Containment In Skyscrapers, Chapter Nine

[tankicola 111]

Chapter nine 

Twelve days in 

 

They were awoken by Redman’s rueful sigh of disapproval. Cold air drifted in from a gap in the tent and ruffled Leo’s hair. He could see people moving about, already awake, and the sounds of laughing; even playing. His heart ached to join. This seemed to show on his face, because Redman said: “Are you feeling alright, Leo?”

“Yes,” replied Leo sleepily. 

Rose appeared, with dust all over her face and in her hair. “Redman, you need to see this,” she said. 

Redman paused, then left with Rose, leaving an even bigger gap in the tent. There were groans of displeasure as Cherry, Liam, and Leo were suddenly thrust under a fiery blaze of light. Liam yelped and made to zip the entrance to the tent when Justin came inside. 

He looked at them all and said: “Did you sleep well?” he asked, sitting on Rose’s empty chair and stretching his legs onto Redman’s, (Leo, Liam, and Cherry grinned at each other and stifled their chuckles, for all of them had pictured Redman and Rose’s scandalized expressions) “Well, I’m guessing-”

“No, we did,” said Liam, whilst punching his pillow with a brutality that made Justin look positively alarmed. “Well, I’m g-glad to hear that,” said Justin, wincing as the pillow creased even more. “If you don’t like the pillow, I can get you another one, I-”

“What?” said Leo plainly. He blinked, then- “Oh, I forgot. Why did you move all of us into this tent?”

“Well, the temperature went down by an unprecedented amount last night, and Redman insisted on getting you guys in a tent, so we did it.”

Leo felt a rush of gratitude for Redman, but then Cherry’s muffled voice disturbed his train of thought. 

“Could you keep it down?!”

Her bedraggled face surfaced from her sleeping bag, but then she recognised who she was looking at, and her face transformed into an expression of utmost horror. 

“I-I didn’t mean-”

“Well, I’m sorry if I disturbed you!” snapped Justin, storming out. 

 

“Cherry, if you would come with me,” said Redman, later that morning. Cherry followed Redman out of sight, but not before they had all heard him yelling furiously. 

Rose whistled nonchalantly, but her inexpert tune quickly subsided as Leo and Liam shot her annoyed looks. When Redman finally re-appeared, with a resentful Cherry muttering mutinously, Rose spoke. “Right, now we have sorted everything out, we need to build up a plan. Redman, if you will?”

With a flourish, Redman pulled out a map of the entire city of Skyscrapers. It was heavily annotated, and some lines seemed to have been drawn by hand. All of those red lines intersected at one place - the Skyscrapers Power Plantation. 

“So, as you might have heard, a route back into the SMG is being established. Since you are all recruits, you are our priority. Our job is not to train you anymore, but to send you out of here as quickly and as safely as possible. We have already made contact with Berlin and Combe, and they are sending their troops here to collect you when we make another signal. We will only make a signal once we have you back in the SMG. You will be safe there until we can transfer you to an underground sanctuary.”

Rose opened her mouth to speak, and as she did, Redman lifted the map of Skyscrapers. 

“Our route is from where we are now, the Skyscrapers Border Area, to the Skyscrapers Power Plantation, which is the safest place in the SMG. Once you are all inside the SPP, Rose will lead you to an underground bunker, which should be surrounded by metal doors. Once the signal is made, the doors will open by themselves, and you should take the path that is marked by red tape. If you follow the path to the end, you should see the troops from Combe and Berlin. Follow them and obey any order that they may give you. We will start going down our route when Justin comes back. Go and pack your things.” 

 

After they were all packed, with Rose in front of them and Justin talking with Redman, Rose re-capped the plan. They were to enact their plan after nightfall, for fear of being found. 

 

Twelve days, twenty hours in 

 

“All packed?” asked Rose, who was carrying a torch. 

They all nodded. 

Rose looked at Bill’s immobile figure and swallowed. “There’s been a change of plan. We can’t take Bill.”

Cherry looked up, and there was a determined fire in her gaze. 

“No.”

Rose looked expectantly at Redman, who looked at her. Then Bill turned over. 

Cherry let out a small scream; Redman and Rose both stared at Bill’s stretcher, alarmed. 

Then he tumbled out of his stretcher and onto the floor, with a small, shaky crash. 

Cherry ran forwards and knelt beside him, whispering. Rose followed. Everyone was staring as Rose and Cherry lifted a conscious Bill back onto his stretcher. His face had a permanently tallowy-whiteness to it, and his hair was matted, wet with sweat, and had congealed blood clinging to strands. “Right, you guys need to move, now!” 

Rose was carrying Bill, with Cherry by her side. “Go! We need to move!”

She checked her watch. 

They only had an hour left to move. 

 

They could see the path that had been made; it was a jagged hole in the middle of the glass, rock, and dirt. Windswept shards of sandy glass obscured their vision slightly, and they jumped at small movements and noises. Redman led them into the tunnel-like pathway and then stood at the entrance. He talked into his radio. “Wait for us at the end. Keep your guard.”

Liam walked past a body impaled by a sharp point of glass and stepped over rocks, tables, and more bodies. Cherry, Rose, and Bill were behind him and Leo. There was a white light at the end of the tunnel, illuminating the broken metal pipes and chairs. Leo and Liam had almost reached the end before they had realised that Rose, Cherry, and Bill were not behind them anymore. Leo jumped as the mournful cawing of a bird echoed through the night. 

 

Then a blazing light burst into being, so bright that it almost blinded them. Leo and Liam both let out cries of surprise, and then there were explosions. Leo ran back but tripped over a block of crushed copper. Spitting blood from his mouth, he saw Liam running as fast as he could, whilst tanks chased him. Wiping the last of the metallic-tasting blood from his lips, Leo followed, as the glass above shuddered. He looked up, to see the glass panes wobbling, and dust falling from the crevices that were in between each pane. Then the glass fell, raining down upon them. Leo and Liam then ran into four people: Redman, Cherry, Bill, and Rose. 

“Go!” they shouted. A blaring alarm sounded, and Redman led them behind a building. 

“Leo and Liam, are you injured?”

“No,” replied Leo and Liam. 

“I’ll be okay, I promise.”

Cherry and Bill were whispering softly to each other, whilst Redman and Rose frantically and fruitlessly tried to re-create a plan.

Bill kissed Cherry’s hand. “I-”

The building behind them exploded. 

 

[Person_Random 4,991]

Approved.

Amazing story. This one was a good deal longer than the previous entries, and the plot was definitely more intense and eventful. There was a good deal of dialogue, which is understandable given the amount of characters involved in the story, but I would like to see just a little bit more description about the setting. Other than that, it's great; keep up the good work and productivity!

Edits: minor grammar fixes.