Escape

“We are the Soul Brothers, and we are searching for a certain individual.”

What? How are they here? How could they know I might be here? This ain’t good. Scratch that, this is as far from good as it gets. The Soulless are right in front of me, and the man’s grin has shifted from comforting to deeply unsettling. A pit in my stomach forms, which quickly turns into a chasm. My sense of reason starts falling into it.

But… what if this is an opportunity? I’m surrounded by allies, and I quite literally have the power in my hands to fight back. By simply pulling back my pointer finger I could wipe that smug grin off his damn face. I-I can change things, create a future of my choosing. This could be it. I just need to do something so small, I-I-I just gotta—

No.

I need to calm down.

And I need to get out of here as fast as possible.

I turn to the other two people hiding behind the bush with me. “I’m repositioning. You guys stay here.” They both nod without making a sound.

I quietly crouch walk around the back of the house behind us. I hate to use the trust these people have against them, but I need to get out. As soon as I reach the backside, I take a look around to make sure no one is straggling, and sprint off.

What the hell was I thinking? How the hell could I make a difference? This is my destiny—running, one foot in front of the other until I collapse. And even then, I’ll crawl, because I must keep going.

I wipe my eyes as I sprint down a barren street. If I hadn’t just seen everyone, I would think this place is abandoned. It’s ‘bout as empty as I feel right now. Or maybe that ain’t right; I don’t really know what I’m feeling, but I know I don’t like it one bit.

I reach my house, out of breath, with only two words left in my mind—”Supernovacide” and “ESCAPE.”

I throw the door open and run inside. I scramble around the house, grabbing everything I need to travel, leaving anything that isn’t necessary. I trip three times, bump into four walls, and stub my toe, but I have no time to pay attention to any pain or clumsiness. It’s go time, and I mean literally time to go. Finally, I go to grab the most important item of all—the Supernovacide. As I open the cabinet and start to pull it out, I hear noise outside.

Why the hell do they gotta always show up at this goddamn house?

I whip my head back and forth, my eyes darting to every corner of this Earth, searching desperately for somewhere to hide. But I can’t find one anywhere.

Click.

No. No, no, no.

Creaaaak.

No no no no.

“TERR!!!”

Nononono.

Spencer rushes over, grabbing me by the collar and hoisting me into the air.

“What did you do?!”

NONONONO!

I break down, wailing. “Please! Help me!” Tears flow like a river. “I don’t know what to do. I can’t fight that. I can’t.” My body, too drained to keep fighting, goes limp.

“Spencer, drop him!” yells Trey.

I immediately collapse to the ground, slumping into a worthless heap.

Harold’s the next to grab my collar, shoving me against a cabinet. “It’s you, isn’t it?” His fury builds quickly. “I knew we shouldn’t have let you stay!”

Trey yells again, “Harold! Off of him!” He turns towards the two of them. “Both of you, knock it off! We can’t do anything now about what he may or may not have brought here, we’ve just gotta work with what we got.” He turns back towards me, staring me down so coldly it sends shivers down my spine and forces me to gain back a little composure. “Now, we need complete honesty—are they here for you?”

I nod. “Uh-huh.”

“Why?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“It’s not about can or can’t, you don’t have a choice.” Trey’s voice turns flat, a horrifying calm washing over him as he says, “Either you tell us, or we drag you the whole way back and serve you up on a diamond platter.”

I guess this is it, I don’t got much choice.

I muster up some strength, crawl to the cabinet with the Supernovacide—door still hanging ajar—and pull out the box containing it. “This is why.”

“The hell even is that?” says Spencer.

“If I told you then you’d also be in danger.”

“Shut up with that shit.” Spencer smacks me over the head. “Tell us now or you’re not leaving.”

“Okay,” I say, resigning to my fate. “Um, it’s called Supernovacide.” All three pairs of eyes start to bulge out of their sockets when they hear that word.

Harold is the first to speak, “Please tell me that doesn’t mean what I think it means.”

Unfortunately, I can’t fulfill his wish. “It means exactly what you think it means.” I stare at the box, refusing to look them in the eyes, and continue, “Imagine a novacide with the power to end the world—that’s this.”

Silence blankets the room, as if I weren’t being screamed at by Spencer and Harold just a minute ago. I glance up and see Trey nodding at Spencer and Harold, who, now with stone hard faces, nod back.

Trey walks over, crouches before me, and says, “We don’t exactly love The Soulless and love the idea of them having such a powerful weapon even less. Our best bet is to get you out of here as fast as possible. Luckily, we know an escape route—and are the only ones who know who you are.”

“What about Tony?” I ask.

Trey gives me a puzzled look. “Tony?”

Harold interjects, “Tony knows.”

“What the hell, Harold?” Might be the first time I’ve seen Trey annoyed.

“Tony won’t say anything,” said Harold.

“Harold’s right,” Spencer adds. “I’ve known Tony forever, he’s straight.”

Trey sighs, clearly annoyed, but then says, “I trust these guys. If they think Tony won’t say anything, then Tony won’t say anything.” He extends a hand to me. “Come on, let's get you out of here.” I wipe my eyes dry and take his hand, letting him pull me back to my feet.

I grab the Supernovacide and my already-packed belongings, following on my bike as the three of them run ahead to lead the way. We don’t hear any gunshots, which means things are still peaceful between The Soulless and This is Our Town Faction. All I can hope is that I haven’t brought harm upon these people.

We work our way to the edge of town, stopping in front of a large steel sheet sitting on the ground. Trey, Spencer, and Harold grab the sheet and pull it to the side, revealing a hole underneath. In the hole I can see a dark tunnel leading away from town, but I have no idea how far it might stretch.

“Be careful, this tunnel hasn’t been used in ages, so it could fall apart on you, and I mean that literally. Just go until you find a way out, and then keep moving north until you reach a hospital. There’s a man there named Sergio, he’s probably the only person our town trusts as much as our own. When you get there, ask for him. He can help you.” Trey takes my hand, shakes it, then continues, “I wish we could help you more, but this town is somewhere we’ll never leave.”

I grab the gun I was given earlier and try to hand it back to Trey, but he pushes my hand back. “Keep it. You never know when you might need it.” I don’t like holding onto it, but he’s right—at any moment danger could rear its ugly head.

I nod at Trey. “Thank you.” I turn towards Spencer and Harold, nodding at both of them. “Thank you all for everything.”

Spencer replies, “No sweat. Come back once this is all figured out—we’ll be waiting.” He flashes me a wide grin and a big thumbs-up.

“Get out of here before we lose any more time,” says Harold. He’s harsh, but I know he’s just looking out for me.

“I’ll see you guys later,” I reply, dropping my bike into the tunnel before jumping in myself.

“Safe travels,” says Trey, smiling, as he and the others cover the tunnel entrance.

Those final glimpses of light feel like the last I’ll ever see.