Caught in the Crossfire

Smoke billowed around Wren’s face, causing her vision to blur. It was hard to see through all of the death and destruction, but she had to find the others. More specifically, she had to find Louis. She had lost him somewhere during all of the commotion and she knew they’d work a thousand times better as a team than they ever would apart.

Bringing her hand to her face, she shielded her eyes from enough of the smoke to see a couple hundred feet in front of her. Louis was the first thing she spotted. He was on the other side of the square, hunched over a woman who was surrounded by a pool of blood. Of course, leave it to Louis to try to help strangers instead of trying to catch the bad guy.

At that point, Wren had no idea who they were trying to capture. She hadn’t caught sight of who had planted the bomb and had barely picked up whatever transmission Penelope had sent her about it. The only thing that she knew at that moment was that Louis could use her help.

She took off running in his direction, her arms swaying at her sides. Injured people covered most of the area, and where there wasn’t a body there was debris. It was nothing short of tragic and it took everything Wren had just to block it out.

Her hand fell to Louis’s shoulder the second she reached him, and he looked up at her.

“Wren,” he whispered, almost amazed that she had made it. He paused for a moment with a soft glint in his eyes before speaking again. “Can you help me?”

Wren gave him a soft smile then nodded her head, moving her hand to the woman’s leg to apply pressure to her bleeding wound. She didn’t know why Louis had picked this woman to save out of the hundreds lying around him, but she was lucky.

After a moment of Louis fiddling around with his hands, he turned to the woman, giving her a reassuring smile and spoke. “You’re going to be alright. I’ve got to go now, but the medics will be here any minute.”

The woman had a terrified look in her eyes, and it was obvious that she didn’t want Louis to leave. She slowly nodded her head, and the moment she did, Louis stood up, standing face-to-face with Wren.

“I think we should help the others,” Wren said, blinking her eyes quickly.

Louis nodded. “Where are they?”

“I’m not sure. Techie –”

Before Wren could finish her sentence, a loud crash came behind them, toward the direction of the large clock tower. What was left of the structure was slowly collapsing, crashing to the ground in bits and pieces. Bricks and blocks of concrete fell from the sky like meteors and pummeled the people below.

Everyone had their arms in the air, attempting to shield themselves from the crash, but it was useless. They were being toppled by the remnants of the tower.

All Louis and Wren could do was stand in shock, watching the world burn around them. It took a moment for Louis to snap himself out of it, and when he did, he shook Wren’s arm.

“Wren,” he said, trying to blow through the smoke that clouded her brain. “Wren.”

She came back down to earth slowly, meeting Louis’s eyes when she did. He looked just as worried as she did, and at the same time, they looked back out at the destruction in front of them. They had to do something. They knew they did.

Off in the distance, Wren spotted a small girl whose body was wracked with sobs. She seemed so scared and just utterly terrified that Wren knew she had to help her.

Leaving Louis behind, Wren darted forward, running as quickly as she could towards the girl. She heard Louis screaming behind her, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. She was flooded with adrenaline and all she could think about was getting to the girl.

Finally, she heard Louis behind her, shouting. “Wren, stop! It’s not safe!”

She heard him, but she didn’t listen to him. She just kept running. She could turn back as soon as she got to the girl. After she scooped the girl into her arms, she could carry her to safety and be back with Louis.

Suddenly, the smoke grew thicker and the rubble tumbled down at an increased speed. It seemed like there was more of it crashing around them and it felt like it was never going to stop.

Wren was just a few feet from the girl when it hit her. It was a block no larger than her chest, but it hit her in the perfectly wrong place. She barely felt a thing, but suddenly she was consumed by complete and total blackness.

She didn’t hear Louis screaming behind her to come back to him. She didn’t feel him pulling her to safety, behind the confines of a small building. She didn’t feel him shaking her body, begging her to wake up.

All she felt was death.