THIRTY-FOUR
Unknown
“I told you not to call me,” said a dark figure who looked out of a window at the city skyline.
“I know,” said Gabe “but it’s an emergency. It’s Emmie. She is hurt and we need safe passage from the city.”
“How did this happen?”
“She was attacked and operated on. We need to get her as far away from Tobias as we can and safely back to base.”
“How many of you are there?”
“Myself, Emmie, March and Grace, who also needs medical help.”
“Are you making a fool of me Gabe? How many casualties will we suffer trying to stop Tobias?”
“Emmie is fine, alright. I know everyone else is just an acceptable casualty. So can you get us out of the city or not?”
“It’s a huge risk,” the dark figure paused for a moment. “But yes, I can,” he continued to tell Gabe a meeting point and time.
Gabe couldn’t wait to get out of this city and didn’t want to ever return. Tobias Zen had already taken so much from him and now Gabe hated his home town as well.
The dark figure hung up and looked out on the skyline. He admired the other towers and knew one day they would come crashing into the ground.
The revolution is coming, he mused.
--<><>--
Emmie Keyes
“Ok, let’s go,” said Gabe, as he looked at me. I shrugged my shoulders. I could barely walk and wasn’t going anywhere without March pushing me.
“Wait,” I said. “What about the black box from Faye’s? Wasn’t it at the base?”
“I grabbed it when I escaped. Once the grenade landed I dropped to the floor and covered my face with my jacket. When I saw you’d dropped the box, I picked it up and dove out of the window. I hung from the window ledge and gently dropped down on the floor.”
“Thank God Faye only lived on the second floor,” although Gabe admitted he had left me there to die, I was relieved he had the box. He’d saved me in the end so that made up for it, I suppose. “But how did you find me?” I asked.
“Grace slipped you a drink at your house with a tracking liquid. That’s how she tracked you in the TethTech tower and how I found you now. “ he explained.
Another deception by Grace.
March pushed me the whole way back to our earlier location where Grace was waiting with the doctor. I felt tense the entire time and with every street we turned down I was apprehensive that something would happen.
When we finally arrived I was wheeled next to Grace who was laying on her stretcher.
“Emmie, what happened?” Grace asked.
“Tobias found me,” I replied.
“If they did anything to you, we’ll fix it Emmie,” said March. “We have a great lab set up back at the base and it won’t be long until you’re safely there. You too Grace. We can continue to treat you both there.”
“I’ve got an escape planned from the city but we need to go now,” said Gabe. “How are you doing?” he asked Grace.
“Better now you’re here,” they kissed and Gabe was back to the happy person I had seen earlier, unlike the brute he had become when he attacked me. It was like he had two personalities.
March and Gabe gathered supplies that Bryony had prepared whilst Grace and I talked. For those ten minutes we didn’t talk about terrorist plots or conspiracy theories. We just caught up and chatted like good friends. It was a nice moment of calm amongst the chaos of the day.
Sadly the moment had to end and we were escorted away by the boys, who now emerged in the same dark green uniforms worn by Ambulance staff. They thanked Bryony for finding the uniforms.
“That’s nothing,” she said as she pointed to an ambulance parked on the side of the road. “You can thank my doctor friend here for that one,” March pushed my wheelchair and Gabe pushed Grace’s trolley into the back of the ambulance.
Tobias had already found me once so I wasn’t getting my hopes up for a smooth escape. We drove to the edges of Birmingham and found an abandoned strip of land that had previously been a football club in a town called Wolverhampton. Whatever team they had been, their glory days were behind them. The pitch remained a damaged testament to their past.
We waited on the edges of the football pitch until a small dot appeared in the sky. “There’s our ride,” said Gabe.
A helicopter made its descent towards us and I began to feel hope that we’d escape. Once it landed we were loaded onto the chopper and greeted by a pilot called, Saloma. She was wearing a leather pilot’s uniform and had auburn hair which flowed out from under her helmet and spiralled out into thick curls over her shoulders.
“Everyone be quick,” she said. “This is an uncharted flight on a very windy day and that means we’re going to be in for some serious turbulence,” I hoped she was wrong.