Soldier of Time

LX: Three hours to live (3)

The Deer arrived where his friends were waiting for him, and without wasting time, Karen freed him. The young man saw her and said almost pleadingly, “I need transportation.”

The confused girl nodded, and watching as Hanibal and the others got into the car to leave, she said, “You don’t have to follow them. We will know where they are going.”

The Deer ignored her and began to walk when suddenly Simon appeared riding a motorcycle.

“Is this good, friend?”

The Deer approached him, before he gave him a hug.

Confused, Simon returned the hug only to see him take the keys of the motorcycle and the helmet while getting on, he told his companion.

“Thanks for everything. I’m dead. Good luck against that bastard.”

And with those words, he started the motorcycle and took off at full speed. The confusion on the faces of his companions was such that they all watched him walk away without trying to stop him.

Karen looked at Simon, and she said with unmasked worry, “Is he dying?”

They all seemed confused, but there was no place for them in the Deer’s mind. Three hours was a very short time from where he was. He had a lot to drive.”

The boy traveled the streets of the center at full speed, and he avoided cars and people with mastery without taking his hand off the accelerator.

The motorcycle roared with each curve and each straight in which the Deer squeezed the capacity of it.

As the street passed his eyes like blurred drawings of civilization, the Deer advanced faster in his mind towards his destination. Little by little, the sounds faded, and the heat in his veins took control of his body.

The great buildings began to fade to be replaced by green samples of somewhat abandoned nature. The road was no longer showing its usual perfection, and the damage of several years of neglect began to appear.

The Deer did not go to the train station. There was no time to wait. He went to the road that long ago used to join El Morro with the city. Holes and parts destroyed by the bombs of the war were what the Deer now left behind.

The speed made him lose the landscape, a tunnel appeared in front of him, the lights of the motorcycle gave him the ability to see in that total darkness, the debris lined up to try to stop his advance, but nothing could reduce the speed of the Deer.

The young man sped through the tunnel with breakneck speed when a blazing blow struck his eyes. Sunlight hitting his eyes that now didn’t tolerate light so much.

The pain in his veins began to be unbearable, but the goal was getting closer and closer. The Deer wanted to go faster, but the motorcycle gave everything it could.

The sea was the last clear sight the Deer had as his eyes lost their strength. The road was coming to an end. The stretch where the war had divided the two cities was approaching more quickly.

The Deer got rid of the helmet to be able to see better. His eyes began to lose clarity. The craters of the bombs were huge and deep. A fall in them would accelerate the certain death that the Deer carried.

He dodged the first crater with such dexterity that he didn’t have to slow down. The next one was much more complicated because it only left a small fragment of asphalt between the cliff and cliff. The Deer had to pass this on one wheel to avoid falling.

Two more craters appeared in their path, and both were jumped with speed and dexterity. The felled trees made progress more difficult, but the Deer dodged them as fast as he could.

Little was missing from the destroyed road when the biggest obstacle appeared. Two craters that left no space to pass, and the reasons why no one was driving on that road prostrated themselves in front of him.

The first jump was accelerating the motor of the motorcycle to its full. Once in the air, the Deer used his power to analyze the landing. There was not enough room to jump the second hole. While he was observing the whole panorama, he decided the only way out of it and released the time.

The motorcycle landed, and the Deer accelerated violently to jump to the last hole in the road. He gave all the force that the motorcycle could conjure. It shot out into the air to cross the huge gap, and the Deer knew that he would not be able to cross it.

The motorcycle would inevitably fall to the bottom of the cliff and immediately placed his feet on the motorcycle when it began to descend. The Deer leaped with all his might to get around the last hole fragment on his own.

The landing was rough, but the young man managed to fall on the asphalt on the other side of the hole. The motorcycle shattered and fell to the bottom of the cliff landing on solid rock.

The Deer got up, and he didn’t know how much time he had left. He began to run in despair, and he ran as covered as he could.

He entered El Morro, and people raised their hands when they saw him, but the Deer did not stop. He continued his run with the image of the ocean aside in the Mines advancing strongly.

Slevin was approaching his house, a house that he had not seen in days, and he passed it without hardly noticing it, heading towards the docks. His eyes now only saw a huge white light without being able to distinguish anything very far. The man was still running when he heard in the distance the voice that he had come to hear.

“Is that you, Deer?”

The excited young woman made the mercenary’s heartbeat even faster.

The blood burned his body, and his veins turned purple on his skin. The young woman saw him approach her without stopping and said, “Deer, what are you doing? It’s dangerous...”

But the young man could not hear the warning, and his ears were no longer working.

The Deer felt how the terrain changed, and he saw how the asphalt turned to wood, he was on the dock and his race intensified, he could no longer see or hear clearly, but he felt the scent of Amber nearby. He bridged the distance between him and Amber in a second.

The air started to become toxic to him, but he couldn’t breathe any longer anyway. The last glimpse of his eyes before falling to total black was the look of a shocked Amber. The Deer hugged her, and as he could conjure the last of his strength, he kissed her.

His body faded over her, and she couldn’t bear his weight. Both fell to the floor of the dock, and the young woman kissed the Deer as he fell with everything that he weighed on her. His purple veins and his interrupted breathing terrified the young woman.

She looked at him and said, “i***t, now you will die...”

The young man smiled with the last thing he had left. His ears were no longer working, but they heard those words. His eyes no longer worked, but they observed that look full of tears, his nose was lost, but he inhaled Amber’s scent, his body aching, and without strength, they used their last vestige of will to raise his hand and caress the young woman’s cheek.

The touch of her was soft and delicate, and bringing his face closer, he kissed her once more. His taste only felt the taste of death, but he savored that kiss with delicacy and dedication.

His lungs were filled with air, the pain in his body disappeared, his nose was flooded with Amber, the waves of the sea began to sound again, and the seagulls accompanied that kiss.

She looked at him and watched as his veins returned to normal, the Deer thought it was the last gift of death, but he was wrong.

He looked at Amber and she, smiling and tearful, said, “You’re not dead!!! I am touching you, and you are still alive!”

The Deer got up and looked at her hand. He clenched his fingers tightly and saw that all pain was gone. He looked at Amber and said, “You saved me again!”

And with those words, Slevin kissed her again. There was no war or mission. There was no Hanibal or poison in his veins.

All there was, it washer and the smile she gave him. All there was, was her and the happiness that she showed in her eyes. All there was, it was her and that moment that he wanted to last forever.