Wednesday Briefs: Ancalagon Ch. 114

 

“Go, go.” One of the rebels stopped and then turned to face the crowd of people in the room. “I’ll hold them off.” The hiss of weapons fire shocked me into motion, and I took off.

Garjah stayed at my side, never straying more than a single step away.

Without any idea of where I was going, I started down the first corridor after Bouncer’s rapidly retreating form. It seemed like he knew which way he wanted to go, and that direction was better than nothing. There was a loud thump, the building shook, and dust rained down on our heads. I coughed, waving all four of my arms the best I could in the air to clear some of the powder from around me. “What was that?” I asked between coughing fits.

“I think that was our distraction.” Garjah nudged me. “Keep going. Make his sacrifice worth it.”

Nausea churned in my stomach, and the acrid taste of bile burned my throat and mouth. Had we just been responsible for someone’s death? All I could think about was Garjah saying piercing live rounds, and that horrific loud thump. What kind of weapon did that? What would it do to a person? Could they even fix that kind of damage? “Did he blow himself up?”

“If he didn’t, he certainly blew his cover. He’ll never be able to live on the surface again unless we manage to overthrow the Kardoval.”

“Right.” That’s what this was all about. Taking those sanctimonious, power-hungry bastards down. They’d messed with the wrong bonded pair. I couldn’t think about the tragedy that could have happened behind us. If we’d been a little slower, or Bouncer wasn’t so fast— “Wait, where did Bouncer go?”

“Right. Through that door.” Garjah pointed to one slightly ajar down the hall. How he saw it through the dim emergency lights and the dust that was still billowing through the air, I had no idea. Damn aliens and their better senses. I sniffed, instantly regretting it as my nose burned, and I coughed. Garjah caught one of my arms and towed me along with him. “We have to hurry.”

“I am.” Sort of. I definitely didn’t want to lose Bouncer, and he wasn’t slowing down. I barely caught a glimpse of his red tail before he was all the way through the door.

The room we ran into was surprisingly clear, and then a breeze swept through which explained why so much dust had cleared. Garjah hissed out a triumphant sound, closing the door behind us. “Clever cerops. Of course you found a way out.” The way out was a set of smaller windows that were difficult for me with my bandages to squeeze through, and Garjah even cracked two window panes as he balanced on the frame, but we weren’t hopeful our escape would go undocumented for long anyway with the number of recording devices whizzing around the city.

Besides, being seen was sort of the point. At least as long as we didn’t get caught. The last group got a little too close. Garjah snuck us around the building, across two streets, and back with a group of rebels before I even realized he’d found them.

“Do we have any word from Chaintrik and Ases?” he asked. I squatted beside them, panting and leaning against Bouncer. His sides were barely moving, the monster. He nuzzled me, and I wrapped one arm around his shoulders and put my head against his neck for comfort. His smooth scales were warm until they grew into ridges that bit into my forehead.

“Time to go,” Garjah said.

Of course it was. Go, go, go. They were trying to run my feet into bloody nubs. We couldn’t walk anywhere; no, that wasn’t an option. Then I heard the whine of the recording device on the drone that flew overhead and realized why Garjah sent us on the move. We’d been spotted again.

“We can’t all stay together,” I said. “We have to split up, scatter like prey animals. They’ll think we’re scared, running to hide. If we stay together, they’re going to get suspicious and think we have a plan or something sinister plotted.”

“Of course we do,” one of the rebels said.

“They don’t know that,” I said with some asperity. “And we don’t want them to know. So freaking scatter already. Stars!” I cursed in an explosion. Bouncer echoed my frustration with a snarl.

That was probably what got them moving more than anything I had to say. I wouldn’t want an angry Bouncer at my heels either. They all melted away, except for when they wanted to be spotted. I still couldn’t figure out how he did it.

Oh well. The sound of booted feet falling in union caught my attention. Could they be any more scarier of a sound? Where were they coming from? There were three different directions, and that didn’t count the one behind me. If I started trying to look back there, I’d start a tailspin.

Moving forward. “Next building,” Garjah hissed.

I looked upward, noting the sign. Were we there already? I couldn’t believe it. “Is Ases here?”

“He should be soon. Chaintrik managed to pass on word that they’d arrived at the edge of the city before he had to go silent on the comm to avoid detection. But they’ll be here. Chaintrik won’t let us down.”

 

Just when I thought maybe Garjah was wrong, well… I was wrong. The most beautiful sight came whirring down the corridor straight for me, blocking the view of Ases and Chaintrik behind him. I never thought I’d get that sentimental over a mech.

If only he’d caught the bomb.

“Did you see that building on fire? It was only a block over. The smoke rising up was huge, and the fire smells so bad they have to evacuate two whole blocs,” Ases swept through the room, larger than life, and yanked me into his arms. He pushed back, wrinkling his face. “You’re covered in dust or something. What is that?” 

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Julie Lynn Hayes