Son of Lazarus

Chapter 28: A Game of Fox and Rabbit

June 12th, 2041

10:23a.m.

2 months, 5 days, 8 hours, 2 minutes, and 45 seconds to War.

   "Find anything yet?" The sound of Christopher's voice was muffled by a slight static and made it seem like it was coming from absolutely nowhere. He knew better. The voice was coming from the communicator he wore around his neck. All members of the Hive wore this communicator, the children especially. For them, it was a tracker and a means to communicate for the older members. His fingers came up to his neck and pressed lightly against the green circle that seemed to glow.
   "Not yet, Chris," he said, his voice tired. They had been out here since five this morning, looking for any food or medicine. "I'll check Sector Three again. See if I can't find anything."
   "Just be careful, Ty," Chris responded. "Eden said that there are a group of Soldiers patrolling Sector Three."

   "Come on, Chris. You know me." Tyler rose to his feet, a smug grin across his face as he walked out of the abandoned building. "I'm always careful." He took his fingers off the light and turned down Walter Street. If everything went well and he was able to find some medicine, his mission would be a success, no matter if he found food or not. Tyler stretched his arms above his head, his shirt rising slightly above his belly button. When he was finished, he tugged his shirt down and started walking again. The air was silent and still. Almost too much so. But then, the city was completely empty at this point. Most people were either corrupted by the Organization and yet others were the Advanced and the families of the Advanced in the Hive.

   Tyler rounded the corner, crossing from Walter Street onto Maple Drive. There he stopped to listen. He'd heard something like footsteps coming from ahead of him. Out of a habit he'd formed two years ago, Tyler dropped into a crouch and slid towards a broken house, hiding behind the stone wall of the yard. He took a deep breath to try and still his racing heart before he peeked out around the corner of the wall. Ahead of him was a group of soldiers all dressed in the same black uniform, which hugged each individual body. Most of them were men, proven by how the pants hugged their groins. There was only one female and she had the pin of a captain on her left breast. It was that soldier that turned around. Tyler's heart leapt into his throat. Her eyes were a striking gray-blue combination, complimenting her short brown hair. Even from this distance, Tyler could see the crimson streaks that made her hair pop.

   He watched in complete silence as the woman scanned his area with those eyes of hers. Slowly, her arm came up into the air and her gaze dropped from the streets to her wrist. He couldn't see a lot, but he could see the familiar blue screen of a holographic projector appear above her wrist. A soft humming noise came from the projected blue screen and was quickly followed by a harsh buzzing noise, as though letting her know there were no signs of life though Tyler knew better. That noise was indicating that there wasn't an Advanced anywhere in sight. Only when she turned around and continued after the other soldiers did he breathe a sigh of relief. Cautiously, Tyler stood up from where he was crouching and proceeded to walk out from his cover. A sudden feeling of being watched came over him, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He turned in a full circle, trying to find whoever or whatever was watching him. Nothing was there.

   The streets were as silent and empty as the day the Organization decided to lay waste to his home. Yet that feeling remained. That feeling of being hunted like prey. Tyler shivered, the hairs on the back of his neck and up his arms standing on edge. Cautiously, he began to walk forward, away from the empty streets that stretched out behind him. With each step, Tyler's stride grew longer and his pace quickened until he was running down Maple Drive onto Westin Street. His feet carried him off the street and into a parking lot. There, he stopped and bent from the waist down. He rested his hands on his knees and panted, trying to draw much needed oxygen into his lungs to calm his racing heart. With his vision finally beginning to clear, Tyler took a look around. The parking lot he'd stopped in had broken pavement and faded out yellow and blue lines marking the parking spaces for handicap and regular parking.