Escape

Chapter Five

"Aaron, if you could stop being an arrogant ass and actually help us out, that'd be amazing," I say sarcastically. 

Aaron's currently teasing Brian, Alex, Lea and I for getting ourselves stuck in a booby trap, obviously either left from previous Escapees, or Sentries to lead us into this lovely situation-slash-setup.

"Aw, you should be a little nicer than that. I am, after all, capable of leaving you here, trapped."

"I'm sorry, I suppose I should have used this earlier. If I have to get my friends and I out of this, rope isn't the only thing that my knife will be cutting through, Aaron."

He grins at me. "Your threats would be a lot more convincing if you weren't in a giant net, Bryna."

"You don't want to piss me off, boy. Because I will get myself out of here. And when I do, my threats won't be so easily dismissed."

"Aaron," Lea says, ever the level-headed one, "I will off you myself if you don't help us out of here."

Aaron cackles. "This is too good. I hope you know you're not living this down." 

"And when I have you pinned to the ground with my knife at your throat, you won't live that down either," I reply sweetly.

Brian grunts. "Dude, I will personally murder you."

"Ah, the silent one's on you now. Good going, Mr. Oblivious. You've managed to piss us all off now," I mutter. 

Aaron grins again. "Happy to be of service."

I sigh, moving. I grip the top of the net, pulling myself up. I position myself so I'm hanging horizontally across the top, and grab the knife from my belt. "Brace yourselves," I call down to them as I start cutting at the rope.

When we fall down, I'm the first one to get to Aaron with a sickly sweet smile. I tackle him, knife at his throat. "You're not gonna live this down, hon," I tell him.

He chuckles. "Caught me, love. Congratulations. But I'm not grief stricken this time." He shifts his weight, trying to roll me. I grip his collar, rolling myself back on top.

"And I may be injured, but I'm not stupid. Nice try, though."

He nods. "Smart indeed. I apologize for being arrogant. It wasn't cool, and I won't do it again."

"Doubt it. But as I can't really afford to kill you, apology accepted. Mostly." I get off of him and we walk back to the group.

"Ready to head out?" Brian asks.

"That's my line. But yes."

We had gotten Aaron and Lea their supplies, officially making them one of us. Currently, we just exited a town close to what would seem like the border of the current state we're in.

Talking amiably to Lea about any topic of her choice, I barely notice the ruined sign stating that we're no longer in Ohio, but in Pennsylvania. It's late night; we need to stop and rest soon. We have to walk to find cover, though, so we follow the asphalt road - its paint has long since faded and worn down. It's our best way of finding a Ghost Town - what we call towns and cities emptied by long forgotten citizens. 

Lea yawns suddenly, breaking off her monologue about what her life would have been like, had this war not taken place ten years ago. 

I give her a small smile. "Tired?" I ask.

She ducks her head. "Yeah. I'm not used to so much walking. We usually found shelter by sundown."

I shrug. "We try to, but sometimes we're not that lucky. Just be glad we have weapons, and that all animals have probably died from radiation or are being stored in Communities."