Coroniam City

I sped down the road, trying to go as fast as possible without the risk of raising any suspicion. I didn't want to slow down because there was a possibility that Mac had a vehicle of his own or at least, he or my father could hot wire one and follow me. I hoped that my father wasn't that hellbent on killing me but after he pointed a gun at my head, it was hard to know what he might do. I reached the familiar outskirts of downtown Coroniam City where crumbling buildings towered over in an almost eerie way. That's when two guards came out from the shadows and ordered me to stop.

One guard walked up to the door while the other stood a few feet behind with his gun pointed at my head. The guard tapped on the window and shined a flashlight in my face. I lowered my head and tried to hide the gashes on my arm as best I could by leaning against the door as I rolled the window down. Immediately, the guard leaned in to peer over me and see if anyone else might be in the car and I heard his heartbeat. I inhaled his sent, a mixture of blood and sweat, and had to clench my fist to keep from attacking him.

"What's your business in the city tonight, ma'am?" I wanted to reach out and grab his throat but instead, I smiled, making sure not to show my teeth.

"I'm actually trying to find my father, he said to meet him at some building - I think it was Heisman Tower."

Heisman Tower was a well known building in Coroniam City, not only the tallest and full of the richest, most powerful but it also happened to be in the center of everything. I was hoping that, upon the mention of Heisman Tower, they would let me go but when he didn't react, I quickly spoke up again.

"I just arrived back in Coroniam from Thessia this morning and it seems I've forgotten where everything is and got turned around somewhere," I said. I laughed to myself but the guard didn't seem amused.

"Just arrived, huh?" The second guard piped in. He nodded towards the first and, while stepping towards the truck, said, "check her number." My heart started to pound against my chest and a cold sweat had started to form on the back of my neck.

"Ma'am, if you could just show us the numbers given to you upon arrival," the first guard said. He was already reaching into the truck as he spoke.

In a panic, I grabbed hold of him and pulled his upper torso into the truck. Before he could react, I had sunk my teeth into his shoulder, ripping through his uniform. The taste of brownies filled my mouth again and I could feel my wounds starting to heal along my arms. I pushed the guard into the steering wheel and wiped his blood from my mouth.

The startled guards reached for their guns but they were shaky and uncertain and I was faster.

I slashed at the guard who was caught in the window and my nails cut through his throat. His blood spilled into my lap and he gasped for air as his life slipped away. The second guard had gathered his bearings and was aiming his gun at me and shouting orders for my surrender. From my position in the truck, I could see his body shake and smell the fear on him. I knew that there was a slight chance I might get away but then his gun went off.

I ducked underneath the now dead guard hanging from my window and managed to avoid the bullet which shattered the glass behind me. I shoved the door open and jumped out onto the street; the guard was quick with his aim and had his gun pointed towards me in a matter of seconds but I rolled under the truck. Hesitantly, he stepped closer to the truck.

"Come on out and I'll take you to the underground with the rest of your friends," he said. I knew he was lying, Coroniam guards shot first and asked questions later. I crawled towards the back of the truck and tried to find an escape.

I waited, listening to the crunch of gravel underneath his boot as he walked around the vehicle. I had planned to grab him and take him down so he'd lose his weapon and I could get away but he was smarter than he looked and stopped short of the tailgate. He crouched down, grabbed hold of my ankle and yanked me out before I could register what was happening. I turned onto my back and kicked at him furiously. My free foot made contact with his shoulder and sent him flying backwards. He landed on his back and seemed to have the wind knocked out of him, giving me enough time to stand.

I ran to the front of the truck and pulled the dead guard from my window. I jumped in, slammed the door shut, and started the engine. Before the second guard could stand, I sped past him but he fired a few shots and managed to hit one of my tires. The car made a sharp turn to the side and I slammed my foot against the breaks. Before it stopped, I climbed through the window and jumped out onto the street.

Not waiting for the guard to notice that I wasn't in the vehicle, I ran into the closest alleyway and headed further into the city.

Coroniam's alleyways were like most other major cities and gave way to trash and the homeless. Most of them kept their heads down as I ran past them, probably out of fear of what might happen if they brought attention to themselves. There were a few who shouted for the guards, hoping to make a quick buck if they helped capture me.

I was running so fast that I didn't see the elderly woman crossing in front of me. I ran straight into her and toppled to the ground. The woman gasped and cowered away from me but I didn't want to hurt her. I quickly helped her to her feet and started to apologize about running in her. She seemed harmless, covered in tattered clothing and coughing as if she might be sick but then, she pointed a shaky finger towards me and started to mutter something.

Steadily, her voice became louder and louder and she started to scream it at the top of her lungs. "Monster! Monster!"

I turned away from her and hurried off, hoping the guards might ignore the screams of an old beggar. Running through the alleys was like going through a maze, every other turn brought me to a brick wall and the guards a little closer. I headed down a long alley that seemed a bit more empty than the others. I ran fast, my footsteps barely making a sound as I cleared three buildings in half a second. It was dark in the alley and I was running so quickly that I almost didn't see the building towering in front of me.

I stopped just inches away from the brick wall and looked up hopelessly with my hands pressed against the brick. I could hear the guards stomping around behind me, checking dumpsters and piles of trash to make sure I hadn't tried to conceal myself. I turned to face the long path behind me, looking for any escape. With bolted doors and barred windows, none of the buildings offered any way out and I fell to the floor in despair.

I had come so far, freeing myself from my father and even a couple of guards, only to be trapped by Coroniam's trash ways.

I waited for the guards to come and get me, I knew they'd kill me but, after feeling my skin tear underneath my shirt, I felt like welcoming death. I heard a noise, sort of like a scuffle between people up ahead and knew they were close. I squinted, trying to see past my line of eyesight and expected guards to emerge out of the darkness but instead, a young woman with a large belly came shuffling down the alley. I could hear her sniffling, like she might be crying but I couldn't see her face.

"Excuse me," I said. She didn't look up. "Are you alright?"

The woman rubbed her belly and cried some more and for a second, I thought she might have been going into labor but I had to wonder why she would be in an alley instead of a hospital. I stood up as she came closer and for a moment, I forgot about the guards who were surely almost upon us, though it was eerily quiet behind the woman. I stepped towards her, keeping my distance so I wouldn't frighten her all while this feeling of being in a horror film crept up inside me. She moved her hands away from her stomach and started to pull on her frizzy hair while muttering to herself.

"Miss, are you alright?" I asked again.

"Have you seen my baby?" She asked. Her voice was raspy, probably from all of the crying she was doing. "She's supposed to be here already, have you seen her?"

I looked down at her stomach and then back at her. She was staring at me with black, soulless eyes and had blood smeared across her face. Suddenly, I knew why the guards hadn't found us yet. Uncertainly, I stepped back from the woman but then she opened her mouth. A spine chilling wail echoed through the alley as the woman started to yank out chunks of her hair. I quickly covered her mouth to keep her from giving us away but it was too late, I could hear more guards coming down the alley.

She tore my hand away from her mouth and pushed me up against a wall, screaming in anger. Her hand wrapped around my throat and and I immediately started to claw at her fingers, gasping for air. Her black eyes became small slits and I could hear a snarl coming from the back of her throat.

"Did you take my baby?"

"I don't... have your baby," I choked out, still trying to free my neck from her grasp. I tried to think fast, I needed to think fast because the woman's grip grew tighter and I was starting to see spots. "I can.. help you find her."

The woman let go immediately and stepped back to look at me. I gasped for air and looked down the alley. I could make out the shadows of a pack of guards heading towards us and I didn't know which would be safer; them or her. I looked towards the woman who seemed to be waiting for me to speak.

"Do you know Isaiah?" I asked.

"Does he have her?" She asked, stepping closer to me again. I reached my hands up to my neck in an attempt to protect it from her bony grasp. "He told me he didn't but he could be lying. Yes?"

"Yes," I said. I felt bad for lying to this woman who was obviously insane but she seemed to know Isaiah, or at least she thought she did. "We should go find him, do you know how to get into the subways?"

She didn't say anything. Instead, she walked up to the wall, staring at me with wicked eyes. She flashed me a quick, bloody smile before she jumped, shooting straight up as if she had been shot from a cannon. I stared in awe as she hit the side of the building, she skidded down a ways, sending pieces of debris flying down towards me but then she stopped. She looked down at me expectantly as if waiting for me to do what she had just done.

"How did you do that?" I asked. I could make out the guards shadows in the distance now, I didn't have a lot of time left.

"Jump," she replied.

I didn't have time to question her as the guards were closing in fast. I crouched down low and closed my eyes. Then, I pushed off the ground as hard as I could and went flying into the air. I closed in on the side of the wall and hit it hard, knocking the breath from me. I started to slide down and scrambled to find my footing. My nails grew longer, and sharper and almost instinctively, I dug them into the brick. I stopped sliding just below the woman and she smiled before beginning to climb up the wall. When I looked down, I could see the guards searching through the trash below us and was relieved when none of them looked upwards.

I followed the woman up the building, my nails digging into the brick as if it were nothing but dirt. Together, we reached the top of the building and the woman beckoned for me to follow her across the rooftop. She started to pick up speed and was running so fast that I thought she might fall off the roof but instead, just as she was about to reach the edge, she leaped into the air and jumped over to the next building. I did as she did, trusting that I could do the same things as her. I jumped as high as I had done before. I couldn't believe what we were doing - what I was doing. It was amazing, I was jumping so high and I thought, this must be what it feels like to fly.

We jumped over at least ten buildings before the woman suddenly stopped. She looked down over the edge of the building we were standing on and then turned away. She sat down and started to rub her stomach. I thought for sure, she was crazy and that I must be crazy for following her in the first place but then she smiled at me.

"She's kicking," the woman said. I smiled when she motioned for me to come closer. "Here, feel," she said. She grabbed my hand and placed it on her stomach.

My heart dropped when nothing happened. I stared down at her stomach sadly because I knew that the baby had died, probably the minute this woman had been infected. I bit the inside of my cheek and looked back up at the woman, trying my best to smile and hide what I knew from her.

"She's back, he gave her back," she said.

"Yes he did," I agreed. "Are we close to Isaiah?" I asked, looking back towards the edge of the building.

"Yes," she answered. "Isaiah is close but it's very dangerous," she pointed towards the edge of the building. "Look but be very quiet, Logan might hear you."

I walked over to the edge, thinking that Logan might be someone the woman imagined, like her baby and most likely like the Isaiah she was talking about. I peered over and looked down to see a man standing at an old entrance to the subway. I was in shock at how big this man was. I was up at least thirty stories but I could still make out this man and his weapons as if I were on a third story balcony. I leaned over a little further to get a better look at him, forgetting about the pregnant woman behind me.

He had long black hair, slicked back into a braid that fell over his vest full of deadly weapons. He stomped around, turning his head this way and that to check for any trespassers. His large hands carried some sort of automatic gun that I had never seen before. He pulled out something from his pocket and let the gun rest beside him as he grabbed something else from his other pocket.

"He's big," I commented but there was no response. I turned to look back and saw that the woman was running towards me with an evil grin spread across her bloody face.

Before I could react, she had reached me and she shoved me off of the building. I screamed in terror as I fell down towards the ground. I knew it was stupid to trust some crazy woman I had just met but now it was too late. She stared down at me as I fell, laughing manically as my body came closer and closer to the ground. I closed my eyes, expecting impact at any second and silently praying for forgiveness from God as I came closer to my impending doom.

Instead of hitting the ground, I hit a pair of arms with enough force to cause the man to stumble. I slowly opened my eyes to see the large man whose name was probably not Logan staring down at me. His eyes were black so I knew instantly that he was like me and he had a big grin on his face which eased my worry a little.

"It's been a while since a pretty girl fell into my arms," he said with a deep laugh. He set me down and then looked around. I could hear men shouting in the distance. "We'd better get inside before any guards show up to make trouble, come on."

Without hesitation, I followed the larger man down the steps that led into the subways. I knew this was where I needed to be and though she could have led me here a little safer than the way she had, I silently thanked the crazy pregnant woman as I descended the stairwell.