by Petosa, Jess
Pax shook his head. "It isn't safe. Luke would kill me." He glanced over at Ally. "From the reports I heard just before coming here, there is a good chance they'll make it to City Center."
Max started to protest but Ally shot him a look. She had her own plan for what would happen once they were outside with the guns, and she would tell him the first chance she got. For now, they needed to follow Pax's plan.
"This feels awfully unorganized," Sabine put a hand on her hip, and the gesture brought a small smile to Ally's face. "You've had weeks, no, months, to plan for this. Aden knew this was going to happen, and all of the sudden Rogues are taking over the City and people are panicking?"
Pax just glared at her and then spun and walked out the door.
"They just hate it when we're right," Sabine said before taking Stosh's hand and pulling him into the hall.
"Thanks for staying," Ally said to Max. "I know you would probably rather go back home. You don't owe this City anything, but thank you."
"I owe the City for bringing you to me," Max responded before slipping out the door.
Ally took a deep breath and tightened her hold on her pack. When this was all over, she had several messes to clean up.
The guns were just where Pax said they would be, stored in Luke's office. Pax was the only other person with a key, so it was lucky that he was the one that Luke had assigned to their group. Ally wondered if this had been done on purpose, if in the end, Luke had hoped they would stay and help, but she didn't have much time to think on it further.
"No one was planning on taking these into battle?" Sabine asked as she fingered the trigger of a gun.
"It was never a part of the plan," Pax responded. "I'm sure they've forgotten them."
Ally didn't quite hear truth in his voice, but shouldered her own gun and followed the group out of the office. When they finally stepped out in the City, she had to blink several times to adjust to the daylight. Large, gray clouds loomed in the distance, a sure sign of rain. Thunder rumbled in the distance.
"This way," Pax shouted out.
The City was loud. An alarm blasted over speakers, Exceptionals ran one way yelling with fear, and Guards ran around shouting out orders. Even though Ally knew that everyone had a place they would end up, it still seemed like chaos. How many would stay in their homes and hope for the best? How many would forget where to go and end up in the street, out in the open for the coming Rogues? They followed Pax a block east before entering a four-story apartment complex. They climbed the staircase, and at the top a door led them onto a roof. Pax leaned over the front ledge of the building.
"Two of you stay up here, the other two I'll place on the apartment building on that corner," he pointed to a building a block to the south."
"We'll stay," Ally pointed to Max and herself. "Sabine and Stosh, be safe."
She gave them both hugs, holding on to each of them longer than necessary, and said her good-byes. She couldn't linger on the words, in case something happened and she didn't see them again. There had been too many moments like this, and she just wanted to believe that her luck would last. Pax and the others jogged back into the building, and Ally was left with Max.
"So what's the real plan?" he asked quickly.
Ally smiled, "I knew you would catch on. We need to get closer to the east wall, closer to where the Rogues are coming in. If we can pick them off there, we can save more of them. The population is down as it is, I don't understand why Luke is willing to risk so many lives."
"Maybe he doesn't think he has a choice," Max responded.
"Or Aden told him that he doesn't," she said quietly.
"And then there is the ORC." Max didn't look at Ally when he said the words.
"Who knows how much good that has actually done," she looked in the direction of where she remembered the ORC to be. If one building had to burn to the ground today, she hoped that would be it. Surely they had evacuated those Ordinarys as well.
"We better move fast, while there are still others moving along the ground. We'll look extra suspicious if we are traveling on deserted roads," Max pointed to parts where the crowd was beginning to thin.
They ran back down the staircase and out onto the open street. They fell in step with a group of Exceptionals and traveled quickly to the east. They were careful to avoid the building Pax had taken Stosh and Sabine to, just in case. Max and Ally were an odd pair. Two Ordinarys, both armed, and one with a shoulder bag full of a dozen guns. No one seemed to notice, or care, though.
The further east they got, the more the crowd thinned. Thirty minutes in, the Exceptionals and Ordinarys disappeared, and now random formations of Guards marched on. No one questioned Ally and Max, or gave them orders. They probably saw two wandering Ordinarys as an okay casualty in this war. An hour into their journey, the factories started to pop up.
"We're close," Ally said.
They could hear shouting in the distance, and random explosions and other odd sounds.
"It looks like they've held them back so far," Max said. "There aren't Rogues running wild here just yet."
"Yeah," Ally said softly. "But I still have a bad feeling about all of this."
They weaved in and out of warehouses, drawing closer and closer to the sounds of battle. Or maybe the battle was drawing closer to them. Every now and then a Guard would run by, but still, no one stopped to speak with them. Finally, they stepped out onto a street that was heavy with bodies and full of smoke. Flames shot into the air, targeting both buildings and groups of people.
"We have to get up high," Ally said before covering her mouth and nose with her arm.
Max did the same and pointed toward a Warehouse across the street that was so far untouched. They sprinted through the groups of Guards, and other random Exceptionals, and reached the brick building. Max didn't hesitate to kick a window in and climb inside. Ally followed behind him, ignoring the sting on her palm where the broken glass left small cuts.
They could breathe easier in here, but the smoke would infiltrate fast. The warehouse floor was large and open, since it had been abandoned and unused for decades. Ally spotted a staircase on the opposite wall and they sprinted for it, taking the steps two at a time. It was only three stories tall, so they burst onto the rooftop in under a minute. Smoke rolled up into the air in columns of gray, and mixing in with the rain clouds above. They ran to the ledge and looked over. At this vantage point, they were looking right down over the Rogues. Watching the fight was like watching a movie. Hands were raised and random bits of fire and ice shot through out the crowd. Some Exceptionals would fly backwards and land several yards away, while some Rogues would be tossed aside with the swipe of a hand.
The Guards had guns, something the Rogues didn't, but it seemed like they had prepared for it. There were smaller, weaker Rogues on the front line. They were being taken out by the bullets. The strong Rogues, with the more useful abilities, were leading another group from behind.
A scary realization came to Ally, "I'm not sure who is winning."
"Looks like a fair fight to me." Max said from beside her. He was kneeling, already pulling guns from the bag. "We don't have infinite rounds, so we'll need to pick off the strongest first."
Ally nodded and peered back over the ledge, pulling her own gun down in front of her. "Try not to hit the Exceptionals."
"Why?" Max grunted. "It will cure them as well."
Ally didn't want to start this argument so instead she pulled the gun against her shoulder and raised it to eye level. She shut one eye, like she had been taught, and found a target.
"I'm taking fire boy," she said to Max. They didn't need to waste ammo by going for the same target.
"I'll take the creepy dude in the front that seems to be chucking bodies with his mind," Max responded.
The Rogue Ally was aiming at shot another large fireball toward the warehouse across the street. Several Guards perched atop the building took flight, and glass from the windows exploded, raining down on t
he street below. Ally found a clear shot and put her finger on the trigger.
1-2-....
The shot rang off, and was a direct hit. The Rogue grabbed at his neck frantically and then slumped to the ground. The Rogues behind him kept moving, stepping over his body carefully. She hoped they continued to do so, so that their ammo was not wasted on bodies that would be trampled.
Max fired a shot and then pumped his fist into the air. "Direct hit!"
Ally couldn't hold back her laugh, even though she knew there was nothing amusing about their situation. She looked back down to the street. "I'll take the Rogue in the front, wearing blue."
The Rogue was in the middle of the back group, its hands firmly at its side. It didn't appear to be doing anything, but Ally noticed that the Exceptionals and Guards nearby were completely ignoring it, as though it were invisible. While at the training center, Ally had met another Exceptional that could make himself invisible to people within a certain range. She didn't want this Rogue to slip into the City unnoticed, and from up here she had the advantage of being able to see it. The effects of its abilities didn’t stretch this far.
She raised her gun, aimed, and fired again.
"Damn it!" she cried out. She had hit an Exceptional on the front line. She dropped to the ground, and Max immediately did the same
"What happened?"
"I hit one of the Exceptionals. What if they target us now?" she asked.
Max shook his head. "They are a little busy, Ally. We have to keep going."
Ally popped up and aimed her gun again, taking a deep breath. This time her shot was a direct hit.
One by one they took out some of the more threatening Rogues, but the crowd seemed never-ending. When they took out one, another took its place. They surged forward into the street, pushing the Exceptionals backwards. The first Rogues they had shot were starting to come to, and had dragged their weak bodies to the side of the road. No one moved to help them, but no one moved to injure them either. Ally had just taken out another Rogue in the front when she heard a shot from below.
"Ally, we need to move," Max cried out.
She looked down just as a fireball shot through the air and headed straight for them. They had been spotted. Max grabbed her around the waist and threw her to the ground, throwing himself on top of her. There was an explosion, and glass rained down on them. Ally could feel the heat traveling over her skin, and her ears were ringing from the sound. Max rolled to the side and grabbed her hand, pulling her to a stand. The back of his shirt was charred in some places, and his hair was singed.
"Are you hurt?" she asked him.
"No time," he said quickly before pulling her across the roof. "They might try to bring the building down."
There was another explosion behind them but they didn't look back. They took the stairs quickly, sometimes jumping past several at a time. Once they reached the bottom landing, Max wasted no time in kicking out a window on the sidewall. They climbed out into the alley just as the building shook with another explosion.
"The guns are gone," Max said through shallow breaths. "The bag caught fire, I couldn't grab them...."
Ally checked her own gun. "I have two shots left."
Max held his empty hands out. "I let go of my guns when I grabbed you."
"Thank you, by the way," Ally said to him.
He just nodded his head and pointed down the alley. They could see the Rogues passing by at the end.
"What do we do now?" he asked.
"I say we use these last two shots," Ally responded, her own confidence surprising her. She could feel her heart beating quickly, her body still responding to the adrenaline of the past several minutes.
"We should save them," Max put a hand on her gun. "Just in case. Those might be the last two vaccinations in the City if Stosh and Sabine have used all their ammo. Plus, we don't know if or when my Uncle Heath will get us the rest."
Ally thought on his words for a second. The Rogues were passing quickly and they needed to get moving.
"Alright," she finally said. "Let's try to find a clear path back to the Exceptional side. We need to know what the next move is. We are too out in the open right now."
They traveled the side streets three blocks over until they thought for certain they were ahead of the Rogues. When they got back to the Main Street, they found that they had not only missed the Rogues, but most of the Exceptionals. They were turning toward the City, explosions and guns still sounding in the distance.
They were about to break into a run when a voice stopped them in their tracks.
"You have got to be kidding me."
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Ally flinched and Max sighed loudly.
Luke was standing in the middle of the street, his arms crossed over his chest. In this moment, with ashes falling from the sky and thunder rumbling closer, he appeared menacing. Shadows were cast under his eyebrow, and his eyes glowed.
"I'm going to kill Pax," he said to no one in particular.
"He tried to keep us in City Center," Ally responded. "But we kind of ran off on our own."
Max raised one eyebrow. "Plus, we are able to make our own choices. We took out almost two dozen Rogues back there, and almost got blown up in the process. You're welcome."
Luke scowled. "Two dozen Rogues is barely a dent. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands moving in on us."
It was then that Ally noticed the small set up of Guards in the thin alley between two warehouses. There were papers laid out across an old, rusting table.
"I just received news from the western wall that your uncle has arrived with the cure guns. We are pulling Guards back toward City Center to arm them, but in the process the Rogues are pushing in farther. It's a dangerous risk..." Luke paused and then starts to pace back and forth. "I should go. I should. I need to finish these routes ... of where we are going to push the Rogues."
"I can finish them," Max offered, surprising both Ally and Luke alike. "I used to draw the routes through the woods, for the hunting parties and gatherers."
Luke's eyes narrowed and she could tell he didn't like the sound of that. Things were falling apart around him and he was losing control. Ally could only imagine how Aden would be handling this situation.
"I'm going with you," she said to Luke. "I want to go to City Center with you."
Luke started to protest but stopped. "We leave now."
He sprinted around the corner, which looked more like a blur of black, and returned pushing his motorcycle. Ally tried not to react but the muscles in her mouth deceived her. She smiled at the memories the bike brought back, and didn't hesitate to run her fingers along the smooth, black surface.
"Did we ride on this together?" Luke asked.
Ally nodded. "Only once, but it was a good day."
Her eyes rose to meet his, and their gazes held for a moment. Luke was the first to look away, busying himself with pulling the spare helmet out of the small storage compartment. Ally was ready to board the bike when Max grabbed her arm. He spun her around, looking at her with a fierceness that worried her.
"I know you told me we can't do this, but I can't handle knowing that I might not ever see you again ..." Before she could protest his lips were on hers. The kiss was quick and full of too many emotions wrapped into one. Want. Fear. Happiness. Anger.
He pushed back and turned from her, jogging over to the table full of City maps.
Ally couldn't even look Luke in the eye when she finally straddled the bike. She raised the helmet and a glimmer of yellow caught her eyes. Stuck in the chinstraps were a few long strands of blond hair. Her stomach dropped.
He owed her nothing, especially without any memory of her. Besides, she had just been kissed by Max. Had she kissed him back? She was already forgetting the moment, lost in the chaos of what had happened and what was to come. Thoughts ran through her mind rapidly, pushing her to her limit. As if the sky were connected to her emotions, the clouds opened up above them and cool dro
plets of water fell to the ground. It was a fitting event for the day.
"At least the fires will be put out," Luke said over his shoulder, and then he revved the engine and pulled out onto the road. She put her arms around his waist, just like last time, but the motion felt different. He was stiff and proper, and she couldn't bring herself to hold him as tight.
The ride into the City should have been miserable. Heavy rain should have pelted them from every direction, and their clothes should have been dripping for days. But instead Luke used his abilities to create a bubble around them as they moved. The raindrops bouncing off the invisible barrier, leaving Ally and Luke dry. Even the wind was absent, and it made the effect of being on the motorcycle feel fake, and engineered. When she had first ridden with Luke the wind had caught her long hair, whipping it behind her as they rode.
The rain stopped when they arrived in City Center.
Luke drove them to the Training Center, throwing the bike into park as soon as they had stopped. Guards were hurrying back west, most of them armed with the guns from Heath. Other Guards were headed into the building, where Ally guessed the guns were being kept. Luke jumped off the bike and ran into the building, not giving Ally a second thought.
"Ally!" Sabine ran through the crowds and stopped in front of Ally, almost out of breath. "We were looking for you everywhere. Pax was so mad when he realized what you did."
Stosh approached them with a smile on his face. "I should be upset that you put yourself in danger, but I like it when you stick it to the Exceptionals. You give them something to worry about." He winked.
"Where is Max?" Sabine asked.
"Back by the Lake," Ally responded. "Helping make plans for the Rogues. I came back with Luke, to get more guns. We lost ours in a fire."
"A fire?" Stosh's smile disappeared. He reached forward and picked ash out of her hair.
"No time," Ally said. "We need to re-arm and get ready. They are headed this way."
Stosh grabbed her arm. "Ally, I think we've done enough. It is time for us to go."