Fortuna

10

I wanted to run back but I knew it would be no use.

Max knew it was no use but he still ran back.

He unfortunately happened to be looking backwards at the same time I was and as the door closed, Max's searing voice ripped through the heavy rain. "Marco!"

His body turned a hundred and eighty degrees and he started to run towards the hub.

"No, you can't go back there, Max!" I held my arms out to stop him as he ran back and grabbed him around the torso, pushing him the other way. He was too strong and I couldn't stop him alone. Just as I was about to give in to his weight, Imara and Kenji quickly appeared by my side and grabbed his arms. The three of us were stagnant there, with neither side backing down.

I looked up at Max and caught a glimpse of his face. He was breathing hard, straining to match our strength, and his eyes were red and watering. His skin was also red? Blotchy actually. I stole a quick glance at Imara and her face too, was the same blotchy red. And then we all noticed it.

In the midst of our situation, the adrenaline had prevented us from comprehending the full impact of the storm. It was not normal rain - acid rain? It didn't hurt at all but it struck our skin like little razors, cutting the tissue just slightly. It was deep enough to leave a faint mark but not deep enough to penetrate to the precious red liquid beneath. The hail was strong and it formed small bruises everywhere that it landed on us. It was freezing cold too and the suits didn't provide as much warmth as they looked.

Everyone seemed to finally wake up from their daze once we all saw one another's terrifying visages.

"We have to get out of this storm and go somewhere else NOW!" I shouted, knowing fully that the longer we stayed out here, the more dangerous it would be.

Max stopped struggling almost immediately and a look of regret swept his face, followed by a look of worry. His attention suddenly shifted and his eyes were back to alert-mode, darting back and forth to something behind me. "Shit! They're coming out - the guards are coming out!"

He yanked his arm free from our grasps and used his forearm to wipe his face. We all glanced back at the hub, which was now almost a hundred meters away, and saw two of the guards run out a door, with umbrellas above their heads.

Damn. Maybe I should have stolen some umbrellas.

I took a deep breath and spun around to take in my surroundings to plan for the next step; the area was familiar. I had walked past it just a day before but currently, in the heavy precipitation, my vision was a blur and I couldn't distinguish too much. I knew only one thing.

We have to diverge from the paved path.

There was no way that we could go back in the direction of the hospital as they would likely just send us back to the hub. I knew that the only way to go was the other way, past the strip of green and deeper into the city. I cried out an order. "Follow me!"

I placed my arms on top of my head to shield the falling rocks and the four of us began to run in the direction away from the hub. When we neared the paved path, I led the group off the path, praying that it would take us to somewhere safer. The pain from the storm seemed to motivate me to keep running.

The guards behind us were fast but we were even faster. The four of us didn't stop moving, the guards' voices growing further and further away as the space between us and them increased.

"The guards here are so slow dude," Max exclaimed happily, in between breaths. "We can outrun them anytime."

There was a long stretch of green that we ran across, a field, until we began to see the silhouettes of buildings. We kept running, not stopping to look back, the only way we knew the guards were still on our tail was from the sounds of their footsteps. The rain and hail was still as unforgiving as before and we struggled to stay on our feet as we traversed the slippery terrain.