Vitality

by Marleina Murray

  We all began to walk down the road. We had a half mile head start before the Absolutes were after us. We first saw the smoke in the distance, then a large mass of Absolutes charging towards us. We could barely see the woods. They were very far down the road. We began to run. “Now what?!” Patience asked. “Try to stay alive!” My dad yelled. People then began to pull out small knives, others had guns that they had taken from Absolutes they had killed, and I still had the needle. Shots started to fire in our direction, and arrows flew through the air. Their anger being conveyed through the weapons that they possessed. I couldn’t tell if anyone had been hit or not. I looked around, and didn’t recognize anyone. I then started to worry about my family.

  Just then, Goblin bumped into me again and I tripped. Why was he so clumsy! “Everyone with a weapon, move to the back!” Goblin yelled as I got to my feet. I held the needle tight in my hand and began to push to the back. “No” someone said, grabbing my arm. I looked and it was Sunny. “That’s not your place” he said, with concern in his eyes. “I should be back there, with or without a weapon” I told him. “Don’t do this or I will tell your father!” he scolded. “Well good luck finding him” I said as I pulled away. I continued to push my way towards the back.

  The sounds of weapons being fired began to get closer as I got nudged by people headed in the opposite direction. “Headed to the front line, too?” someone asked. I turned to see my grandmother, pushing through people and heading to the back, like I was. “No.” I lied. She wasn’t sending me to the front either, like Sunny had tried to. “Remember, when we get back there, show no mercy” she said. “You’re not going to try and stop me?” I asked, shocked. “You are my grandchild, I know what you can do” she said, casually. I wasn’t really sure of what I could do, but I had to do something. Anything was better than doing nothing at all. Still, I was afraid. What if I was going to fail? What about all of my people? Was I really ever going to see my mother again? I looked to ask my grandmother, but she was gone. I quickly glanced around for her, but to no avail. I kept pushing to the back.

  “Dede!” Victor’s voice impaled my thoughts. “Dede! Over here!” he yelled. We were three rows away from being at the very back. “Three of us were killed” Victor confessed when I had gotten to him. I stood up on my toes to see over the shoulders of the people in front of me. I got just what I was asking for. Three of our men, lifeless on the ground. Cannons fired into the air, landing in our mass of people. I heard screams, and people crying out in pain. “Dede, you shouldn’t be back here” Victor said, as a woman and her child hit the ground. The baby’s shrill cry rang my ears. I ran to grab the baby from his mother’s now lifeless arms, but Patience beat me to it. She saw me and we exchanged a quick nod before I returned back to Victor. “I think you and I both know exactly where I should be” I told him. Another man fell to the ground, shaking, and he took his last breath. I stared at him, he died with his eyes opened, never to blink again. I knelt down and closed his eyes. Victor grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet.

  “I mean it, Dede! This isn’t for you!” he yelled. “Tell that to the locket!!” I screamed, as we moved away from a cannon ball hitting us. Victor then stuck his arm in between two men in front of us and fired his gun, killing an Absolute. He pulled another gun from his waist and gave it to me. “Here, take it, be careful. These things are powerful” he informed me. It was cold, shiny, and heavy in my hands. I watched how Victor did it first. How could I get a clear shot with everyone bumping into me?

  “I didn’t give that to you for nothing, do something with it!” he yelled. I stuck my arm out and pointed the gun at one of the Absolutes. I couldn’t do it. I lowered the gun. “Just like I said, you shouldn’t be back here. Go up front.” Victor said, shaking his head. I turned to leave. “That’s what I thought.” He snickered. Something in his tone made me angry. I aimed the gun and shot it twice. My arm jerked back, almost hitting me in the face. I shot one in the arm! Not bad for no practice at all, unlike some people. I straightened my arm back out, and aimed the gun. I didn’t like killing, but it was them or us. “Show no mercy” I whispered to myself. I took a breath, and squeezed the trigger. Down he went.

  I shot as many as I could, before the clip was empty. “I’m out!” I yelled over the firing shots. It smelled like a bundle of firecrackers had just exploded. “What do you want me to do!” he yelled, killing two more. Victor’s gun went empty. The Absolutes were getting closer to us, we had to think of something. A woman next to us screamed in pain as she was hit in the shoulder. I couldn’t help but feel bad. “Victor, help me find daddy.” I said, coming up with an excuse to get us both away from the back.

  “Go ahead, I got this” he said. “Come on! You’re empty, too. It’s not safe!” I begged. “I could get shot with or without a weapon!” he yelled. I didn’t feel like arguing. I grabbed his arm and pulled him into the crowd of people. The man that was standing behind Victor before I yanked him away, was shot in the chest. As bad as it already was, it only made me feel worst knowing that that could have been Victor. I felt myself panicking on the inside.

  “Maybe I should give Abysmal the locket.” I told Victor. “Then that would mean all of this happened for nothing, you can’t back out now.” He said to me. “Do you not understand?! That could have been you back there!” I yelled at him. “What if it was?! Then what?! You would just hand it over?!” he snapped. I didn’t answer, I just glared at him. We pushed deeper into the crowd. We still didn’t see any sign of anyone that we knew. I just wanted all of it to be over. If life had a fast forward button…

  I began to zone everything out. The weapons sent to demolish us, the screams and pleads of my people, and my brother’s voice. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. “As long as there’s air in your lungs, and blood flowing through your veins, you have to fight!” his muffled voice said as he shook me. I snapped back to life. “What the hell do you care; you don’t even think that I can do it!” I stormed. He took a long sigh. “No, guess you’ll just have to prove me wrong” he said.

  Chapter Twelve

  We finally made it into the woods, but lost a lot of people along the way. The Absolutes were about five minutes behind us. There’s no way we would have a fighting chance if they cornered us in. “The only way of anyone making it out alive is if we split up.” I told Victor. “You remember what dad said?” he asked. “Yeah, but if we stay together, they will have a better chance of getting us all at once” I said sternly. He stared at me, trying to think which option would be better. “Everyone split up into small groups, travel as quietly as you can!” he yelled. People began to break off and disappear into the woods. It was getting dark. If we could seek refuge in the moonlights, we might have had a chance after all.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” my father’s voice came from over my shoulder. “Everyone was supposed to stay together!” he scolded. “We know, but it’s not safe anymore, they’re right behind us! I said. “I hope you’re right” he said, looking to see how far away The Absolutes were. “You two stay together” he told us. “I can get to the field just fine without Victor” I said, as if he was poisonous. I didn’t want to be near him anymore, I didn’t want to see his face, I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to know him anymore. We would bicker all of the time, but this was different.

  “You will stay with Victor, and that’s the end of it!” my father scolded. I rolled my eyes and walked away from them both. “You know not to walk away from me when I’m talking to you, Adeptia!” he said, grabbing my arm. “You said that was the end of it” I said, smiling sarcastically. I yanked my arm away and kept walking. Victor ran to catch up with me. “I don’t need a seeing eye dog” I said, laughing in disbelief. “This is a matter of life or death, nothing to play with!” Victor said. I began walking away faster. We heard gunshots nearby, and looked to see if we saw anything, or anyone.

  Victor caught up with me again, and we jogged in silence. We herd the hollow thud of a cannon, follo
wed by screams, then gunshots, and the screaming stopped. We then began to run faster. We ran for a long time, until I got cramps in my side. I sat down against a tree and took short, fast breaths waiting for the cramp to pass. “Come on let’s go” Victor said, sounding as beat, and out of breath as I was. “Do what you want, I’m taking a break, my side hurts” I said. “Come on, let’s go, were almost there!” he urged. “I don’t see a way out anywhere” I said, standing by my decision not to move. “Every step taken is a step closer.” He said, reaching for my hand. I sighed, paused for a few seconds more, then stood up. He was right. “Did I ever tell you how much you get on my nerves? I laughed. “All the time. What do you think family is for?” he said, laughing.

  We continued to walk for hours, the night making it almost impossible to see. We were tired, filthy, and hungry, but not lost. No, for the first time, I felt that we were in the right place at the right time. Weren’t we? Suddenly, two shots fired and they sounded very close. Victor and I dove to the ground. An Absolute jumped out of the tree. “Abysmal wants you alive” the Absolute told me, smiling. He then grabbed me by my hair, and pulled me to my feet. It was only then that I realized that Victor hadn’t dove to the ground. The Absolute had shot him in the back.

  “No!” a shrill cry escaped my lips. At first, I wasn’t even sure that it had come from me. “Victor get up!” I begged. Tears ran down my face. “I’m sorry” a whimper managed to escape through my sobs. “Such a tragedy” The Absolute said in a joyous tone. I was enraged. I reached back and tried to pull him off of my hair. “Things will go much easier if you don’t fight” he said, reasoning with me. I then slipped the needle from out of my beat up shoe. “You’re right” I said. I stabbed him in his face with the needle, he screamed and let go of me. I attacked him with the new burst of energy and strength that the rage had given to me.

  We rolled back and forth, each trying to gain control of the other. The needle didn’t have any effect on him. I reached for his gun “Here, it’s empty” he laughed as he handed it over. I screamed and tossed it.

  I head-butted him in the nose, then he head-butted me back. My eyes watered, and my nose had begun to bleed. Ignoring the throbbing pain in my face, we continued rolling. We continued in this dance for the upper hand. When we rolled into a tree, I slammed his head against it, hard. “Do you give up yet?! Fighting is useless!” he yelled. He then started to choke me. “Do you give up now?!” he yelled. I kicked to try and get free. He stared, crazily, into my eyes as he choked me. “Like a fish out of water. I told you it would have been easier if you didn’t fight” he said. I had begun to get weaker, and see black spots. I let go of trying to pry his hands away from my neck.

  I stared back at him, fear taking over the rage. I couldn’t let him have me. I plunged my thumbs into his eye sockets until he let go. He screamed, and covered his eyes as I coughed and gasped for air. I finally caught my hoarse breath and stood up. He was still screaming. I wiped the blood from my nose with my sleeve. “Do you give up?!” I yelled, hoarsely, and still slightly out of breath, mocking him. “I shall stop at nothing but death for my commander!” he yelled over sobs. “You killed my brother!!” I yelled, as every part of me ached in pain. He began to laugh, and wouldn’t stop laughing. I slowly walked to where The Absolute was sitting. “You are nothing but a girl wearing a necklace, you’ll never pull any of this off” he said, laughing even louder. “This is for Victor” I said. I grabbed his face with one hand, and the back of his head with the other. I twisted, and pushed as hard as I could. He fell over after I snapped his neck.

  Chapter Thirteen

  My body throbbed in pain from head to toe, but I was to mad to care. I was dizzy, my stomach ached, my eyes burned, my nose and neck were thumping. I could barely walk, but I kept going. As I continued through the darkness, everything that happened played back over and over in my head. Like a never ending recording that my brain wouldn’t shut off. Tears ran down my face, like a faucet, until they couldn’t anymore. I went numb. I was just a blob of blah, drifting through the darkness.

  Maybe I was just a girl wearing a necklace. Correction, the necklace was wearing me. Even though I felt like nothingness and I were now kindred spirits, I still had to do something. I began to hear The Absolute in my head, laughing. The laughing got louder, and louder, until it beat against my eardrums. Is that what the rhythm of insanity sounded like? I fell to the ground as the laughter grew even louder. My head pounded worst. I began to crawl, thinking that The Absolute was behind me. “Leave me alone!! Leave me alone!!!” I screamed, covering my ears, sending an urgent plea out into the darkness. The laughing finally stopped.

  I laid down in the grassy dirt, using my arm as a pillow. I was done. I closed my eyes as I waited for the grim reaper to collect me, I wanted him to end my suffering. I laid still in the silence of the night, and waited. “What is the difference between failing and being a failure?” a voice in my head asked. “Failing is when you try but don’t succeed, you can always get back up and try again. Being a failure is when you just give up” I whispered to myself. “Failure doesn’t exist to me” I said, pushing myself up off of the ground. I fell back to the ground. “Failure doesn’t exist to me” I repeated, pushing myself up again. Again, my legs gave out. “Failure doesn’t exist to me” I said louder, pushing myself up. My arms began to shake and they gave out. My face landed in the dirt. “Failure doesn’t exist to me!!!!” I let go of this battle cry as it gave me strength. I crawled to the closest tree, and shakily climbed to my feet.

  I limped forward. Slow at first, but then grew faster until I was running. I continued to run until I was out of the woods. I made it back. I stared in horror to see what once was our home. It was on fire, engulfed in flames. I could hear the glass shattering from the heat. I looked back towards the woods. I looked up the road, and people were already heading to the field. Some of them were Absolutes, but my people did not give in. My people were winning this battle. I looked back at our home. It was gone, everything, stolen away by the flames. At that point, all I had left were the clothes on my back. All of the memories of my sixteen years on that planet, swallowed by the flames.

  Something then came over me, like I was hypnotized, or in a trance. The locket had started to pull me towards the house and I didn’t even notice it! Sweat dripped down my face, burning cuts on my face as it went. When I came to my senses, I stopped walking, but the locket still tried to pull me. Strong wind blew from the locket making it stronger, and it continued to pull me closer to the flames. It felt like my flesh had begun to cook, my sanity hung on by a thread as I fought like crazy to get away. “I didn’t come all of this way to end it like this!!” I yelled to the house.

  Then, the locket opened by itself. The flames began to swirl closer and spiral into the locket. I screamed, and shielded my face as I thought it was over. The locket began to shine so bright, that when I tried to open my eyes, I couldn’t. The fire was no longer hot. It even felt cool! Again, I tried to open my eyes, but again, no success. “Open your eyes, and take in what you see.” A huge voice said. I opened my eyes. They hurt for a second, then the pain subsided.

  The flames were bigger than ever before, circling all around me. the flames turned purple right before being sucked into the locket. That had to be one of the most beautiful things that I’ve ever seen. Somehow, it calmed me, in a way that I still can’t explain. The rest of the flames that were left grew bigger, and then was sucked into the locket all at once. There the house stood, looking as if the flames had never even touched it. I was dumbfounded. What had just happened? I had convinced myself that it was just a distraction, and tried to move, but my legs felt like cement. “Go!” I commanded my legs out loud. I then started to walk down the road.

  I had about a mile left to go. I broke out running. My side cramped again, but I still ran. Something had happened to me, I had never ran that fast in my life. I was catching up, and fast. Then, some of The Absolutes spotted me coming. They ran towards me.
They carried knives, knives that they had taken away from my people once they had run out of ammo. I fought them all, clotheslining the first one, I took the knife and stabbed him in the heart. Second one, I slit his throat and clipped him with a floor sweep. Third one, I grabbed him by the neck and stabbed him four times in the stomach, then slammed him hard. It went on until I took down each one in pursuit of me, then I kept running. This huge field was swarmed, everyone fighting for their lives. A giant sea, made of nothing but people and Absolutes. Into that sea, I plunged. Unleashing all that I had on every single Absolute that I came in contact with. Right there, I made a vow to myself. I wasn’t going to stop until everyone made it to the other side safely, or I died.

  Chapter Fourteen

  We fought on late into the night, taking down as many Absolutes as our strength allowed. I looked up and spotted my dad. I wished that I hadn’t. It was better for him to think that Victor and I were fighting our way to the field, than to know that he was gone forever. I took a deep breath, and pushed my way through people to get to him. “Dad!” I called. He examined the bruises all over me with grief written all over his face, and hugged me. “I’m fine” I said. “Where’s your brother?” he asked. Don’t lose it now, keep it together, I thought to myself. I tried as hard as I could to swallow the lump in my throat. “He, uumm, he didn’t make it” I said as calmly as I could.

  My dad nodded his head, and looked away. I said nothing. I had nothing to say. He had left us. Victor and I had to do all of this on our own, and he just wasn’t anywhere to be found. I couldn’t seem to get that through my head. My dad left us, just like before. I then realized that all of that time, I was angry at him for being taken away, which wasn’t his fault, I was still angry. This time, though, it was different. He could have stayed. Maybe I was overreacting, maybe he had his reasons, but whatever they were, it was too late to give it any question. My dad was then attacked.