Keep Moving
It felt like hours that I’d been running, trying to escape the danger that was close behind through a wintry dead forest full of trees and shrubs. I could faintly feel the attack of cuts and slashes through the skin of my face from the naked tree branches that I would flee past without thought of pain.
We were all on the run and we needed to find safety. Dealing with the harshness of winter’s partial death to the leaves and greenery of the forest was a tolerable sacrifice in comparison to what we would be faced with if we stopped.
“Come one guys! Hurry!” I sounded through the small group of people that I was trying to protect-my older sister included.
I knew that they were tired and I knew that, unlike me, they were not trained to deal with such a harshness as what we were faced with. But that point was moot when thinking about what danger stood behind them if they stopped. I could only hope that this was enough to keep them running.
I stayed behind for the most part, assuring that no one was harmed nor left behind. I had to make sure that I protected what was left of us. And when I saw that the coast was clear, I’d chase my way up to the front of the group to ensure safety as well.
“Ki, they cannot run any longer.” I heard my sister call from behind me. “They are not made for this!”
“They have to run, Kim!” I countered, slowing my pace to accommodate for those slower than I. “We don’t have a choice!” I said.
I kept my pace when I felt an arm grab me from behind. Kimora was looking at me; when I turned around and glanced past her I finally realized that the others were further behind than I thought.
“They cannot go on like this, Ki!” Kimora said to me, her gaze serious and urgent.
I knew that she was only trying to be considerate of them; I knew that she was doing her job as a consoler, a healer of our people. She was only trying to consider them-but so was I.
“I get it, Kim.” I told her. “I do. I understand that there are those that are meant for this war and those that aren’t. I understand that your job is to see to their comfort and their peace of mind.” I said. “But my job is to assure that they stay alive and as long as you coddle them into thinking that they can rest in a danger zone, their lives will be picked off one by one until we get to where we need to be.”
I walked past my sister, knowing that I hurt her feelings; she was the more sensitive of us two. Maybe it was because she was born an empath-someone that could understand others’ feelings. Then again, the more obvious answer was that while we shared the same loving parents, who were married until their dying day, we were raised in two totally and completely different worlds.
I was headed back for the group that fell behind when I heard an ear-wrenching cry. Without thinking, I paused in my steps, shocked. Not bothering to look back to observe my sister, I quickly rushed for the group.
“Stay behind, Kim!” I cautioned.
Just as I approached I heard the cackling deep voices of the Demoi. In their grasp was a man, his death face full of fear before they drained his life away.
Anger immediately took me over as I watched them revel in what they had done and I could not let it slide. I couldn’t let this go-I wouldn’t. I wasn’t raised to. I wasn't trained to.
“Run.” I told the others. They were still frozen in fear so I had to reiterate. “I said, run!”
Just as the last of the word left my lips a sonic scream erupted from me as the Demoi soldiers made their way to attack. Immediately, they were blown back with a force that was so powerful, the echo of my power could be seen through the forest, reverberating in waves.
As I placed a sonic barrier over the group of humans that I was trying to protect, I fought-alone and hard to fend them off. I unsheathed my blade and pulled my 375 semi-automatic magnum out and hurriedly went into battle.
It was around eleven soldiers left and they were all gunning for me. I through my blade so hard at one, it impaled him into a tree and put a bullet in his head, where he disintegrated into a blood red mass of ash. I put a bullet in seven more, reducing them to the same end.
Two more tried to get past me and reach the human, fortunately I was fast enough to catch one before blasting the other with a sonic wave from my hand. As the very powerful Demoi stood in my grip I broke his neck and put three bullets in his skull and one in his heart.
I surveyed my surroundings visually first, seeing if the area was clear before using my sonic sound to gather whether there were more to come. Fortunately, there wasn’t. I looked at the man whose life was lost before I could get to everyone in time.
Begrudgingly, a tear fell from my eyes as I knelt down to him and touched his face. “Ve en paz.” I whispered in my mother’s dialect, praying that he go in peace. I closed his horror-filled eyes and right away decided that I would not leave him there.
I focused my power on the sonic waves surrounding his deceased body and manipulated them into lifting him up.
When I finally regrouped with everyone else, they were crying and grief-stricken over the man. I wanted to cry; I was very grief-stricken as well. Yet another of the few that we had left was gone under my watch. But there was no room for crying-there was no time to grieve. Not while we were still out in the open and not while we were being hunted.
“We grieve when we get to safety.” I said. It may have sounded cruel; and I gathered as much when I looked into my sister’s eyes, but it was true. We just lost one of our own...I didn’t want to lose anyone else. “Keep moving.”
