Chained - Everything you know is a lie...

by Susanne Valenti

Chapter Fifteen

  "Laurie!" Taylor called out, waving a hand above his head again as we neared her position. She turned to us and raised a hand, relief flooding her face.

  A sudden outbreak of gunshots erupted below us. We had been so preoccupied with finding Laurie that we hadn't even noticed the units closing in on each other. We were exposed on the bank and Taylor's shout had alerted them to our presence.

  "Up there!" someone shouted in the trench below.

  The wind whipped around us ferociously, sending my hair flying out behind me and drying the mix of blood and tears to my face.

  My eyes locked with Taylor's and he grabbed for my hand. Our fingers brushed against each other but my fist closed on empty air as something big hit me from the side and threw me off of my feet.

  I tumbled across the ground and rolled in the dirt over the lip of another trench several feet to my left. Someone had a hold of me, pinning my arms to my side. We skidded across the mud and I felt the cold wetness of it splattering over my clothes and into my hair. We rolled over and over, my eyes clenched shut.

  I slammed to a stop as my back hit the bottom of the trench, knocking the air from my lungs.

  Someone was lying on top of me, holding their weight off of me with their arms on either side of my head. I blinked my eyes open, and my breath caught in my throat.

  The man was gazing down at me, looking straight into my eyes. His eyes were black, like his hair which was falling down over his forehead towards me. He had stubble covering his jaw which was set in a firm line.

  My mind went blank, I couldn't remember where I was or what I was supposed to be doing. All I could think about was his face inches from mine, his body crushing me into the dirt.

  "Are you okay?" he asked.

  "Erm." I'd forgotten how words worked. Great.

  "Did you hit your head?" He pulled back, running a hand along my scalp as he checked for injuries. My skin tingled where he touched it.

  "No," I managed.

  "I'm Coal," he smiled briefly.

  "Maya."

  "We need to move." He pushed himself up so he was straddling me and offered me his hand.

  I took it and he pulled me to my feet. For a moment I didn't let go and he smiled again in amusement as I blushed. More shots were fired in the other trench and I was wrenched back to reality.

  "Taylor-" I looked back up to the ridge, suddenly panicked. "Did you see...?"

  "The boy you were with? He went down," Coal said as he started to move away along the trench.

  "No," I gasped as I started scrabbling to get back up the bank.

  He grabbed my arm and turned me back to face him.

  "We don't have time. I have to get out of here - you should come with me if you don't want to die." He pulled on my arm again but I jerked it back, trying to shake off his grasp which was annoyingly strong.

  "I'm not leaving him!" I yelled.

  A strange look passed over Coal's face but he sighed.

  "No promises." He cupped his hands together to give me a boost back up the bank. "Stay low to the ground up there," he warned and hoisted me up.

  I leaned back over the edge to offer him a hand as he took a running jump and scrambled up the bank, ignoring me.

  We crept across the ground towards Taylor's prone form. My heart was thumping in my throat. It seemed to take an age to reach him, staying flat to the ground and using our elbows to propel us along.

  We reached Taylor, who was sprawled in the mud, and I let out a huge breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding. He was breathing. Coal moved to check Taylor over and discovered a deep scratch along his temple.

  "Bullet grazed him, but he's fine, just knocked out," Coal reported.

  Laurie was running towards us, a pistol held ready to fire in each hand.

  "Are you okay?" she panted as she came to a stop and crouched down next to us.

  "Taylor's unconscious," I told her.

  The sounds of fighting from the trench to our right paused and a shout went up.

  "We got 'em on the run boys! Let's take out the stragglers!" It was followed by whoops and cheers which multiplied quickly in the trench on our left too. We crouched where we were, surrounded.

  "Laurie? What do we do?" I asked in a pleading whisper, hoping she had some miracle way to get us out of this mess.

  "I'll call for back up," she replied as she holstered one pistol and pulled out a walkie talkie. "Warden two-five-five-three-seven calling for reinforcements."

  Coal was looking worriedly at Laurie. "I need to go," he whispered to me.

  For the first time, I noticed his outfit. He had a lot of guns and knives, more than anyone else I had seen during the battle. They were strapped to every available space on his body, it was a miracle I hadn't been impaled when he tackled me. He wasn't wearing any camouflage either, just a plain black shirt and pants, unlike anything I'd seen in SubWar before.

  "Warden two-five-five-three-seven requesting immediate back up," Laurie repeated, looking anxious. She hit a display panel on the front of the walkie-talkie and frowned at it. "It says that my messages are being received, why aren't they responding?"

  "We're being surrounded," Coal cut in. "Are you coming?" He looked about ready to bolt.

  "Can you help him?" I asked desperately.

  Coal started to shake his head and then looked at me. I bit my lip and looked back steadily, just hoping that he would.

  "Dammit," he muttered. "I can get you out of here, but you have to trust me." He looked at Laurie like he distinctly didn't trust her but didn't say anything more.

  The sounds of gunshots rang out around us again. Laurie focused on Coal properly for the first time and took in his strange appearance. Her grip tightened on her gun.

  "Who the hell are-" she began but she was cut off by voices from the trench below us.

  "Hey Bert, didn't you say there were people up top?" A voice shouted. "Maybe we can kill ourselves a Warden or two."

  That was enough for Laurie.

  "What do you need me to do?" she asked, instantly professional.

  "I'll carry him," Coal said indicating Taylor, though he didn't seem too thrilled about it. "You two just shoot anything that threatens us."

  I glanced doubtfully at Taylor, he was big, it wouldn't be easy to lift him. Coal shifted four rifles across his back and swung Taylor up into a fireman's lift over the other shoulder, I tried not to show how impressed I was.

  I took out my shotgun and pumped another round into position then ran my hand over my pistol holster to check it hadn't been dislodged in the fall as we started jogging.

  "Where are you taking us?" Laurie hissed but Coal just grunted.

  We moved quickly, picking our way around the last few trenches and powering over the broken ground towards the perimeter. I could feel our pursuers gaining on us, the hairs on the back of my neck rising in warning. I looked around just in time to see a man fall from the edge of the trench as Laurie took a shot. He fell back with a bang and a crunch.

  We picked up the pace. Coal's forehead beaded with sweat but he barely seemed impeded by Taylor's bulk on his back.

  Soon we were at the perimeter where the Wardens had been patrolling. They were all gone. Laurie and I paused, unsure how to proceed.

  "Is this normal?" I asked Laurie. I craned my neck in both directions but they were nowhere to be seen.

  "No, we aren't supposed to leave other Wardens in the field alone, it's like they forgot me." She glanced around.

  "What now?"

  The soldiers had made it over the top of the trenches and were filling the space between us and the way back to the entry zone.

  "Follow me. And, before you ask, no you won't get contaminated," Coal called.

  He ran towards the green wall at the edge of the cleared zone, showing no signs of stopping or turning aside.

  "Maya?" Laurie caught my arm as I made to follow. "Contamination is worse than death." Her eyes were wide with pan
ic.

  "He said there's no contamination. Laurie, it's this or death."

  Coal had already crossed most of the barren land and was nearly at the green barrier.

  "But-" She looked over her shoulder. The soldiers were closing the distance between us.

  "Laurie, come on." I grabbed her wrist and started running. Soon she was keeping pace beside me and we were sprinting to catch up with Coal.

  Taylor was bouncing on Coal's back as he ran ahead of us but was still showing no sign of waking up. The shouting and gunshots behind us were getting louder, closer. A meter to my right, a patch of dirt exploded in a puff of dust.

  I twisted to look back at our pursuers. They were already falling back and I could tell they weren't going to follow us once we hit that green wall.

  At the barrier, Coal slipped between two huge trees and disappeared.

  I slowed. I'd seen pictures of trees and leaves from the old world but this was immense. They towered above me, casting a thick shadow that ran across the wasteland.

  A leaf as tall as me and twice as wide blocked the path ahead and I pushed it aside to let Laurie pass through. She didn't look happy and I gave her a shove before she changed her mind.

  I paused briefly to run the waxy leaf between my fingers taking in the strange, damp, earthy smell rising up around me. If I was wrong about this, I was going to die. I took a deep breath and stepped into the cover of the trees.