Her World

Chapter Eleven "How It Used To Be"

   Not being able to get any sleep, we had to evacuate the building quickly when a hoard of people rushed in and spotted us. Thanks to the skills Jason taught me, we easily evaded anyone. Still not half way to the edge of the city, we got our hands full. Constantly evading groups of people, but it's the ones that are alone that are more dangerous. On the run for the second day now, no time to find food, or water, no where to sleep. outrun one group, then another comes along. They act blood thirsty, no morals, no sympathy, the Commander waved freedom in their faces so they'll happily kill for it. I cried so much between running and stopping to catch our breaths, thinking about why he would do this. I didn't intend on running, but now here I am, hoping I can save Jason from the commander's wrath. We stop for another moment to take a breather, not even a minute goes by when a group surprises us, "Sky look out!" I immediately duck, and roll to the side to see a woman with a sharpened iron bar standing where I was with her bar driven in the ground. She pulls it out and charges for me, I can't think of defense in that moment but only to disarm her, and take over the situation. "Time to die for my freedom little pet!" The woman screams out as she swings her bar, and trying to spear me with it. Seeing an opening, I drop down and swing my leg to trip her. The moment she falls I grab a hold of the bar, twisting her arms around each other to free it. I yank it away from her, and get in a defensive stance, she quickly gets up and calls for help. Out of nowhere two more women stand beside her, they charge, I swing the bar at their knees as hard as I can to blow out atleast one of their knee caps each. All three go down, "Sky, kill them!"

   "I can't!"

   "It's either them, or us!" He says as he fights off one of the men involved with the group.

   He's right, either them, or us. With that the women weakly get up and charge at me again, I then spin myself out of their direction, swing the bar around one of the women, then spear it through her back, forcing it all the way through her chest. As she collapses, I yank the bar out, and charge for the other two, tripping one, then turning to run the bar through the other's chest, I guess reading the book about human anatomy did come in handy after all. I then walk up to the last one, she trying to crawl away from me. So I step on the back of her knee, positioning myself, then driving the bar through her back. I took no enjoyment in this act of self defense, but when I look over at Jason. I saw a glimpse of a person I never saw before, and I didn't like it. "Alright, let's keep going." With weapons to defend ourselves we had more assurance to make it the other side of the city. 

   Even soldiers are looking for us, apparently they were promised incentives for our deaths. Each new information we see, Jason keeps telling me that we'll leave this city somehow, no matter what, we'll stay on the run. "The Commander won't stop because his trusted companion abandoned him." He says as he looks at the post again. "But I didn't!" I stop myself from speaking when I feel myself starting to cry again, this tightness in my chest returned, a haunting that I hoped would never appear again. I sit there clutching my chest trying to calm myself down. "Time to suck it up Sky, your precious commander doesn't want you anymore." He says as he kneels down to my level, leaning in close to my face. "You think I want to hear this right now?!" I push him out of the way, and walk away trying to breathe. "Why're you acting like this now Jason?" But he doesn't say anything, he just walks ahead of me in silence. 

   After a few minutes he finally mutters out, "I don't like you crying over him, especially when he ordered this hit on you." Trying my hardest not to scream at him, "I told you there was consequences to his rules being broken."

   "And I figured he would ignore them if he truly wanted to keep you safe." I have no words, I just feel horrible, The Commander thinks I left him. He thinks I don't care about him. 

   As we round a corner, A group sees us. "There they are! Get em!" They charge, looks like a group of nine. So there's no way we can fight them off, Jason grabs my hand and we run. It's night time again, the end of the second day. After outrunning multiple groups, and fighting off a couple of loners, I think we faired well considering the condition my body is in now. Sneaking in the darkness to find shelter once more to rest, "I never seen humans turn on each other so quickly before." They're acting like when villagers go on a hunt. "We will do anything to survive, even if it means no longer acting civilized." Jason says as he props open a ceiling panel. "Climb in Sky, we'll rest here for now." I give a nod and jump up quietly, "I feel like all my senses are on alert, like I'm uneasy constantly."

   "That's just instinct from the adrenaline, the crash from it will suck because we don't have anything to eat or drink." He sits down holding his right side.

   I can't draw attention to his injuries, he looks like he doesn't want to hear any pity talk right now. "Jason....I don't know how long we can keep this up, that room seems so far away with trying to dodge everyone, and stay out of sight at the same time...They immediately go to any crowd forming."

   "I know, but we need to stay strong until we get to the room....It seems like a lot to ask but-"

   "I know.....I know, I'm going to try and rest my eyes for a bit." I turn my body to lean against the wall, and peek out through a small crevice to see if anyone is coming. No one approaching so far, so I just close my eyes and think about what's happened since I was forced away from the commander. I can't ignore this pain in my chest, the feeling like my throat will close, the trembling feeling of death near me. Why would the commander go this far? He should know I tried to reach for him too, I tried my best to be better for him. I tried so hard to be perfect for him, but always being watched, monitored, it all just got to me. I wanted to feel the freedom of just going out, hanging out with someone I care about, not worrying about time, or who might see. I guess just the feeling of freedom is too costly in this world, his world. I feel my eyes getting heavy so I force myself to relax, then I fall asleep even though the noise outside continues to grow. 

   Jason shakes me awake, I open my eyes to see him with a focused look. "Wha-" He quickly puts a hand over my mouth, and putting a finger to his mouth gesturing to be quiet. I keep silent hearing people talking just below us, "Alright the building is cleared, let's check the next one!" A man says as they all run downstairs. "We'd better get out of here before the traffic gets heavy." I nod to Jason, and we get up, slowly maneuvering our way out. I play with my collar as we quietly go about the alleys, now that I think about it, how will I take this thing off? "Sky, stop spacing out and keep your mind sharp." I shake my heads cloudiness, and listen to him, "Okay, I'm just in a fog right now."

   "Atleast we got an hour of rest....but even my mind is playing tricks on me."

   I can't rack my brain enough to come up with words to respond to him so I just nod.

   "Sky!" As I bring my eyes to see Jason to see why he called me, only to see a knife flying towards me. Before I can respond, it hits and pierces my left bicep with such force that it knocks me back. Not yet feeling the pain of it, I quickly dodge another knife that would've hit my head if I was any slower, readjusting myself from that, I'm surprised by a guy swinging a long bar at me. Not having the time to block it he hits me on my right shoulder. "Aah!" Falling to the ground from the hit, I prepare the bar I have to deflect anymore of his hits. "Sky! Hold on!" Jason yells, but he's trying to fight off three other guys. He won't be able to help me so I have to get rid of this one before they over power Jason. Focusing his hits, I time him and wait for my opening. The moment he takes away his bar to strike harder, I position mine, and spear it through his chest as hard as I could. With that he collapses to the ground so I twirl the bar in him just to make sure he won't surprise me again. I pull out the bar, and run to help Jason, but just as I get to him I hear him yell in pain. "Jason!" I spear one of the guys attacking him in the back, then knock away the other two. "Come on! We have to hurry before we're noticed by others!" I say to him, but he's concentrating on the blood coming out of his abdomen. I don't hesitate, I don't think about what I'm about to do, I leave reality behind. I run to the guys, without thinking about dying, I counter attack, disarm them, then finish them off. I don't feel anything, what is this euphoria?

   "Sky, let's get out of here now!" Jason pulls me away, but I feel like I'm under water. I can barely hear him, my body feels heavy. Fearing this feeling, I grasp his hand tighter as I run to keep with his pace. We're back at running for our lives, outrunning more people, but soldiers finally found us. A losing battle as the hours pass with my body screaming at me while it tries to collapse from the lack of fuel, and damage. Jason has multiple wounds too, we don't have the time to patch ourselves up. We're found once we stop moving, we're shot at by soldiers, attacked in various ways by people. My left arm is weak from the knife that was thrown at me, Jason pulled it out, and I quickly wrapped it with a torn piece of my shirt. The blood loss is greatly affecting our fighting abilities, so all we can do now is to run, because I don't have the strength to climb. I desperately want to believe this is a dream, but with every attack I am woken back up to realize that I am an enemy to the world. 

   The day went on, and finally we near the edge with just a few more blocks to go. It is in middle of the night, I don't quite know the time. We're both lost, delirious from the trauma, I'm trying to gather the last drops of my will to keep going. Jason isn't doing so well, after we found a place to rest again he sat down and passed out, and I haven't been able to wake him. He is still breathing, but I don't know if he can make it the underground. I rip my clothes up to wrap up his cuts and gashes, I can't stop my hands from shaking so badly to do a good job at wrapping. Once I get done with him I sit rest myself across from him, keeping watch. "Sky...." 

   "Who's there?" Who's voice is that?

   "Sky.....come back to me." Commander?

   "Is it really you?"

   "Sky.....you failed me."

   "Where are you?" It's dark, and we're in a small opening, yet I hear the commander calling me. 

   "Sky....you chose him."

   "I'm sorry!" Why isn't he showing himself.

   "Come outside."

   "I can't.....You're angry."

   "Come."

   "No! Your not real! Get out of my head!" I abruptly stand up yelling this, realizing that I was hallucinating the Commander, and it terrified me to another level. "What's wrong Sky?" Jason gets up and stands in front of me. "I scared of what'll happen to us." I can't help this haunting feeling.

   "I can't comfort you with words, or tell you it'll be okay, but I need you to focus with me to get to the underground." 

   "Your right, so let's get going before dawn comes."

   "yeah." We take some breaths to calm down, then climb out of the small hide away. 

   After getting through the center of the city we run through a neighborhood that is known to be very closely built, to where there is just a couple of feet of space between the buildings, it is perfect but also very disadvantageous if we come across others in the narrow spaces. He's in front, and I'm behind him, keeping our eyes open each way, I even go as far as to look up for above attackers. Moving along with no encounters yet, "Jason, is it me, or is it too quiet."

   "Yeah, I noticed that too, just stay alert."

   As we reach the end of the passage, Jason stops to peek around the corners to make sure it's clear. After a few seconds he gestures for me to follow him. He then runs out to the open, and I follow, staying low and quiet, but at the corner of my eye I see figures come around the building at the other ends. 

   "Jason, run!" He looks and doesn't think twice, we just take off.

   "What, how'd they find us?!"

   "I don't know but we need to outrun them!" Jason says this but I already feel my strength draining rapidly.

   I won't be able to keep up with him this time unfortunately, as he runs ahead putting distance between us, my legs no longer want to run. In that moment I wanted to not say anything but to let him run to safety while I make myself the distraction. He looks back to see me barely jogging along as the soldiers gain on us. Jason ends up running back to me, wrapping my arm around his neck and helping me try to run. "Just a little further Sky." Jason is motivated to run, but I lost hope when I lost my strength. Just then a large arm comes crashing down in front of us, hitting the pavement and breaking it up. Seeing a soldier standing up again, "We're trapped." Is all I can say before the soldier attacks again, Jason pushes me away from him so either of us don't get hurt. I get back up to see the soldier attacking Jason, but he is skillfully dodging all the swings. I look around for me to use against the soldier, only to see more rushing to us from all sides. 

    "Jason, we have to run, they're all coming!" I scream at him, but he continues to dodge the soldiers swings. I begin running towards the two, "Sky, no! Run!" Jason yells back while fighting off the soldier. 

   "No, no more running, if you stay to fight, then so will I." Moving my feet forward, only to be stopped by Jason's voice.

   "Sky, please just run!...One of us has to show the commander that we won't die just because he says to!"

   "But-"

   "Now!" Torn, and not knowing what to do, I listen to him and run into the narrow passage that we were going to take. I can't bring myself to look back because then I would want to turn around and help Jason. Crying, hurt, heart broken, lost, is just many of the feelings I carry with me in this moment. All of the soldiers must have been dispatched to where Jason is, or was. I keep running, not knowing the directions because Jason told me that we would both make it there, "You said we would both be there!" I scream out from the pain in my chest, falling to the ground in one of the narrow passages, pressing my fist to my chest to try to relieve this tension, tears running down my dirty cheeks, falling from my jaw to the ground. "Please.....help me.....I can't....do this anymore." Feeling defeated, trying to hold onto his words to live and show them all that I can beat anything thrown at me. I find it hard to breathe, hard to stand up, hard to lift my head up. I need to go now, I need to see everyone's faces again, to keep going for them.

   I pull myself up, and walk down the passage. "I can do this, I just need to find a different hide out." I notice an old parking garage, with what looks like very old automobiles inside. I can hide in one of them for now, rest a bit and come up with a plan. I keep cautious and run to the garage, only to be seen yet again by people. "Hey look it's her!" one of them say, then the rest turn to look at me running. "Get her!" They shout out. I notice that there are atleast twelve in that group, so I need to run my hardest. 

   I make it inside the garage with that group right on my tail, I need to find something to defend myself with. Looking at the automobiles but not seeing anything I can immediately grab, I keep running to the ramp to the next level. "Throw it!" I hear them, then I'm hit in the shoulder. I look back to see a huge knife sticking out of my shoulder, I can't pull it out right now, I must keep going! I get up the ramp and round the corner, out of their sight. I run up another ramp to the next level, then entering that level I take the opportunity to pull the knife out, "Come on!" One good yank and it's out. Just in time to deflect against a girl's knife hitting the one I got, "Good shield but time to give in!" She pushes with all her strength, and my weakness wanting to buckle my knees. "No!" I force her off, ducking out of her line of sight, mustering up my last bit of strength, I draw the knife and push it in between her ribs. She cries out, then her fellow group members show up. With adrenaline once again coursing through me, I ready up to fight to end as many as I can. 

   One after another, pushing me back, driving knives in me, me driving my knife into them, A blood bath. I can't go on like this, I need to find a different escape route. I quickly scan the garage to see that I can climb over the ledge and on up with the last of my strength. With that I run my fastest to the ledge on the other side of the garage, leaving behind the last few of that group. Don't think Sky, Don't panic, just make it to the top of the garage. I climb over the ledge, and jump up to reach the next levels rail, then climb that onto the next. Hearing them yelling gibberish, I keep climbing until I reach the last rail. Forcing my severely aching muscles to climb over, pulling my legs over, hitting the ground. Realizing the damage I took from that fight, knives sticking out of my chest, abdomen, thigh, arm, calf. I start pulling out the knives and ripping more of my clothes to bandage myself. "So....This is it Sky." It's been a good life. Pulling almost all of the knives out except the one in my chest, it's between my collarbone and armpit, I also feel my arm going numb, feeling like it's cold. Sounds to me like it struck an artery, I'll leave it for now. Kneeling in middle of the garage, making myself an open target for those people. I'll take my stand here, "I'm here!" I yell. I hear footsteps coming up the ramp, getting my knives ready to throw as soon as they pop their heads out. 

   Then there is a loud engine noise, distracting me from the group, I look up to see a ship coming close to the garage. Come on now, soldiers don't need to be here now! I can't fight off armored soldiers, I might as well be throwing these knives at a wall. The ship comes to hover above the garage, then slowly lowers to settle. The door slides open to reveal soldiers coming out, with the captain? But they don't make any attempts to come near me, instead they file a line along the ship. I just stand their looking at them, confusion, surprise written across my face. Why aren't they doing anything? As I'm questioning them in my head, I see someone coming out. That huge unforgettable figure, the very figure that haunts my mind, my soul, my entire being. 

   I feel his heavy presence coming closer to me, the very one who brought me here, the one who brought me back to life. Seeing myself, a young child with no one to love, yet you came into my poor life and changed everything, given me a reason to live, given me a name. You let me experience happiness, love, caring, affection. You showed me your world, your life, and for that I am truly grateful to have been chosen by you. The one who also showed me what heartbreak truly feels like, betrayal. You are the one who carried me through it all, I never forgot your kindness, but I'll also never forget your cruelty, how disposable I am to you, how alone I felt even though you said you needed me. Is this what they mean by your life flashes before you eyes.

   I limp backwards as he comes closer to me, "Please....Commander.....Please hear me out." I weakly say in hopes of getting him to stop for a second, but he doesn't listen and keeps coming. "Please...." I keep backing up, which feels like forever. Knowing he isn't going to stop until he sees me dead, his order. The realization of him just wanting one thing from me in this moment, and it's not an apology. I have no more tears to shed, so this is how it'll end between us, it's no longer how it used to be. No longer us, gripping my broken collar, closing my eyes, still limping backwards away from him, trying to gain a few more seconds, just a few more to say sorry to him. 

   I pull out the last knife that was blocking my artery, since this is the end I will let it go. Just then I back up against the wall of the garage, hitting my back against it, bleeding out, dropping the rest of the knives. He comes close and stops, staring down at me as I look up at him, "I'm sorry." He doesn't hesitate, he grabs me by my neck, and lifts me up to his chest level. I close my eyes, I don't want to see that's all that I mean to him, just another lowly human he can destroy. I feel him squeezing tighter, and tighter, until I feel my sight going dark, I feel my body losing it's will to move, feeling limp. All I can think before I lose consciousness is that I will miss him, the one who saved my soul, the one who took it away.