Status: Currently under development. Don't expect frequent updates; I am a fast typer, just a slow idea former.

Freedom for All

Chapter 1; A New Type of Life

I can still hear the sirens and the gunfire, but they’re faint now. Crouched in a tiny crevice in some dark alley, I have my knees pulled up to my chin, shivering from the piercing cold. Even with my jacket, it still chills me to the bone.
A door opens somewhere, and I hear yelling, but it doesn’t sound like one of the Enforcers or the Civil Fed. Officers.
'Probably just an angry couple.'
The yelling gets louder before it’s cut off with a door slamming, the yelling being replaced with footsteps. Whoever it was started to pass by me, but stops in front of me. Keeping my head down, I stare at their feet, pulling my legs up closer, shivering more from fear than from the cold.
Softly, whoever it was started speaking. “Hey, girl; are you okay? You look cold.”
I looked up, still shivering, and nodded. It was a young guy, probably about twenty, who looked back at me. He shook his head, smirking. “You don’t look okay. You look hurt and lost.”
Before I could say anything, he sat down next to me, taking his jacket off. “Here; you need this more than I do.” He draped it across my shoulders, patting my head like I was some lost puppy.
'I guess I am a lost puppy; I have no home, no food; no one to care for me.'
Leaning his head back against the wall, he occasionally glanced at me, holding one of his knees up to rest his arms on. When he did glance at me, he had a weird, observing look in his eye. After a few minutes of silence, he cleared his throat, turning towards me. “So; what exactly are you doing here? It’s dangerous to be out in a place like this by yourself.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but shook my head, putting my chin back onto my knees. He frowned, sliding closer to me, and smiled warmly. “Come on; you may have just met me, but I’m not here to hurt you. If I was, don’t you think I would’ve already? I want to help.”
He put his hand on my shoulder, still smiling, so I finally gave in. “My complex was raided; everyone other than me is probably dead.”
His eyes widened, and his smile turned to a frown. “Oh…you poor thing. I’m so sorry.” He pulled me into a quick, unexpected hug. Instead of pushing him away, I let him hug me, but I didn’t return the gesture.
Minutes passed and he didn’t loosen his hold, until finally he let me go awkwardly, sitting back down against the wall. “Sorry…”
I smiled slightly, shaking my head. “It’s fine. Don’t apologize.”
After his awkward hug, he slid even closer to me than before, our shoulders almost touching. “How did you get away? I’ve never heard of anyone escaping a raid like that.” He waited for me to speak, but quickly added after a moment: “If you don’t mind talking about it, that is.”
I shook my head. “It’s fine, I’m okay with talking about it.” I paused, staring at the ground before continuing. “At first, I thought that CF was raiding another complex, since I heard squad cars passing mine, but when I looked out my window, they were lining the streets, all of them armed with guns. Before they could get to an outside door, they were attacked by rebels; with the rebels starting out with the upper hand.”
Nodding, he kept his mouth closed, staring directly at me while I talked about what happened. One of his hands was resting on my knee, the other on top of that hand, and he was awkwardly close to me.
Shifting my leg uncomfortably, I continued. “After that, whole squads of Enforcers pulled up, killing anything that moved in their path. They broke into my complex and started killing everyone.”
He quickly interrupted me. “How did you get away, though?”
“I was able to make it to the roof before they made it to my floor. Even though they still saw me, I was able to jump down into an alley.”
His eyes widened. “You jumped off of a building?” He chuckled slightly, “Anyone but me would call you crazy for that. Then again, anyone other than me wouldn’t have sat here with you and listened to you.” Checking his watch, he pushed himself to his feet, and held his hand down to me. “Why don’t we continue this inside? I know you don’t like being an ice cube, and neither do I.”
I smiled slightly, taking his hand, and let him pull me to my feet. He put his arm around me and led me back to a closed door, opening it slowly. “You go in first. My room is on this floor, to your left. Just look for room twenty and make yourself comfortable; I’ll be there in a minute.”
He drew his arm away from me almost reluctantly and slid his jacket off of my shoulders, slipping it on. I smiled at him and started down the hall.
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This will probably be the only time I get a chapter for this out the day after the previous chapter. I don't have much inspiration from outside sources for this, so I have to do a lot of thinking and compromising for the story to actually develop, and it takes me a while to go from that to actually typing it. Just bear with me, people; the rest will get here.