On the Run Again

“Sprout, take the controls. Keep ‘er steady. You two, out of the way.” Without waiting for a response, Lea reached down into her bag and pulled out the folded-up sniper rifle. I had to scramble to place my hand within the holo display before the car veered off the road.

“I don’t know the first thing about drivin’.” In the heat of the moment, my accent slipped out again.

“Just hold your hand still and point in the direction you wanna go.”

“Hold on,” Oliver said. “You can’t start shooting in the middle of the city. The cops will be all over us. We’ll never make it to the Federation.”

“Same thing’ll happen if they open fire first, only difference bein’ we’ll be the ones shot dead.” There was a large clicking sound as Lea unfolded the rifle, followed by what sounded like the whirring of drills. “Come on,” she whispered to herself. “These damn things take forever to align themselves.”

“Lea,” I said, my voice shaking, “there’s a busy intersection comin’ up. Light’s red.”

“Just a little—” She peered into the scope and then pulled away. “Shit. Hold this.” Lea thrust the gun into Oliver’s arms and grabbed the controls from me.

“Not gonna shoot?” Oliver asked.

“It’s Ares,” Lea said between gritted teeth. He musta been following us this whole time.”

Taking a deep breath, I tried to think clearly. “He stalked us for a few blocks but then went his own way. How did he find us after that?”

Without slowing down, Lea turned the car sharply, drifting into the intersection and barely missing the other cars. “He only wanted us to think he’d left. Made sure we sensed him behind us so we’d think we could detect him. After that, he probably doubled back and has been followin’ us ever since.”

“Why would he do that?” Apollo asked.

“Maybe because you were actin’ suspicious,” Lea said. “Maybe because he recognized the briefcase. He could still be with them.”

“What are we gonna do?” He wasn’t crying any longer, but there was a visceral fear in Apollo’s voice.

“We keep runnin’.” Lea said. “No use tryin’ to fight. Even four against one, he’d wipe us all out before breakfast.”

I held my hand out to Oliver. “I’ll take the shot.”

“Don’t bother,” Apollo scoffed. “He’ll just dodge it.”

“No way, dude,” I said. “Blaster fire travels too fast.”

“I’ve seen him do it,” Lea said. “He’s got insane reflexes. Once told me that a bullet fired at him was slow as a tumbleweed rollin’ across the wastes.”

Something about the way that was worded reminded me of the occasions when time seemed to slow. When I sniped that person in the wastes, the blaster fire appeared to crawl slowly through the air. If it was the same for Ares, I could imagine him dodging gunfire.

“Buckle up. I’m gonna try to lose him.” Thrusting her hand forward, Lea maneuvered the car aggressively between the other vehicles on the road.

I fumbled to pull the seatbelt across my shoulder but struggled with the positioning. The seats had nowhere for my tail to go, so I had to either lean forward or to the side, causing the seatbelt to rest either under my neck or over my head. Eventually, I pinned it under my armpit and the others followed suit.

No matter how fast we went, Ares kept up. The further west we travelled, the more traffic thinned, until it was just the two of us. With the interdome checkpoint coming up, we were quickly running out of road.

“Pull over,” Apollo said. “I’ll hold him back long enough for the rest of you to escape.”

Lea made no effort to slow down. “You wouldn’t last five minutes. Have you forgotten how bad he used to beat you?”

“Five minutes should be long enough. Besides, he’s still my brother. He won’t kill me.”

I held up the nuke suitcase so he could see it. “If he knows what’s in here, he’ll kill anyone.”

“I still don’t get it,” Apollo said. “What’s so special about this ‘nuclear warhead?’”

“It’s a bomb powerful enough to blow up this entire dome,” I answered. “If your brother helps them get their hands on it, millions will die.”

“Ares would never do something like that unless he was bein’ tricked,” Apollo said. “Let me talk to him.”

“No,” Lea snapped. “I ain’t gonna risk millions of lives just so you can have a heart-to-heart.”

“Fine, then I’ll just go myself.” Forcing open the door, Apollo fumbled around, trying to figure out how to unhook his seatbelt.

“Alright, fine.” Lea engaged the brakes and pulled over to the curb. Ares pulled up behind us. When Oliver opened his door, Lea made a grab for him, but he brushed her off.

“He needs backup. At the first sign of trouble, get out of here. We’ll meet up at the embassy in the next dome.”

“Hey, Ares,” Apollo shouted, approaching the car with his arms stretched wide, “imagine running into you twice in one day.”

“Apollo.” There was no joviality in Ares’s voice as stepped he out of his car. “What the hell are you wearing?”

“This old thing? Looks good on me, don’t it?”

“Sure. Better than the company you’re keeping these days, at any rate.” He shifted his glance over to Oliver. “Ditch them and join up with me. This guy’s gonna get you killed.”

Apollo chuckled. “Funny, way I figure it, you’re gonna get a lot of people killed.”

“Who cares? Just a buncha humans. The kinda people who’d make a thing like that deserve to die if you ask me. After they finish killing each other, it’ll only be nekomimi left. Doesn’t that sound like paradise?”

“Sure does. I lived in that kinda paradise. No humans around, napped whenever I wanted. Then the guys you’re workin’ for burned it to the ground.”

“That’s what I’m sayin’. Humans destroy everything. You should hate ‘em as much as I do.”

“It was humans who built that paradise in the first place, Ares. They gave us the dome, gave us the machines. Do you know how to build those things?” A look of shock spread across Ares’s face. I’m sure mine looked no different. Who would have expected Apollo to even know where the machines came from, let alone put that much thought into an argument? “I don’t hate all humans, just the bastards.”

Ares’s expression turned far more grim than it had been. “Look, Apollo, this ain’t up for debate. I don’t wanna see my little brother get hurt. You’re coming with me.”

“If I go with you, will you let the others go?”

Ares sighed and placed one hand on Apollo’s shoulder. “It’s not that easy, little bro. We gotta give ‘em everything they want or they’ll hunt us down too. Tell you what, if it’ll make you feel better, I’ll let Lea go, but the nuke comes with us.”

“OK.” Apollo nodded. “As long as Lea’s safe…”

My tail bristled with rage, and for the first and last time in my life, I yowled. “You traitor!”

Ares’s head snapped in my direction and his eyes focused directly on me. So intense was his gaze that I was overcome with fear and completely unable to move. He was an apex predator, and I was his prey.

That’s when Apollo struck. With Ares’s attention on me, Apollo went straight for his brother’s neck. Once again, time slowed. Over the next ten seconds, a deeply sad, disappointed frown appeared on Ares’s face as he ducked the swipe and slammed his elbow into Apollo’s ribcage. I tried to jump out the window and run to Apollo’s aid, but found my body moved just as slowly. Even if I could see what was coming next, I could do nothing to prevent it.

As Ares spun around, he reached under his shirt and pulled out a long knife. Silently, I prayed that time would continue to slow, each moment stretching longer than the last, so that the knife would never reach Apollo.

It was all for naught. After what seemed like minutes—but in reality had been less than a second—Ares plunged the knife into Apollo’s heart.