The Girl In The Last City

Part Thirty-Two: Have To Get Back

"Back down!"
"Drop the knife!"
"Your completely surrounded, give up!"
You scoffed. Obviously these guards didn't know you very well. You never backed down, you never dropped the knife, and you would never give up. Giving up went against everything you stood for. You shifted your body just a little and the guns went up, the guards fingers on the triggers. You laughed at them.
"Jumpy." You said to yourself. You could feel yourself shake and the blood dripping from your nose, ears, and mouth. You felt the warm sticky my liquid run down you neck and smeared across your face. You were sweating profusely and the smoke stained both your clothes and your skin. Your energy had run thin, after this night you had nothing else left to give.
The guards all took a step closer and you turned in a slow circle to look at all of them. There were at least twenty with heavy artillery while you had a single blade and a sparking personality. You weren't one to back down, and you weren't going to now, you just knew that you weren't going to win this one, not on your own.
"Get down on your knees!" A guard yelled at you, shaking his gun because he wanted to look more threatening. To you, he looked stupid.
"No." You responded flatly, not even having enough energy to say something snarky.
"I said on your knees!" He said again.
"And I said no." You responded but they weren't having it.
"I'm done with this sh-" Before the guard could finish his sentence, a swooshing sound filled your ears and then...
BOOM
Out of nowhere, five guards went flying as the flames of the missile shot. All the other guards turned to where the shot had come from, and out from the smoke and ashes came a huge group of very angry people. Some had guns, some had objects, and some had nothing at all. You watched as they took the WICKED soldiers off guard and began attacking.
You admired the bravery of these people, running into clear danger but they were passionate for their cause. You could understand that, to an extent. You just wouldn't go around blowing up buildings. Suddenly, someone grabbed you by the arm and pulled you away from the battle. They dragged you through the smoke and in the direction of the huge section of the wall that you had witnessed be destroyed.
After finding yourselves away from most of the madness, the person loosened their grip on you. They turned to face you, only to show an older women who was maybe in her sixties. She had short grey hair and she wore raggedy clothes. You looked at her, still in shock. She smiled warmly towards you.
"It's okay sweetie, I need you to trust me." She yelled to you over the madness. "I am trying to get you back to where you belong! Now follow me!" The women said, running through the city of chaos. At first, you were skeptical; you never know who you could trust. But you figured out quickly that there wasn't any other options, you had to go with this lady. And so, you sucked up any bad feelings and pushed them aside, running right after her.

You were surprised you were still able to run, you still felt horrible as your body ached. The women lead you through the broken section of the wall, helping your weak body over the large debris. Once you made it and had found your balance, the lady lead you through the original ruined city.
It didn't take you long to figure out where she was taking you. She was bringing you to Lawrence's base. There was no one there unlike before when there were hundreds of people. They had all joined in the war inside those walls. As much as you hated this place before, you couldn't help but feel relieved by it now. There was no screaming, no fire, no gunshots, no crumbling buildings that could kill you. The moment you walked in to that converted parking lot, you felt safe.
You felt like your legs were going to give in as you tripped over your own feet. You body was just so incredibly weak now that the adrenaline wasn't pushing you through. The lady seemed to have noticed cause she turned to face you. She looked worried.
"I need you to stay with me, your almost out of this." She assured and you nodded, your eyelids barely staying open. She lead you deeper into the desolate base, farther than you had traveled before. "We're almost there, just hold on." She yelled back to you.
"Why are you helping me?" You asked weakly and the women paused, turning to you.
"Well I'll tell you this, if I hadn't found you when I did, you'd be toast, your wearing a WICKED guard uniform. Anyway, to answer your question, unlike a lot of people in this world, you deserve it." She told you, taking you off guard. "You've never met me and I've never met you, but what I've heard, none of this wouldn't have been possible without your group."
"War and destruction? Yeah, we're pretty good at that." You said sarcastically but she shook her head with a laugh.
"No, you gave us the opportunity to stand up against WICKED. You gave people hope, I don't think people would have done it without your groups inspiration. Now just hold on, it's right through here." She said, gently taking your arm and pushing you through an open doorway.
In the room there was a single car, it was an old rusty black Jeep. You looked at the women and she smiled back, leading you towards the beaten up old car. You watched as she opened the door of the car and reach for something. She came back out and tossed you an item that made a loud jingling sound when you caught them. You looked down to see that it was a car key, the key to the Jeep you assumed. You looked up to the women who smiled back warmly.
"Take it." She said but you shook your head.
"Oh, I can't..."
"You can and you will." The women told you. "My husband fixed this old thing up and we had planned on getting out of here, that was until we heard of the rebellion. We both decided to stay and fight so the Jeep seems pointless really." She told told you, stepping up and closing your hand around the keys. "You still have people to fight for." She said and then walked off to another room. "But I need you to do something for me!" She called from the other room.
"Of course." You said back and then the women came back, a small child holding her hand as he walked by her side. The moment the little boy looked up to face you, he smiled wildly and ran up to you. You immediately recognised him as the kid you had saved when WICKED had shot at the protesters. You got on your knees and wrapped your arms around him and laughed.
"Hey kid!" You said and then looked up to the women.
"So I guess you know Gage then." The women laughed and you nodded.
"Yeah, we've met before." You said, standing back up with the little boy, Gage, holding on to your hand with one of his while he used the other hand to hold on to his little teddy bear.
"Well, in return of giving you the jeep, I ask that you take Gage with you." She asked and you looked to her confused.
"But his mother?" You asked but the women shook her head.
"She joined the rebellion, but she didn't make it far." The women said and you nodded your condolences. You looked down to Gage who seemed clueless as to his mother's fate. "I need you to take care of him as if he were your own."
"I will." You said, looking at her seriously. "I'll protect him with my life."
"Good, now let's get you in some clean clothes and then get you out of here."

You jumped into the front seat of the car, strapping yourself after you had put little Gage in the back. He slept across the whole back row, using his teddy bear as a pillow. You put the keys in the ignition and the car engine rumbled to life. You looked out the windless frame and the kind women stood outside your door, passing you a pack.
"There's some food in there, it isn't much but it was really as much as I could get." She said and you smiled, taking the bag and sitting it on the passenger seat.
"I don't even know how to thank you for everything." You said and she smiled.
"Sorry if the shirts baggy, it was my husband's." She said and you laughed, looking down to the oversized black t-shirt you wore.
"It's fine, you gave me great jeans, but again, I can't describe how thankful I am for all of this." You said and she shook her head.
"No, thank you." She said in return and you two paused for a second. Then you spoke.
"You can come with us you know? To the Safe Haven." You told her and she smiled, looking out to the city and then back to you.
"You won your battle, now I have to win mine." She told you and you nodded in agreement. "Take care of the little one, and yourself."
"And to you too." You said and she nodded, putting her hand out for you to shake and you did. The women then backed away from the truck and gave you another nod. You nodded back, putting the gear in reverse and driving out. Though the moment you pushed on the gas, the car shot back. You heard Gage fall on to the floor of the car and the women looked a little afraid. You turned to the boy only to find him getting back to his sleeping position against the seats.
"Touchy." You said as you turned back to the wheel. This time when you hit the gas, you were more gentle. You backed out of the building and drove out on to the road. You glanced back to give the kind women one last look, but she was gone.
"Alright," You said, putting the car into drive. "Let's get out of here."