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Friday, April 5, 2013

Memoirs From the End of the World: Entry #30



Even with the A-Z Challenge underway, I made the time to write this next installment.  I hope you enjoy it.

To read the entire story from the beginning, or to simply catch up on missed chapters, go to this PAGE.

Memoirs From the End of the World
Entry #30

RC’s captor tossed her a worn blanket to wrap around herself and drug her to a car waiting outside.  Even with the blanket, a lack of footwear and pants made the short journey many times more miserable than it needed to be.  The driver waved impatiently at them to hurry.  “They want us back as soon as possible,” he called.  “There’s some kind of scuffle back at the breeding house.  It seems like some of the so-called revolutionaries are getting pretty brave.”
                               
The woman laughed.  “Terrorists, you mean?  They won’t be brave for very long.  I’ll see to that.”

Revolutionaries?  Do they stand a chance? RC wondered.  Then another thought followed.  Are these friends of Tim and Jill?  Do they have enough people to make any kind of difference?

The woman shoved RC into the backseat and sat beside her.  “You’ll be much happier sleeping in a real bed again.  You may be tempted to resent me for taking you away, but in the long run, I’m doing you a favor.  You’ll have regular meals, medical care.  I honestly can’t understand why anyone would want to elude the breeding programs.”

RC couldn’t stand to look at the woman.  Her mind was occupied by far more pressing concerns.  Alyx was gone, and she didn’t even want to imagine what might happen to him.  She didn’t want to imagine what Leo had done to her while she was unconscious, though her imagination provided plenty of unwanted speculative images.  And had they actually made Alyx watch it all?  Gas Can certainly had no reason to lie about that.  A monster he may be, but that monstrous nature tended to at least be an honest one.  He didn’t care who knew about his monstrosity.

This line of thought only led her back to Alyx as she wondered how badly it hurt him to see all that.  The thought of him spitting in Leo’s face did ignite a warm feeling inside her, but she couldn’t get past the reason he did it.  Alyx, I know you can’t hear me, but I promise I’ll find out what happened to you.  I’ll do whatever it takes to rescue you if I can.  Even as she made this silent promise, she couldn’t even begin to imagine how she would deliver on it.

She simmered with her thoughts for several long minutes, wishing above all else she could break free of this woman’s clutches.  If she could get away, she might be able to get him back.  Then they could rejoin the others and pretend this nightmare never happened.

Then the world exploded. 

The sound reverberated down to the bone, the flash so bright she had to screw her eyes shut.  The vehicle seemed to turn multiple times, and bursts of pain accompanied each revolution.

It took a few moments for RC to make sense of anything.  Her eyes were open, but her vision was blurred at first.  Everything seemed to be at an angle.  Her head throbbed.  Her knee felt too warm.  When she looked down, she saw that the skin had been torn loose, allowing the blood to run freely down her leg.  Her palms were punctured by shards of glass.  The car now lay on its top, having dumped RC onto the broken sunroof.

A glance to her side showed that the despicable woman who’d taken her now lay unconscious in a pool of blood.  RC could have checked to see if she was even alive, but she couldn’t afford to waste an opportunity.  She scrambled to make it out of the window, which had also shattered in the wreck.

Yes, RC knew this might not be safe.  She couldn’t be sure that whatever caused the car to crash wouldn’t also take her out, but in the absence of more appealing options, she had to take the chance.

Her legs were shaking when she straightened up in the street.  The snow beneath her bare feet sent a powerful chill up her entire body.  Smoke filled the area, leaving RC with a limited view of her surroundings.

When a powerful arm grabbed her from behind, she screamed.  A hand immediately moved to cover her mouth.  She considered biting through the exposed fingers, but then she heard a familiar voice.  “Hey, it’s me.  Ollie.”

She stopped struggling, and he immediately let her go.  It didn’t even occur to her to be horrified by her lack of clothes, or her bloodied appearance.  All she knew was that she was overjoyed to see him.  “How’d you . . .” she started, but she didn’t know how to finish that sentence.

“Jill and I met up with her friends,” Ollie replied.  “They agreed to help free you.”

“Alyx?  Do you know what happened to Alyx?” she asked, urgency filling her words.

“Not for sure, no,” Ollie replied reluctantly.  “We intend to find him though.  In the meantime, we need to get out of here.”

RC gladly followed him away from the mangled wreck.  Though her legs still wobbled, she was fueled by a new sense of purpose.  She might be able to keep her promise to Alyx after all.

In the meantime, she had one more question to ask.  “That stunt you pulled back there.  You realize that could have killed me, right?”

Ollie shrugged.  “We knew there was a possibility of that, but I figured you’d rather that than be stuck with them in the breeder.”

RC couldn’t find fault with his reasoning.



Go to Entry #31.

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