(This story is for a prompt for a contest, but now I'm making it a full length book. )
he·gi·ra also he·ji·ra
n.
1. A flight to escape danger.
As I ran, the strangest thing came into my mind. My dad had been dead for years, yet the memory was as fresh in my mind as it was the day it happened. Maybe it was because I was so close to death myself. They say you see your life flash before your eyes. Maybe that's what was happening.
My dad loved words. He always said "Words are the beginning, the end, and the middle of everything." Whenever I couldn't seem to sleep as a child, he would start reading from the dictionary.
"Hegge. Noun. Another word for hedge." he would just pick up from where he had left off the night before. Before he died, he had made it to H. We hadn't started from the beginning though. We had started with daddy, when I was 4. And his last word, was hegira. As I ran, I whispered to myself.
"Hegira. Noun. A flight to escape danger." It was ironic that that was the last word my father ever read to me before he died when I was six, since now that was what I was in the middle of doing. I was on top of a building. The buildings in Frig were all so close together that I could jump from one to the next. But I was running out of buildings. Two more. Jump. One more
They were behind me, and now they had the advantage. I had nowhere left to run. I skidded to a stop, just in time. "Shannon! Stop!" I froze recognizing that voice. It was him.
When my parents were young, the resources of our country were running low. Now, in my generation, they were nearly gone. The only way to preserve what was left was order. That's what they said anyway. Our every move was planned, charted out so that we would only use what we absolutely needed. That was true of everything. Water, food, gas, television, internet.
But then a group of us discovered that the government was hiding things. A LOT of things. They were hiding the last of the fossil fuels, and a lot of arms. We weren't the only country that needed resources. Our group was able to hack into the government, by computer, and by spies, and find out that they planned to use the guns and nuclear weapons they had to attack the only other country that we could have reached. They had more food than we did, and more fuel. So the government of Frig decided that it was their right to take what we wanted. And my group, Hetairia, decided they were wrong.
Somehow I found myself leading an expedition inside the goverment facility to steal codes to the nuclear weapons leftover from our ancestors. They could destroy what little world we had left, and our government was going to risk everything for a little more fuel. I was chosen to go because I had a natural gift for hacking. The codes were hidden behind layers and layers of security in the depths of the building. We were able to get the codes, but then disaster struck. We thought we had disabled the alarms, but there was one that I had missed. The last passcode before the codes set off an alarm throughout the entire building. “Shay, come on!” Evelyn hissed.
Evelyn was my bodyguard for the mission. She hated that title, but couldn’t come up with a better one, so she was stuck with it. She was pretty much a badass when it came to protection and defense, so she was there to keep me safe. I had to be able to focus on getting to the codes, so she would protect me until I could finish.
“One minute! I’m almost there.” I kept typing furiously, hoping, praying that this last passcode would work. There! The alarms turned off, and I got to the codes. I was just about to press delete, when my other partner grabbed my hand.
“Wait!” Amanda stared at the screen for a few moments and nodded. “Go. Delete them.” I looked at her, disbelieving.
Amanda had a photographic memory. She had just memorized the launch codes for the nuclear weapons our country possessed. She was the leader of the Shadow Society, and I didn’t know what she was playing at. But there was no time to say anything, I had to delete the codes. I pressed delete, and we booked it up the stairs. Someone met us at the top, and Evelyn, being overly cautious when it comes to her job, sent her flying. “Evelyn! It’s just Leah!”
“Oops.” Evelyn just shrugged, helping her up. Leah coughed, glaring at her.
Leah was my back up. I had taught her as much about hacking before the mission, because I knew that if I failed, or died, someone else would have to try again. She was quiet, but a fast learner, and very loyal.
“Guys we better get out of here before the alarm go-“the last member of our group was cut off by the sound of alarms. Alyssa, our inside spy sighed. “Come on!” she yelled to be heard over the alarms. She was the one who had gotten us in, and she was the only one who could get us out. She lead the way, ducking into unused rooms every few seconds. Evelyn pulled her two guns out and handed one to me. Alyssa gave one of hers to Leah, but she almost dropped it, disgusted. Alyssa scoffed and handed it to Amanda. Amanda smirked.
“Well this is where we have to split up.” Alyssa said, looking like she already regretted the decision, even though it wasn’t hers. It was Amandas. We all had information, about the Society and about hacking. So we were splitting up into two groups. Alyssa handed me a map, and pointed in one direction. “This will lead you to the roof,” she said, looking like she would rather go with me. She’d been my best friend since we were little, and it wasn’t easy for us to split up. We were very protective of each other. But splitting up was necessary. We wouldn’t let the government get all of the information out of us, and not one of us had everything.
Evelyn and I headed further up the stairs, hearing footsteps, both from up the stairs, and down. We raised our guns, standing back to back. I took a shuddering breath. I’d had target practice, but this was different. I would be shooting PEOPLE. I waited for them to come into sight, and shot. Again in again, wincing each time. More were coming from downstairs. “Go!” Evelyn yelled. “Get out. They’ll be after you!” I shook my head.
“No way! I’m not gonna leave you!” She shook her head and shoved me. I stumbled and started to run up. I knew how stubborn she could be, and if I didn’t listen, we’d both end up dead. So finally, after flights and flights of stairs, and a few more dead guards, I made it to the roof.
They were behind me, and now they had the advantage. I had nowhere left to run. I skidded to a stop, just in time. "Shannon! Stop!" I froze recognizing that voice. It was him.
“No.” I whispered. “No.” It couldn’t be. I was imagining things. Maybe I HAD really fallen. Maybe I was dead.
“Daughter, look at me.” I closed my eyes and turned to look at my father. The man I had been told was dead. Dead for fifteen years now. He smiled. But it wasn’t the smile I wanted. Not the smile I remembered. “Where are the codes?” he asked, his voice soft but menacing.
I almost felt my heart break. This was my father, and he betrayed me. Made me believe he was dead, and here he was, the enemy.
“You’ll never get them. I destroyed them.” I said, mimicking his tone of voice. I tried not to let any emotion show on my face as I looked at him.
“You stupid girl! You don’t know what you’ve done.” He snarled at me, taking a step towards me. I took a step back, my foot almost on the edge. And then a sense of calm came over me as I looked back, looking at the 7 story drop.
“And you don’t know what YOU have done in making me your enemy. My part in this may be done, but I’m not alone. And you WILL lose.” I took one last breath and dived backwards off of the building.
Hegira. Noun. A flight to escape danger. Well daddy dearest, you won’t get anything from me.
Like this chapter? I hope you did! If you did, please go click that little vote button with the star next to it!
Thank you to Jenny20 for the cover. :)
~Shannon
