Deliver Us Huis

“Tel!” I woke up to Petrus banging on my door, “Tel, wake up.”

I had fallen asleep in my clothes, after stumbling here wearily the night before. I slowly walked to the doors, trying to finger comb my hair into an acceptable state.

I opened the door, and Petrus came bursting in.

“We’ve been discovered.”

My hands froze, snarled in my tangled hair.

Discovered.

Suddenly the realisation hit and I ran out of the room.

I yelled back to Petrus, “What happened?”

“A video was leaked out. It’s everywhere. The Planet Guard will be here any minute. There’s a riot happening already, right below us.”

We entered the tenth floor, and Petrus leaped to the computer.

I ran right behind him in a state of flurried panic, “Are all security measures in place?”

He nodded, “Just in case, though, I’m shipping all but five Class A’s out to another area. We want them out in case we’re discovered.”

Suddenly through the windows of the apartment I saw swarms of Anthrolems leave. A never ending multitude flew out of the apartments. I watched them, surprised at their numbers.

“How many Anthrolems did we have stored in here?” I asked.

“My calculations state close to three thousand.” Petrus said, leaning over to press some more buttons on an adjoining screen. “But I’ve found an isolated spot for them to land.”

I turned to the TV, watching as the news broadcast came back on.

“Now, back to the breaking news we see a report from the Planet Guard stating that a former candidate, Telyina Venderbare, is under suspicion for the death of the late General Caliban. Planet Guard cite a classified source when they say she is also under charges for the late explosions too.”

My heart sank, it all really was true.

“Even now the Planet Guard are on their way to make the arrest, and protesters gather kilometers underneath the suspect’s home.”

“Petrus!” I cried, “The Planet Guard will be here any minute!”

“Hold on, Tel,” he yelled back, “I’m transfering the Anthrolem command to the portable computer.”

Portable Computer? “We’re leaving?” I asked, looking desperately about the room.

“Yes!” he shut down the computer and turned, “I’ve got to grab the storage drive from the lab, I’ll be back in just one second.”

Suddenly gunshots were heard echoing from the other side of the house.

“Wait!” I cried, grabbing his hand.

“Get in the speeder,” he said, “Whatever happens I know you’ll find me.”

One moment he was pressing his lips firmly to mine, holding me in his strong arms, and the next he was gone.

It was only as I ran to the table and grabbed my notebook that I realised I was crying.

In my hurry I knocked over the cup of coffee O’Malley had left for me last night.

O’Malley.

He had to be warned, with the rioters below this whole house could come crashing down any minute and...

“Done!” Petrus cried rushing into the room, blood streaming down his face. He grabbed my hand, his fingers digging into my arm, “Come on!” He started rushing towards the roof.

“What happened to you?” I asked.

“The planet guard are here,” he yelled back, “We need to leave now.”

I yelled, “But what about O’Malley?”

We burst onto the roof and Petrus yanked me in and slammed the door shut, “It’s not safe Tel, any moment this place could blow. We’re resting on a several kilometer high pole, how stable does that sound?”

“But O’Malley!” I cried, turning, trying to yank the speeder door back open.

Just then there were crashing sounds. Petrus started the engine, and pulled up. We hovered as the entire apartment shuddered and then suddenly started falling before finally bursting into flames.

“No!” I shrieked, watching my home burning and crashing towards the earth below, with O’Malley still inside.

Suddenly there was a loud explosion as the fire caught the engine fuel and the entire building fell towards the planet’s surface in a fiery inferno.

Petrus sped away, while I hit the deck of the speeder, sobbing, my heart broken.

O’Malley was gone. There was no way any person could have survived the explosion, or the fall.

O’Malley was all I had. There was no other person in the world who would claim me as kin. O’Malley had raised me. O’Malley had helped me. Believed in me. Loved me.

And now he was gone.

Dead.

Because of me.

Because I wanted to be more than I was. Because I had wanted to rule he had died. It was all my fault, and there was nothing I could do, no power I could wield to get him back.

The pain cut deep into my heart as I cried for O’Malley. It felt as if my living heart was being shredded by blades of hopelessness and despair.

O’Malley was gone. That word echoed round and round through my head.

Gone.

Gone.

Gone.

I lay on the ground sobbing, as if my grief would never die away.

But gradually the sadness left, pushed out by another emotion.

I pushed aside the sadness that consumed me and let anger fill my mind.

It was the crowd’s fault. They were to blame. Their betrayal had led to O’Malley’s death. O’Malley would be alive if it wasn’t for them.

I felt my eyes flaming red as I stood, and stared back through the window.

They had taken O’Malley’s life through his betrayal.