ECHO [Rewritten - NaNoWriMo '16]

Chapter 20: New York

17 March 2016

Rochester, New York

Echo

The tiny coffee shop was bustling. Full of those whose skin reflected their years of adventure; college girls who wore clothes that left little to the imagination; couples who figured sharing saliva was how they lived. It was incredibly nauseating.

But at the front of the line, ordering cups of coffee, were two women. One wore a vibrant red dress, with lace stockings, and towering heels. Her hair was nearly black, but the ends (which reached mid shoulder) were golden blonde. A rose tattoo curled on her shoulder. Next to her was a girl with soft strawberry blonde hair, and an incredible amount of freckles. She wore a simple hoodie with jeans. But when the two girls smiled, it was identical. Only the one in heels had green eyes.

Scarlet and Viola.

My sisters.

They settled at a table, placing their phones on the table. Echo watched them; she wasn't close enough to hear what they were talking about. And the noise in the café was thunderous, drowning out any noise. But still Echo watched. Viola – the strawberry haired woman – was nearing the age of eighteen, the head cheerleader, and a woman with impressive tech skills. Scarlet, with her unreasonably high shoes, had an impressive count of eighty thousand followers on instagram. Along with a rising number of subscribers on youtube for her impressive – average in my opinion – makeup skills.

For the first time in her life, Echo wondered what could have been. She had been only eight. Scarlet was six, Viola ten. What would've happened if they had grown up together, three sisters? Would they be as close as the two girls in front of her were now? Echo looked down at her slowly cooling coffee. Letting her imagination wander.

Echo was the athletic daughter. All three of them shared a car to school. Made easier since they were all in high school now. They'd argue constantly, but stick by each other like glue. They'd have the normal; every day worries of homework, a maybe a job for some extra spending cash, and dating. Maybe, maybe Echo would have even met someone like R. The thought pops into her head before she can stop it. Echo closes her eyes against the rush of pain, trying to resist the wave. She doesn't...she can't drown. Not yet.

But when she opens her eyes, she sees that her fingers a trembling as they hold the cup of coffee. Agony isn't just in her heart; it seems to pulse through her veins. Echo swallowed thickly and looked up. These girls shared her blood but they were Liane's sisters. Not Echo's. They would never know what it was like to try and survive, to battle just to breathe in a world of full of nightmares. They wouldn't know what it was like to have their delicate fingers broken, their nails ripped from their beds. They wouldn't know what it was like to take a life. Especially to take the life of someone you loved.

Echo stood, and walked out of the café. The air smacked into her, but she didn't look back. She didn't need to, she is Echo. And she has one final mission. Liane is still in the café, dreaming.

As Echo got closer to the hotel, she paused. Something was off. Echo frowned, her eyes sweeping the crowds and crowded streets. And then she realized. Paiute leaped off her shoulders. "Go! Go! Warn them!"
He took off, bounding through the crowds. Echo pulled out her gun, flicking the safety off. She spun on her heels and she saw people suddenly appear in the middle of the crowds. ALDAR. Half of them were advancing towards the hotel. And the rest had their blue eyes on her. Echo looked up at the hotel, her hand tightened on the gun. Her mind was racing, trying to figure out what to do next. With Paiute and Aurora, both of the boys would be able to get away. But there needed to be a distraction, one obnoxious enough that it would make her the center of attention.

She smiled.

She raised her gun and shot a civilian. The entire street broke into screams, people desperately trying to get away. Echo kept shooting, not caring where she hit. As long as blood flowed there would be hysteria. She saw the ALDAR agents begin to advance towards her, pulling their own guns. Paiute's concern washed over her, but now was not the time to worry or doubt. It was the time to act. Echo flung herself through the air, launching onto an ALDAR agent. They crashed down to the ground, and he tried to use the momentum to flip her. Echo though was expecting this. She responded by embedding a knife in the back of his skull. She was torn off the dead agent by a fox. She curled and stabbed it in the eye. There was a gasp and an agent crumbled to the ground, blood pouring from an eye.

An agent fired, she dodged. Echo raised the gun and fired back. Sirens could be heard in the distance, but they wouldn't get here in time. In the few minutes that it would take to get through the massive crowd of cars and people, the work of ALDAR would be done. Echo ran backwards, climbing onto a car. There were five ALDAR agents running towards her, their guns raised. Echo taunted them by standing in place and spreading her arms wide. Each of them fired. The guns kicked back from the force, the bullets cutting through the air.

Echo pushed from the car and flipped through the air. She twisted, firing her own shots. The agents dodged them easily enough. But they were too focused on the bullets and the fact that she had avoided their bullets. They weren't paying attention to the fact that she was in the air. And that she had flung herself towards them. Children.

She landed on the shoulders of a brawny agent, her hands coming to be on either side of his head. A hawk landed on her back, his talons digging into her skin. She ignored the pain. His eyes widened in realization and panic a second too late. Her blood hummed, spreading to her fingers, and into his. His entire body froze in agony; Echo closed her eyes and concentrated. She had one thought. Attack.

She slid off of him, her feet whispering against the ground. The hawk hung from her back like an unwanted leech. The other agents stared in horror as the man swayed. Blood tears spilled from an unseeing eye. And in the next breath he could see, his eyes glazed and wide with pure terror. He screamed and launched himself at the people who had been by his side just a moment ago. Echo followed closely behind him. He tore down two of the agents without an issue, breaking their backs with disturbing ease. Another agent swept the man's legs out from under him. The man fell but got back up a moment later. He was bleeding from both eyes now, along with one ear.

The agent that knocked him down snapped his eyes at her. Echo smiled. He launched like alongside the cheetah that was his familiar. Just before they hit her, the hawk attached to her back, spread its wings and lifted her from the ground. His wings beating against the air furiously, Echo hung precariously. But she aimed her gun and shot the agent in the head. As the agent fell, the cheetah kicked from the ground and reached towards her with an unsheathed paw. Halfway in the air, she could see the light fade from her eyes. But she still managed to catch ahold of Echo's foot. The three of them crashed violently to the ground.

Echo looked to see that the hawk had died as she fell. Echo detached the talons from her skin and stood on shaky legs. The agent that she had affected was choking on his own blood. But the second after she realized this, a hippo came up next to him, with jaws open. Echo released the hold she had on the man just as the hippo's mouth closed around the man's torso. And those massive teeth crunched and promptly split him in half. Blood spilled like a waterfall. The two pieces of the body fell to the ground. The hippo turned hateful eyes on Echo. But it didn't attack.

The last surviving agent stumbled towards Echo. She was covered in blood, but she was determined. Another body was revealed as it came around the massive hippo. He raised his gun, and shot the agent in the head. Blood sprayed over Echo's face as she watched the woman crumble to the ground. Echo stared, cocking her head. She kicked the woman's shoulder lightly. Just to double check. Echo then raised her eyes to the man.

Standing a few feet from her was Thorn.

Her mentor.