The Visionaries

29

Duane woke up in a cold tile floor. Shit. This was not okay. He slowly sat up.

"Aaron? Dany? Alma? Norrin? Bree?" he asked.

"Here." Dany was rubbing her eyes.

"Yo." Aaron was rubbing at his head.

"What happened?" Norrin was rubbing their faces.

"Guys?" Bree asked.

"We're here too, you know." a voice said. It was Maddie. Mirelle was beside her.

"Guys!" Alma said. "I'm so glad you're alive."

"Not for long." Maddie said. "Something went wrong."

"What went wrong?" he asked.

"Someone snitched. Or got caught and spilled to save their own ass." Maddie took out a lighter and a cigarette. How did she get that? "I guess this is the end, ladies, gentlemen and Norrin."

"That's a very optimistic view of our current situation." Norrin said.

"Damn, I almost thought we'd make it." Duane said. "Do you know if any of us have survived outside of our current group?"

"I know a few pockets of the ILM have survived but I don't know how long they'll last." Maddie lit her cigarette. "As for other indigenous movements....I don't know. Michael is going to try to wipe us out."

"Well, maybe if we die, at least we went down in blazing glory. Or tried to." Bree's voice was shaking. She was trying to be strong but he could sense the fear in her voice.

"We tried." Dany said. Aaron put his hand on her shoulder. "We did our best."

"Are we resigning this soon?" Norrin asked in disbelief.

"I don't know if there is much for us to do at this point." Alma said.

Duane saw her face. He had seen her smile, laugh, cry, scream, and even lose her shit. He had never seen her look so defeated. So lost. So done.

"Alma.." he scooted to her. "Are you giving up?"

"I guess." she said. "I just......" She started to tear up. "Goddammit! It's not supposed to end this way!" She punched the floor. Duane heard bones snap and a pained hiss from Alma.

"Alma...." Duane said.

"No!" she said. "I-I don't want to die. Dammit, I never wanted this. I never wanted this life or this path for myself. I wish I had just said no!" She started to sob. Alma was never this emotional. Never. That was terrifying within itself.

"Alma," Maddie said. "Calm down."

Alma was tearing at her hair. "I'm scared, okay? I'm scared of death. I'm scared of being a prisoner forever. I'm scared of losing you all." she said. "I'm scared of losing my child."

"Alma?" Bree's eyes widened then went to Duane. "Are you two-?"

"I didn't want to say yes.I mean I don't actually know yet I just- I mean I wanted to be a couple but with everything going on-"

"We didn't want to say it yet. We didn't want to risk losing each other...We probably should of been more careful." Duane said. He could possibly be a father. He could possibly have a baby on the way. He wondered how his father and sister would take it. How Lana would take it. Or Michael, seeing that they were both half white. There was no real way to tell. They didn't even know if she was pregnant yet. He scooted to Alma and he hugged her. She hugged him back.

"Duane...." she said, looking at him, teary eyed. She leaned her head on his shoulder. He put his hand on her hair. He put his hand on his stomach and she held onto his head.

"We can't fucking die." Mirelle said. "We are the protectors of our kin and if we die, we have failed them. Especially now that there's another life at risk."

Duane stared at Alma.

"Mirelle's right. For the sake of our child and our kin, we need to at least try to survive." he said.

The door opened.

"Split them up. You know what to do." a voice said as guards entered.

"No!" Alma said.

"You betrayed me." Michael said. "Just like your mother before you."

Alma spit in his face. Michael slapped her as hard as possible and she fell into the floor. He kicked her in the stomach as hard as possible repeatedly. Alma cried out in pain.

"Alma!" Duane tried to run to her but was quickly restrained.

"No!" Dany squirmed and tried to free herself. "Stop! Stop it!"

Suddenly a piece of metal hit Michael in the face. It was Aaron who was pulling away. A guard smashed his head against the wall.

"No! You're fucking monsters!" Dany said. "One day, you will burn in hell!"

Michael grabbed Alma by the hair and threw her at the guards.

"Take her to Lab 2. There's a reason they're acting that way." he said.

Duane felt a cold sweat. They dragged a crying and doubled over Alma away.

"Alma!" he said. Michael stared at him, teeth flaring and face red.

"You know it, don't you?" he said. He punched him in the stomach. Duane stared him down. The guards dragged them away.

"I love you!" Dany screamed to Aaron.

"I love you too!" Aaron screamed back to her. The guards dragged him to a cell at the end of the hall. They handcuffed him to the bed and put a muzzle on him. Then they slammed the door shut. Alma. Aaron. Dany. Mirelle. Maddie. Norrin. Bree. Him. Was this the end? Was this it? If Michael found out Alma was really pregnant....what would he do to her and the baby? Keep her around? Force her to abort their child? Kill her anyway? Make her give birth and then kill her? Keep the baby? He needed to get out. He needed to save them.

He started to pull at the handcuffs. The bed rattled. He continued to pull. The metal started to dig into his skin. Shit, he had to get out. He stopped, feeling too much pain. Coward. He thought to himself.

Creator, please. He thought. Please help us. Please.