Chimera

Chapter Twenty-seven: Camila

Camila had known everything, the whole story. In fact, she could proudly say that she had experienced it first hand. But she still paid complete attention as Lance told the parents everything. She watched the parents themselves, too. Watched them flinch at account of the Aerosnake, cheer at its end, scream at the mutated lion, scream again at the thought of an acid-spitting Caustic Salamander chasing their children through bitter darkness. 

Watched them slowly adjust to the reality of a good, kind creature like Goldenstroke. Smile, half-relieved, half-frightened at a helpful mercenary named Callista. Listen in awed-silence at the story of the Golden Gate Bridge, yell and curse and silently shake their heads at the terrifying fact that in a small San Francisco laboratory, humanity had created their own downfall, that Alice was Umbra's ancestor. Then they laughed and smiled and oohed and aahed at the description of the glade, stomach grumbling at the mention of so much food, tongue licking their dry lips at the thought of so much water, eyes widening at the account of such beauty.

When it was over, Camila leaned back in her chair. It was beautiful, soft fabric, padded with quilts and feathers and lined with something maybe like silk. It was something that she would be sad to leave when she went to the glade. What a waste: losing a soft, luxurious, valuable material like silk... and then her stomach rumbled and she remembered that you couldn't eat silk, no matter how valuable or luxurious or soft it was.

"Well, now you guys know the story. You know that if we escape, we have a freshwater paradise where we can go. But that's only ten people we helped. That's fine and all, but when we risked our lives, we were kinda expecting to save a few more people," Lance said.

"Well I don't think we can walk up to Umbra and say: oh, how do you do? We're about to break your laws and turn pretty much everyone that you control against you," Camila said.

"So what're we going to do instead? How're we supposed to tell the town without getting arrested and killed?" Alana's father said.

"We could host secret meetings," Camila's mother suggested.

"They find those. They always do," Jaylin's father said, shaking his head.

"Well, should we make a bold stand? Should we go out into the town square and tell everyone to believe us?" Lance's father asked.

"Yeah, right. We'll tell them to follow us blindly through a sea of terrifying creatures, and hopefully find some food at the end, if they survive. I'm sure they'll agree," Alana's father smirked sardonically.

"To be honest, I don't really think they have much choice," Camila said, slowly and pointedly.

"Plus, we can prove it. We can prove that we found the glade. We can hand out some food. I've still got quite a bit of fruit in my satchel and a few roasted fish. For all those starving people, that will be more than enough of an incentive. They would probably follow just the scent," Lance said.

"OK, it's settled. A bold stand is the answer," Camila said, rising to her feet. She took a deep breath. She walked towards the door, raised her hand to the handle. Took another deep breath in.

I'm ready-

That's when the windows were smashed.

First, Camila saw cracks twisting across the glass, like spreading spider webs. And then the windows exploded, shattered, erupted... whatever you wanted to call it. Glass flew everywhere. Beams of light stabbed through from the sun outside, reflecting and refracting on the glass as they seemed to float, suspended in air, shooting blinding white light everywhere, searing Camila's eyes. Deadly translucent shards spiralled through the air and embedded themselves in chairs, tables... and flesh.

Screams. Cans tossed through the open windows, clattering on the floor. Camila stumbled away from the chaos. Smoke, nebulous and thick and dark, erupted from the cans and the light and the room around her was swallowed and gone, a sea of shifting blackness in its place.

From the blackness, a voice came, confident, controlling.

"This is the Head Sentry of the City of Los Lagos. All persons seen aiding or abetting the criminals Lance Esposito, Camila Rodriguez, Jaylin Lewis or Alana Rousseau will be arrested, under order of High Mayor Norwood."

Camila ran, choking for air.

Footsteps crashed behind her, shouts echoed.

She stumbled and fell. The world spinned around her and her shoulder hit the floor. There were footsteps rushing up behind her. She stood shakily, bended over halfway. She forced one leg forward. The footsteps were in her ears now. Rough hands seized her. She was thrown to the ground, landing on her arm, which burst in pain.

She screamed and kicked in the darkness, screamed so loud that it almost drowned out her thoughts. She struggled and her eyes stung.

So much for a bold stand, Camila thought bitterly.

"Say goodnight," a voice hissed, snaking past her face and into her ear. Through the smoke, Camila could make out a figure standing over her, bended at the waist, looking down. The smoke washed over her face. Camila fought to not breath. She could not breath, or the gas would take her. Sounds came from the back of her throat. She was losing the oxygen, it was draining from her body. She needed air. Her lungs burned and burned. Her mouth fell open. Hungrily, she gulped in air. And with that air came smoke.

She saw the figure moving through the haze. It swing something at her.

Dull pain at her temple. And then she saw the brightest thing she had ever seen, as stunning stars exploded in her vision. Inky blackness followed, clouding the edges of her vision and then consuming everything. That's funny, Camila thought. She thought that in a split second she had gone insane. The hit to the head and the gas had done their jobs. Her thoughts were frantic, a train of random questions and conversations pulled from her mind, which was nearing oblivion.

The situation was funny because the darkness was the darkest thing she had ever seen. She had gone from the bright stars, to the inky blackness. She had gone from so light, to so dark, in an instant. Light, dark. Light, dark.

Kind of like her life, actually. She had found water, she had saved the city, she had saved everyone: light. She had been attacked, she had failed the city, she had killed everyone: dark.

Light, dark.

Camila took in another breath.

You know what else is funny? She said to herself.

Well-

And then she passed out.

If you've enjoyed reading this story, don't forget to vote, comment and add it to your reading lists. If you have any tips for how I can improve my writing, or what I did well this time, please feel free to tell me. Thanks so much for reading my story!

Thanks again, Sylver!