"Get up dude, we need to bail, fast!" My friend, Isaiah shouted to me while shaking me awake. I opened my eyes, and I could see him fully clothed. He was in his stealth gear, which consisted of jeans, a black sweater, a black baseball cap, and a grey bandanna pulled over his mouth.
If the circumstances had been different, Isaiah could have passed as some type of celebrity, with his high cheekbones, beautiful blond hair, light green eyes. Sadly, most of his hair was covered in debris and dirt.
"What do you mean we need to bail, we just got here yesterday!" I asked him. He pulled the bandanna down, so I could hear him more clearly. "They're purging sector 18!" Someone outside shouted.
"There's your answer, now come on!" Isaiah pulled you to your feet and handed you your bandanna. "After they purge 18 they probably will move here. We need to be gone before they arrive."
You stood up and ran out of the rundown cement building you had slept in. It had about 3 floors, each with 4 windows, or rather window frames due to it's run down condition. You continued running while pulling up your bandanna. "Do you think that they're here because they found us?" You asked Isaiah.
"Hell if I know. All I know is I want to be out of here regardless." The two of you ran past back alley after back alley, until you reached an old, rusted out fire escape.
Isaiah grabbed hold of the first rung, and began climbing up the unreliable ladders. He looked back down at me. "Well? Do you need a golden invitation?" He hissed, continuing his ascent.
I hesitantly reached for the first rung, testing to see if it would hold my weight. Luckily, it did, and I began climbing up the fire escape towards the roof. "So, you have a plan?" I asked Isaiah.
"Same as last time, run, don't get caught, find a new home." He responded. At this point Isaiah had reached the top of the fire escape, and lifted himself on top of the building.
"Alright, looks like they just started, we should have a little bit of time before they reach us." He reported, looking over the other buildings. When I clambered up I turned, and looked at all the burning buildings.
"Come on. We don't have time to sight see." Isaiah said, turning his back to sector 18. "Yeah, you're right." I said, turning away from the bloodbath.
As we ran across the buildings I couldn't stop thinking about how many people had died so that the capital could pursue us. The sad truth is that the purging didn't start because of overpopulation. It started because we got out.
The capital had been doing illegal experiments, called project Feral, on children, mixing animal genes into their DNA to see what atrocities they could create. We were lucky, we didn't get killed by the fusion, but that's not to say there weren't any side effects.
Isaiah had been given DNA from an unknown bird, giving him the ability to hear better than anyone else, and see better at long distances. I, on the other hand, was mixed with some form of dog. Perhaps even a Wolf. I can smell things from incredibly far distances, and can see in the dark, as well as being able to walk almost silently whenever I want.
I don't really remember much about the day we escaped, it was almost 12 years ago. All I now is whoever broke us out died doing so, and we weren't about to let that go to waste.
As you ran across the rooftops the buildings got smaller, and closer to the ground. "Hold it!" I whispered sharply. Isaiah stopped, and you smelled the air. It smelled like copper, and a hint of propane. "Shit! It's a purge team, about one hundred yards to our left." I said,
I jumped down the side of the building, hoping to find some form of cover. I ran behind it, and spotted a half full dumpster. "Isaiah, get down here, we can hide in the dumpster. And before you say it, I don't want to either." I said as I climbed in.
After a few seconds Isaiah clambered in after me, and we carefully closed the lid, trying not to alert the purge troopers. I gently pushed my ear against the cool, smooth side of the dumpster, listening for any movement nearby.
I could hear the sound of faint, steady footsteps, but they were growing louder. "So our job is to stop the people with illnesses from spreading them to the inner sectors?" A female voice asked. "Yep, these illnesses are what make some of these guys so skin and bone." A male responded
What a lie! I thought to myself. You guys just leave us to die, and kill us off to hide your ignorance! I wanted to shout, but I held my tongue. Eventually the footsteps grew so loud they were likely outside of our makeshift safehouse.
"Normally we don't do this, but the frontlines said that there were a lot of people heading our way. We won't make you do it this time, but we have dumpster duty, so we get to check every possible hideout for people. It sucks, but hey, it pays."
One set of footsteps faded, not leaving, but standing back. I looked over at Isaiah, and through the darkness I could see that the color had drained from his face. I started feeling around, searching for something I could defend myself with. I reached blindly into the darkness, and felt a cool glass substance. I pulled it closer, investigating the object.
As it turned out, I had uncovered a broken beer bottle, with one particularly long spike. I shuddered, knowing what I needed to do.
"Alright, the only thing left is that dumpster." A male voice said. "Well, check it and let's move on."
I tensed up as they approached, preparing to spring the instant they opened the lid. My heart was pounding, and my breathing was shaky and my body rigid. The silence was broken by the unmistakable wail of the metal lid creaking open. I gripped the neck of the bottle tightly, awaiting the perfect moment to strike
My body sprang into action, launching itself out of the dumpster and towards one of the soldiers. He wasn't very well armored, and I don't think that they were expecting weapons.
They were wearing white full head helmets, with a digital visor. Their armor was also pearly white. Under it they were wearing a silver mesh that clung to their body.
I shoved the shattered bottle between his chest armor plates, and his white underclothes were rapidly turning a crimson red. He stumbled back, and I could see the shock in his face. The other soldier charged towards me, reaching towards my pocket.
He pulled out a small pistol, as he tackled me, and the bottle I was using fell, shattering on contact with the ground. He put the gun to my head, but I grabbed the barrel, and twisted it away from my head. Using his free hand he punched me in the jaw, and my head smacked against the cold concrete.
I struggled, punching and kicking him, trying to push him off. Then, he yanked the gun barrel out of my hands, and pointed it at my head. I closed my eyes, and heard a loud bang. After a few seconds, I opened my eyes. The soldier had a bullet in his head.
I pushed him off of me, and turned around, seeing Isaiah holding a gun, his arms trembling. "I-I killed him." He croaked. I stood up, shaking. "You did what you had to." I told him. Behind him I could see a short girl with blonde hair, shivering like a leaf in the wind.
"W-what d-did you do?" She stammered. "We did what we had to." I responded. Isaiah began to raise the gun again, but you grabbed it, keeping it pointed at the ground. "She hasn't done anything yet. Let her live." I told him.
He nodded shakily, placing the pistol in his waistband. "The capital was right, you are people causing all of Alexandria's problems. all deserve to die." The girl muttered. "NO, we are the ones who do what we have to to survive while you all get to sit in your homes and watch as we die. Your government's ignorance is what made us this way." I spat, my voice filled with venom
She recoiled as I shouted, backing against the wall of one of the surrounding buildings.
I turned, and began walking towards another nearby fire escape, Isaiah hot on my heels. "The Capitol won't forgive you!" The girl shouted.
"Believe me, our feud with the Capitol runs deeper than you know. So how about you shut your mouth before you join your friends?" I said, gesturing to the bodies of the other soldiers. She squeaked.
"Lets go, no point in staying here." I said, climbing up the fire escape. The night was darker, and our movement slowed. "Hey, you alright?" I asked Isaiah, who was clearly still shaken.
"Of course i'm not! I just shot a man dead, and now the Capitol don't need some lame excuse to hunt us down! They can follow us wherever, whenever, and get help from whoever they want!"
It was true. Now we weren't just some petty thieves running from a handful of mercenaries and purge teams, now we were criminals, murderers. "It was them or us." I responded, trying to comfort Isaiah.
"Yeah, but now they get us anyway! It doesn't matter! No matter what we do, we lose."
"What do you mean, we'll, we keep moving, just like we always do."
"Move where? They can just pay people to rat us out. It's not like anyone here has enough money to turn it down. If we move north towards the capitol security gets tighter. We lose."
I thought for a minute. "Well, we can try our luck at surviving outside Alexandria. It's not like we don't know how to live off the land."
"What about the animals, and the beasts? The walls were built for a reason. Alexandria was made to protect people from the outside world."
"I'm more afraid of the monsters in the capital then the monsters outside the walls. We stay in here we would be no better than cattle"
I turned towards the massive walls, easily 10 meters in height. "That would be our best bet." I told Isaiah again. He sighed. "Fine, but if things go wrong you're on your own."
I nodded. "Well, that's reassuring. None the less, I guess it's decided. The only question is how. Any ideas?" I asked Isaiah.
"With how much you were running your mouth I thought you would have had a plan." Isaiah responded.
"To be fair, I didn't think I would get this far." I said, looking at the stone walls, hoping for somewhere we could climb, but the walls were much too smooth. There were, however, a handful of underfunded guard posts.
Most people had accepted that Alexandria was a safe haven, protecting them from violent creatures and people alike. A place so wonderful no one would ever want to leave. From what we were told, the outside was a barren wasteland, full of creatures so terrible they were not to be named. The animals lurking in the shadows for prey.
Because of this, no one had tried to leave. To them it was an incredible opportunity. To us, it was a pen. We were pigs being raised for slaughter.
I pointed up to one of the towers. "We can try getting up there. There should be a way up nearby, right? All we would need to do is get up there, and climb down the other side." You said, giving a rough summary of your plan.
Isaiah looked surprised, clearly caught off guard. "Well, looks like there is a brain up there somewhere. Could've fooled me." Isaiah said as he punched me in the shoulder.
"Gee, that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside." I said sarcastically, punching him back.
"C'mon, lets just get going. It's gonna take a while to find an entrance, and even longer to find a way down. " I said, turning towards the wall. The two of us took off through the night once again.
