Tethered Twins

Grace Wilkerson

“There it is!” shouted Grace as she pointed towards the Olympic park in the distance.

Chris, Grace, Gabe, March and the handful of remaining Deck team members ran towards the park and the stadium ahead.

“That’s the location marked on the map,” said Grace.

“And if it’s a trap?” asked Chris.

“Then as least we’ll meet the people who have Emmie,” she replied. “We can still get answers one way or the other.”

As the park got closer they could see people standing between them and the stadium.

“There’s a welcome committee,” said Gabe.

“I doubt they will be very welcoming,” replied Grace and they were soon close enough to see orange eyes across the crowd.

“There must be fifty of them,” said Chris. “We can’t take them.”

“We don’t have to,” said Gabe. “We just have to get past them and into the stadium.”

“Then what?”

“Find Emmie no matter what the cost.”

The group formed into a circle and walked towards the crowd of orange eyed people. The crowd ran towards them and they aimed their guns outwards emitting a circular ray of blue light that temporarily stopped their attackers in their tracks.

In no time The Deck were surrounded but they held their ground and continued to force their way through the crowd.

“The door is just up ahead,” said Gabe.

No one looked for the door. They kept their focus on the targets and walked one foot next to each other, slowly and carefully. A tumble or fall would mean the line would be broken and they would be attacked.

As they moved ever closer to the door Gabe saw a blonde haired man stood in the doorway. Gabe gave him a nod of acknowledgement and the man walked back inside. No one else saw the exchange.

“Almost there,” said Gabe.

The gun started to feel heavy in March’s hands. His shoulders felt weak from carrying the light earlier and now keeping his arms locked in position was proving difficult. He rolled his shoulders backwards and tried to ease the pain.

On the edges of the crowd orange eyed people sneaked around trying to find a way past the blue light. Whenever they got too close and touched the light they were stopped in their tracks. Yet, each step The Deck took forward, they would free another person from their grasp. The threat was continuous.

The Deck walked face to face with their enemies, who looked like statues as they made their way past.

The pain in his shoulder caused March to twitch, jarring his arm and pointing his gun up for just a second. It was enough time for one of the orange eyed people to break free and lunge towards him. By the time March had moved his arm back into position, two arms were stretched out in front of him over his shoulders. Had he been any slower he would have been caught.

March ducked under one of the arms and they continued their path forward.

Gabe reached the door first and he and Grace walked inside. The rest of the team formed a half circle around the door, facing outwards. As they shuffled into their new positions their orange eyed attackers got several steps closer. Thankfully The Deck were able to hold the line steady.

“March, we need you!” said Gabe.

March looked behind him keeping his gun held steady. He looked forwards again and saw three orange eyed people right in front of him.

“I can cover you,” said Chris.

March lowered himself to his knees and kept his gun pointed outwards. He then placed a hand behind him and started to crawl backwards.

Slowly the team moved in closer and formed a tighter semi-circle around the door. Only five of them remained to hold the position.

“All clear?” asked March.

Chris confirmed everything was ok and March put his gun down and rose to his feet. He turned around just in time to see Gabe throw his first towards Grace as he let out an almighty scream.