by Kyle Andrews
She barely noticed the gun before the man leveled it on her. She barely had time to gasp before he pulled the trigger. She barely knew what had happened before she was on the ground.
The sounds of the crowd seemed muffled now. The little girl was no longer holding Libby's hand. Libby could hear the girl screaming, but she couldn't see her. People were reacting to the gunshot, moving around Libby, trying to get away.
She wanted to get up, but she needed to catch her breath first.
Colors were blurring. She could taste metal in her mouth, though she didn't know where it came from. Each breath she took caused a sharp pain. She was cold. She just wanted to get up and run, but she couldn't.
She heard the muffled sound of someone screaming. A male voice this time. A moment later, he was falling to his knees beside her. Still, she couldn't see him clearly. Everything was a blur.
“No,” he said. “No. No. No. Somebody help me!” he screamed. He was trying so hard to help her. He always helped her. She could always rely on him.
But Libby was starting to realize that there was nothing he could do to help her now. They wanted her dead. No help was coming.
“It's okay,” she said, though she could barely get the words out.
There was so much that she wanted to tell him, but there wasn't enough time. Things were getting darker. She wished that she could see his face. But it was okay. She knew he was there. Because he was always there.
“No. Please, no. Please, no. Libby, keep your eyes open. Please don't do this. Please,” he said to her, holding her in his arms and rocking her as one might rock a sick child. His voice sounded different when he cried.
She needed to say things to him and she needed to say them fast, but she was crying and she could barely breathe, so the words came slowly. Her mind was foggy. Her mouth was dry.
“It's okay,” she said, between shallow breaths and fighting back sobs. “It's okay. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I don't want to be selfish anymore. I don't want you to hate me. Please don't hate me. Please. I love you. Please don't hate me. I love you. Just—”
50
When the violence broke out, Justin was standing on the wall with Sim. Smoke started to spread, and fights started to break out. People were screaming and hurting each other. Justin just stood on that wall, watching it all unfold. The people had come for blood, and it looked as though they would be getting it.
He didn't say anything to Sim. They watched together as the kids they went to school with left the fountain and vanished into the sea of faces. They watched as fires burned. They gagged on the smoke that drifted by them as the wind carried it over the crowd. They could see it all.
HAND officers were pouring out of their building and working their way into the crowd. Justin couldn't tell whether they were trying to stop the violence or contribute to it.
His job was to observe the scene and report back to Aaron, but he couldn't just stand there. He saw a woman being attacked in the crowd and he needed to do something. It didn't matter what side she was on.
Justin hopped down from the wall and made his way into the crowd, pushing people aside. Eventually, he made his way to that woman and he grabbed the arm of the man who was assaulting her. He pushed the man back, putting himself between the man and the woman.
He said, “Walk away,” and the man stared him down for a few moments, before moving away.
That woman was able to leave, but there was so much violence surrounding Justin that he couldn't process all of it. He couldn't stop every person from being beaten. He couldn't tell which people were the good guys and which were bad—if such a thing existed. All he could see was chaos.
“Libby!” he heard from behind him.
When he turned, he saw Sim, still standing on the wall. He was looking down into the crowd, at someone that Justin couldn't see.
Libby couldn't have been there. Sim had to be mistaken. Libby was safe and sound, back at the Garden. She wouldn't have put herself in danger by going to the HAND building. She wasn't that crazy.
Then a shot rang out. Everyone in the crowd jumped, and then they began to push against each other, even harder than before. They were moving away from the sound of the gun, but Justin moved against the current of people. He pushed against them, but they were powerful. He kept getting knocked off balance. His vision was blocked by screaming men and women, whose only concern was for their own safety. He couldn't see Sim anymore. He couldn't see who Sim had been looking at. All he could do was push against the crowd.
His stomach was twisting into knots. He knew that she couldn't have been there, but even the idea of it was scaring him. What if she had gone? What if that gun were aimed at her?
Justin eventually made his way through the crowd, into an area where no people wanted to be. He could stand there and see Sim, clear as day, kneeling on the ground, cradling a body in his arms. It took Justin a moment to fully realize what was happening. Even then, he couldn't make sense of it. Libby was there. Libby was on the ground. Libby was bleeding. Libby was dead.
TO BE CONTINUED IN…
THE
SECRET CITIZEN
COMING NOVEMBER 2016
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Copyright © 2016, Kyle Andrews. All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations used in critical articles or reviews.
Cover Art by S. Kersey
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, businesses and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, events or locales is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
CHAPTER FIFTY
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