by K. L. Lewis
DeMarcus looked down and saw blood stain his shirt a dark red, seeping through the fabric and sticking to his hands. Lifting his shirt, he saw a large gash on his side. From a stray bullet maybe? He felt this pain before. He squinted and took deep breaths, blunting half the pain but still feeling the sharp sting as he moved. “I’ll live,” he said, remembering he survived worse.
Yue’s furrowed her brow at him, then her eyes jumped. “Crap, we’ve gotta warn Ty!” She went on her OmniMorph and called Tyrone once again. “Yo Ty, gonna have to cancel on the Magna-rink. And it’s best you don’t come at all.”
“Why?” Ty asked.
“The Fronties just attacked the place. I’m hiding with DeMarcus right now, but there’s no telling how we’re gonna make it out of here!”
There was a scream, then guns snarled. DeMarcus fists clenched as his back pressed against their cover. He leaned out and peeked at a small squad of Fronties patrolling the area around them, stepping over a few lifeless bodies out in the open. There were a few other people hiding nearby, their careful eyes watching for any opportunities to move.
The sight brought DeMarcus back to the attack on the city weeks ago, a dusty atmosphere blanketing the bodies of the dead. Then sirens blared in the background of Yue’s call.
“Guess you weren’t lying. The military’s already headed your way,” said Ty. “Just stay safe over there!” Then he logged off.
“Stay safe” he says, easier said than done. How were they supposed to do that with all these Fronties around?
He looked over at Yue, who gave him a shrug. Then her eyes blinked with an idea. She pulled the small drone from her OmniMorph, activating it and tossing it in the air. DeMarcus peeked over to her OmniMorph’s screen displaying the Fronties behind their cover. There were at least 6 of them fanning out, but no doubt more were around.
One of them pointed to the shops at the edges for others to rush to, their voices a faint murmur in the open air. “Head to the back and set up a post in the electronics. We’ll use this area as a new forward operating base.”
“Wouldn’t it’ve been better to keep searching for our old one?” Asked another militant. “This is one of the busiest spots in the city!”
“If the last group there wasn’t wiped out, we’d have an easier time searching for it,” said the previous voice. “Besides, this place is huge. Once we mop up witnesses and set up shop, they won’t even know we’re hiding out here.”
With a small peek, DeMarcus counted four more Fronties exploring the areas in the back. Then his ear twitched at someone’s voice calling out. “Hey! You!”
DeMarcus hid back behind cover just as Yue yanked her drone back on her OmniMorph. They didn’t see them, did they?
Footsteps clapped around their corner, growing louder and louder the closer they came. DeMarcus noticed a twisted rod blasted from the guardrails tap under his foot, picking it up and waiting for the person to step into view. A militant looked over, and DeMarcus took a swing at their head, knocking them to the floor.
He pulled Yue along. “Let’s go!” he shouted as they ran by the tables away from the pursuing Fronties.
Fragments of marble splashed from the floor and walls as shots from the militants and their drone missed them by inches, the windows of the stores flashing into webs of fractured glass—just like the last attack in the city, and now it was happening with him and Yue.
Pulling Yue behind the next corner, DeMarcus caught his breath as his back pressed against the wall. The Fronties’ rapid footsteps drummed toward them, followed by an occasional snarl of gunfire and a woman’s scream. “After her!” shouted one of the Fronties.
What to do now? They were at a dead end, the nearby escalators being the only way out of the Plaza. But sticking one foot out would have them met with bullets.
The moment the first militant came into view, DeMarcus’s heart stopped. It was over…
BLAM!
The militant suddenly dropped. DeMarcus blinked, spotting a figure in a navy-blue and green hooded exosuit dropping out of thin air. Upon landing, the figure took one stride and vanished as quick as they appeared. Then a booming voice echoed throughout the plaza. “DROP YOUR WEAPONS! CEASE AND DESIST! YOU ARE COMPLETELY SURROUNDED!”
CHAPTER 13 – GET-TOGETHER
“Where’d they go?” DeMarcus asked, which wasn’t worth risking a headshot to peak out and find the vanishing figure.
The Fronties were still firing hails of bullets that pelted against the walls and floors, leaving him and Yue trapped at the corner as they waited for the gunfire to end. His eyes switching from the second to the third floor, DeMarcus saw the figure in a sprint toward the militants before disappearing like vapor in the air. Then they appeared again, running in the opposite direction on the second floor.
“Fan out!” Shouted one of the militants. “Search the area!”
Great, as if this couldn’t get any worse.
“Move over, let me get a view of them,” Yue whispered, launching her drone from her OmniMorph. The drone floated near the floor and inched out into the open, displaying it’s view on Yue’s screen. DeMarcus peeked over her shoulder at the Fronties scattering for the stores and stairs, his eyes jumping as one ran their way before collapsing to the floor at the pop of a gunshot from above.
That was close…
“I’d put zat away if I were you,” said a woman’s voice from behind them.
DeMarcus nearly shot to the roof at the sudden sound, turning the source before feeling a firm grip on his mouth. The air waved and vibrated in front of him, and a soft “shush” came from it as a woman in a blue and green exo-suit appeared before his eyes. Her face was covered in a tight mask covering her whole head with goggles strapped over her eyes. Gripped in her hand was a small rifle pointing down. Then she moved her hand off DeMarcus’s face, holding a finger up to hers. “We’re here to get you out,” she said.
She had a strange, French sounding accent as she spoke, and the most relieving feature was the small NAF seal on her shoulder. Was she the same figure appearing and disappearing on the floors above?
But she said “we” as if there were more. On top of that, some of the figures he did spot didn’t have tails, unlike her.
The thought flew out of DeMarcus’s mind as another militant reached their corner, and the woman in the exo-suit pushed passed him and Yue with her arm raised just as the militant opened fire. Sprouting from the woman’s arm came a clear blue wall that blocked the militant’s shots, and soon after the militant fell to the ground, a human soldier from the floor above having filled their back with bullets.
The human was nothing like the others darting around and vanishing like ghosts—his face wasn’t covered, his black hair and icy blue eyes visible to anyone laying eyes on him, and he wore blue and white fatigues of the Iuvian military. As sudden as he appeared, he switched his aim toward the other militants in the open and fired two shots, then leapt into the air and vanished before the Fronties shot back.
There was little time to process everything as DeMarcus felt the woman yank him and Yue further back into the corner’s end. There, she pulled out a large blue patch, lifting DeMarcus’s shirt and sticking it over his wound. There was a sudden, icy sting, then the pain faded.
“Here,” the woman spoke, reaching into one of her pouches and pulling out a grey sheet, “Both of you drape zis over. As long as you don’t run into anyone, zee Fronties won’t be able to find you.”
“Oh really?” Yue questioned. “The hell’s this supposed to be, an invisibility cloak?”
“Precisely,” the woman nodded, pinching the sheet’s edge, and making it vanish in her hand. Then she threw it over them, and ran back to the edge of the corner, gun raised and ready.
“FINAL WARNING!” The man’s voice boomed once more, echoing throughout the megaplaza. “LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS!”
The Fronties responded with blind fires in every direction—some shots flew up to the third and fourth floors, others a
t the walls and windows of the stores.
The woman emitted the clear blue wall again, blocking the particles shattering off the walls and ground from the impact of bullets. She looked back and waved DeMarcus and Yue over to her, and with the sheet held tight around them, they moved and stood behind her. Then she pointed up to the escalators, “I’m going to draw zer fire. On my signal, make a run for zee stairs and get out of here! Ready?”
DeMarcus nodded, but then remembered she couldn’t see his response as she was quick to say “Go!” before running out and firing out at the Fronties.
There was a brief pause between him and Yue, then DeMarcus led the way toward the escalators. The pain from his earlier injury shot through his body, his shoulders hobbling left and right as he fought the stinging sensation along the way. Gunfire snarled from the open floor as the soldiers forced the Fronties’ further into the megaplaza, small cans dropping between them and spewing a thick grey cloud that rose and expanded in the air. The gunshots stopped. It was a moment of relief as DeMarcus reached the escalator, only for his body to collapse at the rails. Things were getting blurry, and his arm and legs grew numb as the wound on his side spiked again. Yue pulled him up and held him over her shoulder. “Come on, we’re almost there,” she said.
He moved with her onto the steps of the inactive escalator. They jumped at the sudden burst of gunshots from behind but kept moving up until they were finally at the top. They were almost free…until a militant popped out from the shadows of the hallway and rushed toward the escalator they came from, slamming into them and bringing the three of them tumbling to the floor.
DeMarcus tensed at the massive spike of pain shooting from his side upon impact, then his eyes bulged as the militant rose to their feet. Shaking off the pain, the militant’s eyes locked on to him and Yue. Their legs were visible outside of the invisibility cloak, as if half their body were chopped in half.
The militant pulled out their rifle and took aim, then a dark blur flew over DeMarcus’s head and sent the militant flying across the gap to the other side. In the militant’s place was the human soldier from before. DeMarcus picked himself up, fighting the pain in his side as he and Yue got to their feet and draped the sheet back over their legs. The soldier turned around, staring at them both.
Yue leaned toward DeMarcus as the human’s blue eyes pierced through them. “He can’t see us, can he?” she whispered.
“You’d be surprised,” the human said, spooking them. “The hall is cleared of militants. Take the path out and see the medic outside for any injuries.”
Their heads snapped to the gunfire resuming behind them, and the human leapt into the air, vanishing like vapor. Wasting no time, DeMarcus followed Yue out of the Megaplaza and out into the light of the parking lot. The sight of ambulances, police, and soldiers gave them a sigh of relief as they stepped out into the lot toward the safety of the crowd.
“Yue! DeMarcus!” shouted a voice ahead.
They scanned the crowd for the source, seeing Tyrone wave his hand from the barricades. They joined him at the edge. “You okay?” Tyrone asked.
“Yeah. We’re fine,” DeMarcus said.
Yue furrowed her brows at him. “My ass! Get over here!” She snatched him by his wrist and dragged him over to the medics at the center of the lot with Tyrone following behind. “You get shot in the side, and somehow you’re ‘fine?’ The hell is that crap?”
DeMarcus shrugged. “Hey, we’re alive, aren’t we?”
“That’s not the point and you know it,” Yue said with a glare.
As the medics treated and bandaged their wounds, DeMarcus couldn’t help but smile at Yue’s concern. He turned to Tyrone for any thoughts, but all he did was shake his head and smile.
“You really are something, DeMarcus,” Tyrone said.
DeMarcus let out a chuckle. At least they made it out of there. And once the medics were finished patching them up, the three of them took the path to the bridge back home. Looking over his shoulder at the Rula Megaplaza, the smoke spewing from the top faded the further they moved away, and the drones from the news teams looked like little dots swarming over the dome.
They reached the bridge tram minutes before it arrived, waiting for the departing crowd to pour out before they stepped in. Onboard, the news-screens broadcasted the Fronties’ recent attack, with other riders tuning in on their OmniMorphs to the anchorwoman reporting it as a failed takeover attempt by the militants. “A joint Iuvian-NAF squad has begun rounding up the militants and evacuating any civilians still trapped inside. Sources indicate that the HDF were in search of an underground network hidden within the city that they intended to use as a base, believing that the Rula Megaplaza was the main point of access. Investigations are underway for the network, but none appear to have been found under the Megaplaza as we speak.”
DeMarcus eyes switched between Yue and Tyrone, wondering what they had to say. He had nothing to add, his mind still on the close call at the Megaplaza.
“So, how’re you gonna break this to your parents?” Tyrone asked. “Sucks this all happened the day of the Get-Together.”
There was a brief pause, then Yue sighed. “We tell them the truth and brace for the impending freak out. What else can we tell them? ‘Hey mom, hey dad. We just came from getting shot at. But our day was fine.’ Yeah, that’ll ease their worries.”
DeMarcus didn’t budge as Tyrone glanced back at him. “Don’t look at me, I got nothing.”
“This is gonna be a sight to see,” Tyrone said.
Arriving back at home with Tyrone behind them, they were met by Jun rushing out of the dining room. “Did you guys hear what happened?” she asked. Then her hand rose to her mouth when she gasped at the blood on DeMarcus’s shirt and Yue’s injured arm.
After a quick glance down, DeMarcus covered the sight with his arm, but it was a futile attempt given how massive the stain was on his shirt. “So,” he began with a nonchalant tone, “how was your day?”
His words made Jun’s face switch from shock to a dark glare as her arms crossed over her chest. He smiled, wanting to lighten her mood. When that didn’t work, he stepped past her for the stairs. “It was great, right? Well, I’m just gonna go change my shirt and—ow, ow, OW!”
Jun pulled him by the ear and dragged him and Yue toward the backyard. “What the hell happened to you two?”
“They were at the Rula Megaplaza when the Fronties attacked,” said Tyrone.
“Basically,” Yue added.
Jun kept glaring at DeMarcus. “And you were just gonna walk by like nothing happen?”
“How were we supposed to know they would strike there?” DeMarcus protested.
“That’s not the point, and you know it!” said Jun.
“Geez, what is the point, then?”
Jun growled as she brought them outside to Jiao and Shen as they finished preparing the yard for the Get Together. Jiao had finished cooking the steaks, while Shen replaced the massive lamp at the center of the yard.
“Hey kids,” Shen greeted. “How was your…” His jaw dropped along with the tools in his hands as he rushed toward them. “What the hell happened to you two?”
“Well…” DeMarcus wanted to stall, shrinking under Jun’s dark glare over her shoulder that forced the whole story out of him. “We were attacked by Fronties at the Rula Megaplaza.”
Jiao quickly joined them. “Oh, my goodness, let me see!”
DeMarcus lifted his shirt while Yue lifted her hand, showing the wounds from the earlier incident. “We made it out,” DeMarcus said before holding up the OmniMorph on his wrist. “And I got a new OmniMorph.”
There was a moment of silence as they looked onto him with Shen sighing and sitting on the nearby ledge. No one looked happy for anything, and it wasn’t hard to see why. But given how he had been through worse, DeMarcus figured they’d be more thankful that they were still alive.
“Why are you treating this whole thing so casually?” Yue asked in a whisper.
“We could’ve died. Why wouldn’t they worry?”
No sense arguing with that, especially given what already happened to him in the past. Then again, what was he supposed to do, add more to their worries? It seemed like there was no right response over how to handle what they came out of as as waited to hear what their parents had to say.
There was a moment of silence, then Shen looked toward Jiao. “Maybe we should cancel the Get-Together?”
Jiao made a somber gaze down to the ground, then looked back at Shen and nodded.
DeMarcus’s ears jumped up. “What! Why?”
Jiao’s brow furrowed at him. “What do you mean ‘why?’ Did you not hear what you just told us?”
“But we’re fine! We made it out!” DeMarcus protested.
“And if you didn’t?” Shen asked with a stern glare. “When we took you in, it wasn’t so that we could lose you to another militant attack. Do you have any idea how things would’ve turned out if that happened?”
DeMarcus’s ears lowered to his shoulders as Shen’s words hit him like a truck. It wasn’t hard to imagine—the loss of him and Yue bringing the family to their knees in tears as they became the latest victims of yet another attack, the shock and emptiness from his new friends having only met him for a few weeks. His heart sank at the thought. It was a pain he didn’t want anyone he cared for going through.
But then, knowing this, he realized that was all the reason not to cancel this event. His ears rose, his fists tensed, and he gave a fierce look back at Shen and Jiao. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I know how things would turn out?” he argued. “I’ve already went through it! How else would I be here if I didn’t?”
His words sent shockwaves throughout the yard, with Yue and Jiao’s brows jumping at his defiance. They looked back between themselves then shifted their looks at Shen, who furrowed at DeMarcus’s back talk. The stunned silence continued until Shen’s face lightened, and a faint smile grew on his face. “You’ve got me there,” he said. “Just…listen, we only want you to be safe. Seeing two of our children come home like this is not a good picture for us to see.”
