Cross My Heart And Hope to Die
2. Unknown Enemies
You know the disclaimer. Also, for this story's intents and purposes, Orange is a smaller town then it is now.
'What… what is that?' Maeve repeated, her eyes as wide as saucers. She pointed silently at the James Sheahan oval, which was filled with people. This would be normal for the fair, but the oval was surrounded by razor tipped barbed wire, and people in military garb were rolling out, taking down and putting up fencing. A train was next to the oval, and boxes and crates were being unloaded off onto vehicles, which then moved them into the hall. People were everywhere, military and Orangians alike, lining up, walking and talking together. Only about a quarter of Orange was there, Corliss presumed the rest were at the showground. The whole scene was a cacophonous image of sound and color. The group of teenagers sunk back against the Ag farm shed.
Corliss gathered her wits first and whispered, 'I am thinking that looks like a military camp. I think some invading military force has taken over Orange. It looks like most of the town is captured and is being held there, so-'
'Shh.' Loreli said. 'What?'
'SHH! I can hear something.' They sat in silence for a few moments, but then heard the unmistakable sound of people talking. They realized it was behind them, in the shed. The sound was beginning to get louder, unintelligible words from another language. The group looked at each other in fear.
Loreli whispered, silent as a mouse, 'let's go back to our campsite. There's that fence, we can scale it using the trees and get over to that dam. From there we can rethink about our options.'
Corliss uttered but one word out of the side of her mouth. 'Run.'
They ran.
By the time they were at the rifle range, they heard shouting from the direction of the shed. Eliana glanced back, and shouted to the others, 'they're coming! God help us, they're coming.'
She sounded close to tears. They all were, but fright had cinched their tearducts shut, instead focusing on getting the body cooled down by perspiration. By the time they reached the fence, around 5 soldiers were about halfway there, and gaining. Corliss was already up the tree. 'Throw the packs up to me! I can chuck them over.'
Loreli, who was the strongest, threw the packs up. Corliss caught them and threw them over the 4-meter tall fence. The dæmons changed into fast tree climbing animals, and stayed near their person. Maeve and Eliana were the slowest, started climbing the tree Corliss was in, as it was the closest to the fence and had the most handholds. The soldiers were on the rifle range, coming closer faster with each step. Loreli could hear their shouting as she flung herself up the tree. Corliss grasped her hand, and together they jumped off the tree. Falling heavily, they ran to the packs. The soldiers were at the fence. One had his gun up and was loading it to shoot. The others had run down the hill, as right next to the fence the land steeply sloped downwards. Corliss' pack was stuck on a root. She pulled hard, and threw herself backwards over the edge. The bullet grazed her cheek as it flew past at a high-speed velocity, leaving a deep cut that instantly welled bright red blood, which spattered across her cheek.
Corliss tumbled, head over feet over head again down the steep hill. She rolled, over and over and over, hit by branches, rocks and lumps in the landscape alike. She hit a tree truck, which she was wrapped around in a heartbeat, her back cracking with the strain. Her pack, still with a gravitational pull, flew forward and hit her in the face, snapping her neck around and flipping her off the tree and making her continue in a downward trajectory. She bounced off a rock, and was stopped by Loreli tackling her, preventing her from rolling straight off the edge of the turf and falling into the water. Loreli pulled her upright and started pushing her up a tree. Corliss, bashed to the state of stupidity, after rolling in a downwards fashion down a hill, was pushed and pulled until she got to a high branch of a tree. There other hands held her, in her delusional state she wasn't sure who was who. Her pack was pried from unfeeling fingers, and was stuffed into a crook of the tree. There the group waited, gasping for breath as quietly as they could, as they watched five soldiers run down the hill, with the ease and agility of those who had done it before.
The 4 people and their dæmons sat, awaiting their fate, with bated breath, hoping against hope that the soldiers would not crane their necks upwards, and see the 4 frightened teenagers crowded on a branch, looking downwards with eyes that were resigned to what was surely about to happen next, numb eyes, batshit scared eyes, and eyes that they would fight to the end, no matter what the cost to personal safety.