Breaking Their Hold

“We’re just about an hour or two from the place we’re meeting up with David now,” Pierre told Mel later the next day as they continued walking. It was near dusk; Pierre had chosen to rest during the day so that they could walk during the night. It was safer, he told her.

The Government was bound to be guarding the Canadian border closely now, he warned her, and especially since she’d escaped from the Hospital and it had been so long since she’d last been spotted. He didn’t want to risk ruining everything they were trying to accomplish, and especially not since they were so close to achieving what they had set out to do.

It was so hard for her to imagine that it had already been nearly seven months since she’d set out. She’d seen the seasons change as they’d walked cross country. She’d met so many people she had never thought she’d encounter; people she’d always been fed horror stories and terrifying tales about.

For years in Haverly, she’d been told that the Independents were dangerous, barbaric people who would kill any outsiders on sight alone. But it had turned out that it was all just a lie; just another one of thousands of lies that the Government had brainwashed people with in order to achieve the dictator state of Government that they were currently in.

“Is David going to be there, or are we waiting for him?” She asked him as they walked slowly. She knew that while they were safe from the Government right now for the most part, there were still natural predators out and about; predators like mountain lions and perhaps a timber wolf or two. She knew it was dangerous where they were now, and she didn’t feel like risking running in to them.

“I’m not sure. I’m almost sure he’ll be there, since that’s how it’s always been, but I can’t be sure, Mel. It’s been about a year since I last saw him and I know that the Government’s keeping a close eye on travelers between the States and Canada. If anybody looks suspicious, they take them to Headquarters at the Capitol. He wouldn’t risk that,” he explained to her.

Mel nodded and the comfortable silence set over the two of them again.

She allowed her thoughts to travel back to Jimmy as they walked quietly along, the only sound being the rustling prairie grass along their legs and the occasional long hoot of winter owls.

She couldn’t think of him being dead. Even though he’d spent the majority of his life as a ward of the State, he had been so full of life; so rebellious and so strong. He’d held on to life with everything he’d ever had. He’d held on; he’d never let go and there had never been one single day that Mel had ever seen Jimmy be anything but alive. To think of him being dead; paler than he already was by nature and without a pulse just wasn’t possible.

“Don’t worry about him right now,” she heard Pierre warn her, pulling her out of her thoughts. “It’ll distract you. We can’t afford that this close to the finish line.”

Mel nodded, although it bothered her a little that Pierre didn’t want her thinking of Jimmy at the moment. She knew that he was focused on getting her to Canada safely, and that he could if she’d let him. But he had to understand that she couldn’t just flip her emotions on and off like a light switch, right? He had to know by now that she simply wasn’t capable of turning off her emotions like that.

Every night, she dreamed about Jimmy. She dreamed about the life they could have had with one another if they’d lived anywhere else but America while they’d been growing up. She dreamed about the life they had lived; the pain they’d felt and would continue to feel unless Schlagger was stopped in his tracks.

The silence now seamed deafening upon Mel’s ears as they walked closer and closer to the place that Pierre was taking them to. Each second seemed more suspenseful than the previous; she knew that with every footstep forward, she was coming closer and closer to the end of everything she’d been working towards for over a half a year.

Finally, Pierre stopped her, raising his hand to stop her in her tracks.

“Get down now,” he hissed under his breath. “On your belly. Don’t move; don’t hardly breathe.”

“What’s going—” She started, though she stopped herself when she saw a helicopter’s lights ahead of them. It wasn’t too far away, and it was flashing spot lights down on the prairie. She immediately did as Pierre had told her to do, letting him throw the camouflage net he’d made of dried grass a few nights before over her. He laid on his stomach as well, using the grass already around him to conceal himself as well.

The helicopter became louder as it came closer and closer. The sound was so loud; so frightening to Mel. All her life, the only thing she’d ever known helicopters to be capable of was hauling dead bodies out of the Hospital when there became too many for the morgue to handle. Either that, or they’d taken the Black Listed prisoners out of hospitals and to a more frightening place; a place that made Haverly feel like a comfortable home in comparison.

The helicopter didn’t leave as she’d thought it would. Instead, it began landing. She knew that it was going to draw attention closer to where they were, and for a split second, her heart stopped when she realized that within the next few minutes, everything could end. She could be shot; Pierre could as well, and just like that, everything would be over.

“Pierre!”

It was a crystal clear voice that called out; a voice that sounded male, even though it was somewhat cut off over the roar of the helicopter’s continuously spinning blades. Pierre didn’t move an inch; neither did Mel. How could she know if this was a trap, after all? How would Pierre know? She hadn’t thought about this. The question was, had Pierre?

“Agent 7846! This is Agent 3791!”

Immediately, Pierre sat up, turning to face Mel. A huge grin was on his face, and he was more than happy.

“This is it, Mel,” he smirked at her as he moved her so that she was on her feet. “Are you ready for everything to be over?”

“What do you mean?” She asked him, fear in her eyes as he led her closer to where the man who’d been calling out Pierre’s name was.

“This is the end for everything, and a start to a new beginning. Mel, this helicopter is taking us to Canada. And that means we’re almost there,” he grinned at her before he smirked. “Now, let’s get you over to that helicopter and in the air before one of the Government officials in the area notices something’s off.”