The Soldiers of the Cyto Field

by Nguyen,Peter

  “Where they go?” I look around in confusion.

  “I think we should just go,” Faye says. The tone in her voice is more vulnerable.

  “They can help us find our way around this city.”

  “They don’t even look old enough to speak. Let alone say a proper sentence.”

  Faye’s right. We’re just wasting time. Ever moment that goes by is a moment Rylan is in trouble.

  A black figure suddenly runs across the hall but it was way too fast for me to shine the light on it.

  “Who’s there!?” I yell.

  “C’mon let’s just go. They don’t want to be found,” Faye says.

  “You’re correct,” a voice says from behind.

  We slowly turn around there is a barrel shot gun, pointing right at my face. I look beyond the barrel and its tall thin women with straight long black hair. She’s in a sleeveless black tank top and I notice she has large scar lines on her arm. I immediately put my hands up but Faye doesn’t surrender.

  “No, Faye,” I whisper to her, hoping she won’t do anything reckless.

  “Who are you and how did you find us?”

  “Look we’re not here for any trouble. I’m searching for my brother.”

  “We’ll he isn’t here.”

  “Okay we’ll just be on our way then,” I slowly step back.

  “No, I’m taking you with me where we’ll judge you whether you live or die just like anyone who enters this city.”

  Faye pulls out a knife that I didn’t realize she had all along. She then lunges at the women.

  “FAYE, NO!”

  BANG!

  Faye’s body violently flies back, knocking the breath out of my lungs. I turn around to see the horrors and bloody corpse.

  I’m wrong, Faye’s gone. There is no trace blood either. It’s like she completely vanished. I slowly turn around, raising my hands up again and immediately see Faye behind the women with her arms around her neck.

  “Drop the gun!” Faye says, pressing her knife against the woman’s throat. My body quickly fills with relief. I realize that it was just an illusion that was shot. The woman drops her weapon and I quickly pick it up.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the woman says.

  All of a sudden Faye releases the woman and slowly places her hands up.

  “Faye, what are you doing?”

  I turn around and there are about nine people all in which are wearing a tan cloth that is wrapped around their head and mouth. I can only see their eyes as they point their guns at me.

  “Take them!” the woman commands.

  I drop the shotgun as the surround us. They begin to shove the two of us down the hall. My heart begins to race not knowing what they’re about to do. Where did all these people come from?

  “Look we didn’t do anything wrong,” I say.

  “You’re trespassing.”

  I see a bright light ahead of us from the crack wall. The two young children that we saw on the stage is now watching us from a distance.

  “Stephanie, Austin come here,” the tall woman says.

  I notice she’s the only one without cloth around her face, along with the two kids. They run to her and hold onto her waist I assume she’s their mother.

  The arm man pushes me into the crack wall and I’m immediately blinded by the bright sun. There is no ceiling but sandstone walls and a net that hangs above us. The notice the sun isn’t burning my skin like it did before.

  I look over to the corner and there is a sleeping black dog, possibly a Rottweiler. Luckily it’s still leash for now I hope. I wonder how they survive in such an apocalyptic city, knowing they’ll eventually run out of food and water.

  “Please we’re not a threat,” I say.

  “No? You just happen to be stalking my kids? Sit them down,” she points towards two white plastic chairs.

  “Please, we needed help,” I take a moment to breathe, knowing anything I say can get me killed. “We’re looking for my brother and we don’t know this city very well.”

  “Of course you don’t. By the looks of it, I’m assuming you’re from one of the opened gates this year.”

  “Yes we’re from the North, Capa.”

  “Ah yes the Northern Territory. I heard your gate hasn’t opened in 7 years until now,” she places the shot gun on a nearby table.

  “We were lucky.”

  “I guess your luck came to an end. Everyone relax, they’re from the North, and they’re harmless.”

  The people lower their guns as they begin to sit down against the sandstone walls with the sun shining on them. Two of them start using sign language to communicate to one another.

  “Harmless?”

  “The ones you better look out for is the other three countries hun. Your gate hasn’t open for 7 years that’s means your people aren’t up to date. You had been cut off from the rest of the world. You people have no idea what’s going on. What are your names?” the woman asks.

  “I’m Hazer and this is Faye.”

  Shockingly she holds up her hands, waiting for us to shake it. “Ava,” her voice softens. Ava walks over to a table and pours two cups of water. She hands the cups to us.

  “Thank you,” I say.

  The fresh cold water immediately moist my tongue as I nearly forget about the torrid heat around us.

  “May I ask you a question?”

  “Anything,” I say.

  “That mark, under your eye,” she looks over at Faye who is still chugging the cup of water as if her life depends on it.

  “It means redemption,” I say.

  “You were an experiment for your country too? Is that how you did that weird mind trick back there?”

  I look to her confusedly. “You belong to a territory?”

  “The South really did a number on us. Our harsh ways is being controlled by a corrupt government but luckily we escape when the gates opened up two years ago for us. Now we live here,” she says.

  “What did they do to you?” I ask.

  “They planted bombs inside our people and made them walk to the East Gate. It was awful. We were nothing more but war freaks to them. ”

  Her eyes become more watery as she tries to blink them way. “They even took our ability to speak freely if we were against them.”

  “Are they deaf because of the experiments?” I ask.

  Ava looks over to one of her people and nods. The person begins to unwrap the cloth around her face to reveal her hairless scalp. As the cloth is completely comes off, I realized she has no mouth, just bare skin.

  “I manage to escape before they could do that on me.”

  “Every territory has its own evil, I’m sorry this happen,” I say.

  I thought my territory had it bad but seeing these people and what their territory has done to them really made me realize how good we had it when our gate was closed.

  I glance over at sandstone wall and notice a map of a city. There’s a red line that is drawn on the paper.

  “Look I have find my brother. Is that the way out of this city?” I ask.

  “Yes, but it’ll be impossible to follow that route. The sun is up and you’ll burn in minutes.”

  “You’re saying we’re stuck in this city until night fall!?” Faye shouts.

  “I didn’t say that. There is away,” she looks away as if it’s too risky.

  “Please tell me.”

  She looks at me with concern before replying. “The path comes with a price and it won’t be easy to take.”

  I sit up as I wait for her answer.

  “If you are truly willing to risk your life for your brother then I want you to do me something in return.”

  “Anything.”

  “Once I escort you to your destination. I’ll tell you my wish then,” she says. “Everyone! We are taking them to no man’s land. If you wish to stay behind you may feel free to do so. If the rumors are true, a beast that lurks these shadows then we’ll need as much ammunition as possi
ble.”

  As Ava mentions the beast I assume it’s the same one that is chasing Rylan down right now. I’m starting to fear for Rylan’s sake and whether we’ll fine Rylan at all or what’s left of him.

  The people look to each other and nods. Their large guns are ready as they all get up and ready to leave.

  “Their willing to take risk?” I ask.

  “They don’t really have much to lose.”

  “Thank you,” I say.

  “Don’t thank me yet,” Ava says as she pulls the map off the wall. Stephanie and Austin follows we walk in the cracked wall.

  “Wait they’re coming with us? I thought I was a dangerous path.”

  “It is, but they’ve been through worst.”

  ~

  We all follow Ava in the dark hallway with old relic on the wall. I begin shine the flash light around the hall and notice a trophy case that looks ancient. There are also dusty pictures. A group of teenagers in strange white uniform. I’m assuming they’re on some of sports team. I remember when I was younger, when Mr. Rivera taught me how to catch a ball. Although Carter was always ahead, I still got the hang of it eventually. I start to wonder how Arraya is doing back home. I can imagine her taking care of Carter right about now and grieving about their father.

  We walk though a crack wall that leads outside and I can feel the heat just building up again as we quickly move under the short palm trees. This is the first time I ever saw one in real life. We would learn about them in school but they only grew in hotter climax.

  As we stop and hide under the shade, Ava looks at the map.

  “The substation should be across from us,” Ava points at the other side of the road.

  “The sun will burn us,” I say.

  “Not unless we run.”

  Everyone quickly adjust the cloth around their faces, preparing themselves for the intense heat to come. I kind of wish I didn’t had thrown away my jacket earlier. I could of used that to protect me from the sun’s rays.

  One by one the people dash across the street. I can see that they all feel the burn as they make into the shade across from us.

  Ava puts a small blanket over her kids as they run out into the road. Her motherly instincts are all too familiar. I wouldn’t be caught outside in the snow without three layers of clothing. My mom would constantly bundle me up in the thickest clothes she could make.

  “I guess it’s my turn,” I say.

  I take a deep breath and quickly sprint across the street and immediately I can feel like I’m being roasted alive.

  I’m nearly blinded by the light, causing me to slow down. The heat gets hotter, but all of a sudden a hand pulls me forward. It’s Ava.

  I quickly fall into the shade. I start to feel relief as I feel the cool air again. My arms gave off a pinkish color, buts’ not as burnt as I imagined. I’m starting to miss Capa’s climate. The cold air that will quickly rob your warmth in a heartbeat once you step outside.

  “C’mon you can do it!” Ava yells.

  I look across the road and Faye still hasn’t move. She’s completely terrified and I feel like I should have stayed with her, and protect her from the sun.. She looks at the bright sky and takes a deep breath.

  “Faye !” I call out.

  She looks at me with fear in her eyes. “You can do this. Faye look at me. J-just look at me. Keep your eyes on me and nothing will happen,” I say.

  She nods and for first time she looks at me the same way she did when we were in the forest. She starts to run into the sunlight. The light shines on her fair skin as she dashes towards me with great speed. Finally she runs into my arms and I immediately pull her into shade.

  “Your okay, you’re okay,” I say as I hold her tightly.

  Ava turns on the flash light and walks down the steps. There is locked barred gate waiting for us. The flickering blue broken light makes my skin crawl as if I’m in some horror movie. The flashing lights reveal the chaotic substation. The tiles are cracked as if it was hit by an earthquake. I felt an earthquake before when I was younger and I really thought the world was about end as if a crack splits right beneath and devour my existents.

  “How do we get pass this?”

  “I can open it,” she says

  Faye walks in front of me and begins to use her bare hands to grip the rusty iron bars. What is she doing? She begins to use her abnormal strength but all she does is bends the medal.

  “Don’t hurt yourself,” I say

  “It’s okay,” she says.

  Faye begins to kick the gate door. Every hit made a loud sound that echoes the power she processes. The gate finally bust opens. “That’s a lot of stealth for a little girl.” says Ava.

  We walk in the rotting smell welcomes us with its humidity. We jump onto the tracks and Ava points to the left. “This should get us out of the city the quickest.”

  “We should start moving,” I said as I start to wonder how Rylan is holding up.

  “Look I don’t want to scare you guys but we call this the no man’s land because a great number of us tried escaping with this route but they never came back for us. I wonder if really they did left and never came back or something really did happened to them,” says Ava.

  “Hazer can I talk to you,” says Faye. “What’s up?”

  “I don’t know if I’m ready to face whatever’s ahead.”

  I hold Faye’s hand and reply “Look I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promise.”

  I can feel the heat just rising as we walk deeper into underground tunnel. I wonder what Ava wants when were outside the city. Whatever it is I’ll do. She’s already risking a lot by just being here.

  We move further into the dark tunnel, Ava’s people shine their light ahead. We follow the tracks and I notice its complete dead silence. Even a whisper can be heard a mile away. I don’t think there is anything down here we should be afraid of.

  All of a sudden a shadow moves. I quickly glance over, but it’s just one of Ava’s people, taking lead. I fear I’m going crazy like how everyone does when they go through war. I heard all three of my mom’s brothers went through a crazy phrase when they joined the military. I never meant them but my mom told me one them took an axe and cut his leg off because he thought it was a snake. Insanity doesn’t sound fun; I just hope this will be all over once we get Rylan and then Kala back.

  CRACK!

  I look down and shine my flash light. My heart begins to pound at faster rate as I realize I just step on the hard white bone. The more I stare at it the more I start fear for my life. The broken human skull isn’t alone. I wave my light around and they’re broken bones everywhere, surrounding us as if we’re the next meal.

  “Guys?!”

  Ava runs to a rip shirt on the floor. “NO!” she cries. I’m guessing she knows who that shirt belonged to. What happen here?

  I shine the light around and there’re blood stains on the wall.

  “Ava what is all of this?!”

  “We have to get out of here. NOW!”

  “ABOVE US!” Faye yells.

  I quickly look up and it’s a giant black snake. Its menacing glaze strikes fear into my eyes. The beast hisses at us before lashing down and bites one of Ava’s people. It swallows the man in one gulp.

  “KILL IT!” Ava screams.

  The people immediately open fire on the beast, causing it to screech in pain. I quickly cover my ears as the piercing sound gets louder. The beast whips its tail, hitting several men against the wall.

  The snake’s skin seems to be impenetrable as I notice bullets isn’t doing any effect. The large monster comes back down, swooping up another man.

  “What do we do?!”

  “RUN!” Ava screams.

  Ava picks up Stephanie and I quickly do the same to Austin. We follow Faye’s flashlight. All of a sudden Ava pulls out a grenade. She looks to me and nods as I realize what she’s up too.

  She tosses’ it upwards, causing it to explode. The part of the ceil
ing comes down and trapping some of Ava’s people behind. I would expect them to scream as the snake mauls them to death, but I quickly remember their mouths are sealed. Only two of Ava’s people are still here as they run behind us.

  I can feel the wound in my stomach just bleeding as I look at the blood stain on my hands. I begin to slow down to catch a breath, but as I glance behind us, my heart starts racing again.

  A fast moving shadows runs behind Ava’s two people.

  “BEHIND YOU!” I scream.

  They turn around and dark creature becomes more revealing. It had a shape of a human body, but it’s skin is as black as the snake before it. The creature has sharp teeth and it’s tall thin figure leaps on top of the men, stabbing them with its claws.

  It looks up and I notice the it’s jet black eyes, staring right at me. It’s next prey. Before I can even move a muscle the creature lunges towards.

  BANG!

  I turn around and smoke floats out of Ava’s barrel shotgun.

  “MOVE NOW!”

  I quickly move as fast as I can. All I can hear is Austin crying on my shoulders. Each step was like I’m taking a knife to my stomach.

  All of a sudden I hear another screech but I don’t look back. I keep moving for the sake of Austin. Faye is by an open gate waiting for us.

  “Hurry!” she says.

  Faye takes Austin off my hands as looks at my wound. “Hazer are you okay?”

  “Yea just keep moving,” I say, hoping I don’t slow anyone down.

  I follow Faye out the gate and the medal bars collide. I turn around and Stephanie is right behind me, but Ava is on the opposite side of the gate.

  “Ava, what are you doing!”

  “T-this is my wish Hazer.”

  “What are you talking about?!”

  She looks at me with sorrow before replying, “Please take my children away from this and run as far away from the Cyto field as possible. Give them the life I could never had given them. Please this is my wish.

  “Ava, no!” Faye shouts.

  “Ava we can still make out, all of us.”

  “At this paste no we won’t. I saw the way you would risk so much for your brother. Please take them. This is my wish Hazer. NOW GO!”