Unseen Colors, Act Two
Act Two: The Escape!
"Are you sure?" Ken, my brother, asked as he handed me the gun.
"Sure I'm sure! How hard can it be?" I took the gun and examined it. It was a simple black handgun, shouldn't be too hard. "Just point and pull the trigger! It's idiot-proof."
Ken shrugged and gave me the 'whatever' look. "Alright, the safeties off and you remember the basic training, right?"
"Yeah, sure..." I didn't really. But it's simple logic; don't point it at anyone, keep the safety on when not in use and keep the barrel empty when done. What else do I need to know? So I took aim at the target Ken had set up and fired away! It scared me at first, I'll admit, it was louder than I thought and the kickback was small, but strong enough to jolt my arms.
"You okay?" Ken asked.
I nodded and cocked the gun and took out the clip. I was done for today. I walked right past the target without even looking, missing that I hit the bull's-eye.
Kat held her wrist up to try and see with the dim green light. Nothing. Nothing at all! Just wooden boxes, the cages and stone walls. She stayed away from the iron door to be safe but she had a feeling that the door was the only way out. After a few hours, she sat on a creates to rest. Will she ever get out of here? Yes, of course she will... it's just weather or not she'll be alive is up for debate. No point in thinking about that, she convinced herself, best to worry about that when the time comes... but how much longer will that be?
The loud click from the iron door shocked Kat back to reality. She sprang off the box and threw the bag back into the open create, or at least in the general direction of the open create. She ran into her cage and closed the door and locked it, taking the key out and stuffing it into her pocket. She managed to put one of the handcuffs on her right wrist before the iron door screeched open. She hid her ankle shingles behind her and sat on her feet.
The old hag and two other men entered the room and walked over to his cage. They unlocked all of his shingles and cage and carried him out. The iron door closed and Kat heard the key enter the doors lock. "No need," the old hag said on the other side of the door. "We won't be long."
Kat waited a moment until the boots of the men stomped away. If she was going to escape, she had to do it now. She pulled the key out of her pocket and unlocked her handcuffs and cage door. She checked to make sure the gun was still in her pants before she grabbed the bag with the ammo. Opening the door would be hard without attracting attention, if the guards weren't standing at the door. Here it goes. She found the cold mettle handle of the door and hesitated before she pulled slowly. The door scraped on the stone and Kat bite her lip. She pulled a little harder until it was open far enough for her to just barely squeeze through.
She found herself standing in a stone hallway lit by torches on either side. It wasn't that long. The hall lead to another door, this one was wooden instead of iron. She jogged to the door and opened it slowly, grabbing and readying her gun. She peaked through to see a much larger room. It was completely empty other then four columns stretching from the floor to the ceiling. Kat opened the door and jogged in. There was two other doors, one to the right and another was in front of her on the other side of the room. She took another step and heard a scream coming from the door on the right. She whirled over and looked at the door. She waited a few moments before there was another scream followed by a feral yelp. Could that be him? Her prison mate?
She began stepping towards the door. What was she doing? She needed to escape! Kat began to walk back to the other door when there was another yelp of pain... at least, she assumed it was pain. He could be dying... but she needed to escape!
Help him.
Who said that? Her imagination again? It could be, she was dehydrated and starving, it had been over a week since last she ate. Help him...
...
Fine, she thought. Only because I don't know what to do!
She walked up to the door and put her hand on the doorknob. She breathed and twisted the doorknob slowly. Click!
"Elder?" a voice called from the inside. "Is that you?"
Kat froze, what now? The gun was still in her hand and she didn't know how well she could use it. There was really no going back now. She flung the door open and pointed the gun at the first figure she saw. A fat man holding a taser in one hand and a kitchen blade in another stood motionless when he saw Kat. Behind him was her prison mate sitting in a pool of his own blood, chained to the wall.
"Put them down." Kat said quietly to the man. The man didn't say anything but did what she told him to do. He slowly set the taser and knife on the ground. "Now put your hands behind your head, get on your knees and turn around." She commanded, so he did. And before he was able to turn all the way around, she struck him with the butt of the gun on his head as hard as she could. The man fell to the floor and stopped moving. She didn't really care if he was dead or just knocked out.
She looked over to her prison mate and he stared back. "Can you understand me?" she asked. He nodded. "What's your name?"
He was quiet for a moment and Kat thought he wasn't going to answer. "Saxon Gage." He said finally. Kat nodded and stood there for a moment, examining Saxon. She didn't know if she should hate him or help him. Her eyes wondered to his cuffs and how tight they looked. She looked around the small room for a bit. There was a desk in front of her with a lamp and a few torcher tools and a key sitting on the corner. She picked up the key and without further hesitation, bent down and began working at the locks. She didn't like being this close to him,_it made her uncomfortable and carful with her movements. The first lock was done, so she stepped over him and knelt down to his other side and began working on that. _Click! That lock was done too.
Kat stood to her feet and backed away, not wanting to be anywhere near him and unsure if she had made the right choice. Slowly and painfully, the wolf-man stood up, holding his stomach as if it might fall out. Blood poured from his stomach and sides and she saw more and more new scrapes and gashes. Many of them looked to be reopened... or cut opened.
Saxon had to use the wall to hold himself up and out of pity, Kat asked, "Can you walk?" He nodded, but with one look at his beat-up legs, Kat new he wouldn't be getting anywhere far.
Well that wasn't her problem. Her problem was getting out of here alive and all he would be doing is slowing her down. She'd be better off with just leaving him.
Kat ignored her inner reasoning and quickly walked over to the fat man lying on the floor. He was still breathing so he must still be alive. If they were going to get out, it'd have to be fast; before either someone finds the man, the man wakes up, or someone see's that she'd gotten out of her cage.
She grabbed the knife out if the fat man's limp hand and used it to cut his shirt and pull it off his heavy body. She twisted the cloth and walked back over to Saxon, who was bracing himself on the wall and watching her. "Let me see." She said, motioning to his stomach. Though he was very hesitant, Saxon slowly lifted his arm to expose a deep wound. Kat could see his insides and wondered how he was still alive. Shaking herself out of staring, she wrapped the cloth around his stomach and tied it tightly in the back.
Though he was still nude and very beat-up, it would have to do for now, at least until they got out of here. The deepest of his wounds was covered up with the cloth so this must give him some relief. She hated to do it, but she knew she'd have to. "Put your arm around my shoulder." She said.
Saxon didn't move, just stared at her like she was crazy. "C'mon," she said, trying not to change her mind. "Before someone comes!"
I watched the numbers that projected from the bracelet. 02:03:56:01... 02:03:45:97... 02:03:28:12...
The numbers just kept counting down, but to what? What was going to happen in two hours when the timer hit zero? Really, only time will tell. But I couldn't help but feel nervous. It was probably nothing, so I decided to occupy my mind with something else.
...
00:15:31:59
Only fifteen minutes left. But what was going to happen? Was the bracelet going to explode? A hint of panic began to wash over me. I didn't want it to explode while it was on my wrist! I wanted to keep my arm! Calm down, Kat. Calm down. It wasn't going to explode, I told myself. That wouldn't make very much sense! I didn't know why it didn't make sense but I thought it best not to think about it too much. My heart stopped beating again as a dull pain pierced my left wrist where the bracelet was secured. I was getting sick of it! But, then again, there's not much I can do now is there.
00:00: 29:43
Thirty more seconds left. Talk about anticipation! The numbers seem to be getting slower and slower as zero draws nearer.
00:00:03:23
00:00:02:14
00:00:01:00...
Kat waited a moment, peaking around the corner. There it was! The door to the outside! But there were people everywhere and they'd know that she and Saxon had escaped as soon as they saw him. Kat might be able to pass by and blend in but Saxon was a dead give-away. She could fight her way out? Most of the people didn't appear to be armed and there was only two guards standing near the door. But what about Saxon? He wouldn't be able to fight or keep up...
She should have left him in the torcher room, her inner self reasoned. It was getting harder and harder to ignore herself and she had no idea what to do. She turned and looked behind her. Saxon was watching her through the slightly opened closet door. She crawled back and crept into the closet next to Saxon. The room was dark except for the dim glow of Kat's green bracelet and the glow of Saxon's orange gemmed bracelet. She had noticed it when he had put his arm around her when she had told him to back in the torcher room.
She thought about the fat man she had knocked out. He should be coming-to soon so they had to move fast-"The prisoners have escaped!!" Someone from the outside yelled. They repeated it a few times before the people started screaming and running, yelling "Where are they?!"
Kat cursed under her breath and pulled the gun back out of her pants. She didn't know how many guards or people would be coming after them and she doubted that six shots before she had to reload would be enough to get them out of there. But still, it was better than nothing. Without thinking, Kat peaked out from the closet and saw a few people running in the direction of their cages. After they had passed, Kat grabbed Saxon by the arm and pulled him out of the closet. The room was mostly clear except for a few startled people when they saw Saxon. Some of them tried to grab them but missed. "There they are!" a voice yelled behind them. There was a few bangs and bullets whizzed by, only barely missing Kat and hitting the wall and door in front of them.
A few more shots were fired and Kat could only just grab the door knob. The door flung open with little effort and Kat and Saxon dove out and kept running. Kat turned around to see one of the guards stepping through the door. She pointed the gun and shot the guard in the leg. He yelled out in pain and fell to the ground.
I stood there, in the middle of my living room, waiting. Nothing happened. The timer was still on zero and nothing had happened. I scoffed at myself. I told you it was nothing, I thought. I began walking back to my kitchen when the ground rumbled slightly. I froze...
It rumbled again. A sense of fear covered my heart as another rumble shook the ground harder this time. Another rumble, and another rumble. I walked over to my front window quickly and peeked out. I couldn't believe it. The sky looked as if it was made of iron and bolts. The ground split open as more quakes spread through the ground. Air crafts hovered around the air, shooting down the running people. A lot of the people fought back using guns and household objects. Beings in black armor and strange guns flooded the streets and shot anything that moved.
I just stood in shock. How could this be happening? How could anyone expect this? How was I going to survive?
"I have some questions for you, Mr. Gage" Kat said as they walked down the middle of the abandoned street. Open cars and knocked over lampposts littered the streets and sidewalks. Debris and blood coated the buildings and ground as fires were started in random places. The strange thing about this all was that she couldn't see a single body.
"Alright, but can I at least get some cloths first?" Kat forced herself not to look and nodded. Lucky for them a cloths shop was just up the road. Saxon really didn't know what to wear and had trouble telling the difference between men's and women's. Kat ended up having to help out... a lot. She helped him find a grey pair of jeans and a white T-shirt with an old microphone design on the left side. While she was at it, she picked out a white jacket for him (white really went with his... fur) but he refused the hat when she offered it.
When she was done dressing Saxon, she decided to get some new cloths. Tight black jeans and a diamond (fake diamond) studded belt was the first she grabbed, along with a low cut red tank-top and a women's leather biker jacket. Somehow, it felt... fitting. When she looked away from the mirror, she found that Saxon was gone. She looked around of a few overturned cloths wracks but she couldn't see him. "Saxon?" she called.
Two triangular ears, a noose and emerald green eyes popped through a different wrack of cloths and stared back at her. "Yes?" he said quietly.
"Nothing..." she said, though he didn't look convinced. "What are you?" she asked, not meaning to sound so blunt.
"I am from the planet Gashia. I am part of the Gashia race. I am of the Kai branch. There are three other branches, The Gur, Fy, and Byl. Our race is a human-based race."
"Human-based?" Kat asked, cutting him off, though he didn't seem to mind.
Saxon nodded. "Within our solar system there are five other races, other than the Gashia; the Ra, Heshogahg, Mayatak, Ethee, and the Jesafule. The Gashia, the Heshogahg, and the Mayatak are all Human-based races. Meaning, we take a lot of human cutler, religion, and other economic strategies and use it as our own."
Kat nodded in understanding. "What about the Eth-... Eth-..." she was having trouble pronouncing it. "What about the other three?" she asked instead.
"The Ra is a spirit/soul-based race, capable of physical position and occasionally mind reading. The Ethee and Jesafule are... how do you say? Savage-races. All of the other races stay away from these races mostly because of their violent nature."
"What solar system are you from?" Kat asked when Saxon stopped talking. "Are you even from our galaxy?"
Saxon nodded. "We are from the arm Sagittarius."
"Why are you here?" Kat asked, realizing that this was the question she had meant to ask in the first place.
"The Ra and the Gasgians have had a quarrel for many, many years. But the Gashians have always won when the Ra raged war against us. Well, we suppose that the Ra got tired of losing and just decided to attack you humans-"
"Wait!" Kat said holding her hands up and cutting Saxon off again. "The Ra attacked us?!"
Saxon nodded as if it was obvious. "Yes."
Animal people. Everywhere. They just kept coming! Attacking everyone! But not me? Why weren't they attacking me? I walked outside into the madness and chaos, for some reason, wishing I'd get shot. Seeing my friends and neighbors being killed all around me was too much to bear. The invaders passed me by without a second glance, shooting everyone I knew. Was this some kind of sick punishment for some unspoken reason? Was this meant to torture me? When I couldn't stand to watch the killing anymore, I made the fooling mistake of trying to help...
That's the last thing I remembered before I woke up in the middle of the streets...
"The Ra attacked us? But you're people attacked us first! You shot everyone I knew in my neighborhood and who knows where else?!" Kat exclaimed in the sudden flair of frustration.
Saxon shook his head in dismay. "You fail to understand," he said, drawing more confusion from Kat. "The Ra have possessed you humans for the past two and-a-half months." Kat looked at Saxon as though he were crazy. If the Ra had been possessing the humans for two and a half months, then shouldn't she be under their control as well? Before she could ask anything, Saxon started talking again. "That bracelet you're wearing," he said, gesturing to the metallic bracelet under her jacket sleeve. "It works as a vaccine against the Ra's possessive abilities. Why do you think you have not yet been either killed by the Gashia or taken over by the Ra yet?"
Kat thought about it for a moment. Now that the wolfman mentioned it, she couldn't have been fortunate enough to have survived this long without a little bit of help, or in this case, vaccination. She sat down on a turned over cart from the weight of the conversation and thought about what she was hearing. After a moment of pondering, she sat upright and was about to say something when she was hit with Saxon's force, being tackled to the ground behind her. There was a loud gunshot and organized yelling as footsteps invaded the area.
Kat wriggled out from underneath Saxon and scrambled to her feet, getting ready to run when she noticed that the wolf never got back up. She looked down at him as he was curled up, gripping his chest in pain while fresh blood oozed from his stomach. Kat cursed and grabbed her gun as she bent over to shield Saxon from the incoming bullets. Luckily, Saxon had tackled her behind a fallen cement column that she had not realized was there until now.
Saxon cringed as Kat struggled to pull him closer to the fallen column so that his back was against it. She didn't know how many of them there was, but by the sound of gunshots and yelling, she could guess that there were more than ten and heavily armed, though she couldn't guess why they would want them so badly to the point that they're tracking them down?
She looked down at her gun and listened to the ones that the invaders were using. She couldn't take them all with the gun that she had, not alone anyway. Kat looked over to the wolf. "Are you okay?"
He nodded though snarled in pain. He held himself tightly, as though his insides might fall out and she couldn't understand how Saxon was still alive; losing that much blood and still breathing is quite remarkable.
Kat thought hard, trying to come up with some kind of escape plan that didn't end in them getting killed. She thought for a moment longer but couldn't think of anything. Boldly, she peeked her head from behind the corner of the column to see the attackers spread out in a line in front of the entrance to the store. They all bore the same guns, but what was different about them was that they were all different kinds of people. Some younger, some older, some were dressed as though they used to live in the country side before they got possessed. One, in particular, stood out to Kat the most; a middle aged man that stood in the general center of the line. He was a soldier, or, at least, he was. Kat studied him for a moment, taking a good look at him until her eyes caught what she was looking for; on the left of his bullet vest was two grenades dangling and clanking against each other as the soldier fired his gun carelessly.
She crouched back down and looked over to Saxon. He was breathing pretty heavily but seemed to have relinquished some of the pain. She gave a coy smile and winked, getting a confused look in response. "Better plug your ears," Kat drew her weapon, took another look to confirm the location of her target, and leapt out, quickly getting to a crouched position and fired three shots at the grenades. The first and second shots missed, but only by a little. The third shot hit the grenade just enough to make the combustion sequence take place and before anyone could register it, there was a loud and powerful explosion, forcing Kat to turn her back to shield herself from the force.
When Kat opened her eyes, she found herself laying face first on the ground with a loud, deafening ring in her left ear. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, she told herself as she tried to sit upright. Saxon got out from behind the fallen column and was making his way towards her when his ears perked and he began to back away cautiously. Kat was about to ask what the problem was when he put his finger to his lips and dropped his arm in a pressing motion, telling her to get low. Obediently and fearing that she may not have killed all of the Ra, she got back down on the ground and pretended to be unconscious. Saxon had retreated back behind the column, leaving Kat to wonder what might happen to her and what the wolfman was doing.
"Is she dead?" said a voice, but Kat couldn't tell if it was close or far from the loud ringing flushing out nearly every sound in the room.
"I don't know, where's that Gashian at? Did he escape?" said another as Kat felt something hard jab her in the side.
"Go check, I think I saw him hide behind that column." Kat opened her eye just a little to see one of the Ra hosts prepare a gun and walk cautiously behind the column. He emerged a few seconds later shaking his head.
"He's not back there." He said.
"He's not here either, I think he must have gotten away." Said another voice that wasn't there before. Kat was starting to worry, maybe he had escaped and abandoned her? What was she going to do now?
"It doesn't matter, we got the girl." The one closest to her said. Kat started to think again, how was she going to get out of this one? There wasn't that many of them, but the other two would have shot her twenty times over before she could have the chance to shoot the guy nearest to her and get ready to shoot the next.
She could feel the man get closer to her as she readied herself. She'd rather die trying to escape than starve to death in a prison cell. Just before she was about to take out the first guy, there was a spontaneous gunshot that came from behind and one of the men fell to the ground. There was another shot and another shot and all three men were dead.
Kat opened her eyes and looked around, the room was vacant and nothing living was in it. She turned to the front of the store to see Saxon standing there with a gun in one hand and held his side with the other. When their eyes met, he gave a toothy grin and winced as sharp pain pierced through his stomach. Kat looked at the men laying on the floor in a puddle of blood and shook her head, this was going to be a long day.
Kat examined the crimson bracelet that refused to budge from her wrist and held it up in front of Saxon as they walked out of the grocery store. They were able to find some food that hadn't already gone bad and didn't spoil yet and ate until they were close to being completely full, not wanting to fill up too much to the point where they are immobile. "What are these? I mean, I know that they prevent the Ra from possessing a body, but what else are they?"
Saxon smiled as though he'd been waiting for her to ask that question. "That's an excellent question, but no one honestly knows. They appeared on our planet nearly three hundred years ago and have been helping us fight against the Ra for as long as we've known. Some say that the machines can actually speak to you telepathically, but many believe it's just a rumor." Saxon looked down at his own bracelet and seemed to ponder for a moment. "I don't really know if I believe it's true or not," he said, answering the question Kat was thinking. "Sometimes... I think I hear voices when I'm alone or worried... but maybe it's just my imagination."
Kat immediately thought of the times when she thought she heard voices in her head, but didn't say anything to confirm Saxon's opinion. "So, how does it work?"
Saxon shrugged. "It's somewhat difficult," he began, scratching behind an ear. "They release a substance into the bloodstream that not only repels the Ra, but also enhances physical and intellectual abilities. We don't really know how it works, but because of you, we now know that it is capable of adapting with nearly every species."
"Because of me?" she asked.
"Yes, we didn't know if they were safe for humans to where, but now we know that all is well..." Saxon seamed to linger for a moment before saying; "If you don't mind me asking a question, I am curious to know as to how you came across the bracelet."
Kat made a face and waved her wrist around. "I found it in a field a couple hours before the attack."
Saxon's ears perked a little. "Would you mind if I take a look at it?" Kat held out her wrist and watched as Saxon looked around the device. He suddenly stopped and his expression faded to a grim look.
"What's wrong?" Kat asked.
The wolfman shook his head slowly. "Nothing... it's just that, I knew the man that bore that bracelet before you... and the only known way to release yourself from it, is death..."
Kat felt sorry and somewhat guilty for wearing it. There was a long pause and she was beginning to feel uncomfortable, but didn't have the heart to ask anything further about the bracelets. "So, what do we do now?"
Saxon's eyes were glassy and rather puffy, but he whipped the tears away and sighed. "We have to get out of the Dome for starters."
"The Dome?"
The man's ears perked a little in surprise. "I forgot to tell you? Hm... The Dome is a containment device that the Byl created to keep their prisoners from escaping. Well, the Byl was kind enough to give up the blueprints to their device, and with a few modifications, we were able to create a new dome that is not only nearly impenetrable from the inside, but also keeps the Ra in, or out of it. We were originally hopping to keep the already invaded Ra out of this unit, but somehow that door was opened and a bunch got in and now they control the entire area. We were sent in to evacuate any survivors and possibly eliminate the infected, but there were much, much more than we expected."
"Then how come no one has sent back up yet?" Kat asked, trying to take in everything Saxon was explaining.
"Because your government, and my government are for too busy trying to hold down the other cities." Kat's eyes began to widen as realization sunk in. "Most of eastern Asia and Canada is nearly completely under the Ra's control. Australia and most of central Europe appear to be still intact, but America, South America, China, Japan, Africa, Greenland, India, and other countries I fail to remember, are heavily under attack and are losing the fight rapidly."
Panic began to grasp her tighter and tighter until she couldn't breathe and had to sit down. What was she supposed to do now? Her home, country, her world even was under attack and failing the fight before she even knew what was going on. Where was she supposed to go? Was she even going to get out of here? Saxon's ears dropped and rubbed the back of his neck. He really didn't understand what Kat was going though, after all, it wasn't his home world that was being taken over.
Awkwardly, and obviously not knowing how to address the situation, Saxon sat down next to Kat from a distance. He fidgeted a little before scooting closer, though, unsure of what to do. Comforting wasn't something he was well known for or made a habit out of doing, but she did save his life, twice in fact, so he at least had to try, he owes her more than that.
Kat sat there for a long moment unmoving and speechless. She felt Saxon's hand genially touch her back in an attempt for comfort, though, truthfully didn't help in the least, but she admired his effort. The whole world seemed to be quiet for a moment before Saxon spoke softly; "I don't know what it's like to lose a country, or a planet for that matter," he said, getting closer to Kat's ear and making her slightly more uncomfortable. "But I do know what it's like to lose a home." He whispered.
With that, the man stood and began walking. Kat thought he might be leaving her, which was fine with her at the moment, until he turned to look over his shoulder and smiled. "You coming?" he asked, and slowly resumed his normal pace.
Kat sat there, thinking, grieving, and wondering what to do for what seemed to be forever until she heard; Go! being spoken in three different voices. The first two she didn't recognize, but the third voice was what surprised her the most. The third voice... was her own ...