Pride, Freedom, and Humanity

“Then yes, I could use your help.”

“Chloe! Here,” Ner and Tod brought four large branches and set them beside me.

“Great job, Guys.” I placed the two shortest branches on each side of his leg then began taking
off my shirt.

“Whoa, wait, what are you doing?” Shawn stopped me.

“Using my shirt to tie the branches onto your leg.”

“No, here. Use mine.” He quickly unbuckled his vest then took his shirt off and handed it to me.

I was so shocked at what he did, but I couldn’t freeze up. We were in a hurry. I took his knife
and cut his shirt up into long pieces then looked at Ner.

“You are stronger. Tie one at his ankle, knee and thigh.” I handed another piece to Shawn. “Put
this in your mouth so you don’t yell or bite your tongue.”

Shawn shoved it into his mouth then nodded at Ner. Ner tied the cloth around his leg as tight as
he could, making sure his leg wouldn’t be able to move. Shawn’s body tightened and his muscles
bulged at the pain. His abs were tightened and his face was beginning to turn red. His blue eyes were
watering and droplets of sweat beaded down his hair.

“Okay, I’m done. Tod, check and see if we are clear.” Ner sat back and let out a sigh of relief.

Shawn spit out the rag then let out a staggered breath. “That really hurt.”

“Brother, coast is clear. We need to move now though. They are back tracking and they
released the mutts.”

“The mutts?” I asked.

“The dogs,” Shawn and Ner both said.

“Aw, they have dogs?” I hadn’t seen one in years.

“Not exactly…” Shawn explained, “Newborn in a way made his own version of dogs. They are
basically robots. They eat, sleep and hunt. That’s all.”

“He killed dogs?”

“Yeah pretty much. There aren’t many left.”

“Yeah, it’s sad. We really need to go now.” Ner stood up then helped Shawn to his feet.

I grabbed the two extra branches then Tod got on the other side of Shawn and we moved as
fast as we could.

Shawn hopped on one foot while Tod and Ner pulled him along. Shortly after we had gotten
away, the sound of barking filled our ears.

“Come on! We are almost there!” Ner groaned with the weight of Shawn.

We slowed to a stop when we came to a hiding place right in front of the waterfall. Ner and Tod
set Shawn down then laid down to catch their breath.

We didn’t have much time. “I’ll go get help. You guys stay here, okay?” I said.

“No, it’s too dangerous.” Ner argued.

I didn’t care. I dropped the two branches and booked it for the waterfall. I walked along the
rocky wall as quickly as I could and emerged into the cave with wide eyes staring at me.

“What’s going on?” James ran toward me. He could sense the urgency.

“They are onto us. We found a survivor and took him—“

“Shh!” James covered my mouth the pointed out the water and at the three dogs sniffing around
in the open field. Everything Shawn had explained was right. They had no fur covering their body and
their eyes were red. Scars covered the bodies of every dog, and their muscles bulged in all places.

I pulled James hand down then pointed at the bush. “They are there,” I whispered.

He groaned then pulled out a knife and handed it to me. “The dogs are alone which means the
guards aren’t going to be anywhere near here. Gunner! Grab a knife and come on. We have some
dogs to hunt.”

A small man came to us with a large hunting knife in his hand. Just like everyone else, he was
completely covered in black from head to toe.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, his voice as stone cold as his eyes.

“Ner and Tod are in trouble.”

He nodded then they both crept out along the other side of the cave. All I could hear was the
rushing water as we moved along the side and ran around the lake.

“Chloe,” James called me over, “Don’t let the dogs bark.” Then he was off at a dead sprint
followed closely by Gunner.

I ran after them as they closed in on the dogs. They didn’t even see it coming. James and
Gunner tackled a dog each on their own, which left me alone with one.

The dog had turned and jumped at me before I got to it. It snarled and snapped at me with its
saliva spewing all over me. Its front dagger-like claws dug into my chest. I desperately tried to rip it
away, but it had no fur to grab hold of. When I saw its eyes I was overwhelmed in fear. These
weren’t robots anymore. They were dogs trained to be killing machines.

I placed my forearm underneath its neck to keep its snapping jaw from biting me. I used my
other hand to grab the knife beside me and plunged it repeatedly into the animal’s side.

It screeched in pain and slowly stopped moving. Its lifeless body fell onto me, pinning me to the
ground. Instantly the breath I had been holding was pushed out and I felt light headed.

“Are you okay?” James shoved the beast off me. I looked up at him to see a fresh new scratch
that went along his face.

“Yes, are you?” I sat up and looked around. “Where’s Gunner?”

James helped me to my feet then pulled me along. “Helping the others.”

I nodded. I hadn’t realized till now that my shirt was completely torn and I was bleeding all
over. My entire body pulsated as we walked back to the cave.

When I knew I was safe inside, I sat down and leaned against a rock that was away from
everyone else. I closed my eyes and groaned at how tired I was. This had surely been one of the
longest days I had ever had in my life.

“Rough day?” Ner sat beside me.

“You could say that,” I laughed nervously.

“Want a drink?” He offered his flask.

“I’d rather not drink until after all of this. How’s Shawn doing?” I couldn’t shake him from my
head.

“Doc says that it’s pretty bad, but in a couple months it should be good enough to at least walk
around with a limp. He doesn’t know if it will completely heal correctly though.” Ner took a swig of his
liquor.

“It could’ve been worse I guess.”

“Yeah, it could’ve been. Why’d you kill that dog? He stared at me for an answer.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “It was going to kill you guys.”

“It was innocent though. You went against your belief.” He pointed out.

“Yeah. I guess it did.” I shrugged.

“You should’ve seen Shawn when you took that dog on. He was all worried and begging us to
help you.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why didn’t you?”

“Only the strong will survive out here, Chloe.” With that said he stood up. “By the way, Aaron
wanted to talk to you.” Then he left.

I groaned then stood up. My legs shook beneath me as I trudged over to where Aaron and
Shawn were both resting.

Shawn was the first to notice me and he patted a seat next to me. His smile was warm and
inviting so I did.

“You made it,” He said.

“Well yeah. Why wouldn’t I?” I laughed.

“Those guys…the dogs. I saw one attack you, but Ner told me that you could handle it. If it
weren’t for this leg, I would’ve been there.” He looked down in shame.

“Nah, I made that dog my bitch.”

He stared at me for a second then we burst out laughing. We were laughing so hard that my
stomach was beginning to burn.

“Chloe?” I heard Aaron say.

My laughing ceased and I looked at him. His dark brown hair was matted down to his head in
sweat, his skin was as pale as a ghost and his deep brown eyes were dull. Overall he looked like shit.

“Come closer,” he pulled my shirt toward him.

I leaned down so that my ear was close to his mouth. “You are still in danger.” He whispered in
a staggered voice. “Don’t trust Ner and be careful.”

My eyes widened. “Why did you send me to him then?”

“He knows how important you are to me.”

“Why am I important to you?”

“You mean you don’t remember me?” He looked hurt.

“You were the doctor who—“

“Before that. Before all of this.”

I raised an eyebrow. What was he talking about? I had never met him before in my life.

“Miss, he needs to rest so I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” The doctor appeared behind
me.

“Yes, of course.” I pulled away then returned to Shawn and his questioning face. “What?”

“What was that about?” He asked.

I shrugged, “He said I knew him before all of this, but I don’t remember him.”

“Chloe…Sweet Jesus, are you THE Chloe?” He questioned.

“What are you talking about?”

“Chloe Waters. Girl who had to have her memory wiped and replaced with a false one because
her dad kept looking for her!”

“Never heard of her…” I mumbled.

“Her dad was head of the resistance. That’s why they took her. How long have you been in the
prison?” He questioned as if he had a point.

“When it all started, so about three years.”

Shawn’s mouth dropped and he froze. “You mean you think this has only been going on for
three years?”

“No…I’m saying that I know that for a fact.” I crossed my arms to hide my nervousness.

“Chloe…it’s been over a decade…”