Sky of Dust: The Last Weapon (6 page)

“
Don’t worry, little brother
;
the chips in our hands already zapped them a sample of our blood
,
”
Steve said with a grin.

I felt lik
e the world was collapsing in around
me.

It must have been evident that some
thing was troubling me because M
om asked me what was wrong.

“
Nothing,
”
I lied.
“
I was just was curious
,
that’s all. Let’s eat
;
I am starving.
”

As we sat around the table, I tried to ignore what was happening and enjoy the time we had together.

Pan and Lesley put on a puppet show for us with old socks. It was good to
see M
om smile again.

Stev
e was trying to feed Cray chocolate pudding with little success. He caught Cray by surprise
when he was focusing on the puppet show
and shoved a spoonful in his mouth.
Cray looked horrified and sent a brown
projectile
directly into Steve’s mouth when he was laughing. Everyone, except for Steve, busted out laughing. Even I could not help but to join in.

After our fill and the ente
rtainment, Steve and I carried M
om back upstairs.

We set her down
,
and Steve kissed her good night.

When he left
,
I could not contain myself any longer. I grabbed my mother and cried. She held me like she use
d
to when I was scared of the thunder. For a moment
,
I felt safe.

She kissed me on the head.

I backed up
,
and
w
e stared at each other for a moment.

She smiled at me and nodded
,
like she knew what I was thinking.

“
You are a brave man.
You will make me proud
,
”
s
he said as she lowered herself on her back.

I sat with her, holding her hand as
she
dozed off to sleep.

I went to my room and threw myself onto the bed.

Steve was already snoring. It did not matter anyways; I would
not
have been able to sleep
either way
.

If what Steve said was true, then everyone
was
already being screened for the
“
disease
.
”
That mean
t,
even if I managed to get away, mom and my brother and sisters will still be in danger. I would have to talk with Mary tomorrow after class to see what we
were
going to do.

For the remainder of the night
,
I just
stared
at the ceiling
,
thinking about all the things I had learned.

When the sun started to rise
,
I changed clothes and rinsed up. I tried to walk down the right side of the stairs without concentrati
ng. The result was a very noisy
twenty steps.

I must have woken Cray because I heard him
shuffle around and calling for M
om. I then heard a door open and
someone’s
footsteps
, probably Pan
’s
, heading to M
om
’
s room.

I grabbed half of an apple and head
ed
outside. Casey and Peter were sitting on the bench across the street. When they saw me emerge from the house
,
they got up and walked over.

“
So
,
I guess you guys heard, huh?
”
I asked in a depressed voice.

They both nodded.

“
I think we should go
,
”
Peter said. His forwardness shocked me.

“
I think so too
,
”
Casey agreed.
“
We don’
t know how long it will take them to sort all the blood samples, and who knows
whether or not the results will be accurate
. Maybe we have to leave
. That way, we can go and get them help before
the results are back.
”

Peter nodded.

“
I was thinking the same thing
,
”
I admitted.
“
Let’s see what Mary thinks about this.
”

We did our laps for an hour
,
which seemed more like hours. The three of us ran together silently. Abigail was off on her own. She
did
not even acknowledge us when she passed us.

Wh
en Coach Roach blew his whistle
,
the three
of us sprinted to Mary’s class
since everyone was taking their time.

We got there before everyone else. She looked up from her book and sighed. She was back in teacher mode with her wig, make up
,
and spectacles.

She got up and rushed over to us
, peeking down the hall on her way
. We could hear the footsteps and chatter coming down the hall
.

“
It is tonight
,
”
s
he said in an urgent
,
hushed voice.
“
It has to be tonight. When you get out of class
,
go get what you need and meet me
at the tree
.
”

The rest of the students turned the corner
,
and she
straight
ened up.

“
Hurry up, we have a busy day. Get to your seats!
”
Mary told everyone.

If running felt like hour
s,
then this class felt like years.
I kept glancing over to Peter and Casey
,
who both looked pale and sick. I imagine I looked the same way.

Abigail did not look worried at all. In fact
,
she kept flipping through her book with a grin on her face. It made me hate her for not worrying about others. It was so heartless
.
I had to seriously reconsider my crushes from now on.

When class was almost over
,
Mary got up and said that there would be extra homework
,
and it would be due in the morning.  I realized that she did it so that they would be too busy to go out and potentially spot us when we made our escape.

She dismissed the class
,
and she reached under her desk
, grabbing
what I was guessing was the pistol and
dropping
it in her bag before she hurried out of the classroom.

We ran home and agreed we would meet in front of my place in
fifteen minutes
and head to Mary’s together.

The sky was already turning orange
,
and it would not be long before it was dark.

The house was empty besides M
om and Cray. I could hear her singing to Cray in a hoarse voice. It was a song that she used to sing to me all the time to calm me down. Even now
,
it seemed to make me relax. I took a deep breath. If I was g
oing to leave, I could not let M
om see me. I
did
not want to lie to her
,
and I did not want it to be harder on myself either.

I concentrated and focused on the stairs. My head began to build pressure
,
but I felt my body get lighter. I saw each place on the stairs that I must step. I began ascending the stairs one step at a time. Mom’s voice seemed to have slowed down
,
but focusing on that helped me ignore the pain. When I reached the top of the stairs
,
I had tears running down my face, but it was not from the pain. I passed her door
,
which was cracked open
,
and she was lying next to Cray on the bed.

“
By
e
M
om
,
”
I mouthed
silently
.

I headed to my room and shut the door quietly. I grabbed a brown bag and placed an old rope
and a change of clothes in it. I looked around to see if there was anything else that could be helpful. The truth
was
we did not have much stuff. I saw a small pocket knife that belonged to Steve. I grabbed it. He had no need for it anyways. I grabbed the picture frame off the desk that had
a picture of the family. It
was taken last year before mom got sick.
I pulled the picture out of the
frame
, folded it neatly, and placed it in my bag.

Guilt started to trickle into my mind. If I was going to leave them, I had to make sure that they at least knew I was safe. I grabbed a pencil and a piece of scrap paper
,
and wrote
a quick note to them, careful not to give anything away:

I am sorry I have to leave.

I will be gone a while.

I will
be back, please don’t worry.

Take care of each other. I love all of you.

Love, Dalyn

P.S. Steve I have your knife.

I opened my door and taped it on the outside.

I threw my bag over my shoulder and prepared to head back the way I came when I heard
what sounded like screaming and gunshots coming from towards the school. I froze and listened. Another
“
POP, POP, POP
”
rang
,
and this time it sounded closer. Cray started to cry
,
and M
om began to sing again.

I could not wait any longer. I could not put them in danger. I ran down the stairs
,
five at a time
,
and flung open the door.
Pan and Le
sley pushed past me and bolted u
p the stairs.

I made it only a few steps when I first saw what they were running from.

Hundreds of G
uards
dressed in black plate armor and helmets were grabbing people and holding them down. The people tried to fight back
,
but they were just knocked out b
y the butt of
the
guns. The G
uards
would grab the person
’
s hand and use a gun
-
like device
,
and the
y
appeared to be scanning them. They would leave some lying on the ground
,
or they would haul them off and place them in an armored truck.

I started walking fast
,
but not trying to attract any attention
,
when an armored car pu
lled up in front of me
,
and four
identical
G
uards
got out.

“
Stop! Give me your hand
,
”
a
muffled
voice
demanded
.

“
I’m sorry
,
I am not like that
,
”
I snapped.

Damn my mouth.

Three
started
towards me while the other stood back with the scanner at the ready.

It was like a
light switch in my head. I did not need to concentrate
;
it just happened on its
own
,
like yesterday.

The one in the middle lunged at me
,
and time seemed to slow down. I heard everything. I saw everything. Anger swelled up inside me. I lunged towards my attackers and s
lammed my hand into the narrow slit where the throat was vulnerable.  The guy in the middle crumbled to the ground and gasped for air. I was back in
“
normal
”
time now. The other two ran past me and looked confused. They turned
,
saw me behind them
,
and raised their weapons.

I thought I was dead. They fired their weapons. I closed my eyes
,
but
nothing happened. I opened my eyes
,
and Peter w
as standing between me and the G
uards with his hands over his face. Bullets
littered the ground in front him
.
He gave out a sigh.

“
Thank
god
that worked
,
”
h
e said in a relieved voice.

From my left
,
Abigail came rushing in at full
speed and grabbed both of the G
uards with
g
uns and slammed them onto the pavement. They attempted to get back up
,
but she knocked them out with one sweep of her leg.

I turned around and saw C
asey wrestling with the fourth G
uard. He g
rabbed a baton and whipped the G
uard across the face with it.
The G
uard’s body twisted and fell down in an awkward position.

“
Thanks
,
”
I managed
to murmur between ragged breaths
.

“
Let’s go. We need to get as far as we can from this place before they bring reinforcements. It looks like there were more of us than expected
,
and people are fighting back. It should buy us some time
,
”
Abigail said.

She touched the side of her watch. She was dressed in tight blue jeans and a green sports shirt
—n
ot necessarily clothes I would choose for an escape. She threw her bag over her shoulder and started running towards the tree line.

We all followed after her.

“
Thanks guys
,
”
I said as we were running.
“
I would have been dead if you
had
not show
n
up when you did.
”

“
No problem. My shirt is ruined though
,
”
Peter said.

“
You should have seen yourself
,
Dalyn!
”
Casey said while he tried to stick
the
two batons he had acquired into his bag.
“
You were just standing there
,
then it was like a blur
and
your hand was in that G
uard’s throat! I thought for sure you would be able to take them all. What happened?

“
I didn'
t mean to hit him
;
it was just a reaction. I don’t know why I stopped either. I felt like I could take them all for a second there
,
but when I started I guess I choked
,
”
I admitted.

Just as we reached the tree line
,
it got worse. Six G
uards emerged with guns raised at us.

“
DOWN, DOWN, DOWN!
”
  They shouted.

We al
l stopped and put our hands up
.

This is it
,
I thought to myself.

One walked over and slammed his rifle butt into Abigail’s face. She screamed and fell forward.

Anger like no other flowed through me. My hands tingled. I let my body take over.

“
Protect Casey!
”
I yelled.

Casey dropped into a fetal position
,
and Peter
threw
himself on top of him.

The six G
uards walked towards us briskly. But time was mine now. A pain shot through my head
,
and I ran
forward. I was already at the G
uard who hit Abigail before the rest
even
had a chance to react. I slammed my hand into his throat and threw him on top of Abigail. On
e
G
uard fired his weapon
,
but I knew where it was going. I ran to the left
,
grabbed the baton from his belt
,
and hit him across the face. Two down.

I heard as a bullet entered the chamber
of a
gun that was being held b
y
the G
uard directly behind me
,
so I jumped to my left and rolled. I ended
up
on my feet and tossed the baton with all my strength. The baton connected to his exposed throat and
he
gave a gasp. I dashed forward and elbowed him in the crotch. Three down.

As the G
uard fell
,
I grabbed his pistol from its holster, my fingers making easy work of the clasp to remove it.

My head turned to the last three. One was unloading a clip into Peter
’
s back. His shirt was shredded
,
but the bullets just slid off his back.
I could tell from his face he could not hold up much longer.

I calculated three shots almost instantly.

Left G
uard, right knee. POP! Four down.

Middle G
uard
,
left armpit. POP! Five down.

Right G
uard facing Peter, right knee. POP! Six down.

Time sped up. My head felt dizzy
,
and I threw up.

I stood in a daze.

“
Let’s go! Dalyn
,
let
’
s go!
”
Casey was shouting at me.

Casey
rolled the G
uard off of Abigail.

Peter collapsed.
His shirt barely had enough thread to hold it together.

“
I’ll get her
;
you grab Peter
,
”
I said.

Casey walked over and heaved Peter over his back.

“
I almost feel bad for hitting this guy
,
”
Casey said.

I picked Abigail up in both arms. For being so strong
,
she weighed almost nothing. Her skin was as soft as I dreamed. She was still so beautiful, even with the bruise starting to form on her forehead.

We headed into the woods and soon emerged on the deserted road on the other side. Hopefully
,
the G
uards
were
not going to come back here. They shouldn’t since no one lives back here. Besides, I
did
not think I could do what I
had just done
again.

Casey was about ten yards ahead of me when Abigail opened her eyes.

“
Ow,
”
s
he exclaimed as she placed her hand over her head.

I stopped and let her down. She wobbled a little bit
,
but I supported her.

“
You got hit in the head pretty hard. Do
you think you can walk? I don'
t mind carrying you
,
”
I said. The truth was I did mind carrying her. Not in a selfish way. It felt good being needed
,
but I was physically exhausted
,
and
,
if I had to carry her the rest of the way
,
I probably would not make it. I doubt Casey
could
carry three of us.

“
I know I was hit…
”
She winced.
“
I’m sorry. I can walk. Thank you.
”

We began to walk. I kept my arm on her back just in case.

“
I feel like I
have been jumped on
,
”
s
he said with annoyance.

“
Yeah, I kind of
threw
someone on top of you
,
”
I admitted.

She glared at me.
             

“
I wanted to make sure you were not hit by a stray bullet
,
so I put a G
uard on top of you
to, you know, protect you
,
”
I added. I felt my old clumsy self returning. No matter how stuck up she was,
her eyes
kept
knocking me back down
.

She nodded.

“
Thank you
,
”
s
he said.

We walked in silence for a few more minutes.

“
You know
,
you were pretty amazing tonight
,
”
I said.

Abigail smiled and turned red.

I actually made her blush!? Sweet!

“
You did well tonight too
,
”
s
he said.
“
Watching you move was…like a dance.
”

“
A dance? How?
”
I asked.

She laughed.

“
It is a complement
,
”
s
he explained.
“
When you dance
,
you know exactly what to do and what to expect.
You perceive what is about to happen
,
and you move to it.
The way you moved was like you knew what was going to happen before it happened.
”

“
I have only danced with my sister
,
and we were not exactly coordinated.
”
As the words came out of my mouth,
I tripped over my own feet.

Abigail giggled and tried to regain her composure.

“
Can I ask you something?
”
s
he asked.