that had gathered around him, including himself and Marquis and Val. Brunswick asked Dan, "And how do you plan on fighting back against the Officials? They have rifles, remember?"

Dan smiled, apparently thinking this part through. He pointed up to the mountain and said, "Thanks to you, Brunswick, we have guns as well." He meant the guns of the Officials that Brunswick shot with his arrows. They would still be loaded with ammo, but there would be a limited amount.

Plus, there were only about ten rifles up there, which meant not everyone would get a weapon of their own. Brunswick smiled and said, "I see you've thought this through pretty well for somebody from the City. Alright. You're going to need some extra strength, so I would be glad to accompany you on this mission."

Dan smiled and thanked Brunswick. Feliciana heard what was going on, and said she would go along as well. I saw her weapon of choice in her hand; that rope that flung rocks fast enough to break a skull. Marquis and Val went back up the mountain to retrieve the guns from the dead Officials.

Brunswick looked at the City and said, "They'll probably be back after regrouping. We need to get the people that aren't going with us, over that fence and send them on their way so they don't get involved in this mess." Once Marquis and Val got the guns piled together, they along with Brunswick, began to help people over the rusted chain link fence.

Alice was the last one helped over. She started to walk off, but turned around when she realized I wasn't behind her. "Aren't you coming with us?" I shook my head and told her, "I decided I was going to go with them to the City." After what they did to her, and how they used her against me, I wanted my own form of payback.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" she asked. I only heard the truth behind her question. Don't do that. She was worried I would get killed by going into the City and fighting back at the Officials. That was a possibility I would face. "I'm sure. Now, go on before you get left behind by the others," I told her and smiled to let her know everything was alright.

She nodded and said, "Okay. Be careful, Shun." She placed her hand on the fence, and I did the same. "I will," I said and turned to join the small army that had been assembled. Dan saw me clear out from the woods. "You're coming with us?" he asked. I nodded and said, "Have a problem with that?"

He shook his head and handed me one of the rifles. "Not a bit. We need all the help we can get." I stared down at the gun, remembering the end of one being hit into the side of my skull. I was sure that there would be much more pain coming than just that. Ready at last, our small army walked through the rain and towards the City.

sorry for not uploading yesterday. i wasnt expecting to get my hair cut and all this other stuff. if my history is correct (sorry if it's not cause i havent heard this since 7th grade) Nero is a Roman emperor or something like that, who burned Rome. I thought it was fitting with the Official's name. seeing as he's kinda touched in the head. well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~