I mean, what are the chances of them running into a tragedy that could be avoided if I was there to help them?They were as capable as me, they could do a lot of things. Both had brought me here when I crumbled into a panic attack, and calmed me down even if they were scared to death too. They could handle it.
I looked at the clock. It's been ten minutes.
Ten minutes is a lot. The area was big, but considering the chaos in the Center, maybe they ran into closed roads and had to take other paths? Or there might be dangerous paths which they had to cross carefully. It could also be that they had already found help and were on their way back to me.
I looked at the clock. Six more minutes.
Maybe they're going really slow, or forgot the way back.
Or they fell and got hurt. Or the fire got them. Or the authorities locked them instead of helping them. Oh my god.
Five minutes later, I lost against my anxiety. I stood up and reopened the doors, this time not finding my friends at the other side.
There were puddles of water filling the cracks on the floor, and the wind blew tenderly now. It was as if time had sped up hundreds of years, to an era where everything was left useless due to the passing of the elements through the seasons.
I gave my first steps with great caution, fearing that any small movement would make the world lose control again, only the wind and the running water from the pipes could be heard. I could see, at the distance, the hallway from where Abril and me had got out initially, now with half its roof colapsed on the entrance. Not going back inside had been a good idea.
After taking a peek at the destroyed forecourt, I noticed that there only seemed to be two ways free of fire and debree from the buildings. One of them appeared to go to the central building and the other one looked like it lead to the outside of the Center. I thought this last one was the most logical; a good place to start looking. I ran all the way, splashing my school uniform everytime I stepped on the dirty puddles that had flooded certain areas of the Center. My black short would survive, but my white tee would be ruined when I finally escaped from this place.
Sadly, I'll have to get another pair if the stains don't come out, but I guess it's part of the job.
The entrance opened to a long hallway, much more larger that I expected, but very brightly lit by huge arched windows; very similar to the tunnel carved inside that big branch at the previous planet. It was also very tall and wide, about nineteen foot each.
"Hello?!" I called, hoping to hear my friend's voices, "Abril?! Jolly?!"
Silence. I went forward, peeping out the windows. I could see there was a lower floor where there was more facilities in bad shape, apart from being able to distinguish the end of the Center. There was a huge wall surrounding the place, its color matched that of the sky, perhaps a bit darker.
I began walking through the hall with a little more speed, and eventually found that this hallway connected to many other tunnels, some descending into the lower floor while others kept extending in the current one, where I was, and I pictured this as one of the main passages.
By the time I reached the half of the corridor, the windows, one aligned one right next to the other, began to scarce, gradually obscuring the path.
Suddenly, a shiver ran through my spine, I felt observed and stopped immediately to turn around. There was no one. Anxious, I listen attentively and paid attention, waiting to hear steps or voices, yet nothing but the soft whistle of the wind could be heard. Without really wanting to take my eyes off the path, I forced myself to go on, remembering I still had to find my friends.
As I got closer to what I could guarantee was the end of the hallway, the peripheral branches duplicated, the windows decreased in quantity, and the area began looking more casual. Paintings, blackboards, decorations and doors to rooms like bathrooms, dormitories, offices and kitchens were appearing on the way. The lights flickered grimly and pretty much everything in there was a mess or simply broken, with their remains scattered on the floor. Surely, many of the workers saw the facilities as a second home.
Unfortunately, everything was quiet; no sign of any living being. When I checked my phone, I noticed I had spent other ten minutes looking for my friends—And I hadn't even find them yet.
Just when I felt my anxiety trying to take over again, I caught a glimpse of a double dark metal door at the end of the hallway.
I approached it and tried to open it, with no success. I spotted an electronic pad at its right side, where one could introduce either a code or a circular key. Luckily and unluckily for me, it was intact. I could just pass by and search other hallways, but the size of this gate made me wonder if I wouldn't be having before me the very entrance to the interior of the mountain. So, I could either get hold of the code, or get the key, what was I most likely to find in that temporarily desolated place?
The offices were my first choice, as it was more likely that a high-ranking officer could have dropped it. One of the electric doors that lead to an office was half opened, jammed with a desk on the ground that wouldn't allow it to close, so I jumped inside. The biggest issue was searching among the complete devastation that was left; crumpled papers covering the floor, fallen chairs, damaged mechanical tools and a whole bunch of keys of different forms and sizes. The place had a ghostly and shady aspect, and sent another shiver down my spine.
Damn, is this really happening to me? I thought, miserable, Who could have thought that such a mess could be done in such little time?
I took the first handful of keys that I saw on top of a chest of drawers, and headed back to the double door, resolved on trying all the keys that had a similar form. Of about thirty keys, I was lucky enough to find the correct one by the twelfth attempt. The pad shined blue and there was a click sound coming from the door. Excited, I went and successfully opened it. I received the outside light; two small suns that were starting to disappear behind of a seemingly infinite desert. A winding path crossed the mountain was on the other side of the doors, a narrow bridge that acted as a highway and went all the way to the desert, a few yards below. I stepped outside, amazed at the view.
This is definitively not the way to the city, I thought, annoyed.
I got closer to the edge, they had some blocks of about four miserable inches as an apparent 'security measure', and I peered over to see the rest of the path; the highway was very steep and with highly dangerous curves, so much that, if I jumped from the edge right now, I could land on another section of the road some six hundred foot below. Whoever designed this should definitively be fired. On the other hand, given that this path ended at the desert, maybe it was some kind of strategy to keep away the even more dangerous and giant beetles that inhabited this world.
Whatever the reason, my friends were clearly not here, nor the city we were looking for.
Frowning, I turned back, cursing. Once inside, it took me three steps to realize that two persons were blocking me, about eight foot away from me. My heart sank.
"What?" I let out, my body trembling, "How...?"
"Because I brought you here," one of them answered.
It was the silver-haired boy from the last planet, and next to him was the boy who had been closing the portal. The first one looked at me with disapproval and irritation, and the second one seemed nervous, but was trying to be seen as severe.
"And I found you," added the second one, hastily.
Brought me here? Found me? I noticed how weird those statements sounded, although one more than the other, Perhaps the younger boy was the one spying on me?
The redhead nodded, to my surprise.
"Yeah, it was me," he replied to my non-spoken question.
My eyes widened, and the silver-haired boy shot him a hard look that made the redhead jump.
He answered my question. He answered the question I made in my mind. Then, my brain immediately connected everything, and I understood why they had decided not to let me go at the previous planet, right after I thought about letting the officers know about them the moment I left. They could read my mind. How? How was this even possible? Only pastirs could pull that stunt, human beings could not... should not be able to. And how had they found me? How could they close the doors without even touching them? How were they closing the portals? How did they traveled to this world so fast? How had they 'brought me' here? Why were they wandering around the Center's mess on both planets so carelessly? Why were the rebels entrusting such an important and dangerous task to mere teenagers? To kids...
I stepped back, as my mind formulated its answer.
It was because they were not regular humans.
Apparently they followed my train of thought, since I saw their expressions change as I got closer to my conclusion. The redhead, Alan, glanced at his partner, quite worried.
"She does know too much," he said, his partner replied with a heavy sigh, "Seth? Should we...?"
"I'll do it," this Seth looked at me, and he seemed to be in pain.
I stepped back even more. I could feel the danger, my heart was starting to speed up its rythm, my hair standing on the nape of my neck. They were going to hurt me, I knew it.
"Are you sure?" Alan stared at me, and I though I saw my own fear echoing in his eyes.
Seth didn't reply, he just started walking hesitantly towards me, but his intentions were clear when our eyes meet. Oh no. I tried running away, telling myself that I had a better chance of surviving in the desert; at least there I knew what the beetles were capable of, which was more than I could say from these boys. However, I ran into an invisible wall. It was only at my sides, like a narrow corridor that connected me and Seth, who was now much closer.
I kept backing away from him, but eventually reached the edges of the road. Behind Seth, Alan looked horrified, but didn't try to help me. Anxiety began to take hold of my muscles, to cloud my judgment, to crush my lungs and difficult my breathing. When Seth was about sixteen inches away from me, I tried to defend myself, tried to push or hit him, but he caught both of my arms and immobilized them between us with no effort at all. No matter how hard I pulled and fought back, I didn't even see him struggle to keep everything under his control.
Oh no. No, no, no.
"Alan, go back to Leo," he ordered his partner, "You don't have to be here to see it,"
There was a brief silence, where me and Seth only stared at each other. I was dead still, frightened because I knew what was coming, I knew what he was planning on doing. Even so, I could see the hesitation in his eyes, as if he himself wasn't sure about what he should do, as if he was scared. No. No, it was more as if he knew what he was supposed to do, but resisted the idea.
"But-"
"Alan, just leave," he cut him hastily, tension was tangible now.
"Fine," the redhead answered, after a few seconds. Seth slightly tilted his head in the direction of his partner, "We'll see you there,"
My captor nodded, and I assumed his buddy left, since I noticed how Seth's attention went back to me. Now, this was my chance.
"Don't. Don't do this," I pleaded, trying not to break under the crescent anxiety that was eating me, "You don't have to do this."
"Why couldn't you stay away?" he scolded me with a weak voice, "Why did you have to meddle in this and want to turn us in?"
"I'm not going to the police," I tried, desperate, "I'll forget this."
"That's not enough, I heard you before. I know what you'll do."
"Listen, there has to be another way,"
"This is the way they instructed us to take, if this ever happened."
Those goddamn rebels.
"You're not their slave," I tried to reason with him, "Don't let them brainwash you."
And that was not my best reply, as shortly after that, he frowned. I got carried away by my hate to the rebels and ended up blowing my chance to make it out of this alive. Seth closed his eyes.
No, no, no, no, no.
Then, he pushed me.
I felt the wind pass next to me at full speed as I fell, and cursed at everything that happened to me during the day. I didn't have the so mentioned moment in which all of my memories came back to me, but there was one recent event that did popped up in my head. I recalled my conversation with Maria Andrea and Ana from yesterday, about what humans would be capable of doing if there was no fear of death, and now it all seemed so stupid. Fearing death had certainly been a limitation, but launching myself to it had only brought me exactly that: death. I was going to die for trying to be brave, and it frustrated me to think that all of that could've been avoided if only I had stayed inside that stupid cleaning basement. No, if I had not tried to help anyone at the previous planet, I would not have found out the truth that was now claiming my life.
Was this the point of being a hero? Throwing away your life? Shit, how could I've been so foolish and reckless?Why did I had to mix myself, as Seth said, instead of staying away? It wasn't even like I had achieved anything with my actions so as to be proud of them, nothing but trouble... and death. If only I could restart my day, I wouldn't blast my nose in matters that were not mine, so I would avoid having this miserable end.
If only I could redo all of it...
...
Hah. Who am I trying to deceive, now that my life is ending?
One cannot betray one's own justice, no matter the consequences it carries. If the day were to restart, I'll do it all again: I'd face the rebels, I'd try to help victims of the disaster, and would have left my shelter searching for my friends to make sure they were ok. Yes, all of that had been for nothing, and yet, I'd do it all again. I was definitively trying to die.
Seth never opened his eyes, he simply turned his back on me and disappeared.
I felt a real sharp pain that traveled through every fiber in my body when I landed against the floor, but it lasted a single second, since darkness got hold of me an instant later.
That is how I died.
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