Rebellion in the Shadows

Notawa stood between us and our only way out of here. The gun didn’t look right in her hand, it was obvious she had never used one. None of us had. All I knew was; they were deadly.

“Notawa?” I had said it soft and slow. No one moved in the darkness. The building was the only source of light and it was twenty feet behind us. Each member of our little group was holding their breath.

“Please don’t make me do this Talaya, just go back inside.”

“Notawa, we want to leave. Let us go.” My hands rose into the air, showing her, they were empty. Her gun started shaking, but it didn’t lower even an inch.

“Maybe we should listen to her Talaya,” Zarleque said.

“We can’t stay here Zar, we have to leave. She’s not capable of hurting us or anyone. She’s only trying to protect her family, right Notawa?” She nodded but still didn’t put the gun down.

“I don’t have a choice.”

“You do have a choice. You’re much more powerful than you think, that’s why he chose you. Come with us, your kid can bring her scherlot and everyone will be safe.” I stretched my arm towards her, desperate to show her she could trust me. Zarleque didn’t move but was ready to spring forward at the slightest provocation. His dark eyes scrutinized her every twitch while I tried to get closer, but my first step resulted in her pointing the gun more forcefully at me. Her hair billowed around her face from the props on the drone behind her, some of it sticking to her tear-streaked cheek.

“Don’t!” The gun shook violently in her hand.

“Just let me leave. It’s me Notawa, your friend Talaya. Come with me, Arwago can help keep you safe.” Her arm fell dramatically to her side like the gun had weighed hundreds of pounds. This was her admission; she couldn’t perform the task Master Guardian had given her.

“I can’t. If I go, my family is gone. He’s done it before, more times than I can count. Just go, before anyone else comes.” She looked at me, defeated. The group started her direction, everyone moved timidly towards the woman with the gun. For a second, I thought about grabbing her and dragging her with us. The consequence for letting us go would be bad, and she wouldn’t be safe. I didn’t know how right I was until we were within ten feet of her.

An explosion ripped through the drone. It blasted bits of the aircraft into tiny flaming pieces that spread everywhere. It knocked me and everyone around off our feet. Nothing felt right, I wasn’t even sure which way was up. Swirls of distorted images flashed in my eyes. Blurred objects were all I could make out. A large mass groaned on my left. Blinking furiously, things came more into focus. Zarleque was on his hands and knees with one hand that covered a wound on his shoulder and the other a giant cut along his forehead. Blood flowed furiously from his head. A high-pitched ringing canceled out most other noises, except the alarms that blared from everywhere.

Two other bodies were near me. Rando was closest, so I went to check on him first. Standing was impossible but I crawled over to where he was. I pressed on his calcumat, it showed an alarm and the screen was cracked, but from what my blurry eyes could make out, he was going to be ok.

My attention turned to the last person, the one that had been closest to the explosion. Notawa was lying face down. She had to be OK, the alternative would be too difficult to swallow. Somehow, my legs supported me. But as I got closer, my breathing stopped, and my heart pounded in my ears. It was too late. Notawa had a large piece of the drone propeller buried in her stomach. That look on her face told me everything. There was no use in trying to help. She was gone, and we were left without a ride to safety.

I stared at her for a few extra seconds, unsure of how to react. Zarleque stumbled over to me. Blood covered the left side of his face and head. His hand still pushed against the gash, but the bright red liquid wouldn’t stop gushing out.

“Talaya, what do we do?” he asked. As far as I knew, this was the plan, and there was no backup.

“Talaya!” He asked again, panic in his voice.

“I don’t know Zarleque, this was the plan, but Master Guardian knew, he knew everything,” I put both of my hands on my head and spun in a circle, trying to think of anything that would get us out of here. A plane warming up on the runway caught my attention. Only it wasn’t a small drone with room for four, it was a 4-5-2. The largest cargo plane that the World Flying Force had.

“Zar! Can you carry Rando?” I was already moving towards the aircraft.

“I think so, he isn’t that big,” he said. He grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder like he was a bag full of laundry.

“OK, what now?” he asked. I pointed to the cargo plane.

“We steal that,” I said.

“Are you nuts? There’s got to be at least 100 Reconists and Privy Mates running that thing. There’s no way we can take it.” He ran alongside me, Rando flopped around over his shoulder, but kept up easily.

“You have any other ideas? They are going to be on us any minute! Best thing to do is hope they think we were on the drone and try to escape on that plane.” It was nuts, but still, our choices were limited. Everything else would take precious time to warm up, minutes we didn’t have.

The speed of the 4-5-2′s propellers told me that it would be ready to take off very soon. Once it hit the runway, no human or plane on this planet could catch up with it. It had jet assisted take-off. My feet moved against the hard runway, but it felt like I was trying to run through quicksand.

There was a man standing outside the giant airplane. I tried to get his attention with a frantic two-handed wave. The explosion of the drone couldn’t have gone unnoticed. They waved back, like we were old friends, then climbed on board. The wheels had just started to turn when I jumped onto the same ladder that led to the cockpit. Zarleque was having a hard time behind me. Carrying Rando up the ladder was much more difficult than running with him. I reached the door, primed ready to fight anyone who was in my way. It was empty. No one was inside it. I poked my head out the back to the cargo area that was full of supply boxes, but not a soul otherwise.

Zarleque shouted from below, “What is it?” but I ignored him. There would only be a few minutes before the people who were supposed to fly it would know it was gone. Zarleque had thrown Rando through the door with an unceremonious thud. He moaned in pain but neither of us cared. Zarleque went to the copilot’s area and took control of the preflight checks.

“Where’s the crew?” he asked, swiping blood off his face.

“I have no idea, just check off everything so we can go.” The plane was almost ready to fly when someone came into the cockpit from the cargo area.

“Just when I thought I had finally been rid of you,” he said. I knew the voice. They had their helmet on, with the visor down but it didn’t matter. It was Kirtis. Zarleque flipped around with a gun covered in blood. He must have taken it from Notawa’s body.

“Thought we may need a ride, anyone else coming?” Kirtis asked. He didn’t seem the least bit concerned that there was a gun pointed at him.

“No idea, Rando has been passed out and he was the one with the plan,” I said.

“Alright let’s go then,” he said, and moved towards the instruments on the panel. Zarleque looked from me to Kirtis. My shoulders shrugged, and he lowered his gun to go back to flipping switches. Afilia burst in from the cargo area just a few seconds later. Her gasp filled the tiny room as she discovered what I was sure was her brother, unconscious on the floor. She went to work on him as the rest of us stayed focused on the plane. 4-5-2′s were not easy to fly.

As we bustled around, it dawned on me that our escape was all but complete. It would take at least twenty minutes for them to get another 4-5-2 ready and it would never be able to catch up with us. It was the fastest aircraft the World Flying Force had. Another thought, a guilty one, entered my mind. My dad was still at the facility. Master Guardian had told me as much while he tortured me in his office. He was going to be punished for this, and he couldn’t get hurt because of me. My hands came off the yoke and I stood up.

“No, I’m staying,” I said. Zarleque looked at me, not able to comprehend why I would want to, but Kirtis laughed.

“Of course, this drama queen wants to play the hero. What in the hell would you want to stay for?” he asked. I noticed his burla standing behind him in the cargo area, hissing at me. Even in all the commotion, Cacao still didn’t like me.

Zarleque added, “They will kill you, they had a pretty good try just now.” His eyes popped against the dark red blood covering his face. Afilia had moved from her brother and had gauze against Zarleque’s head, trying to staunch the flow from his deep wound while he sat in the co-pilot’s chair.

“My dad is here, Master Guardian told me himself. I can’t leave him here.” I was trying to get them to understand, but they didn’t need to. Whether they liked it or not, I was leaving.

“Talaya, we’ll have to come back for him. We won’t get another chance like this,” Zarleque said. The desperation in his voice almost broke me. I shook my head and started down the ladder.

“Comm me directions and I will get there as quickly as I can, with my dad.” I jumped the last few stairs and started to sprint towards the building.

“Dammit Talaya, wait up!” Kirtis climbed down the ladder and ran my direction.

“No Kirtis, I’m staying. Don’t even try,” I said, he wasn’t going to convince me to leave with them, not while there was a chance my father was alive.

“I’m staying too. I can’t leave a rescue like that up to you. Hey Zar! Take care of my burla, he’s all I have left,” he shouted up to the cockpit.

“Roger!” Zarleque yelled out the window. He was shaking his head at me, as if it was the last time he would see me alive. The plane had just started to move down the runway and a few seconds later, I watched as the jets blasted it into the sky. A small pang of jealousy struck me. Not just because they were free, but 4-5-2′s were one of the most exhilarating planes to fly.

Drones full of World Flying Force Reconist, Corpsmen, and Privy Mates were coming our way. They ignored the 4-5-2 and came straight towards Kirtis and I. Like us, they knew it would be impossible to catch.

“Listen Talaya, I don’t have time to explain, but trust me, ok?” he said. I nodded and he punched me in the face.