No Time To Bleed

Rodney’s hands dug into his father’s suit pocket, taking out a flash drive and clutching it in between his fingers.

“Rodney…” I gasped.

His stern eyes looked up to us, then to the guards. “Let them go. They’re leaving with me.”

The guards still held their strongholds.

“I said let them go! I just shot a man and I am prepared to shoot more!” His voice shook the room and all the guards released their grips. “We’re getting out of here. Come on.”

I stumbled over to Rodney as he jumped off the stage, the solid line of guards still holding their place.

“R-rodney, you just shot your dad.” I stammered.

“I think the correct term would be ‘killed’. I killed my father.”

I stepped before him, just staring at his eyes that avoided me. Then, they dropped onto my gaze. “Why? Why do it for us?”

“Because I had to end it.” He sniffled. “I had to do all of this because he broke my heart and he never cared. And he was wrong. He had to know.”

And despite my entire aching body, I felt for him. I felt for him completely. Rodney was a boy I could completely understand.

“Let’s go. We need to get out of here.”

Rodney led us down a stretching hallway, light shining from great windows ahead. Everyone’s footsteps followed behind and complete silence overtook everyone. Alex’s hand slipped into mine’s once more.

We cleared the airport and out into the searing sun of the outside.

“We’re taking a helicopter out. It’s more portable then the other forms of transportation.” Rodney declared.

“But, who’s going to fly?” I asked.

Rodney stopped, turning to everyone behind me, and pointed. “She is. I’ve actually been quite impressed with your record.”

Cece’s eyebrows rose and a blush hit her cheeks. Ashton was lagging heavily and Ashley held onto him for dear life.

“I think we need to get wherever we’re going quickly. Something’s wrong…”

Rodney’s eyes widened, looking behind us. “I think we need to move right now!”

Rodney’s hand dug into mine and screeches dug into the air. More of those things were escaping the building. And once again, we were running for our lives, absolutely scaling the cooking cement to a helicopter yards and yards away.

“Jasmine! Jasmine!” Alex’s voice was haggard and shallow, seeming so near defeat.

I turned around desperately, eyes searching him over as he was gasping. The two of us had stopped our run completely.

“What?! What’s wrong?”

A strong look overtook his eyes. “I need to do this.”

His hands reached for the side of my face, pulling me in and our lips collided. The sweet salt and blood mixed in, fogging our heads, and levitating the ground from beneath our feet. The air filled with sweet smoke and time froze.

It was just me and him and our lips colliding, rocking the Earth with nothing to stop us. Passion coursed and slammed through our veins. Our hearts became in sync.

I had him and he had me.

We pulled apart and the sweetest of smiles on his battered face. “Let’s go.”

Everyone lodged their way into the gray stained helicopter, blades twenty feed wide above the structure. Kyle, Clarissa, and Jesse shot off bullets from the guns of guards behind us.
Ashley helped Ashton and Max in. Cece climbed into the pilot’s area and Rodney followed.

Within seconds we were all climbed in and doors prepared to shut. Cece worked the blades as they sliced into the air, speaking orders into her microphone.

“Code 19 to Meslin Base. Code 19 to Meslin Base. We have 9 civilians approaching! Medical assistance needed! Medical assistance needed!”

My hands gripped onto the door as I screamed out over the working blades. “You guys have to get in!”

A zombie jumped onto Clarissa and her horrible shouts filled the air. “GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME!”

Jesse sent one last dealing bullet and pulled her to her feet. Kyle and Jesse ran into the helicopter first. My hand flew out, flailing for Clarissa. She was still turned away from me as she looked down to something.

“Clarissa, get in! Get in!” The shouting blades were whipping my hair and stinging my eyes. “GET IN!”

Her figure moved to look in my direction and then, I saw it. The teeth marks caved deep into her forearm and the blood dripping down.

Tears filled her eyes as her words trembled. “Just tell William I love him.”

Then, the helicopter began to lift into the air and I watched those things devour her.

“Oh my God.” The doors closed before my face and all ten of us were inside.

Silence filled the helicopter, all except for Ashton’s slow breathing and the whine of the pilot’s radio. I turned to Alex and the tears were streaming down his cheeks.

We all knew Clarissa was dead, beyond dead.

“Jasmine?” Rodney’s voice said from the front and with every second, the helicopter lifted higher and higher into the air. He turned around from the front pit and dropped something into my hands. “That’s all you’ll ever need to take down Lexicon. Everything.”

And it wasn’t that on my mind as we hovered farther and farther to safety.

It was the mass of bodies just off the highway’s landing strips, all in piles, all dead, all had attempted to escape the airport, and all filled with the bullets of Lexicon guards.

Every single person who had tried to escape was dead.

Everyone except for us.